KaskadskyjKozak

Last year I did it in two days in mid-August. We camped at the col above upper Thornton lake, which had running water. From there to the base of the route is only about 1 hour. I believe we climbed the route in about 11 hours camp to camp. Most of the route was simulclimbed with the exception of the crux pitch and maybe one more. If you are efficient and simulclimb most of the route, you shouldn't have to bivy on it, IMO. If you want to do part of the route on day 1, then yeah, you could bivy in the lower 1/2 of the route, where there is a lot of class 2-3. Beware that there are only 2 permit slots for the Triumph cross-country zone.

Yes, that was classic. :-)

You can't really bivy on the Sahale arm... there is a camp up high, and they enforce only camping there.

We saw your (or somebody's) rap sling up on the ridge proper and wondered how that had happened. Nice!

Trip: Mesahchie - Mesahchie Ice Fall Couloir Date: 9/4/2011 Trip Report: This climb caught my interest last year when I read Gaucho Argentino's TR. I figured the route might be in by now, and with the weather looking great, gave it a go with a few friends (TB, NM, and MS). We drove up to Easy Pass TH early Saturday and made short work of the trail despite our too-heavy packs, loaded with ice climbing gear. View from Easy Pass: Rest here was not possible due to the still-thriving insect swarms - a trifecta of small black flies, big biting flies, and skeeters. So, we consulted route descriptions and choose a path uphill for the notorious traverse. Usually when someone bitches about a traverse or down-climb, I take it with a grain of salt. In this case, however, I must fully concur with the description of high suck-factor on this traverse. It sucked going in, and it sucked coming out. 'Nuff said (for now). Traversing: Getting closer: We arrived at camp 2+ hours out of Easy Pass, and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice stream of flowing water right by the best bivy spots at 7,000 feet. We settled in, enjoyed our respective Mountain House, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with views of the great North Cascades. Logan under a moon: We were up at 5 and head towards the col at 7500. We found one spot where we could reasonably gain the glacier, roped up, and headed down. Access to the glacier: Starting down: A nice traverse led to widening views of our route. At first it appeared quite steep, but foreshortening finally lost its battle and we saw a very mellow route ahead. Looking steep: Looking mellow: MS led first with TB. I then led out with NM. The 45 degree pitch was about a rope length, and I placed 2 pickets and 2 screws. There was some exposed ice, but mostly hard-packed snow, great for cramponing. After the rope was stretched out the terrain mellowed, so I just kept going. I led up to the couloir and surmounted a short, steep slope to attain our 2nd belay spot in a great little alcove on the far right. Here I caught up to MS. Rest spot on 1st pitch: Looking back to NM: MS at belay 2: I swapped gear and NM headed up. In about 140 feet he placed 3 pickets and set up a belay in an alcove below some rocks using a gear anchor built with nuts. I then led up to the top of the couloir (100+ feet), placing 3 pickets and brought in NM. All in all, the ice route was great fun but too short! I thought it might be nice to try for the summit (hey, maybe I'd try for the Bulger list some day), so we dropped gear and started off after a short rest. I now take full responsibility for all that ensued. :-) As per the route description on Summit Post we descended a gully and crossed over into a 2nd, beige-colored gully. It was immediately apparent that Mesachchie's reputation for loose, shitty rock was deserved. About 150 feet up this gully, MS knocked a rock loose that almost decapitated NM, who shortly thereafter indicated a preference to return to his pack and enjoy the sun and views. NM scrambling, immediately prior to turnaround: Us remaining three lunatics continued on. We soon ran into a bit of route-finding trying to get out and left of this gully. After some sketchy class 4 forays up by MS and TB, I finally went down and far left and found a short, 5.easy exit, which caused some puckering of author's anus along with swearing. We naively assumed however that this would be the last "difficulty" (optimistic reading of the summitpost TR, perhaps...). Where's Waldo? Good times! After exiting the first gully, we began ascending a second, wider, longer gully. This one started out friendly enough - easy class three, fun, breezy, even with some granite! Higher up, the rock changed, becoming more crumbly and unsavory. However, we were able to top out of this gully without any class 4 sketchiness. We now saw the first prominent false summit/bump in the ridge. According to our route description, we needed to work to the north side to avoid having to do anything technical. This involved a short class 4 step to a scary perch, ledge walk, and 20 foot ascent up a sketchy section above a huge fucking drop-off. TB investigated thusly-described terrain while MS and I vacillated, pondering the risk versus benefit of our plans. TB could provide no optimistic promises of a glorious run up to the summit from his vantage point, so we vacillated some more. At this point, I stated the obvious need to "shit or get off the pot", and so, MS and I quickly joined TB at his ridge-crest vantage point. We down-climbed 20 feet of sketchy, loose class 3 to some ledges then ran the ridge a few feet. From here we could see 2, maybe 3 (maybe more?) rocky pinnacles between us and the summit, with no obvious class 3 route between them. It all looked daunting. None of us was eager to venture beyond this point, roped or not (pro in crumbly rock?). Vantage from our decision point (the picture does not do justice to the exposure involved): After some additional procrastination we declared this to be our summit, cursed Mesahchie, and headed back to our partner. We did set up a fixed line for a short section to the North side ledge, and rappeled into the final gully (the beige one). Everything else involved slow, careful, methodical down-climbing, with some sections requiring us to go one at a time to avoid killing each other; copious rock mass was deposited lower on Mesahchie by us on this day. But, the glories of this climb were far from over! We then started the descending traverse to camp. If you want my advice on the best way, I can't give it. We tried our best to pick a good line, one of least resistance, and suckage, but alas, I have nothing to report but seemingly-endless, character-building terrain. To be honest, I preferred downclimbing the gullies to the traverse to camp. A few hours later, we arrived, exhausted at camp. We opted for night number two, as planned, and enjoyed another glorious sunset. We got up leisurely today, and hiked out. The traverse in the reverse direction was better than on the way in, but, despite staying at around a 6800 foot contour, we encountered quite a few "interesting" spots to further punish our legs, arms, bodies, and psyches. At last we hit the beautiful trail, and hauled ass to our car. Some final salt in the wounds on the deproach traverse: The views do ameliorate the suffering: Can you hear the Sound of Music? If someone can honestly tell me there is a better way to the summit of Mesahchie, I may head back, else... I'm not sure about a return visit. The ice was fun, but quite short for the approach and descent that must be endured. The views are glorious, however, and the wildflowers were out. Gear Notes: 4 pickets, 2 screws, a few nuts, ice axe and tool, HELMET. Approach Notes: Suckage

Yeeaahhh, and... that's all the Arab countries, so what's your point? LOLZ

they are functionally equivalent to a $800 Hilleberg

/dev/null is the only place we can redirect at this point...

Why the dig? Indeed, boner. You've dug a deep enough pit for yourself.

Top 10 largest Muslim populations # Country Muslims 1. Indonesia 188,619,000 2. Pakistan 144,788,000 3. India 131,213,000 4. Bangladesh 118,512,000 5. Turkey 67,864,000 6. Iran 67,610,000 7. Egypt 64,647,000 8. Nigeria 54,891,000 9. Algeria 31,729,000 10. Morocco 31,642,000

I have heard that folks have tried to go in there and do volunteer maintenance but were blocked by the powers that be personally I think the trail has improved some over the last 7 years, but yeah, parts of it suck a bit

What....no "lick sac"? Poshel ty na khuj.

Boner: quit while you're behind.

which is preferable to your pillow-biting...

this year the Boston Basin was 95+% snow covered in mid-July. If vegetation/impact were the issue, there should have been nolimit as all camping could have been done on snow or rocks.

You mean like you and Karl Marx?

I wish my brothers would climb... they seem to think it is a sport for the mentally insane. Nice job!

I can see how KKK wouldn't be bothered with a closeted white supremacist in the white house but I thought kev was a librul Ron Paul is a kook. You failed to get the jab at boner, but no surprise there as you are a humorless moron.

I also find it bizarre how every location has its own "rules" - even when they fall under the same ultimate jurisdiction. For example, in MRNP (NPS), the permit system is based by total number of climbers - so there are say 100 slots open at Camp Muir (or whatever the # is), not based on the # of *parties*. But at Boston Basin, Torment, Forbidden, Triumph x-country zone - etc, all of which are managed by the NPS as well, the quotas are based by # of parties, irrespective of size. In the Olympics you can register for permits a month out (Flapjack Lakes, Glacier Meadows) - in NOCA... nope, one night prior - unless you are a guide service. Then there are some places where the maximum party size is 6 and others where it is 12. Then you switch over to the NFS and get different rules and different registration systems (e.g. the Enchantments).

Ron Paul for president!!

One time I showed up on Friday evening for weekend permits and 4/6 permits for Boston Basin had been reserved by guide services. This seems extremely unfair. Either guides should be under the same rules as the public (no advanced reservations) or there should be a limit to how many permits out of 6 can go to guided parties (say 2). As to the party size limit of 12 - other areas have a limit of 6 in the N. Cascades. Boston Basin seems to be one exception. Areas like Redoubt/Spickard, Snowfield Peak, etc are definitely 6. I agree that the areas are too large. Hell, Boston Basin is gigantic. Why can't there be a special zone under Forbidden for climbers? Or say, 1 spot at the W ridge for bivying? OTOH, the permit system has driven climbers to do this route C2C and I know from first-hand experience that even with a permit you can get caught in a huge cluster-f* involving C2C climbers (no permit required)

Nicely done, Nelson.

WTF indeed.

Indeed. Climb up. :-)

Why were they doing this?