pup_on_the_mountain

Man! That file took for EVER to download. Here is a smaller version of the same -

here it is.

Hi Chris and gang, It was nice to meet you guys up at Banff. Thanks for the beer . PS: More pics from our trip are here.

Fuggs falls was pouring wet today. You could probably climb the central portion of the bottom curtain without getting terribly soaked. Everywhere else, it was loooking like a real waterfall. I wanted to try it still (on TR), but my friend said I'll have to duct tape an umbrella to her helmet for her to climb it . It was not raining when we were there, but I was in my t-shirt too. I've already spent the money on gas, and would've to say not worth the drive. Wait you must, for the cold next spell . Here are a couple of pics: Bottom curtain: Top curtain: Here's what is left of Frenchman falls (as seen from the road):

Chair NF and NE Butt (on Saturday): Close-up of (upper portions of) NE Butt:

Chair NF is totally NOT in as of Saturday (Dec 10). NE Buttress was sketch too (I'll post a pic tomorrow). No sign of ice. Overall, it looked quite bare, and the few sopts where there was snow, it made for some shin to knee-deep wallowing on really loose powder. Approach was not too bad with snowshoes.

Updates from Kurt (wazzumountaineer). Post he will, later maybe tonight . 12.8 Frenchman Falls - Not fully in. ice goes to top on both sides of flowing water. (viewed at night). Since this faces south and has ice on it, I bet Banks is good to go. Fuggs is probably climbable too. 12.9 Did a recon up the Icicle this morning: Careno falls are thin, but might be leadable. Same for Rainbow. Lots of ice on icicle buttress. looks like good mixed fun. "The Smear" is in. "plastic fantastic" is close "hubba hubba" is in. going to climb it in an hour or so. lots of little smears on the south side of Icicle creek across from Bruce's boulder Will go check on The Drip tonight or tomorrow morning. Kurt

I was under the impression that the Quark and the Aztar have the same length of 50 cm. (Okay - I'm not denying the fact that the quarks are much better on technical ice and mixed routes than the aztars ). I don't have years of experience on ice, but I do own a pair of quarks. I like to climb leashless with the pinkies on the handles. Helps to rest my hands easily. I tried the ergos a few times, and found them quite similar to the quarks. Except that the ergos make it a little easier to hang on to, especially when placing/removing screws or other pro. I have small palms, and hence pump out fast when using cobras .

Thanks knotzen!

Where can one get the "parking" permit (hunting license without the license to hunt) for Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) in and around Seattle? In fact, its for my friend who lives in Everett (Mukilteo to be exact). If any one could point out a place in/around Everett, that'll be even better . Thanks!

Getting to the West Ridge might be a problem. The unnamed glacier was heavily broken as on Aug 20 (I realize its been a while since I was there, but the conditions could have only worsened since then). We still managed to find our way through it, but couloir was out of shape. Unfortunately, we took an alternate gully and had to do lots of exposed pitches to get to the base of the route. Someone else also mentioned having problems climbing the gully (the correct one - not the one that we took) more recently. I've some pictures from my trip here. When we were there, two teams attempted the East Ridge (one summitted), and they said the approach was doable.

Glad you guys made it off the route alright. That hex was left by Martin and I two weekends back. We had the topo from Beckey with us, but realized later that Nelson's topo clearly shows the two cracks which we tried and failed at. We also struggled a bit to locate the route in the first place. In fact, we met another team of two who went up a wrong crack way way to the right of the actual route (just a few yards after you exit the class 4 gully from the main approach gully). They had to sacrifice some gear to bail after a pitch.

Hats and balls off to you two!

One is most often trying to "solve a problem" in both climbing and science/math/geek. A hard bouldering problem is like a hard but short calculus problem. Once you learn a set of skills, you put them together to "solve a bigger problem" - either a multi-pitch climb or doing a big semester project. You write reports after doing both . Doing a first ascent is equivalent to doing your thesis (or original research)!! . All the talk about 1-1, 3-1, C or Z pullyes, equalized achors etc. come directly from mechanical engg (or high school physics). There are several more similarities/parallellisms that one could think about. Climbing sure is a geek activity!!

He was moving so fast I couldn't even ask his name. I don't think Dan caught his name either. Someone told me about Peter Croft's famous trip when I mentioned about our trip. I couldn't find a good picture of Peter Croft on the web to compare (I did get a good look at Mr. Ponytail).

This is news thats a little old, but I think its still inspiring. On Tuesday, August 16, danielpatricksmith and I did Prusik WR car-to-car. I met Dan at the Snow Creek parking lot at 5:30 am. A few minutes before that, I saw a guy pull up in a truck. I said hi to him and noticed his ponytail as I passed him near the outhouse. In a few minutes, he started running in a direction opposite to the trail. It was still a little dark, and hence I didn't notice his daypack. I forgot about him soon, dismissing him off as a local who had come for an early morning jog. A few hours, miles of trail, and the first four pitches of Prusik WR later, I was at the base of the last pitch belaying Dan. Suddenly, I notice a lonely figure coming up the crux pitch below and traversing the easier pitch 4 up to me. The ponytail was hard to miss as he approached me, and I realized that this was the same "early morning jogger" whom I met in the morning. He was wearing La Sportive Mythos, had his hands taped (for climbing crack), and had a chalk bag dangling from his waist. He said hi to me. "Did you climb something else this morning? I think I saw you in the parking lot at 5:00 am!" - I said. "Oh yea.. I climbed Serpentine Ridge on Dragontail before this one. I'm trying to link up Dragontail, Prusik, and Snow Creek Wall. I was thinking of doing the South Face here (Prusik), but its kind of too warm - and my hands are sweaty!" I was still trying to bite what he offered when he asked me - "Do you mind if I go ahead of you?". I said no problem, and shouted to Dan, telling him there is a guy coming up the pitch, "Solo" (with emphasis on solo). Dan was a little perplexed. A short wait of about 10 seconds later, I head Dan shouting back to me - "Where is he?" "Right here" - says Mr. Ponytail as he sped up the lower portion of the pitch and was facing Dan at that point. I meet him again at the summit, and he was getting ready to go down. We offered him water, but he said he had plenty at the base of the route. As Dan and I settled down to grab a bite, Mr Ponytail was on his way downclimbing the Prusik WR. I learned from the conversations which Dan had with him that he was planning to climb Outer Space after Prusik. We rapped down, and started our long trudge back to car. After a few more hours, we were almost there, and could see the parking lot. But our feet were feeling it real bad. My heel as well as a few toes were starting to get blistered. I could feel Dan grunting on and off as he was fighting his own blisters and pain. Then we hear almost a galloping sound behind us. We turn back and see Mr. Ponytail running past us at full speed. "Almost there guys!" were his words of encouragement to us mere mortals. I noticed his daypack as he sped past us and around the switchback, and noticed his ice axe. I was feeling my daypack pulling me down for a while now, and thought this dude should be carrying close to nothing! By the time we got back to the parking lot, his truck was gone. Maybe he had to meet someone for dinner at Gustav's! Sitting in front of my wheel and rubbing my toes softly, I could feel the whole day's efforts on each of them, though I was glad we had a great day overall. But I was still finding it hard to believe what Mr Ponytail did in the same time - run up from Snow Creek parking lot to Dragontail, solo Serpentine Ridge, go down Ashgard Pass, solo Prusik WR, downclimb Prusik WR, run to Snow Creek Wall, climb Outer Space, and still had the juice to run at full throttle back to car. In fact, I still find it hard to believe...

Good job Ryan! A nice change from the usual we-made-it-car-to-car-in-someteen-hours kinda TRs. PS: No offence to the car-to-car folks though.

Thanks for posting the link to the Adams directory Justin. I downsized all the original jpeg files (and saved them as gifs) recently, but forgot about the links that I gave in my post above. The links are corrected now. PS: You home page is nice!

Anybody knows what condition the WR couloir on Forbidden is in? Planning to attempt it next weekend (Aug 20). Will be taking crampons and ice axe. Anything else necessary this time of the year (screws)? If the couloir is out of shape, can we climb rock/choss on its side? If yes, which side? What would you rate this alternate approach as? Any info would be much appreciated .

Awesome! Thanks for the pictures and TR. I would like to give this route a go later this month (hope it'll stay in decent shape for three more weeks ) Clint, when are you heading back to AK?

I might be able to join you Matt. PM/email me details.

Super awesome job! Thanks for the great pictures too. In fact I'm there in the madding crowd (in the Camp Muir photo). Unfortunately, my friend got badly sick due to altitude (I think she got a minor case of HAPE - at least the symptoms indicated that). We probably took one of the longest times out in the upper mountain, but she managed to get down in one piece. Apart from that, I had a great climb on a near perfect night/day.

I went up with two newbies that weekend (two weekends back from now). We did not go up from high camp, but the route looked pretty straightforward. There were a few crevasses, but the route around them looked pretty obvious. Another team of two summitted that day. They had high winds (~ 80 mph apparently) above the false summit. They said a guided team coming up the South Spur turned back at the false summit due to the winds. The weather has been pretty stable between then and now. I would guess that the Mazama glacier would still be in good shape - even for newbies. Here are a couple of pictures - overview and close up of the Mazama glacier.

GOOD HEAVENS!! Glad to know you got out okay.

We got rained out the second day of our traverse. The weather didn't look all that promising the third morning either, and hence we retreated from our camp at White Rocks lake and followed the Downey creek all the way down (Beckey talks about this escape from the PT). We gained a high pass (~ 6500') West of White Rocks lake, and from there, we basically followed the Downey creek, keeping to its South side (on its left side while going down). There are some high rock cliffs to descend at ~ 4800'. These are quite vertical, but there is enough vegetation to hold on to. The last bit of bare rock was interesting, but we managed without using a rope. From there, it took us close to six hours of heavy bushwhacking to hit the intersection of Bachelor's creek and Downey creek (where the trail starts). No major suggestions on that - just choose the path of least resistance, keep going, beat all the thorny bushes down, and still keep going . The trail from then on was a gradual roll down for six more miles. Overall, it took us a little over 12 hrs to get to the car from camp. NOLSe should be able to provide more details.