KaskadskyjKozak

it's not that bad! I find it's better up high to walk right along the wall on climber's right (Concord Tower) to avoid the loose crap that is the worst in the final couple hundred feet.

Trip: Maude - Circumnavigation and Return Date: 7/28/2013 Trip Report: KH, SG, and I planned to do the N Face of Maude this weekend. With the long stretch of warm temps I was worried the route might be melted out and not in shape - and some route descriptions I found warned about this after mid-July. But the weather was perfect, so we went for it. We hiked in to Leroy Basin on Saturday. Prior to the trip we read a few TR's that suggested the traverse from the 7 Finger Jack-Maude col could be sketchy so we opted for what seemed like the "no brainer" approach of camping at Upper Ice Lake and approaching from the East. After some bushwhacking and 2 or so miles farther in in the sun with full packs we later questioned our wisdom in making this choice. Leroy Basin: Talus on approach toward the SW ridge: We set our alarms for 3:30 am on Sunday and were moving by 4:15. We thought the way around the side side of the lake looked shorter and started up that way. However the lake outlet was below a cliffy section and we could not easily see a way over it. We reversed direction and headed back towards the SW ridge, ascended to 7600 feet and contoured that way to the obvious col leading to the N side of the mountain. SG taking a pic at sunrise: The col we traversed to (middle of pic): From a map it appeared we'd be travelling about 2 hours from camp to the base of the route. It ended up taking us 4. Our team was strong, and none of us thought we were moving slowly. By the time we got to the base of the route, the snow was softening, with an inch or two of sloughable snow over hard pack. We were surprised by how melted out the N face looked. It appeared we'd have to zig and zag a ton around rock islands, and possibly do a few gear adjustments (crampons on and off). With some discussion, we reluctantly bailed, hoping to at least tag Maude on the way out. Our view of the N face from where we turned around: The traverse back was also time-consuming. But we did get some nice views to look at. Upper Ice Lake looking very blue, with beautiful sparkles from the sun's reflection: Once under the SW ridge we scrambled talus to a steeper section and did some class 3 moves for a few hundred feet before getting to the endless talus slope that dominates the SW side of Maude. Talus Hell: We guessed there'd be a trail on the far left (climber's), but opted to just climb up and angle that way. Eventually we hit some boot paths and topped out just after noon. KK posing: Summit p0rn: We found no register up there, so we just ate and drank our last water before heading back to camp. The hike out was painful with full packs after our already long day. The cold IPAs were quite welcome at the TH. Approach Notes: BLACK FLIES

class 3? (I'm thinking of doing something like this with my 11-year-old)

Poor prole. He is simply surrounded by people too stupid to appreciate his wit and special sense of humor mocking those who suffer from medical conditions. If only more were like prole, the world would be a better place for us all - full of humor and good cheer!

Everyone: stop climbing at WA pass! You are ruining my own personal wilderness experience. Stay home so I can enjoy it all to myself!

I'm betting sobo's perv radar will pickup your avatar and draw him to post an update :-)

We need Gator back!

The bottom rappel on SEWS is definitely a bolted anchor now. The tree(s) used in the past will be spared. Most folks only do one other rappel above the chimney and I think that's still a tree. I have no idea who put it in.

Like.

Trip: Boston Peak - East Face Date: 7/20/2013 Trip Report: My friend CC and I have not climbed in years. We like to do long strenuous day climbs with a car camp. After some vacillating between objectives we settled on Boston Peak. AM and MT joined us. AM is a newb and MT a new trad leader. We car camped at the Boston Basin TH and got up at 3:30 am Saturday. It was warm even in the middle of the night, so we were glad to be moving in cool temps. The standard stream crossing into Boston Basin was not too bad at 6 am: View up BB in the morning: We took a rest stop and break to refill water at a rock island just below the Quien Sabe glacier, then roped up and headed up. The Quien Sabe in the morning: We bore left and crossed under the cliffs with Sharkfin Tower above us, crossed the flats, then headed up and right. Route-finding was straightforward with just a few open crevasses until the bergschrund. The schrund was open almost wall to wall with a huge collapsed snow bridge you must climb into and out of. Endrunning the bergschrund: We unroped at the Boston-Sahale col, dropped some gear and headed up the ridge towards Boston. I had been this way two years ago, so it was straightforward to get to the point you drop down. The ridge was as exposed and butt-clenching as I remembered it. KK and MT on the knife edge before the false summit: We got to the Boston glacier, put on pons again, and headed to the ledge going along the East Face. CC and MT headed up first with AM and I following. CC and MT swapped leads, and I rope-gunned AM. We did the route in 3 pitches with a final belay along the summit ridge for safety (it is exposed) but only one piece of pro. Despite the reputation of this peak, we had little trouble. Yes, there are pebbles and small rocks on every foothold/ledge, but we found very few big rocks or porta-holds, and avoided knocking anything substantial down on one another. CC leads up the first pitch: CC leads up the second pitch: Where's Waldo (AM)? View along the exposed summit ridge: The views on the summit were awesome, and the summit register was as impressive as advertised. We were the 2nd party to sign the register so far this year. A party of two came up right behind us though. CC and KK on the summit: Obligatory summit p0rn: We took longer than we had hoped to summit, so we did not linger too long there. It was also quite windy and chilly and some wispy clouds blew in after we had taken some good clear photos. MT coils a rope: CC on rappel: We descended the ridge in about half the time we ascended it. Apparently we had "acclimatized" after a day of exposure on friable rock. Some of us actually smiled: Originally we had toyed with the idea of going over Sahale and down the arm, however, it was late and we decided we wanted to get to the cars as fast as possible. So we retraced our steps down, foregoing Sahale. Our only concern going down was the stream crossing, so we opted to go straight to the high crossing on the flats at about 6000 feet. This proved a good choice, as the waters were raging. We got to the cars just after dark. Gear Notes: 60 m rope allows for 2 rappels. Small alpine rack up to 2". Approach Notes: Stream crossing into Boston Basin fine in the morning but much more serious late in the day.

WTF????

Will you be my friend, Porter?

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlq0lYB3iSM

Molodtsi! You guys kick ass!

People have a right to judgement. Sucks. We all do it. We even judge the people who have judgement. People also like to be contentious and bicker. Especially about shit that doesn't really affect them or matter. Spray is a perfect example.

trollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrollingtrolling

Gays have suffered enough. Heteros feel guilty about it and want to reserve the hell that is marriage all to themselves as an act of mercy.

Little Tahoma or the Tahoma Gl on Rainier?

Agreed! And thanks for your TR - I used that beta for planning! Any advice on Klawatti -- we are thinking of doing it in a week :-)

Haha, no, not me! I bet Oleg would need to elaborate more to clarify this ! tsyganochka moya, morganochka moya...

thanks off - and happy b-day! i got a lot of beta from a previous TR from this site. so thought i'd give back some

It was a Big Sky IPA. That helped offset the temperature.

Also, apologies to the two folks we camped by. In retrospect we were too close. We were tired and lazy and should have spent 5-10 minutes to go farther along the moraine.

Trip: Primus Peak - Borealis Glacier Date: 7/7/2013 Trip Report: I recall looking over at Primus last year from the McAllister glacier as we approached Dorado Needle, and thought "damn that looks far from here". So, I did a little research and learned a little about the approach from Thunder Creek: rugged, steep, some route-finding shenanigans - my kind of trip. So I talked a few willing victims into this masochistic endeavor and we headed out early Saturday morning. We were surprised to find out we were obtaining the very last available permit for the Klawatti Zone and wondered if we'd actually see anyone else up there. Well, we'd find out. The hike to McAllister Camp went quickly and we found there was no creek to ford - there is a bridge to the camp, despite what some TRs had said. And a good thing too as the creek is full and flowing fast with no logs spanning it anywhere in sight. Thunder Creek near McAllister Camp: We noted the ridge we wished to ascend and proceeded into McAllister camp. The trail was trivial to find - just follow way trails through campsites, bearing up and torwards the ridge and you will be on the climber's path. We soon hit the first steep, cliffy section. It was a lot less than I expected with just few steep steps involving veggie belays with some exposure. The trail continued from here up and up until about 4000 feet where we hit one more cliff band which you traverse under the left side then up and over the top of. At this point the trail becomes indistinct and hard to follow. We just stayed in the middle of the ridge and headed up. Eventually we hit trail again, then broke out into a nice sunny rock outcropping with views of the back side of Snowfield Peak. Breaking out: From here the trail becomes hard to follow again and brushy as it goes through forest for a few hundred feet, mostly flat. Eventually you break out into open heather slopes with an obvious climber's trail. We hit snow patches starting around 5000'. After a 1000 feet of this we hit the moraine below the lower Borealis Glacier and camp. We were surprised to find a couple there who were apparently just finishing the Inspiration Traverse. We camped below and away from them near some flowing water and pools below snow. It will not be there long. Views from camp here are absolutely amazing. One of the best camps I've stayed at by far rivalling even Ouzel Lake. Back side of Snowfield Peak as viewed from camp: Tricouni and Primus: We set off early in the morning (5), following the boot path from the couple who had arrived a day earlier. They were skirting the lake on the right. About 200 feet into the traverse I punched through and fell waist deep into the icy water. Booyah! Bring on the frozen gonads and sure-to-come ass-crack chaffage! I extricated myself from my bath, thought of Bear Grylls jumping into that stream on Iceland, and told my party we'd need to move until I got dry/warm - which we did. We opted for the right/late-season variation to the upper Borealis Glacier. The left variation looked to be a go, albeit a steep one, but we figured it best not to have any shenanigans get up there and go with the "sure thing". We traversed way right, then up and left to an elevation of maybe 7000 feet then did a rising traverse above the cliff bands and exposed ice. View of upper Borealis Glacier as we skirted to the right: View of the traverse on descent: We did not go all the way to Lucky Pass as snow made it possible to make a steeper, more direct line up. Pic of team on the steeper (40 degree top) section on the downclimb: We headed that way hitting just a couple or three rocky sections to scramble though before hitting the final summit area. The views from here were even better than I thought they'd be! Baker, Shuksan, etc: Eldorado Ice Cap area: Buckner, Forbidden, etc: KK summit stoke: The descent to camp went fine. The hike out was actually pretty exausting - mentally and physically. The 2 sections that were hard to follow going up were even harder going down and we did have a little bit of schwacking and route-finding shenanigans, but nothing major. It was opressively hot, and when we arrived at the cars at 9pm our beer in the coolers was warm and no restaurants were open. But it was well-worth it!

ah yes, the route that I doubt will ever be ... eluded again molodtsi, vy, dvoye gornykh maniakov :-)