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The 7th annual Methow Valley Freeheel Festival is happening March 2 - 4 in Mazama. Find more information and register at: www.offpistemag.com/mvff/. Come on out and join the fun!! Paul Butler North Cascades Mountain Guides Mazama

Byran and Scott did a great job establishing Prime Rib. I think if anything is "sad and pathetic," it is when someone comes to Mazama, climbs a quality, multi-pitch route on Goat Wall, drives home and goes online to only comment that the climb is "not bad" and then gripes about how one pitch, in their opinion, is overbolted. Anyone who has climbed on Goat Wall would recognize all the potential up there. Perhaps folks like "crazyjizzy" will put up a route soon to show us how it is done properly. Paul Butler Mazama

Eli put in most of the work on this route. I think it was 1998...it could have been the year before. Originally it was two pitches which we freed, but we never did the final link up pitch with Liberty Crack. John and Mike sent the whole thing after adding a station to the second pitch because it was too long. So the first pitch goes at 5.10+ with mostly bolts, but some gear at the start especially when the snow is all gone. The second pitch is 5.11 with all bolts. The third is hard 5.11, maybe 12a, with bolts and a cam placment or two. The link up pitch under the roof sounds like it goes at 5.11 – all gear except for what is fixed on Liberty Crack. It is a great variation – stellar climbing. Paul Butler Mazama

Climb: North Early Winter Spire-Labor Pains Date of Climb: 7/20/2006 Trip Report: We finally got around to climbing Labor Pains on NEWS. While not a high quality route, there is some decent climbing on good rock to be enjoyed. The route description in Beckey's book differed a bit from what we found. Pitch 1: Scramble up the 4th/5th class terrain of the chockstone route to a belay ledge with a large tree. Pitch 2: Climb a right-facing corner to a lichen covered slab (5.10). Good rope management will allow one to reach the next belay ledge with bushes that is just a short scramble above the slab. Pitch 3: Head up to two parallel finger cracks, move left past a prominent roof to a bolt which we replaced then move up on face and flakes past two pins and another bolt before traversing right to a belay stance below a small bulge (5.10+) Pitch 4: Pull through the bulge (a hard boulder move) protected by a pin then across some slabby terrain until the route merges with the west face finish. It would be great to see the route get some more traffic. Though we know little about the first ascentionists, Risse and McBain, it was a bold lead for sure. We have some photos on the NCMG website (www.ncmountainguides.com) under recent trip reports. Gear Notes: Standard alpine rack with a few doubles (1" and 2" cams) and your favorite small gear. Cheers, Paul Butler Mazama

The route, Freedom or Death, was established around 8 years ago or so by Eli Helmuth. The first pitch is 10+ w/gear and bolts. The second is 5.11, all bolts. The third is 5.12, all bolts with a gear placement or two. The fourth pitch traverses under a big roof into the 3rd pitch (5.11+) of Liberty Crack. Mike and John were the first to send all four pitches. Helmuth also established a 5.10+ start to the Thin Red Line, bolts and gear, that starts and ends just right of the first pitch of FOD. Paul Butler Mazama