KaskadskyjKozak

Mountaineering is about suffering. Russians are used to suffering. It's a perfect match!

Sounds more like Miserium Tremendum... there is warm rock out there, ne znayesh' li?

We did the flake and downclimb, then up a short crack. It was there that we went up a 2nd, narrow chimney up to a chock stone and the rappel anchor. You guys (in your photo you linked to) went up the crack to the chock stone and rappel anchor above.

Nobody was open in 11worth at 9:45 but McD's, so I ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese. Damn that hit the spot!

Cool. Looks like the crack we avoided in lieu of the short skinny person chimney is the standard way.

That's what I kept crunching and stomping on, not to mention the slashes on my legs from the shards of sharp fragments!

It's not too late to go back and get 'er!

OK, OK. The approach was 'strenuous' but not particular bad. There was one shitty section of brushiness between 3300 and 3800 (for us at least). The rest wasn't too bad, especially the bigger boulder-hopping, slabs and snow.

We saw some folks on Givler's on Sat from the YJT trail. Were you there? :-)

possibly... oh the possibilities! yes, albeit limited by avy... take a look :-)

Trip: The Mole (Edwards peak) - South Face Date: 6/5/2011 Trip Report: Gorgeous weather, deep snowpack and marginal avy forecast? What to do? I convinced my friends DC and LL to climb the Mole, what else? Nelson and Potterfield list two possible approaches - one is the Snow Creek trail and Tolketie Lake, the other via Hook Creek. The latter was not recommended for full packs. Based on the amount of snow and possible route-finding and snow issues for the former, we opted to haul heavy-ass packs up the brutal Hook Creek approach. We needed to get in better shape anyways. The trail up to the base of the gulley on Yellowjacket Tower went quickly and smoothly. Wildflowers were everywhere and the air was heavy with flowery fragance. Despite the forecast 12K freezing level, and a 10 am start up the trail, we were treated to pleasant, breezy temps. Going started to get more difficult as we traversed around Yellowjacket tower. We followed cairns here and there but mostly ended up in some unpleasant schwacking for a few hundred feet before we hit slabs. There were plenty of blowdowns and sharp sticks to make us earn our progress. Traversing around YJT: The view up towards our objective: Snow became continuous around 4700 feet, and we soon broke into open slopes. From here the going was OK. The snow was certainly quite soft and we punched through up to our knees here and there. At this point exaustion was setting in as we approach the last 1000 feet gain of our 5500 feet for the day. Final snow slopes towards Edwards Plateau: From camp on Edwards Mesa we were treated to glorious views of the Enchantments, including our objective: We opted to sleep in a bit on Sunday, heading out of camp around 7 am. First we descended some "lovely" sand and scree: Next we traversed a few snow patches and rock bands. We had only brought trekking poles thinking there'd be no snow, or soft snow. Unfortunately the snow was neither soft nor insignificant. Some of the patches were a bit dicey, but we did not want to backtrack. Soon we got to the gully below the chock stone. It was snow-filled and steep enough to warrant concern. Moreover, downclimbing to the snow we noticed a hole with a huge dropoff and had no idea what was solid beneath us. After a few minutes vacillating about retrieving our ice axes we opted to rope up and lead the snow-filled gully to the first pitch, placing a few pieces in the rock wall on the left. DC leading the snow to pitch 1: Unfortunately there was no dry spot to swap rock shoes for boots, so we all ended up with wet shoes trying to friction up the first crux (left-slanting 5.7 crack). Kudos to DC for the lead. I managed to almost tear off a large flake in the crack and lose some teeth in the process. If anyone heads up there beware of the loose flake... LL led pitch two - which just has a few 5.x moves and some class 3 traversing on ledges. She was unsure how high to set a belay for pitch 3 and backed down a bit. DC then took over again and led up the second crux. Supposedly this included some 5.7 cracks but we did not encounter anything that seemed that hard. We were on route however as we hit the hidden flake with the tight, awkward chimney and downclimb (5.5. according to Nelson and Potterfield). LL squeezing through the flake: I took over next. I had two choices - a tight chimney or a lie-back flake. I was expecting 5.easy at this point, so the flake seemed "out" (I did try it). I focused on the chimney. Unfortunately my fat ass plus rack would not fit into the chimney enough for me to work my way above the first constriction, so DC took over and led this. Chimney for skinny people on left; lieback flake/crack on right: I then led the final pitch to the summit blocks - blocky 5.easy. Nice view of Temple Ridge from the summit. DC busts a bouldering move to the summit block. The descent involved a single, overhanging rappel off the East side, some class 3 scrambling back to the the climbing route (the top of the skinny-person chimney), a double-rope rappel down the climbing route, and a short rappel back to the snow-filled gully. DC sets up the first rappel: LL scrambling: We got some great glissading down the steep slopes and managed to follow cairns most of the way out. It took under 4 hours to get back to the cars - albeit a brutal, mind-numbing 4 hours. Gear Notes: Ice axe, helmet. Small alpine rack up to BD C4 #3. Approach Notes: Strenuous.

Here comes the goon squad!

possibly...

the basement?

I do my best to kill the asshole. Several wipes, sometimes "wet ones". It can be hard sometimes. Damn cling-ons and all.

j_bot, prole, et ali. Go f'n climb something. Report to us on Monday. MKTHNXBYE

Now here's a little story I've got to tell About three bad brothers you know so well It started way back in history...

Evidently you support the wars on Aghanistan and Iraq, and think killing children is OK. You probably voted for 30+ years of Bush/Reagan regressive policies too!

But could you identify your ball field from a photo?

I am a scientist. You know that, right?

Yeah, that's EXACTLY what TTK thinks. TTK is a lot of things, but war-mongering imperialist is just one of them. In fact, he's been a fan of war-for-oil from the beginning. Yes, and he's a shill for the oil industry, a service goon, and a Bush-Reaganite fascistic thug.

Yeah, that's EXACTLY what TTK thinks.

We brought full glacier gear but never roped up. We climbed the route in late April.

You're earning yourself a DEAD KID PIC (the new CARE BEAR), mister! Here comes the goon squad!