denalidevo

Went that way the first time I did the route. It's definitely easier. Thought we'd give the hardman version a try this time and got spanked!

Trip: Index Upper Town Wall - Davis Holland - Lovin' Arms Date: 7/7/2013 Trip Report: After spending eight days on Mount Rainier, it was nice to get on granite over the weekend. Highlight was climbing on the UTW Sunday. Freakin' love Index! The short of it: David Holland - Lovin' Arms, 5.10c A0 Left parking lot at 7:58 am. UTW base 8:30 am. Climbing at 9 am. P1, 5.9 - Chad. P2, 5.10b - me. P3, 5.10c - Chad. P4, 5.10b - me. P5, 5.11b - Chad w/ a fall and aid. Me w/ falls and aid. I hurt my left shoulder & used primarily my right arm to finish the pitch. P6, 5.9 - Chad only, I was done. He topped out just before 2:00 pm. We rappelled using rap stations down the face left of the DH/LA route and the reached the ground at 2:38 pm. Photos: Pitch one Top of pitch two Pitch three Pitch four Pitch five Pitch six Gear Notes: No crampons or ice axe! Approach Notes: No snow!

Mesa Verde Wall is my favorite sport wall at Smith. Moons of Pluto!

If you like FGB, then you'd probably enjoy Scary Llamas on Phoenix Wall. Super fun!

But the second pitch of TBP is the money pitch! Highly recommend it. :tup:

FYI the second pitch of Teddy Bear's Picnic puts you nowhere near Free Lunch. FL diverges from TBP on pitch one.

Trip: Smith Rock - Doubling down at Smith: March 9-10 and 15-17 Date: 3/9/2013 Trip Report: Finally got outside this March. It's been an unusually wet winter and my last instance of climbing on the real thing was Trout Creek last October with JP - too long! Been training hard at the gym but that only goes so far, so it was with a little luck and a lot of motivation that I managed to make forays to Smith Rock on two consecutive weekends. March 9-10 I went down with Josh and Jason. We stayed at the Ruana's house in Terrebonne, which afforded a nice view of Smith. VIEW FROM RUANA HOUSE Josh's current project was Churning in the Wake (5.13a) and I had dreams of sending Magic Light (5.11a), so we spent the majority of our weekend working those two climbs at Churning Buttress, using Nine Gallon Buckets (5.10c) as a warmup. The only other route I climbed the first weekend was Wedding Day (5.10b). On Saturday I TR'd Magic Light with disappointing results, but Sunday saw improvements: I led it twice and on the second attempt I made it to the sixth bolt before having to rest. I left with the hope of returning soon and chipping away at it a little more... JASON: "I WANNA CLIMB OUTSIDE SO BAD I COULD HIT YOU" BEAUTIFUL SMITH ROCK JOSH WORKING CHURNING IN THE WAKE LAST LOOK Even before leaving the park Sunday I'd sent an email off to JP about climbing the next weekend, and so it was that I found myself making the six hour commute that following Friday. ROAD FOOD - YUMMY! NICE VIEW OF HOOD March 15-16 with JP was just an awesome time. First, JP and I really like climbing with each other and second, we climbed some really fun routes. I met JP at noon at Redpoint climbing. Love that restroom! THIS ROOM'S GOT CHARACTER We quickly headed to the park, pitched camp at the bivy and trekked down the canyon to see what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into that afternoon. VIEW FROM THE BIVY CAMP JP - LET'S GO! HIGH-LINE ABOVE ONE OF THE GULLIES We wandered over to Churning/Morning Glory area and found it uncharacteristically uncrowded. Hopped right on Light on the Path (10a), Five Gallon Buckets (5.8) and The Outsiders (5.9) with nary a pause between. The only struggle of the afternoon came when I messed up the sequence on the ever tricky Gumby (10b - sandbagged?), though I sailed through the Morning Sky extension (10c) smoothly. MORNING GLORY JP ON FIVE GALLON BUCKETS Back at camp we ran into an old friend over dinner. OUR GUARDIAN CANDLE MADE IT TO SMITH Saturday was a brilliant day. Started things out in the sun on Picnic Lunch wall with a romp up Honey Pot (5.9) and two pitches of Teddy Bear's Picnic (5.10c). PICNIC LUNCH WALL JP ON P2 OF TEDDY BEAR'S PICNIC [video:youtube]eC1N-CtfmJM Finished at Picnic Lunch, we wandered over to Churning Buttress where I was hoping to give Magic Light another go. There was a fair amount of activity when we arrived, but I didn't have to wait too long. We watched a few folks climb it, eventually it was my turn. My strategy was to climb as quickly through the lower bit as I could and manage the first crux - a delicate crimp traverse - with as little burn as possible. Above that I would pace myself through the middle section - mostly powerful moves on solid jugs - with the hope that I could gain a new high point somewhere in the second crux where the climbing relied more on side pulls and stamina draining body tension. My footwork was uncharacteristically sloppy at first, probably a result of my haste, but began to settle down by the time I reached the traverse. I managed to weather the crimps and the powerful move into the juggy section, but felt like I was working harder than necessary - oh well. I must've paced myself well enough through the middle section though, cause I found myself at the sixth bolt (my previous high point) feeling just confident enough to continue moving through the taxing side pulls. Time to climb or fly: my pump was full on and I barely managed to clip the final bolt. At this point I was grunting loudly at every move; everyone around probably thought I was sending some heinous 5.13! A few more strenuous side pulls and I gained a rest at a large flake. That's when I realized I was gonna' make the red point. After several deep shakes of my swollen forearms I pulled the final moves to the chains. Can't deny that I was pretty psyched and frankly a tad surprised to have gotten it clean on my first attempt of the day. Gotta find a new project now! MY FIRST SMITH 5.11 RED POINT: MAGIC LIGHT MORNING GLORY/CHURNING BUTTRESS JP took a turn working the moves on TR and then we headed off to easier territory: a link up of Gingersnap/Cry Baby (5.9). JP led, I swiftly followed, then we simul-rapped in one fell swoop to the ground. Pretty slick. Time for dinner at Terrebonne Depot, which JP graciously bought in celebration of my success on Magic Light. Thanks bud! THE FARM BURGER - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Sunday came sunny but much cooler and windy. It'd actually snowed a bit overnight. ALL BUNDLED UP AND READY TO SEND We spent our last climbing day at Phoenix Wall, a new spot for me. I led Scary Llamas (5.8) and The Phoenix (5.10a) and worked License to Bolt (5.11c) on TR, though I never managed the crux move. We moved on when the shade enveloped us, ultimately deciding to get an early start homeward. What fun, good times. HARD TO LEAVE THIS CLIMBER'S PARADISE More photos: my Smith Rock March 2013 photo set on Flickr » Gear Notes: Rope, draws, shoes, harness, stick clip, iPhone for photos and tweets Approach Notes: Walk in, walk out.

Trip: Road to Hana, Maui - FA: Men's Room Date: 1/16/2013 Trip Report: On vacation in Hawaii, but couldn't pass up the chance to crush. Who said there wasn't any climbing on Maui? Gear Notes: Straw hat required Approach Notes: Can you handle the Road to Hana?

Trip: Trout Creek - 3 days of off-fingers, off-hands and off-width Date: 10/19/2012 Trip Report: With the idea in mind that the only way to improve our climbing abilities in all things off-sized, JP and I took off to Trout for some concerted practice climbing on "everything we suck at" - rattly fingers, thin jams and OW's. Challenges were met, some improvements made and a few successes were had. Fri Oct 19: We warmed up on Plumbline (5.9), a nice double crack climb, then we TR'd the right (thin fingers, 5.10-) and left sides (7" OW) for practice. PLUMBLINE 5.9 - THE RIGHT SIDE IS DIRECTLY ABOVE THE ROPE IN THE PHOTO HEY JP, HOW WIDE IS PLUMBLINE, LEFT? After Plumbline, we took turns leading Lively Up Yourself (5.10-), a straight-in thin to wide hand crack. The first four cams were all .75 Camalots - just what the doctor ordered! I took a small fall on my second cam, then managed to work my way through the remaining insecure finger locks to the solid (yet pumpy) hand jams at the top. JP PRE-PLACING THE FIRST OF MANY GREEN CAMALOTS ON LIVELY UP YOURSELF RING LOCKS - THE START OF LIVELY UP YOURSELF JP then led Sleep Hallow (5.10-), a delightful twin crack/stem box combo. SLEEPY HALLOW FIRE & MOON AT CAMP Sat Oct 20: We warmed up on Gold Rush (5.10-), taking turns leading Trout Creek's signature hand crack. GOLD RUSH - SO YUMMY! Things were busier on the main wall Sat and it was colder. After Gold Rush we took a leisurely break, watching other climbers project routes until it warmed up some more. "BUSY" SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT TROUT Mr. Squiggles was next. One of Trout Creek's best 5.10s, it begins with a ring-lock to thin hand crux. It was a fight from the start, but a bit to my surprise I hung on to the thin locks, managed my increasing forearm pump through the upper hand jams and flashed it. Quite satisfying that! MR. SQUIGGLES From the Mr. Squiggles anchors we TR'd Suzuki, a strenuous 5.10+ double crack. SUZUKI CLIMBERS ON TROUT CREEK'S MAIN WALL CRACK CLIMBER'S PARADISE Sun Oct 21: Was a very cold morning. We woke up, built a fire, drank an extra cup of coffee and waited for it to warm up before setting out for the crag, looking to get just a little more climbing in before heading home. I led Electric Chair (5.9), another double crack with good stances, solid jamming and the ability to TR several neighboring climbs. We concluded our trip with TR laps on Gas Chamber (5.10), a sustained, classic 6-7" OW. JP climbed it quite beautifully, I hung once. JP READY FOR SOME OW! JP ON GAS CHAMBER After Gas Chamber we were thoroughly thrashed, so we bid a fond farewell to each other and the Trout. Good times! More photos: my Trout Creek October 2012 photo set on Flickr » Gear Notes: "Quadruple +" rack of cams from .4 - 3.5 inches. We TR'd all the OW's. Approach Notes: Ascending 800 vert. ft. everyday to the crag kinda' sucks, but it's worth it! (Stashing the rack at the base helps.)

Yeah, when I first climbed SD 8 years ago it was insane and I actually tethered to the cables for fear a touron in flip flops would knock me off. This year we climbed it on a Wednesday and the Park now requires passes for the cable route 7 days a week. That probably cuts down on the crowds. Been looking at the SF of ND, prob link that w/ RA next year... Re: our descent - some friends went cragging in Tuolumne for the day and picked us up at the Porcupine Creek TH, so we didn't go down the ND gully. Pretty slick that.

Trip: Yosemite - Recap: 8th Annual Fall Pilgrimage to The Valley Date: 9/23/2012 Trip Report: Climbed in The Valley and Tuolumne Sep 23 - Oct 7. Record high temp's for most of our stay, but it didn't rain this time 'round! Climbed almost every day, seeking shade where possible; chilled out when it got too hot. Pretty leisurely and relaxing trip overall. Personal highlights were red-pointing Moby Dick and linking Royal Arches to Crest Jewel. Good times! Tick list: The Grack Nutcracker Little John, Left Pee Pee Pillar Snake Dike Moby Dick Ahab (utter fail on TR) Sherrie's Crack Regular Rte., Higher Cathedral Spire Bishop's Terrace Uncle Fanny Harry Daley Chouinard Crack Little John, Right West Crack, Daff Dome Nurdle Suds Golden Needles Royal Arches to Crest Jewel Photo onslaught begins... Nutcracker: TONY ON P1 El Cap Base: JP LEADING LITTLE JOHN, LEFT Snake Dike: 3RD CLASS SLABS FOREVER HALF DOME SUMMIT HALF DOME, MT. BRODERICK, LIBERTY CAP, NEVADA FALLS TONY EXHIBITING SIGNS OF ACUTE POST-SNAKE-HIKE BLUES LOOK MA, WE CLIMBED THAT! Moby Dick: finally got the bugger clean! READY FOR MY O.W. BATTLE Pat & Jack's Pinnacle: TONY LEADING NURDLE Higher Cathedral Spire: TONY ON P3 El Cap Base: KURT ON LITTLE JOHN, RIGHT CLIMBER DOING THE KING SWING ON EL CAP West Crack, Daff Dome: KURT ON P2 FAIRVIEW DOME AND CATHEDRAL PEAK FROM DAFF Crest Jewel (via Royal Arches): LOOKING UP P6 Link: Browse all 108 photos in my Yosemite 2012 photo set on Flickr » Gear Notes: Only where necessary Approach Notes: Up early, in bed early

Trip: Squamish - Grand Wall, The Great Game, Centrefold and more Date: 7/26/2012 Trip Report: This summer I finally decided it'd just been too long (8 years!) since I'd climbed at Squamish, so I arranged for some time off the final week of July. Of course it rained the first four days and I ended up cragging in Leavenworth instead, but when the weather improved Micah and I were able to get a solid four days of climbing in at Canada's granite paradise. Here's what went down. Thu 7/26 Drove to BC, arrived that afternoon and cragged at Murrin Park: The World's Toughest Milkman, 5.9 Geneside, 5.10b Genesis, 5.10a Fri 7/27 Climbed Apron Strings/The Grand Wall, III 5.11a A0. I led: P1 of Apron Strings 5.10b P1 of Grand Wall (Merci Me) 5.7 R P3 - 5.10b traverse P4 - The Split Pillar 5.10b P7 - The Flats 5.10a I took a small fall while leading p1 of Apron Strings, but we on-sighted the remaining 5.10 pitches. The Sword and Perry's Layback pitches went free with some extra effort. Overall we moved well, climbing the ten pitches in approx. 6.5 hrs. The Split Pillar was one of the best jam cracks I've ever led - felt easier than 10b to me, but I love jam cracks (and can't understand why anyone would ever lieback this gorgeous splitter). The 11a pitches were burly though - need to work on my layback endurance! LEADING P1, GRAND WALL (MERCI ME) LEADING P3 MICAH ON THE SPLIT PILLAR MICAH LEADING PERRY'S LAYBACK Sat 7/28 We climbed The Great Game, II 5.10d at Slhanay. I led pitches two (5.8) and four (.10c). I followed the first pitch - a strenuous .10d traverse on solid fingers locks - cleanly though it cost me a bit of flesh. On pitch three - a thin .10c finger lieback with slick feet - I slipped a few times but finally made the spicy final moves to the anchor. The fourth pitch involved some burly .10c moves up a steep headwall on bomber jugs - super fun! MICAH LEADING P1, THE GREAT GAME MICAH ON P2 VIEW OF THE CHIEF FROM SLHANAY Sun 7/29 On our way out of town that morning we squeezed in three more pitches, climbing Centrefold, II 5.10b at The Papoose. I led pitch one (10b) and three (10a), the latter being particularly memorable: spicy runout friction slab with bolts in just the right spots. Another fine climb and a great way to end our trip. SO GOOD TO BE BACK IN SQUAMISH! More photos: Squamish July 2012 photo set on Flickr >> Gear Notes: Rope gun (Micah), lots of cams Approach Notes: Walk some, climb a lot

Yeah - both Peter and I'd done the "alternate" start in the past climbing the Stanley/Burgner, and we were jonesin' to climb the chimney. Didn't think the chimney was hard, though definitely not as easy to protect.

Trip: Prusik Peak, South Face - Beckey/Davis Date: 9/1/2012 Trip Report: Around 9am Saturday September 1, 2012 Peter and I descended from our bivy atop Dragontail Peak (which we'd climbed via Backbone Ridge on Friday ) and began making our way to the South Face of Prusik to climb the Beckey/Davis route. Along the way, near Aasgard Pass, we cooked up a little coffee and breakfast, enjoying another gorgeous day in the Enchantments. NEAR PRUSIK PASS At 11:30 we were at the base of the West Ridge, sorting gear, hanging packs in trees. By noon Peter was leading the first pitch, a 5.8 chimney. MORE WIDE FOR PETER I followed, right side in - that seemed the easiest way, allowing use of another crack for stemming and facing the protection. Pitch two began with a bit of knobby face climbing into a right facing corner/flake system, about 5.7 I'd say. We ran the middle pitches - a series of corner systems and grooves - a bit short, navigating by feel, steadily moving up and right, away from the Burgner/Stanley route to our left, until we gained Snafflehound Ledge. I led pitch 6 up a vertical crack system, 5.9 I believe, placing a good deal of gear and built a belay about 100ft. up. Peter finished the next bit off, up to a ledge with a tree. PETER FOLLOWING P6 Then I ran up a gully/chimney to a short lieback which deposited me at the base of a sweet looking .10a thin hands crack leading to the summit. Initially I continued up, but realized I didn't have the gear to protect it, so I belayed Peter up, grabbed both pairs of green and red Camalots and then sent it clean! OH YEAH SO SICK! We summited at 5:30pm and promptly began our long descent to the trailhead - ending a tremendous two days of alpine climbing in the Enchantments. GOOD TIMES Gear Notes: Single Camalots .4-#4, doubles from .5-#2. Full set of nuts. Slings: 10 singles, 2 doubles, 1 Cordelette ea. 60m 9.4mm rope Approach Notes: Climbing Dragontail the day before meant we didn't have to hike up Ass-kick Pass.

We did two 30M raps from the large ledge just SE of summit block. We used a 60M 9.4 rope.

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Backbone Ridge w/ Fin Direct Date: 8/31/2012 Trip Report: On Friday August 31, 2012 Peter and I climbed Dragontail Peak via Backbone Ridge/Fin Direct. We'd arrived in Leavenworth early Thursday morning hoping to score an Enchantments permit via the lottery but came up empty, so we reverted to our initial plan of climbing it from the trailhead Friday morning and bivying out of the zone south of the summit that evening. We would continue on and climb Prusik Peak via the Beckey/Davis route the next day. THURSDAY: GEARING UP FOR THE BACKBONE For some reason we opted for a late start, thinking it likely on a holiday weekend there would be other parties who had camped at Colchuck Friday evening and would be queued up well ahead of us, and we preferred to have some space between if such was the case. Either way, we left the TH just after 6 AM and were at the top of the moraine in 3.5 hours, with no sign of any other parties on the mountain. It turned out we would have it all to ourselves for the day. EYE ON THE PRIZE At 10 AM we were crossing hard snow to the base of Backbone Ridge, thankful we had aluminum 'pons strapped to our approach shoes. Several hundred feet of 3rd and 4th-class scrambling brought us to solid rock and at 11 AM we began climbing. I led the first pitch to the base of the infamous OW, though I don't think it was the standard 5.6 corner approach - I think we started a bit lower 'cause it seems I spied it to my left as I climbed by. This was to become a recurrent theme for the day, as much of the route descriptions (we'd brought both the Nelson and Kearney) didn't match a good portion of the terrain we covered. I managed to bloody my nose as well when, while climbing through a small tree on pitch one, a branch went up my left nostril - ouch! Peter'd called the OW pitch and he sent it in good style, walking his brand new #6 Camalot in front of him for the entire upper portion. He led from the middle of the rope and hauled his pack up while I followed wearing mine. That seemed to work quite well, allowing me to push his pack up on the occasion it got stuck. PETER GETTIN' HIS WIDE ON Once above the OW we initially thought we might simul-climb where it seemed appropriate, but we never did - we basically pitched the whole thing out up to the Fin, swinging leads the entire way. For the first couple pitches I tried to follow Nelson's description, but soon gave up - I never could reconcile it to what we were climbing. We basically climbed mostly easy 5th with the occasional 5.7/8 move initially to the left of the crest, then on it. We did climb right next to (but not in) another OW crack - possibly the one mentioned in previous TR's and the Nelson guide, but who knows? Never did the "down and left (exposed 5.8)" maneuver described as pitch 5 and seen in photos. CLIMBING ON UPPER BACKBONE APPROACHING THE FIN By 4 PM I was leading the narrow crest up the base of the Fin as described by Kearney. After this point, we didn't climb either the Nelson or Kearney routes as we had difficulties discerning the features described in the topos. I followed the lower, low-5th/4th-class ledge far to the right and set a belay on a block that had a fixed forged friend in it, then led another pitch of 5.7/8 crumbly face and crack to another ledge system directly above. Peter then led a 5.8/9 crack system on clean rock up the middle of the Fin to a blank slab just right of what I believe is the 5.7 "blocky gendarme" pitch 13 described by Nelson. 5.8 CREST TO THE FIN P1 ON THE FIN I THINK WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE OVER THERE PETER LEADS: ONWARD AND UPWARD THIS ROCK IS GOOD! At this point, in hindsight, we probably should have A0 tensioned left across the slab and gained the notch above the gendarme. Instead we set a belay on the slab and, around 7 PM, I began leading another pitch up and right through a strenuous splitter hand crack - by far the burliest pitch of the day, probably .10a. CRANKING THE HAND CRACK Above these difficulties I encountered a large block slung with cord and two 'biners - obviously a retreat station, but I didn't like the looks of the detached block and began searching for an alternative. Up and left, I climbed easy ground over the crest to gaze enticingly down at a massive ledge above the final gully of the Triple Couloirs. Unfortunately there was a blank, lichen-encrusted slab between me and it. I reversed direction back to the bail block, then down and right over more lichen with cracks for purchase. Time was now becoming an issue; the sun was close to setting and the wind picking up. Another thirty feet to the right and down was a dirty but climbable (5.7?) corner to easy ground, but Peter wasn't keen on following a downward traverse, so back up and left I went again to the crest and with a bit of backwards "à cheval" down the ridge line, I just managed to reach the ledge above the couloir. Peter followed, shivering from a cold belay. Not much daylight left now: on went our headlamps and off I went for the final pitch, up and over some broken blocks, then right, through a gap in the crest back onto the face of the Fin, traversing easy 5th to a final left-facing corner system I believe described by Kearney to the base of the summit scramble. We reached the cozy summit bivy at 9 PM, settled into our bags, cooked dinner and went to bed. I "officially" summited at 7:44 AM Saturday morning, with beautiful views of Stuart, Rainier and the Enchantments. DINNER TIME BEST BED IN THE HOUSE SUMMIT SHOTS Two rappels and some scrambling took us to Aasgard Pass and on to our next objective: the South Face of Prusik Peak. ON TO PRUSIK! Gear Notes: Single Camalots .4-#4, #6 for the OW; doubles from .5-#2. Full set of nuts. Slings: 10 singles, 2 doubles 1 Cordelette ea. Approach Notes: Hard snow between the moraine and ridge required use of crampons. Bypassed snow on descent via two rappels below summit block.

FYI - Last Sat a new route was established to bypass the ladder. It's now quicker to traverse north from the top of the Cleaver to the Emmons shoulder and back than wait at the ladder, which likely won't last much longer...

Thanks! Bring the 'pons, leave the axe. That's kinda what I was thinking based on past TR's.

Planning to get on Backbone this coming weekend. Pondering whether or not ice axe and/or 'pons are necessary for either the approach or descent. I'm planning on wearing approach shoes and am primarily concerned about hard snow/icy patches on the approach. Anybody been up there in the last week or two and can provide insight into conditions?

Looking to crag at Index tomorrow. Available morning ~ 3pm. Coming from Everett, could meet in Monroe.

Depends on what the rope is protecting against, i.e. crevasse fall or steep slopes. If rope is deployed primarily to guard against crevasse hazards, then placing pro is often unnecessary and cumbersome. On steep slopes w/ firm snow, then pro is often the only realistic chance of stopping a fall if roped. If you choose not to place pro in that situation, then you may choose to unrope and let each individual take their chances. This is situationally dependent and a judgement based on the hazards presented and the experience of the party involved. "Rules of thumb" don't supersede situational awareness and good judgement.

Route Conditions: Ingraham Direct

Follow the link here

The accident was on Saturday: accident thread on RCNW.

FYI - a good article on softshell design/purpose: The Best Softshell in the World by Andy Kirkpatrick.