Jeff_T

Very cool corvallisclimb. How many of those heads are left on the A4 variation? I could only see one from the ground. We were originally going to do N.A. Direct, but it was occupied

Peter_Puget - You might be right. I don't recall having to make any really hard moves on that pitch. I must have used one of those old bolts. Boadman - I don't think we held anyone up. If so, my apologies.

Heh...well after looking at my last TR I guess I did lead p1 of Narrow Arrow Overhang last time. Don't what the hell I did, but I guess it worked. Hmmm, I thought I was supposed to get better with more experience lol. http://www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=1522&fullsize=1

It sure was nice to climb at Index without the rain. I had been wanting to climb 10% Meterological Vinculation for a while now and finally got around to it. I was going to do the route from the true start, but it really looked nasty and not fun. Seemed like a much better idea to start up Japanese Gardens and then move over to 10%. It was great fun, a lot of little pro and a few hook moves. Probably one of the harder aid routes that I've done. Also got a chance to climb Iron Horse which was another one on my list. It was a much more relaxing route than 10%. The only spicy part was about half way up. Had to do an interesting move with a cam hook in an undercling, which worked really well, then onto some dicey gear. Great route. Maybe next time I'll see if I can get myself to go up the tiny seam on the left above the first anchor. I also tried Narrow Arrow Overhang, which I climbed a couple of years ago. Last time I climbed p2, this time I tried p1. Well, I made it about half way and got to the 2nd bolt and just hit a brick wall. The only place I could see to get any gear in was a slimy, expanding crack. I had to top step just to try to get an offset Alien in there and it just wasn't going to happen. No idea how my partner made it past this last time. Climbing was great. Weather turned out beautiful, even if it did start out a little chilly and windy. Good times. Pics: http://www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=60

By the way, if anyone happens to step on a #6 BD micronut at the bottom of City Park, I would appreciate getting it back TIA, Jeff

Actually, it wasn't too bad compared to last year. Most of the rain came when we were on the way down. Jeff

First, the pics (Sorry, I can't seem to get them in the right order): http://www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=55 Weekend before last, Chris and I headed up to Index to brush the cobwebs off our aid gear. It rained like hell last year, and I was expecting the same this year, but fortunately it wasn't too bad. It only began to really come down when we were rapping down. Some blue skies even appeared at times. City Park is such a nice route to warm up on. Last year, I didn't lead the first pitch, so I thought I would this year and it definitely lived up to it's reputation. I was thinking about using Leeper cams on the way up, but it was so easy dropping nuts in that I just kept moving. Before I knew it I was at the belay getting settled in. Chris led the second pitch, which I think is a little harder. It's pretty thin at the start and the route changes quite a bit further up, throwing in some free moves here and there. It gets pretty wet in places, and I know Chris had loads of fun on this one at times! After I joined Chris at the second belay, we had to decide if we were going to head up City Park p3 or climb Sloe Children. City Park was off to the right and from what we could tell, didn't look so hot. Sloe Children looked like a very nice line up from the belay and from what I hear is much more popular. After getting a ways up S.C. I realized we had made a good choice, as I thought City Park looked kind of crappy. So right off the belay, Sloe Children is thiiiiiiinn! The only thing that would fit in that crack at the bottom would be a knifeblade or something. I decided to aid off the bolt and forgo the public flogging I would have received for hammering on the LTW Even while aiding off the bolt I had to place a pretty small piece of gear since the crack hadn't opened up a whole lot. The route continues straight up staying pretty thin most of the way. I really wished I had more tiny cams for p3 since it doesn't take nuts nearly as easily as p1. I backcleaned a few times and got creative with the nuts and it worked out. I did have one nut blow out though and I got to take a nice 15 foot trip, which somehow ripped my shoe off. I got lucky and it happened to land in my lap.... So things are going along pretty well again until I realize that the crack peters out about 5 feet below the belay and you have to make a tough mantle move onto a small ledge. Probably not that bad on a free route, but going from aid to free made it pretty hard. It was really discouraging because I figured I was definitely going to have to head down. But since I had a few solid pieces in below, I thought I'd give it a try. I loosened up my daisy all the way and moved up....I teetered for a few seconds and finally was able to grab the chains. I figure I'd probably fall 5 times out of 10 trying to make that move. Chris cleaned p3 and joined me at the belay. We may have considered climbing p4, but it didn't look particularily appetizing. I think there are some newer free routes up there that are 5.way too hard for me. Besides, it was starting to rain. We rapped down and headed out to grab some dinner at Zeke's. It was a great route, which I would highly recommend. P2 may not be the best, but getting to climb Sloe Children makes it worthwhile. Jeff

Heh, I was wondering when someone was going to catch that! The nut that's hanging there got pulled out when I forgot to unclip my daisy when moving up to the next piece. Thanks for the tip. I guess I was focusing on the "aid" part and forgetting some of the basics.... Jeff

Thanks for the vote of confidence. My biggest concern is that we were moving pretty slow. Although, we knew we were only going to climb two pitches and weren't in too much of a hurry. I suppose if we were on Town Crier, we would be motivated to move a bit faster. Jeff

Trip: Index LTW - Narrow Arrow Overhang Date: 6/9/2007 Trip Report: Steve and I headed out last Saturday to try something at Index that was a bit harder than City Park. Since the weather wasn't the greatest, we had the place to ourselves and ended up choosing Narrow Arrow Overhang (C2). I lead the first pitch, which got off to a rather slow start. Getting up to the start of the crack was rather awkward in boots and a full aid rack. After managing to scrap my way up to the crack, I realized that this was definitely going to be more challenging than City Park. The crack took lots of nuts, but mostly really small ones. I found that the BD micronuts worked the best. I was very happy to place a bomber #1 Camalot in a horizontal crack higher up on the route. Much better than the tiny Alien I had to place in a pin scar with only half the lobes engaged! Needless to say I was quite happy to reach the belay and try out Steve's new belay seat (Thanks Steve!!!). Steve took on the challenge of leading the roof on the second pitch after quickly cleaning the first pitch. We had practiced aiding the roof at Marymoor, but this still seemed pretty difficult. Steve made his way up, also having to make some difficult placements. He was able to make some free moves so that sped things up. After I cleaned the second pitch, we stood at the second belay and decided to head down. The third pitch, which I believe is actually part of Narrow Arrow Direct, has a chimney that opens up pretty big. We weren't sure that we had the gear to aid it or the free climbing ability (or strength left!) to climb it, so we called it a day. I was really happy with this climb and definitely recommend it. I think next time we'll try Ironhorse or Stern Farmer. Definitely need more practice before Town Crier. Check out the pics at http://www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=47 See all my pics at www.cascadesclimber.com Jeff Gear Notes: Probably way more than we needed. Lots of nuts required. Approach Notes: Park the car and wake up people "camping" in parking lot. Walk across railroad tracks.

Trip: Index LTW - City Park Date: 3/24/2007 Trip Report: We headed out to Index on a nice rainy day knowing we would have the place to ourselves....so what about the buckets of rain coming down, right??? The first pitch seemed pretty straight forward. Although since the rock was wet, the start of the route up to the bolt ladder had to be aided. Once Steve was at the belay, I cleaned the route. Not real quickly...I gotta work on my jugging technique. I led up the second pitch. After reaching an old 1/4" bolt, I had a couple of different cracks I could go up. Not sure if the one I chose was the best. I decided to go up a thin crack to the left. It took micro nuts at first then larger pro further up. Getting up on the ledge near the top was pretty tough. I had to top step and really reach to make a blind nut placement. Soon after that I was able to make a few free moves and reach the belay. The third pitch looked pretty straightforward, but we figured at our current snail's pace, we may be coming down in the dark (and pouring rain)...something I did not look forward to. We decided to call it a day and headed down. It ended up being a great climb, even though we got completely soaked. Here's the pics: http://www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=41 Jeff Gear Notes: Used a lot of mid-size nuts, a couple micro nuts, .75 - 2 Camalots, offset Friends, HB offsets, and a whole bunch of other crap that I can't think of right now. We took way more gear than required. Approach Notes: Huddle under tarp hanging off car while getting ready, try not to get run over by train that comes just as we are heading out, endure grueling 100ft approach trail.

Since somebody mentioned urine.....would the above methods work for removing cat urine as well? Could there have been any damage done since it looks like it has been a day or two since it happened? I loathe cats. Jeff www.cascadesclimber.com/coppermine

Not to get too far off topic, but can anyone recommend a good camera case? I like the Ewa-Marine bags, but they are very expensive. Maybe I'll just keep the camera in the case unless the weather is nice Jeff

Sweeet. Thanks!

Wow...never expected so many respones. Thanks for all the great info guys. Jeff