sambataro

thanks for the inspiring photos--went out there today and despite the first wet pitch, the 2nd and 3rd pitches of rattle tale were awesome! it was nice to go somewhere other than the lower wall for once. cheers!

Yup, That was Mark and I as the party of two on the runnels. We decided to climb the TC car to car and left Icicle Creek road at 1:30am and got to Colchuck Lake around 5:30am. We went directly for the runnels since we heard they were fat with "blue ice," but not so much. Here's a photo looking up the first pitch of the runnels: Doesn't look so bad. I went up the icy center rib b/c it looked the most promising for pro and ice, but it was just plastered hard snow in the center so I went up part way, tention traversed right and set up an anchor. Mark followed up and than I got to sit back and watch him go through hell as he aided and scraped his way up 40 ft of rotten rock and snow: Since I didn't have to lead it , its only fair I copy and paste Mark's brief account of it from an email this morning: "I spent about two hours grovelling, aiding and french-freeing my way up a maybe 60ft pitch...The pro was mostly shit - half placed pins, cams in ice-filled cracks that I had to unearth and discover from under the snice, etc. I took many short falls, and one good 10 footer (?) when a cam I was aiding off of popped. The party that had been behind us got into the lower 2nd couloir above us and spindrift and ice was pouring down on Joe and I - I remember one extend period where it was relentlessly flowing and I was hanging off one lame tool placement with no feet (they'd slipped out on me) and I just thought to myself - WTF am I doing here. Finally, the b*&$# gave in and I made a crappy anchor off one half driven long bugaboo and another stubby bugaboo. I prayed that Joe wouldn't weight the anchor too much. I belayed direct off my harness, trying to absorb as much weight as possible off my body. Luckily, he was able to scratch his way up without any hard falls/takes. The third pitch of the runnels was money, as was the second couloir..." ...I had a great time. So, yeah, the third pitch of the runnels was SWEET. Mark belayed me out till I was out of rope and then we simuled to the end of the 2nd couloir. The rest was as decribed by Trogdor. So, in the end, it was awesome. The runnels were an unrecommended hick-up that cost 4+ hours and I wish the ice would have been fat--it made the rap wall seem easy! We hiked out the same "day" for a car-to-car trip of 26 hours. I beat my Becky Choinard trip length by more then a few. Sunday, we lazed around in a haze and TR'd at Alphabet Rock on some warm beautiful granite to wind down the weekend. Ahhh, so nice to skip work today. Cheers, Joe

nice photos!! I as well never posted my trip report to the bugs back in august. Had some great times on McTech Arete, Surfs Up, the Becky Chouinard, and others. PHOTOS!!: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/

Trip: Icicle Creek Canyon - Hubba Hubba, aka The Funnel Date: 12/2/2006 Trip Report: Photos at: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/joe_hubba/ It takes some convincing, but I finally convince Ty to leave the split board and the fabulous backcountry turns behind this beautiful weekend for an attempt at finding some ice. While the powder is guaranteed, good ice isn't until you're right under its nose. 6am at the 65th P&R is a WAC PARTY. Mark, Aaron, and folks are heading up to Stevens (I couldn't convince them...too bad for them) and Ali and Doug are meeting up with some other folks for some backcountry fun. We head to Leavenworth figuring any ice on the west side of the cascades or up at the passes would be buried in the recent snow. Our first sight is Drury Falls. We dion't have a canoe to get across the Wenatchee and despite looking "in," a ton of water is running down the right side, even at a wopping temperature of 11F. We drive on to Icicle Creek. Careno and Rainbow Falls are looking thin so we keep pressing to Bridge Creek Campground. From the road, Hubba Hubba, aka THE FUNNEL, is looking decent. We hedge our bets and hike up, leaving the snow shoes behind. The hour approach takes us much longer as our "beeline" is more of a zig zagging tunnel through shallow unconsolidated snow over branches and boulders. Ty curses me all the way up saying he could be riding some sweet powder. Racking up for ice climbing is always a B%#^. Nevertheless, I finally make my way to ice, sink a tool, and enjoy a short vertical section before it mellows out. Only issue is the ice becomes thin and hollow. My screws are a joke. I hammer in a knifeblade, place another screw, and ignore the runout til Ty yells up I'm out of rope. I dig out a rock under the snow, clean a muddy crack and hammer in the pick of one tool and squeeze in a nut. The guidebook isn''t kidding when it says "a good portion of the ice is a mere 2 inches thick" and "pitons may be needed." After my slow struggle up the first WI3 pitch, Ty takes the second, enjoys a fun step and clears the rest through snow to a tree. We rap down and clear out. My plan to return the next day with Marcus fades away after I pass out in the passenger seat the entire way back. Thanks Ty for driving! Cheers, Joe Gear Notes: Small rack of 10-16mm screws, placed a nut and a knifeblade Approach Notes: Looks closer than it felt trudging through the snow. Unconsolidated but shallow down to the boulders and shrubs. No avi danger and snowshoes weren't necessary--left em in the car.

What a sweet climb it was! I posted more photos at: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/ -Joe

don't check this too often, anyways, what are moms for--i should just stop emailing her the link to my photos, but its kinda entertaining. as for the route mneagle, i summited via gulleys heading south directly beneath the summit for the most part, whether its the standard summer south face route, im not sure. Did you have to traverse NW along the ridge from midnight gulley to reach the summit? Here is that photo I took from the snow-filled meadow: After ascending the gulley on the west, a rock band and narrow gulley continued straight up but I exited east 50 m to gain a wider gulley. At the start of this gulley, a gendarme was on the right. I ascended south and meandered to the summit. Hope thats clear. and, hey dan and dan cheers

nice! I climbed up on Sebastopol when the avi conditions where too bad up on cook and we got weathered off of the strauchon face of dillema in april of 03, so we opted to freeze our hands on rock instead. i have some other reports at: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/New-Zealand have fun down there!

Climb: South Brother-South Face Date of Climb: 2/19/2006 Trip Report: I took a two day trip up to the Brothers this weekend, it doesn't seem like the Olympics get many winter ascents, but this weekend was perfect for the occasion. I saw numerous lines of water ice along the approach up the E fork of Lena Creek, although it looked a little rotten. The gully system up the south face was solid snow/ice, great for going up, but had to downclimb just as carefully from the summit. An amazing trip! I have a lot of respect for the Olympics. After staring out my downtown office window at the Brothers the last few weeks of good weather, it was time to look down on Seattle instead. Check out more details and photos at: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/joe_climbing PS I also put up photos of the N Face of Chair from the weekend previous Gear Notes: -axe and crampons -another tool and a partner would have been nice Approach Notes: -cold temps made all the snow solid on the approach, no need for snowshoes

I wasn't sure where to post this so under "Spray" it is. I just moved back to Seattle after finishing school on the east coast and I need to move out of my parents house in Edmonds pronto. I wasn't even home for a week before I ran down to Smith Rock again for more climbing. I'm checking out craigslist and other sources for places to stay but I figure it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if any fellow climbers are looking for another climber to join their pad. To find out more about me, check out my website: sambataro.net. Whether you wanna boulder, trad climb, sport climb, ice climb, aid climb, or get on some glaciers, I'm keen. I will probably start working for Cascade Land Conservancy sometime this November. Here is the type of housing I'd prefer: -Rent under $500 -A place around Freemont, Wallingford, Capital Hill...basically somewhere close enough to downtown I can walk/bike/bus to work -A place to park my car so I can escape to the mountains (or easy and free on-street parking)

Check it out, let me know what you think: Sambataro.net/outdoor.htm

Just finished a month-long road trip climbing and going thru climbing withdrawal. Should be looking for a job, but the weather in leavenworth and smith looks good this week (I can climb after Tuesday 10-19). Trad, sport, alpine, whatever...find more bout me at sambataro.net

Climb: Gunks, NY-Twilight Zone Date of Climb: 4/20/2005 Trip Report: It may be disputed whether the east coast has mountains, but adventures can be had nonetheless. Where else can you skip a day of uni to climb 20' and 35' roofs? My friend Jeff and I took a weekday trip to the gunks with two goals: aid Twilight Zone (C2/free at 13b) and aid Kansas City (C1/free at 12b). After practicing some aid indoor, it was time for some roofs. Needless to say, it was amazing. Yeah, yeah, its just aid climbing, its not the same as freeing a route. True, but after 2 hours for me to aid Twilight Zone and 2 hours for Jeff to clean it, we had completed the most mentally and physically exhausting pitch in our lives. Just think, you have a 10 pitch 5.10 crack with a A3 roof in the middle (ahem-liberty crack)--you wouldn't want that to stop you. For photos and videos, check out: http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/joe_gunks For a full story visit: http://jeff.robreid.com/albums/20050420/index.html Gear Notes: 1 set of aiders, daisy, easy daisy, full trad rack, 2 ascenders (for follower) Should have used another set of aiders for the leader and a set for the follower to reverse aid a long traverse/roof like this, another easy daisy would have been nice Approach Notes: Walk 15 minutes up carriage road from car