fgw

Cave Route is also kind of a cool route there. Could do Round River, Marsup. Trav., & then CR.

I noticed that star ratings can imply different things in different areas. For example, in Watt's guidebook as the star rating drops, so does the soundness of the rock in the main area. In the Gorge, seems 1- or 2- star routes are still nice & on good rock though usually not as sustained as 3- to 4-stars ones.

Community Pillar has one 5.9 section on first pitch = a squeeze (more like 5.7 if you're under 150 lbs) and the rest is <5.8 with some runouts on wide stuff. 3/5 stars at best. entertaining TR on Lady Wilson's C: here

I know - that's how I meant it. For me it's "tricky or quirky moves" on that one.

Blood Clot in Lower Gorge feels a bit different than other 10b's around there.

It's Smith Rock Group. Josh got it right - it's the 4-star 5th pitch (5.9 dihedral) of Snibble Tower (other pitches get no stars per Watts).

Sorry for poor picture quality. "No" on the white satin. It's hands to fingers to very short wide slot.

Not Trezlar.

Wrong wall Winter. Good star rating but pretty obscure.

"No" on all 3 so far.

what about this one? (probably too easy)

Doctor doom. That looks fun.

Brain Salad Surgery??

Nice! fun looking stuff!!

Think I would get more excited if a state-wide book similar to Nick Dodge's old guidebook came out. A more thorough x-section of climbing in the state. For ex., include some adventure choss in a state-wide guidebook. If you're going to write something with a title like "Oregon Rock", include a more thorough set of routes. The 3-volume series by Orton is good, I esp. like the volume with Jim Anglin's Menagerie guide (new sport line development & historical aid lines). Wish these guys would write a 4th volume to cover the rest of the state.

"first ed single vol from Brjonstad" GREAT book with beautiful photos (b&w) and includes much stuff that is illegal to climb now. Almost worth the $200 it now goes for... C. Burns Select's is another option for a comprehensive single volume guidebook with some inaccuracies (Green's is probably better even if it has fewer desert tower routes). Indian Cr. guidebook (above) has some pretty pictures.

Southwest was having some pretty good deals to reno as of last Sunday. Best was something like $80 rt + all the taxes ~ $100+/person rt.

What about the 96-foot band pitch on South Face route on Saint Peters Dome (gorge)? LOOKS kinda sandbagged at A2??

Last summer, a total of 3 parties (incl. us) converged on the same sunny Sunday on the E. Face of Minuteman Tower. Weird

Did the route a week prior to you and essentially had the same issues and did the same "variation" (down to having to pendulum left to reach the crest of the Fin). Nice TR.

Guess my wife and I ran into you guys on Sat. morning. Glad to read you had a good climb. Backbone was great.

that after-work stuff is top notch!

J., nice job on the Finger Of Fate! Looking forward to trying it.

Climb: Inspiration Peak-East Ridge Date of Climb: 7/2/2006 Trip Report: My wife and I climbed Inspiration Peak via E. Ridge over the 4th Weekend. This was our 2nd alpine outing since last year and so we were suffering on the approach. Started the hike in on Saturday following a rich breakfast in Marblemount. The initial ~4 miles that shadow Goodell Cr. make for a pleasant warm-up - nice trail and nice grade. After that, the business started. No water available bet. last stream crossing on the Godell Tr. and the ~5000' bench (big waterfall there – my elevations might be off). We were both suffering. Chatting with two other guys from Seattle who were headed up for W. McMillan made for a nice diversion. By the time we reached the Nelson and Potterfield endorsed camp area, it was close to 8pm. We were slow. As we were racking up for the next day, 4 guys passed by and we bs-ed a bit. They were headed for the W. Ridge of Inspiration. Woke up at 5am on Sunday and were hiking & losing elevation by 5:30am. Not exactly an alpine start but we figured we’ll catch up once on the ridge (not quite). We were about 15 minutes behind the 4 guys headed for W. Ridge. Down and then back up we went. Glacier crossing was fairly trivial – nicely covered up and no huge moat near the start of East Ridge. We started up the rock at (probably) about 10 am. 3 or 4 pitches to reach the notch (bet. Inspiration and the closest tower) is probably right on. We simuled the first 400 feet or so and then pitched out for the next two rope lengths. Probably was off-route (though I saw a fixed nut – only piece of fixed gear on the route) on this final pitch as the terrain got kinda hard (5.8+ ?) and really loose. At one point I nearly pitched off as I grabbed a hold and a 2X3 foot block came out of the rock face. Gently set it in a crack away from the rope. Once on the ridge, the nature of the rock changed: abundant cracks and mostly solid stuff. 5.8 lieback was next which was harder than I thought it should be – I’m blaming it on my pack. Our choice of backpacks was one stupid mistake (of many) we did on this climb. Planning on a 4-day itinerary, we both brought pretty large packs with large internal frames. In short, with helmets on we really could not turn our heads to look up. Stupid. The 5.8 pitch brought us to the base of the STELLAR looking hand crack - #2 to #3 Camalots mostly (some thinner stuff higher). I led off but once near the top could not decide where to go – left or right? Ended up tension traversing (weak and tired) to the right crack and up to the notch. Couple short and easy pitches brought us to the west side of the false summit. Next came the best part of the day: the low 5th traverse from false to true summit which itself is an incredible sight with its overhanging south face. About 8 to 10 pitches in all if you don’t do any simulclimbing. It was about 4 pm when we started down the west ridge – yeah, slow. The initial 3 or 4 raps went smoothly. Nice established rap stations. At this point, a snow gully appeared on the north side of the west ridge. The fixed anchors seem to run out (people drop down the south face at this point?). We wasted time scrambling around looking for the best way down. Finally spotted an old nest of slings. Two more raps and I could see that the next rap (plentiful slings visible from above) would bring us to the glacier. Happily rapped to it (~58 meters) only to find that the slings were total shit – I tore two of them with my hands. The downside of the situation was that the slings were slung around a 15-foot block. Out went the final cordallette but the set up looked flimsy and after searching around for alternatives, I made an expensive choice to back up the final rap station (merry Xmas to the next party through there). We switched to boots and crampons and rapped 60 meters onto a snow tongue protruding out of Terror Glacier into a gully. I found a decent landing zone on a tiny rock stance inside the moat. My wife came down and ducked as much as possible inside the moat. The ropes dropped smoothly until one end caught some blocks dislodging them. The last thing I saw was a 2X2 chunk of rock flying towards me 20 feet above as I was trying to squeeze deeper into the moat. The block bounced off the rock face above my head and harmlessly hit the snow. It was 7pm when we started down the glacier. Some route finding issues low on the snowfield were finally resolved and we made it back to camp in darkness (11pm??). Hiked out the next morning. Three days of perfect weather and probably the most memorable climb to date. Gear Notes: Crux crack takes #2 and #3 Camalots - doubles in these are nice. Standard rack otherwise. May need to build/supplement rap anchors.

The earliest I've been up there was 4th of July in 04 (Mounties Route). Might want to give Finger Of Fate a shot (need high clearance to get in or you'll need to do some painful additional 5mile approaching) - at most you'll waste a day and you'll have a good feel for conditions in the range. If you go to www.idahosummits.com, the guy has links to various webcams in ID including one in Stanley pointed at the SAwtooths. John's posted a ton of topos for SAwtooths here and there's more beta on summitpost: http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/171128/sawtooth-range.html Not sure about Big Sandy TH. IF you get in, E. Ridge of Wolfshead really is a classic climb. Much of it is 4th class but still memorable. NE Face of Pingora felt kinda overhyped in my opinion but worth doing once you get in there. The guidebook topo was a bit off (shoot me pm if interested, I'll give you more details). NE Face of Warbonnet (5.7, though it looks good from below) was a chossy adventure climb. Feather Traverse (5.10) looks better though. DT will be scorching hot but probably OK if you stick to the shade. Some classic lines (incl. El Matador) are closed I think till July??