Kevin_Matlock

Nice shots Steve. Glad to meet you, Jonathan, and Brad up there and thanks for the the climb guys (and I suppose you, too, Jon ) I'll post my pics and a few links to some vids of the Bowling Alley/Summit later on.

PM me with the brand and what was in the stuff sack and I'll send it to you.

We've been attempting it (and will attempt againg tomorrow) via the SE Ridge. Seems the most direct route from any you have described. I've been up Obsidian many times before and Pole Cr probably saves you a good 2 miles it seems (maybe more, possibly less). The gap between Mid and North would be way out of the way; the Thayer would be sketch this time of year. For the most part, taking the SE shouldn't put you on much of any snow or ice. We are just going Pole Cr to the creek, then taking the camp lake trail for maybe 10-15 mins, then b-line east which eventually poops you out of the trees and in pretty good proximatey to head up the base of the ridge. That's been our MO so far.

... I got yer headwall right here buddy!!!!!

We WILL take care of bidness this w/e!!! If the weather craps on us, Jon is free to descend and come back for his 4th (5th? 12th? 127th?) attempt, but I plan on relocating my house to the SE ridge and will work my way up over the course of the next 3 months with hopes of finally gaining the summit sometime before Christmas. I'm not counting on this summit being one for the views, it's more so I can tear this page out of the guide book and light it on fire. Wish us luck.

Good info and not taking it personal. The ones I have aren't Irbis though, mine are Uralsport and they aren't as shitty as my shitty leavers by comparison. They place well enough and have a slight outward taper on the inside diamater so they tend to be clog-resistent. My only real gripe is comparing it to a BD screw I have it's pretty easy to tell which one would last longer (BD steel!). But I hear ya calling them a death screw; no way to exactly guarantee their quality control. When I get a chance, I'll post some pics of the Uralsport screws for comparison.

Another post regarding ice screws got me thinking about a question I've had for a while now. A few years ago I bought some Russian Titaniums and they have the threads cut "backwards". This was intentional, or so they claim, and was suppose to be some greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread sort of deal, but I have never seen this on any main stream screw before. I can only think that the bevel was cut reversed to allow for easier placement. Consider my funky drawing - Notice how with my Rusky screws ("A") the thread's sloped face points towards the hanger. To me this seems like they would pull out much easier than a nromal screw ("B") where you would have the resistance of the perpendicular cut threads holding against the ice. Am I wrong here? Anybody see this type of cut before? Did I buy some F'd up seconds that claim to be the second coming? Have never fallen on them to know if they would hold a whipper or not; anybody want to volunteer to be a crash test dummy?

Looks like a nice trip. Too bad your brother died clearly due to your lack of belaying ability. **SPLAT**

liked it so much it's now a sticker on the front of my helmet.

What's your source - someone who has gone up recently or people who have gone up this time of year in the past? I'd rather year from the former if you know of any individuals. just wonderin'

Porter believes he has an idea of what is going on with the 'harward part 1' page and will correct it in the next couple of days, but all the rest appear to be ok. Technical issues aside, lots of info to be had for sure. Good job and thanks for everyone's efforts putting it together.

And... AAAAHHHH! Maybe a little too early to call it prime-time?

The images no worky. Nice effect when clicking the "thumbnail", but the frame is just a white box. I see the next/prev when I mouse over the corners, but don't actually see the larger image. Maybe just a problem for me here at work????

I've suffered with this in varying degrees for years. Do take advil. Don't walk around bare foot (barefeet outside for the day equals death for me). Do stretch (and run the heel of your hand on the arch of your foot to stretch the tendon). Do ice the contact point of the tendon to your heal bone. Don't forget to wear your orthodics in your shoes/boots (or whatever shoe inserts you use). Do force yourself to take breaks from training when it's acting up. If I do the preceeding items I generally am pain-free. For me this is just something I have to live with so my steps are just to keep it in check and not to "cure" the condition. Hell maybe I should look into the "cylinder of pain" that your wife used!

Yep. Pretty good conditions still, although it's melting out really fast. Were you the group of 2 girls/2 guys we talked to? A boarder said pretty much the same thing. I wouldn't go down low; looks way too much of a hassle. When we were scoping it out crossing the elliot still looked like it would be out of the way, but much more doable than down low. Going with the elliot probably would add a couple miles to the loop and 90 mins of some navigation; maybe less. Going low might be quicker, but infinitely more difficult.

diggin' those shots!

Jonboy... awesome! Way to getterdone!!! Sorry I was lazing in the Grecian sun (just got back today, been awake for the past 50 hours, will tell you all about it on Wed when I return to the office). Since the younger kid lives up that way, I can show you the "secret" way to avoid that hell-hole known as Toppenish. Alex and the rest of WA are retards for their ghey sales tax... I never know how much something is going cost me without having to whip out the calculator. And I especially wouldn't want to be troubled to pump my own gas... I might chip a nail or something. :: Good job on staying productive in the hills.

i think i noted the tone of sarcasm with his post (I hope).

Sorry, just getting to this now. Since PaulO posted the gallery link, I won't post them all here, but some look particularly relavent to the route.... (Brent, feel free to comment on any in particular)

Hey, good job on your summit. Pretty brave of you taking up a bunch of strangers, too! Woulda freaked me out a bit, but you made it work. Congrats. I'd love to see some of your shots of the travers and/or bowling alley. If it's easier for you, you can just email some to me and I'd be happy to post them here for ya - kevinmatlock at yahoo thanks! Dino, not need to talk me into it; by the time I had water/beer/sandwich in me at the car, I was already thinking about the next attemp. I really should seek professional help!!! BTW, gotta new plan for the next crack at it.

Sure thing! Good job on your "new" route, too.

Paulo (or anybody else for that matter), you been on Jefferson's south traverse before? Comparable? Easier/harder? Jon and I were on this last year and we were trying to make some sort of guess as to how they might compare. From your description, the traverse on north sounds much easier; Jeff's sucked and was the loosest slope that I've ever had the displeasure of being on. Just wondering how they stack up. This is contrary to almost all info I've ever read, but so far I'm going to go down on record as saying that north is more difficult (frustrating) than Jefferson.

While my partner did a great job on this report, I think Jon missed a couple opporunities to elaborate on a few of the finer points of this trip.... (1) refering to the SE ridge as a "choss pile" really doesn't do it justice. Think more along the lines of "demoralizing heap of shifting television sets glued together with marbles and monkey poo". (2) subsisting on pop tarts, espresso beans, and rationed water does not give one herculean climbing strength. (3) neither of us really want to summit this bee-otch, but rather we don't want the feeling that we need to return to this heep in our life times ever again. As we headed out with heads slightly lowered, taking quick looks over our shoulders to review the trip and what could have been, we bid the mountain farewell. Kinda like...

We (dino and me) are headed up tomorrow and will bivy on the ridge somewhere sheltered in the scrub, then will try for the summit at O'dark:30 on Sat. Anybody else planning to be up there? Just wondering. If so, don't ferget to say 'hey' and give the secret cc.com handshake.

aprox mid-way down the palmer. decribe and you shall receive...