eldiente

Yeah we botched this pitch up. For some reason I had sport climbing on the brain and left the belay with only draws and no pro. *dumb* I can see now that with some cams, the traverse to the last bolt would have been mellow. As for the rating, I'm not a good judge as I don't climb technical granite slabs like that very often. I climbed Iron Horse at Index (.11+ish) a few days before and though it was easier than the bolted pitch on The Passenger IMO. Although it worth mentioning that the "hard" moves on the bolted pitch are all very short and not sustained. I wasn't getting pumped but damn those feet are tiny! -Nate

You guys had it rough in the river... [img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SlJpJWOXwOI/AAAAAAAAE-8/0Vdpk2DEqNU/s640/P1000099.jpg[/img]

Trip: South Early Winter Washington pass - The Passenger Date: 7/3/2009 Trip Report: Climbed this route last week in rather warm and buggy conditions. Really an amazing bit of rock, perhaps the best route up there. I was a bit surprised, the route was a tougher than I expected and I'm going to stick with original 5.12 grade. (Eds note, granite always feels a bit tough for me) We had great beta from Sol using this TR To expand on this beta, this is what I found. There are some bolted belays, but don't plan on it. Bring anchor gear for every pitch. Also note that some of the fixed gear is no good, one of the fixed pins fell out and hit my partner in the head! P1. 5.10D (160 feet) Double Cracks right from the ground. Climb toward a massive roof and go left under roof clipping one bolt. The moves under the roof are thin fingers and a bit runout if you chose not to place any gear ( rope drag) Roof is amazing! P2. 5.11bish.(70 feet) Climb mellow cracks to a roof. Roof has bolt on it. Do NOT go left over roof, looks doable but screws you. (took my first fall here) Pull roof through the right via strange flares and campus moves. Continue to a second roof. This roof is hard, the crack above the roof is filled with grass and you can't get your fingers in. High-step right and punch for small crystal, stand-up and punch again for bomber jam. Hard move. Belay below roof with bomber gear. P3. 5.11ish (80 feet) Climb around roof (easy) to an amazing sustained finger crack to a roof (is there an echo in here?) Roof will take a 3" cam and requires some tricky moves to pull around to the left and a belay. P4. 5.12 (120 feet) Crux pitch. Bolted slab. Sounds mellow right? Wrong. Move left and down slightly past two bolts. Tiny crystals for feet and nothing for your hands. 3rd bolt is very far left and run-out, don't fall! Another easier runout above the 3rd bolt takes you into a crux roof thingy. (On-sight spoiler alert) Gaston with your left above roof and snap up to thin under-cling with right hand. Step up and crank to jug. Maybe V4-V5ish move (?) Move right across blank slab with no gear, your looking for a high bolt way up inside this roof/chimney to your right. The bolt is hard to see and falling getting to the bolt would be ugly. Clip bolt and make wild moves right on hand-crack. Step up to a small stance below roof chimney and belay. There was a fixed pin under the roof that we used for a belay. P5 and P6 5.10C (We combined) 220 feet. Fixed pin under roof falls out when my rope snags on it while leading Bomber! Climb overhanging chimney crack (Rad!) and pull into a perfect hand crack that goes on forever. Stop at stance and belay or keep on going like I did. Crux move is flared .75 jam with the crack angling to the left. Yes, it feels like your going to fly into space with the whole wall below you. Belay right above this from a bush. Although I linked these two pitches, I'm not sure I would do so again. I had a bit of rope drag and having to make the crux moves with 200+ feet of rope out was a bitch, did I just gain 10 pounds? P7/P8 5.10ish 150 feet. (we linked these two) Climb dirty crack 40-50 feet. Traverse left on face with no gear, the traverse will go left and slightly down for 40 feet before you get any gear. Scary for your second. Belay from bush or just keep moving left on 5.7 terrain angling up toward blocks and a tree belay. Descent: Go down usual descent for South Early Winter. Thoughts: A very good, clean route. The only pitch that I didn't like was the bolted slab. Maybe the long fall I took made me angry, but the pitch wondered back and forth a bit too much for my taste and it seems like the bolts could have been placed in better spots. A lot of rope drag. The route has lots of mini cruxes that are tough, but most of the pitches have good rests in them with easy moves right before and after the harder stuff. Gear: Double cams to #2, one #3. We brought triples and never used them. Lots of long slings for drag. Picture Link http://picasaweb.google.com/natetack/ClimbWashingtonPassSummer09# [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SlJZ2jnwM-I/AAAAAAAAE7g/bfTpLjz83kk/s400/P1000035.JPG[/img] Base of route [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SlJZ3wIjiWI/AAAAAAAAE7o/M6caEYD6zrI/s512/P1000039.JPG[/img] Below 2nd pitch roof. [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SlJZ6INeISI/AAAAAAAAE74/htAcFqMvVpg/s400/P1000046.JPG[/img] Bolted slab pitch. [img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SlJZ76pBAUI/AAAAAAAAE8E/HLk_YNbNnDQ/s512/P1000053.JPG[/img]

I left a #1 BD on the 5th pitch (right after the bolted slab pitch) It is about 40 feet above the roof chimney thing. Please shoot me an email if you find it, or go up there and keep the the cam for yourself, someone should get some use out of it. -Nate natetack@gmail.com

Well having moved here from Iowa I'm not sure how to answer that.

Trip: Index - Davis-Holland to Lovin' Arms Date: 6/23/2009 Trip Report: I've heard a lot of things about this route, some true some untrue. Here is what we found. Micah an I drove up from PDX late Friday and stayed in Seattle Friday night. We slept in and were generally lazy, I think we started up the route at 10:30ish. The apprach beta in the guide book is fine, steep easy hike through the woods. Pitch 1: 5.9 Micah leads. First few jams felt damp and a bit greasy. The hot sun didn't help matters. Perfect crack for 50 feet takes you to some low 5th class moves and a anchor. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_002.jpg[/img] Pitch 2: 5.10Bish. (maybe combine with the first if you use long slings?) I lead. One of the better pitches on the route. Really good jams, crux for me was a section of .75s (tight hands) Sort of an awkward little flared crack the end that takes fist stacks. If your bad at .75 (green BD) sized cracks you might want to bring some extra in that size. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_007.jpg[/img] Pitch 3: 5.10C Micha leads. I heard there was a hard under-cling move right off the belay. There indeed is a roof/undercling move you have to make but it is trival. Try not to put any gear while moving left over this roof. Rope drag. The other crux is a thin little layback move to a jug in the middle of the pitch. Micha places a micro nut and slips reaching for the jug, the only fall of the day. Doh! I've got a long reach and am able to bump up to the jug without too much fuss. Maybe a 5.10C move but not sustained. Above this there is really cool flared finger locks taking you to a plush belay ledge. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_011.jpg[/img] Pitch 4/5: 10Cish ( I combine pitch 4 and 5, about 190 feet total) This is where the route gets rad. Not sure why people stop at that hanging stance below the chimmney, any thoughts on this? The start of pitch 4 right off the belay is the crux of the route for me. Sort off angle flared jams, really fun though. The hard jamming only last for 30-40 feet before it gets into bomber jams and moves into a wide flaky chimney. This pitch looks like ass from the belay (dirty) but is actually clean where it needs to be. I clip the chains for the top of pitch 4 and continue on up into the chimney on pitch 5. The chimney is steep but no wide skills are required ( I would know, I suck at OW climbing) There is flakes and cracks you can yard on, mellow. 20 feet above the chimney there is this crazy horizontal flake that takes you right into a another crack system. If your linking these pitches, try not to put any gear in before the traverse, you might have horrible drag later on. The traverse looks wild and it is, very airy and committing climbing but not difficult. The rail traverse takes a .75, use long slings if linking. The rest of the pitch is very airy face with some crack moves, feels a lot like Red Rocks. 60M of climbing with a lot of variety. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_017.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_018.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_020.jpg[/img] Pitch 5 (or 6 from the guide) 5.9 I lead. Rumored to be "R." I find the climbing to be safe, a bolt and some small gear in flakes is all you need. Climbing is very gym like, steep face climbing on good holds. Short pitch ends at the tree and a chain belay. Summit! [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_021.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Index_024.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/IMG_0187.jpg[/img] Gear: Double Cams, Green Alien to #2 BD. One #3 (optional) Maybe tipple on the .75 size. Small nuts needed to protect thin crux on Pitch 3. All belays are bolted.

What site are people using for the Mount Stuart area for a weather forecast? I've been using NOAA but the problem is the weather stations I look at are all very low elevation. Is there any weather stations near the Alpine Lakes area that are a bit higher up that might reflect the actual mountain temperature more accurately? -Nate

I'm not a fan of radios, loud and electronic. I once shared a belay with a couple that had radios and they yapped the entire time at a loud volume. "Ok honey, grab that horn to the left, move feet up. Over." Very annoying. Maybe on a big wall (aid) where the party might be spread out further than a pitch and/or need to manage some complicated logistics. Maybe there I can see the value.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=868495 Umh, makes my TRs look kinda lame.

I'd rather the follower not tug for the reasons mentioned above. I'd be a bit bummed if there my follower yanked me off a stance before I could finish my anchor.

I always wear my helmet while leading and insist that my belayer wear one while belaying me. [img:center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SgnUihI6InI/AAAAAAAAEVI/UrnANUIxXoU/s1600/DSC_0038.jpg[/img]

Yes, I wish more people would use them. Nothing ruins a peaceful day of climbing like listening to people scream at each other trying to figure out if they are on belay. Seriously, even cragging I like to use simple hand signals to take the leader off. I use 4 hard tugs to take the leader off, and 3 hard tugs to put the follower on belay. Once the follower is on belay, there doesn't need to be any more communication, the follower can climb whenever they are ready. I've always been a bit confused when partners will call back and forth, "climbing" "climb-on." Once the belay is on, the belayer should be ready to catch a fall and assume the climber is moving or getting ready to move. No need to scream up every action your taking. "I'm drinking water" "drink on" -Nate

Jaime is strong, I'd think 10 hours car to car would be slow for him.

Jaime is strong, I'd think 10 hours car to car would be slow for him.

For these larger groups I don't understand why they can't hire more guides so there is a guide for every student? Cost prohibitive?

Good point. Fixed. Partner gave me a fruity mixed drink in exchange for leading all the pitches. Fun!

Trip: Red Rocks - Epinephrine Date: 6/2/2009 Trip Report: Over Memorial Day weekend I made a quick 3 day trip to Red Rocks. Sort of strange as I've never been to Red Rocks this late in the year (HOT!) The main goal of the trip was the mega classic Epinephrine. My partner had read all about it and made it his life-long goal to get up this route. I had never been on it so this seemed like a fun outing for both of us.* (History. Actually I tried climbing this route four years ago with motomagik. We started late and I moved very slow through the chimneys. She had a really hard time of it and was brought to tears when she shredded every bit of skin off her back during the first chimney. We bailed there.) [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/medium/DSC03280.jpg[/img] We started hiking about 5:30AM and were tied in by 6:30. There was another party in front of us which would slow us down throughout the day. First few pitches went by quickly, on the second pitch there is a bit of run-out 5.8 slab and and again near the end of the long 3rd pitch. Nothing too wild, but heads-up. The 3rd pitch ends at the base of the 500 foot chimney that makes up the crux of the route. My partner was very nervous as he had never climbed an OW before, I was a bit nervous having climbed just a few pitches of OW in the last year. I elected to haul our water (almost two gallons!) through the chimneys on a 6mm tag line so that my partner could climb without the weight. I've read lots of horror stories about these chimney pitches, here is what I found. [img:center] http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/DSC03282.jpg[/img] Pitch 4 Chimney. (120 feet?) Mostly overlapping flake cracks that turns into pure chimney about 40 feet below the belay. Gear is a 2s, 3s, and maybe a spot for a #4. Use long slings down low and don't shove gear all the way back in as you'll never get it out (see stuck pro all over this pitch) Belay is right at bolts, easy to climb past if your not looking. Pitch 5 Chimney. (120 feet?) Very Sustained, but secure chimney. A bit physical as you'll make the same move over and over again. Pro here is a bit sparse, there are places for good pro but they are way in the back of the crack where you don't want to be. For my size (5'10") I had a perfect fit on the outside and felt secure. The #4 will get used on this pitch. Belay on bolts to right. Pitch 6 Chimney. (90 feet) This is probably the crux for most people. The party in front of us was suffering hard. At first the leader started yelling "I'm gona die, I'm gona die" while getting into the tight bulge. A few minutes later he switched to screaming "I'm going to puke!" as his whole body was shaking from the pump. I had a good laugh. My turn. I clipped a bolt just a few feet above the belay and moved into the chimney. The first 20+ feet above the bolt are mellow but then it gets tight, flared and slightly overhanging. I got into a insecure knee/back position and could slowly feel myself oozing out. I can see why that poor guy started talking to God, very insecure. I gave up on being graceful and did a body dyno to a perfect hand jam and let my feet cut lose. That was close. From there is is mellow cracks in faces to another bolt on the right. No wide gear is used on this pitch, one bolt (crux) and smaller gear in the cracks to the anchors. Moves are run-out above the bolt. Pitch 7 Chimney. (140 feet) Last chimney pitch is very airy and a bit overhanging. The key here is to go right side in and face climb the inside of the chimney with your back against the other wall. Sort of like a .12 face climb except there is a place to lean your back against. The crux of this pitch is mental, looking up at it from the belay it isn't obvious where the pro is. After the first two bolts there isn't any obvious gear. After a bunch of airy moves there is a little flake that takes cams right where I was starting to get worried. From that flake is more of the same on a long run-out to the anchors. No wide gear for this pitch, 2 bolts for pro and small cams for the flake. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/medium/DSC03288.jpg[/img] Rest of the pitches. (7-13) After the chimneys it is just endless .8 and .9 pitches of crack and face in a very airy position. I was shocked, having climbed many routes at RR, I was expecting these pitches to be over-hyped. They're every bit as good as people say and some of the best moderate climbing I've ever done. Highlight for me was linking 3 pitches (5.8ish or5.9) into one off the Elephants Trunk. 270+ feet of steep climbing. (I made my partner simul climb to link this together) The top out is about 500 vertical feet of 4th low 5th class to the summit. We simul-climbed to the tree summit, some folks might just un-rope for this. Car to car was about 14 hours for us, I thought this was a decent pace considering my partner had never done any multi pitch and that I hauled a ton of water up this thing. As an added plus, I got to lead the entire route. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/medium/DSC03294.jpg[/img] Descent Beta. Easy. How do people get lost on this? On the summit block look South and walk to the top of the ridge behind you before going down. Follow the ridge a very long way before turning left and going down toward your car. There is huge Cairns the whole way down. Don't be tempted to go down early into no mans land. Gear. Double Set of cams from Yellow Alien to #2 BD. Triple #3s and 2x #4s. One Green Alien to protect roof moves on pitch 13. I'd only bring one #4 next time an double #3s. The #4 will be useful, no need for anything larger. Route is mostly in the shade in May but still hot. Travel as light as possible as you can't wear a pack in the chimney pitches. Rest of trip. Sport climbing in the Black Corridor. Trying not to get cooked. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/medium/DSC03321.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs098.snc1/4734_111222016012_605271012_3181412_5516559_n.jpg[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/517/medium/DSC03354.jpg[/img]

Yes, switching belay devices is a great way to go. If I'm using an ATC, I like to simply put on knot on the break end of the rope while were exchanging gear instead of having the second tie into the anchor.

Climb later in the day. Although it is "normal" to summit at dawn, it is possible to go up later in the day, shooting for maybe a 11:00 AM summit. Yes, there might be a bit of icefall, but if you give the obvious ice formations a wide berth and keep your eyes open, it is possible to have a safe to the summit late in the day.

Oddly enough the people doing the most complaining don't actually use Aliens or have stopped using them.If you don't like them, don't use them. My offer still stands, send them my way. Clearly only idiots and morons use Aliens. Look at this asshole here. He's a long along way out above a Black Alien pulling the crux on a 5.14 pitch. Someone needs to let this guy know how unsafe that Alien is. [img:left]http://www.alpinist.com/media/ALP20/trotter_path.jpg[/img]

Anyone that think their Aliens are unsafe can send them my way.

What are people using to tie up their anchors with? I normally use a 6mm cordellete, however I've also been using a 8' dyneema sling. Pros? Cons? The sling seems a bit less bulkly when on my harness, although I also notice that it is tougher to tie knots in the sling.

Sorry but this is why many people (myself included) get a tad upset with the Mazamas. It is disrespectful to other climbers and to the natural environment to push such a large group of climbers up a Hood. Why do you do this? I'm stoked when people get out and want to learn how to climb, but why do it in such large groups? Why can't you just partner up with another person and go as as a two man team? Please explain? Better yet, why can't you just go up solo? Hood is always going to be busy during nice weather, but the large teams create a lot of problems for other users. Do they talk ethical considerations in the Mazamas 101 course? Other question, why rope up at all? If your roped up and not placing good pro, you'd be better off soling. Being roped to other inexperienced climbers ain't safe. -Nate

C3s for the really tiny stuff. Aliens or master cams for the rest of the small stuff you might encounter. For some reason the bigger C3 (yellow) doesn't work very well for me. Too stiff. Anyone else have this problem? I really like the smaller C3s, they seem to fit almost like an offset nut in flares.

Maybe all the bolts at Ozone need to be replaced by rivets to give it that big-wall feel.