sambataro

Trip: Cascades - Colchuck Balanced Rock/Girth Pillar/Thin Red Line Date: 7/12/2008 Trip Report: Photos http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/ (copy and paste if the link does not work) Here is a 3-in-1 trip report of a few stellar Cascade climbs. While staying with my friend Kyle in Bozeman on an ice climbing trip to Hyalite in January, the plan was hatched: a week of Cascade granite. My job was to develop the tick list. That was the easy part—the list has been accruing dust on a post-it note over my computer at work for a year: West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock, Girth Pillar, and Thin Red Line. And we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The Nelson guide and cc.com have some great info so I’ll keep it short—and of course, the full details are in the photos. Day 1: West Face – Colchuck Balanced Rock This route lives up to its reputation. Needless to say, I’ll go back and do this route anytime—just ask and I’ll drop everything. Its one of the best lines in all the Cascades. We left the car at 5am and returned at 9:30pm. The main bottleneck was that we were the FOURTH team on the route. We took an hour nap at the base of the first pitch, a short 10+, and another hour break waiting for the groups to clear the 5.11 corner crack and aid pitches above. As everyone says, the corner crack is really sustained fingers and small hands so I took a couple hangs. Unfortunately, the traverse pitch under the roof was really wet so Kyle had to aid a bit. Pitch 7 had a beautiful 5.9 crack leading into the 5.12- roof, which he onsighted free! I went for it, missed the awkward hand jam at the lip and took a hang over space, but I’ll definitely try it free next time! The 5.9+ chimney was a hoot (East Face of Lexington and Hyperspace were perfect “warm-ups” earlier this season) and it was an easy simul climb to the summit from there. Gear: Double rack to 3”, 1 #4 cam (5.12-, C1, 8 pitches, Grade 3) The line up below pitch 5 5th pitch: the 11- corner The 7th pitch: below the 12- roof Day 2-4: Girth Pillar – Mt Stuart This route offers the full meal deal: technical ice, exposed steep climbing on a big mountain, and lets not forget, a technical glacier decent (especially when done in the dark). We bivied in the scree between the Sherpa and Ice Cliff Glacier, woke at 3:30am and headed up the Ice Cliff. Kyle climbed in his approach shoes and aluminum crampons with an axe while I carried a light tool with my leathers and steel crampons to lead the ice step on climbers left of the ice fall. We didn’t carry screws, but I recommend a couple screws depending on your comfort level, and when I come to think about it, for v-threads if you have to bail. I led the step with both the axe and tool, then dropped both down to Kyle and built a rock anchor on the adjacent rock wall. A dirty gulley of snow led to the approach pitches. On the Ice Cliff, Climbers left below the step The short step I took the first block, 3 approach pitches of 5.6-5.8 steps and the first pitch on Girth Pillar. The bottom of the crack was a bit wet so I climbed up the corner 15’ before making a wide step left into a sweet 5.10 crack to a small ledge. I set up the haul line for the pack but this was a major slow down—I don’t recommend hauling on an 8.1mm rope with a tibloc—I shredded my sheath quite a bit to retire my third rope. Kyle led from here, including a cruxy finger traverse at 10+. For the third pitch, Kyle took the obvious line up the center of the pillar, which offered over 100’ of solid hand jams. At a white sling, you have an option to cut left into the original 11c, but this is where the left half of the pillar collapsed in the 90s. After a short OW, easier simul climbing led to the false summit. Pitch 1 of Girth Pillar Pitch 2 The short OW above the pillar Here is where we messed up: the descent. If we got it right the first time, we would have saved 4+ hours and likely gotten back to the car on day 2. However, we misread the beta and traversed on the south side all the way to the base of Sherpa Peak before regaining valuable feet lost to descend the gulley at the far (climbers) right. After 1,500’ of downclimbing 40 degree snow, we found a rap station over the schrund at dark. I’ll spare you the details, but we zigzagged left and right in a moonless night before finding our way down to our bivy by 3am. Like the guidebook says, stay to the climbers right and downclimb slabs and snow to a short rap. Avoid the gulley and climbers left. We hiked out the next morning and drove to Mazama. Gear: 1 axe/tool each, double rack to 2”, 1 #3, 8.1mm haul line and a 60m single. (5.11, 9 pitches, Grade 5) Day 5: Rest, EAT, pack Day 6-7: Thin Red Line – Liberty Bell We were both excited to aid climb—Kyle especially. For some reason, 7 pitches of aid and an A3 crux lured us over Liberty Crack which offers more free climbing than aid. Plus, this would be our first big wall, complete with hauling and an overnight bivy—a perfect warm-up for Yosemite. We slept in a bit and started the route at 7am. After an unobvious first pitch of 5.9, we had 7 pitches to aid and haul. With a pulley and ascenders, the hauling was quick and easy for each pitch. Kyle led the A3 corner hammerless, me the A2 roof, Kyle the A2 arch and wild 5th pitch which entailed a pendulum, hook move, and A2+ double roofs. I continued on 2 long pitches of aid and free climbing to reach a small roof below the M&M ledge at dusk. Kyle finished it up and set up our anchor on the M&M ledge. We stayed anchored in all night on a small sloping ledge. We finished up 4 more pitches of 5.7/5.8 to the top the next morning, downclimbed and rapped over the Overexposure route to the Concord-Liberty Bell col. We reached the Blue Lake Trailhead at 2pm, and after 32 hours, we could finally take off our harnesses. Pitch 2 Pitch 4 Pitch 5 Following Pitch 5 Our bivy on the M&M ledge Gear: Double rack to 3.5”, 2 sets of stoppers, metolious brass aid nuts, HB brass set (highly recommended), small cam hooks, a talon, large hook, 3 sets of aiders, 2 sets of ascenders (1 for hauling, 1 for jugging), pulley. 1 small pack, 1 large pack with haul line, food (no stove), 7 liters of water. We also carried a hammer, 4 copperheads, chisel, 5-6 various knifeblades and lost arrows that we never had to place—it goes clean so you can leave the hammer at home. (5.9 C3, 12 pitches, Grade 5)

Hello fellow climbers, I want to inform you all about an event at the REI Seattle Store next Friday hosted by Friends of Heybrook Ridge. I am working with the Town of Index and the landowners to find a conservation solution to keeping Heybrook Ridge a forested backdrop and viewshed for the Town of Index, the soon-to-be “Gateway to the Wild Sky.” I will be speaking on behalf of Cascade Land Conservancy, but as many of you know, I am in Index nearly every (dry) week to climb on the Town Walls. If you climb, paddle, or hike around Index read below and come learn more. Cheers, Joe Sambataro Snohomish County Project Manager Cascade Land Conservancy joes@cascadeland.org www.cascadeland.org Conserving great lands, creating great communities Press Release Date: 7-11-07 Event Date: 7-20-07 Contact: Louise Lindgren, President, (360) 793-1534 Kill Date: 7-21-07 Friends of Heybrook Ridge Presents: May the Forest be with You! Friends of Heybrook Ridge, organized to purchase 100 acres of forest near the Town of Index for a public trail system, will hold a raffle and present noted speakers on various aspects of wilderness experience from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., July 20, at Recreational Equipment Inc., 1525 11th Av. in Seattle. Titled “May the Forest Be with You!,” the Friends have assembled a series of half-hour programs given by wilderness experts with mountain experience from gathering mushrooms to trekking in Nepal. Among those speaking are Rick McGuire, a conservation expert, active in the Wild Sky Wilderness effort; Greg Hovander, a mycologist, sharing his knowledge of mushrooms; Stephen Bezruchka, noted writer, mountaineer, and health professional who understands wilderness as the medicine humans need; and Joe Sambataro, speaking for the Cascade Land Conservancy. A raffle will also be held every half hour with prizes from outdoor equipment companies. The money raised will go toward the $1.3 million needed by the Friends of Heybrook Ridge to purchase the forest and transform it into an educational and recreational hiking opportunity relatively close to the I-5 urban corridor. For further information and a schedule of the speakers see the Website at www.heybrookridge.org or phone (360) 793-1534.

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