Illini

Climb: Finger of Fate, ID-North Face/Open Book Date of Climb: 7/10/2004 Trip Report: Last Summer Brock, McKenzie, Ron and I attempted this climb but due to a late start and imposing looking clouds we bailed after the first pitch. Later NOLSe and Brock made a marathon run back to Idaho to successful hit this climb. I’d been itching to try out the Sawtooths again. NOLSe, Pandora, Brock and I left NOLSe’s house 6:00 PM Friday. We hit the trail head ~5:30 am Saturday and were hiking by 6:00 am. With an end run, right, around Hell Roaring Lake, a stop to stash water at the upper lake and a stop for to the punishing return of Mexican food I had previously ingested, we hit the base of the finger a little after 9:00. Brock, having climbed the finger before, insisted on leading the opposite pitches from his last trip. This gave me pitches 1, 3-4, and the summit block. Brock and I agreed that pitch 1 was probably the crux of the climb with its short OW section. Though not the hardest, Pitch 5 was the choice pitch of the climb. NOLSe and Pandora followed behind right on our heels. The summit block was eventful to say the least. After crawling under the summit block, the last pitch to the summit is a short ~15 feet and it protected by a single ancient homemade piton. With Brocks outstanding beta I was successfull in my attempt to test the integrity of afore mentioned piton. Having just pitched off the last foot of the climb and loading a brand new biner across the small ledge in front of the piton, I decide to let Brock finish the climb. He removed my now crooked biner and pulled the move with no problem. Following up I found significantly easier beta. 2 Raps and ~5 more miles out and we were back at the car 11 hours from our start time. Pizza, ~10 hours of sleep, pancakes outside of Boise, and another ~10.5 hours of driving brought us back to NOLSe’s house 49 hours after we left. Yea it far away, but this was a damn fine moderate route. In comparison to Outerspace, I’d say the Finger rocks due to a more sustained moderate level of climbing. The 5.8 pitch on Outerspace is hard to beat but when comparing the whole climbs this route on the Finger might get the higher quality rating. Gear Notes: Medium to large rack to 4 inches, 60M rope to link 3-4, We were able to find a topo for this route if you are interested PM NOLSe or myself. Approach Notes: Mosquitoes chap my ass… no really. 4X4 not required getting to the upper trail head but good ground clearance is highly recommended.

Maybe that describes your friend, hence the looks. I have only dealt with them over the phone, but I have recieved only the best customer service. I special ordered through the store and got a call back a few days later to make sure every thing was to my specifications. Jamison, the guy I dealt with was great.

from RC.com http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=64525&forum=30 http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=64502

I was there on 6/20. I went in and from green lakes trail head. The trail is all snow 1-2 miles from the trail head. After spending the night at the lake, we needed crampon untill about 6:30 am. So it depends on the weather and when you intend to start. After 6:30 it was a mushy slog, and would have been sooner if the slope catched the sun sooner. Only area without snow was the crest along the edge of the Layman (sp?) glacier. An axe is good if for nothing else glissading back down

Info Saturday, May 8, 2004 Registration is at 8 AM by the main fee station at Smith Rock State Park Parking passes included for all volunteers Free dinner for volunteers starts at 6 PM with video of the day's events, and the ever popular auction and raffle Taken from. http://www.smithrocks.com/flash/events/st_04.html

One word of warning. Though it sound like IT band troubles, it might be a muniscus(sp?) tear. I went through this last summer and all the signs I saw pointed at the IT band, but the doc diagnosed it as a lateral muniscus tear. If it is IT band learn the lay on a rolling pin stretch trick.