counterfeitfake

When were you last up there Ken? I've done the approach 3 times, we didn't make any wrong turns or anything. Fenderfour was with me, maybe he will agree or disagree. An hour seems very fast to me, but what do I know. Road is somewhat bikeable until it quits being a road... might be pretty muddy depending on recent rain. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

Depends on how tough your lady is. I was up there in July. It's gotten lots worse since I first did it 3 years ago. Depending on your vehicle you can drive farther- a high-clearance truck will get you past a wash and then around the big tree trunk. Probably buy you half a mile farther than a car. We parked at the 3 o'clock rock (bridge creek?) trailhead because someone had taken up the parking spots a ways up the road. We walked probably 45 minutes on road, and then headed up the totally defunct road into the forest. The trail has become more overgrown and has been wiped out in one spot by a slide- stick with it and follow clues to re-find the trail after about 100 feet of bushwhacking. Cross the river then get into an open meadow, and boulder hop past an old pipe to the big creek. If you don't know the right spot to turn right and uphill, it's going to be tough. It's above a big hunk of rock by the creek, where a dry creek bed is completely covered over by a canopy of trees. You're basically 'shwacking up a narrow tunnel for a few hundred feet, before it clears out. This is as far as we went because it started getting cold and windy and it was clear it was going to rain. I'd budget 3 hours to get to the base of Dreamer/Safe Sex. A few hours with a machete and a bow saw could do a lot to make this trail easier.

I like the spirit of this. But I don't know where the route starts and ends. Want to tell us? Maybe that crux pitch will clean up.

No one here questions how amazing this is (I think), but think of it much like guys watching the Miss Universe contest and critiquing a mole on an amazing girls' thigh..... No, it's not this at all. Climbing skill and douchiness of personality are independent of one another. Nobody was picking at a miniscule aspect of her climbing skill. It is more like laughing at Miss South Carolina's incomprehensible rant.

Viewed as a whole, her long discussions are just as awful as the sound bites that compose them. They are fractally intolerable.

sure it does, note the characteristic brokenness

These days when I'm cragging and reach a two-bolt anchor, I clip my personal leash into one bolt, and I clove hitch the rope into the other bolt. Simple. When rappelling I ad-lib depending on how sketched out I feel...

That's cool, I agree. I used your topo when I climbed the route (and it's good) but had heard the bottom is harder than suggested. When I got there I looked at it... and roped up. It's the Beckey guide that calls it 3rd class, isn't it? They just don't make hardmen like they used to, I guess.

I've done it twice. It didn't seem hard either time. The top seemed clear and straightforward. The bottom got more confusing but was never too bad. One time I rapped, and the other time I didn't. I think if you start bushwhacking you're doing it wrong and should back up and keep your eyes open. Also, you can find cairns everywhere... they won't necessarily lead you down the rap-free descent. But if you get to a rap, you may as well do it.

What are you talking about? You don't know how it was done, all you're doing is mindlessly pissing on someone else's achievement. I'm sure if you were half as good at climbing as you are at talking shit on the internet, you could go up there and show them how to lead 5.13 with style.

I don't see that. I don't think I can picture a 5.13 face climb bolted on lead. So the danger level is arbitrary, with bolts or a fixed line.

Might have been done on lead but poor form. IMO. Why? Why is clipping bolts for a lead better form that clipping a fixed line? I really want to know the logic.

Man, thank goodness you've got the camera though... great report.

Are there glaciers in the 'Gunks? I've never been there.

Dude, I don't know what the problem here is. You just told us that the North Ridge of Stuart is like a 'Gunks 5.3 and that the West Ridge of Forbidden is like a 'Gunks 5.0. We all think these are dumb apples-to-kiwi fruit comparisons. I don't think being solid on 'Gunks 5.3 prepares you to climb Stuart. I've never been there, but a quick look shows an awful lot of low-fifth class routes. If you guys really know the difference between 5.2 and 5.3, then yes, I'd say you do something different from us over here. Washington 5.0-5.5 is all low-fifth to me. Yes, if the hardest pitch on Stuart's easy N Ridge were magically teleported to New York within walking distance of a parking lot, it would probably wind up with a lower grade. No, I do not think "the guidebooks are wildly imprecise." It's rare that I encounter a case where I think the book is more than a letter-grade off. When you grade an alpine route by the hardest single move on it, it's obvious that you're going to end up with something that is overall easier than a crag route at the same grade. I think it's also obvious that on an alpine route there are a hundred other factors that can make the route seem easier or harder than what the book says. That is the nature of alpine climbing. Yes you're getting flamed. You asked for it!

As a matter of fact, if you enter "5.9" in babelfish and select Gunks->PNW translation, it spits out "5.4". So I take back what I said before. Hell with all his hardcore 'Gunks training he could probably hop right on Liberty Crack. Babelfish says it's only a 5.11.

Yes. Do that.

The whole problem here is that you have to check your backpack at the front desk?

Sounds like n00b epic.

I did it back in my early days of climbing, I think it took us 14 hours. We moved pretty quick on the way up, but did take a nap at the base of the summit pyramid.

I was there two weeks ago. Conditions were dirty.

Wow, those sure do look exactly like C4s.

Does the 5.10- on TS compare closely with the bonus pitch on SR? How is that 5.11a Superfly pitch, is it straight-up friction? I'd doubt my ability to pull friction moves that are that hard...

The venue may have changed, but spray is eminently trad.

Shit, $110 each? Petzls are real nice.