JonNelson

Thanks Sherri. Just occurred to me -- of the 13 climbers up there that I noticed, all were male. The two aid climbers on Green Dragon were probably male too (seems they all are). The Upper Town Wall could definitely use a little more gender balance!

Yup, days like that should never be passed up! Best part is meeting the other climbers up there. You're welcome about the pic. I have a few more pics of you on p1 of LA. Not the best resolution, but great perspective. Send me an email and I'll send them to you. I'm on gmail at "jontne". Jon

Hi Pat, there is another great shot I posted of you on the Golden Road page of Mt. Project. It was definitely fun seeing all the other parties up there. Dave, though I prefer Wildest Dreams overall, Heaven's Gate definitely has the best top-out on the UTW -- even better than Lovin Arms. Your party of three really cruised HG, it was great to see. Oly - I guess a lot of us resort to some aid on the crux thin crack. Definitely worth it for doing p4. That slightly spicy bit on p4 added some nice character to the pitch, and reminded me a little of Zoom at the Country. But I'll be back to work that thin crack!

Trip: Index UTW - Wildest Dreams -- There may be climbers below Date: 10/19/2013 Trip Report: Saturday, October 19, a bright sunny, fall day at Index, after about 10 dry days. It was perfect for an Upper Town Wall outing. I had long wanted to do Wildest Dreams, and this was the day. Luckily, I was able to get Eric Hirst to go along. We found out upon arriving at the base of the wall that a lot of other climbers had similar ideas, though luckily no one else was on Wildest Dreams. The route was cleaned and put up by Chris Henson and partners in 2006. It has four pitches, rated 10+, 11, 12b, and 10+, going to the top of the wall. Everyone who has done it rates it four stars. We'd give it five if we could. Eric led the first pitch, doing bolted 5.9+ face climbing to a steep corner that gets thin near the top. The finish is the crux, with stemming, jamming, and arete-grabbing. Over on the route next door, Pat Sullivan was having fun on the thin face and arete climbing of Golden Road. For the second pitch, I followed a fin/arete for awhile, with bolts for protection (5.10), then the fin ends with a right-trending seam. The crux is at the last bolt, and here I fell before seeing the key smear for the right foot. Being good at gym climbing means nothing at Index: you have to learn to find the subtle features fast. After the crux, a few easier face moves ends at a 5.10 mantel. Eric, sans chalkbag, cruises the pitch. Even the slopy mantel. While Eric was preparing to try the 12b crack, I heard a whoop coming from the left. A fellow had just cruised over the final roof on Heaven's Gate. (I recall falling off that thing a few years back, so I can imagine how he felt.) (Look above Eric's helmet, see the climber above the roof.) Meanwhile, there was a party finishing up on Lovin Arms. The photo below shows the 12b crack, the last pitch of Wildest Dreams, and two guys on Lovin Arms. The crack eluded both of us. We named it 'three house of the seventh bobcats stacked on top of each other' due to its resemblance to the route on Lookout Point. But House of the Seventh Bobcat has a more difficult move than this 12b crack, this crack is more continuous. Hard layback tips jams with thin smeary feet. The last pitch was the longest and best. Roughly like stacking the first part of Lovin Arms p1 with Zoom, it has great jams and fun face moves, including a slight leadout on one section. Two bolts at the start, but the rest is cams and nuts. Eric at the slight runout section. Looking over to Lovin Arms, one party was just starting: While another was just finishing: As Eric was climbing up, I looked over towards the sun and saw the most amazing sundog: I pointed it out to Eric below, and took a shot. Then I noticed all the arcs: Halos, arcs, and parhelia. This was truly a rare atmospheric display. Then I noticed the parhelic circle developing. I'd only seen this once before: Meanwhile, Eric was getting a little pumped, so I put away the camera and continued belaying him up. Near the top: At the top, we watched the fog rolling back in. Heading up from Goldbar, towards the pass and towards Galena. We recovered an old rope for Chris, and started hiking barefoot down the trail. There were tons of mushrooms of many colors and shapes: Soon we were above the Tempituous area, where the off-roaders like to come and toss things off the wall. At least they used to. Now there is a warning sign, slightly damaged, high in a tree: "There may be climbers below" Gear Notes: Bring at least 7 quickdraws, doubles in cams to 2.5", maybe a triple for the ~2" size, perhaps one larger cam for p4, and lots of thin cams and small offset nuts. Approach Notes: Hike to the Upper Town Wall, head left, just past the Sport Wall, but before Heaven's Gate. Look for the big crater in the trail.

Hi Mark, thanks for cleaning up such a fun line. The rock texture is amazing -- seems like lines could go up everywhere. Anyway, I'd put the crux rating closer to your original 10a. But I might have just been too stoked.

Hi Shapp. Yes, it is that project of Greyell's, but recently finished by Mark Hanna and others. It is to the climber's left of Trax. Riley - you are right on. It looks like a tremendous amount of cleaning. But the climbing is so fun -- we really appreciate the great efforts involved. I was tempted to clean some, but as it was, satisfied myself by just tossing a few odd moss clumps lying just off the route. Hi Wes. We ought to visit this place. Yeah, Miho did well on the 5.10 crux pitch, despite the heat.

Trip: Spring Mountain Crags - Wild Rosy Date: 9/14/2013 Trip Report: On Saturday, Sept. 14, four of us headed up to do the recently completed Wild Rosy on the Spring Mt. crags. Meeting in Lynnwood around 7 am, we felt some drizzle. But the forecast for Darrington that day was clear with a high of 86 F, so we kept on. Fifteen point six miles south of Darrington, we turned left up FS 49. Heading uphill, we got above the low clouds, and at 2.4 miles reached the small pullout on the right. Someone was camping there by the river. Just across the road from the pullout lies the trail. It is uphill from the start. After passing a few boulders, the trail splits just below some large forest boulders. We took the right fork, passing next to some potential boulder problems. Further up, twin cairns mark another fork in the trail. We took the left fork to get to the routes on the left side. Soon we hit the base of the wall (about 20-min from starting), passed a spring, and noticed the route "Other side of the tracks" above. We continued left a few minutes, then went up a steep slope covered in wild roses. Moa and Miho pulling up through the wild roses. We didn't realize this at the time, but it would have been better to have left the packs below and gotten into our harnesses and shoes below the roses. The present start of pitch one does not have much room for packs and gearing up. Pitch one is about 5.8 or 5.9, very pleasant face climbing protected mainly by bolts. I think we placed one 2" cam between bolts. As a team of four, we climbed by having the leader trail a rope, then belaying up two at a time. One of the seconds then belayed the fourth while another led the next pitch. Miho near the top of pitch 1. Pitch two looked deceptively dirty from below, but like the first, was very fun and clean face climbing, about 5.7. The rock was even more textured than that on pitch 1, with large jugs wherever you desired. The crux pitch is the third, which follows the right side of a steep ramp. The crux is probably on small crimps near the start, though the whole pitch has interesting climbing. To fill in where the fixed gear (bolts, one pin)was sparse, I used one 2" cam about 2/3rds of the way up. Jonathan above the crux on pitch 3. Moa enjoying the traversing moves above the crux on pitch 3. Miho starting the layback section near the top of pitch 3. There was another party on the neighboring route "Other side of the tracks". So far, this has been the most popular route on the crag, but who knows, Wild Rosy might someday take that prize. Party on the route just east "Other side of the tracks". The fourth pitch is on very rippled rock, and completely protected by bolts. A 5.7 blast. Moa starting her lead of pitch 4. This pitch ends at a large ledge. It was very tempting to 4th-class over to the large fir marking the end of P4 on the "tracks" route, and join the other party in the shade. But we continued on. Perhaps the funnest pitch of all was the last pitch, a fully bolted 5.6 face climb that ended all too soon. Following pitch 5. To descend, we made three raps on two 60-m ropes. From the top of pitch 5, we rapped to the anchor on top of pitch 3, then rapped to the top of pitch 1, and then to the ground. It had been a very hot day, and it was really nice to get back into the forest. Jonathan, Moa, Miho, and I, recovering from the heat. Then it was down to the river for a real cool down. Gear Notes: Bring several alpine draws, 8 quickdraws, and perhaps a few cams to 2". With one 70-m, it is 5 raps; with two 60-m ropes, it is 3 raps. Approach Notes: A pleasant hike through a forest, maybe 20 minutes. The trail starts right across from the pullout, 2.4 miles up FS 49.

I never seem to have luck with his home or cell number. But he seems to respond pretty reliably to PMs and general messages on his website www.rcnw.net. Have you tried that?

Thanks - Well, that's a bummer, but at least it was only one car. There ought to be signs up to warn people about break-ins, and maybe we all ought to strike up conversations with strangers in the lot. Yeah, Index seems pretty popular recently. Even on Wednesday night, there were quite a few climbers camped by the river. Might be a result of some of the great new routes being put up and other older routes getting cleaned off.

Where in the lot was the car parked? On a previous break-in incident, the cars that were hit were further in away from the road. At the time, I heard some speculation that parking near the entrance, where the car is visible from the road, was safer. If this is true, but those sites are filled up, one might also park at the camping parking lot further up the road, and then walk across the old gun range to the tracks. This parking may be closer to the Country than the usual parking lot.

If you go to Index and head up to Earwax, also check out some other first pitches on the left side, such as Dana's Arch. Drop below to Shady Lane. And head over to the Cheeks and do routes on the lower Cheeks. Just above, on the Black Sea, try the classic P1 of Wilman's Walkabout. Also, the chimney routes to the right might be cool in the afternoon. At Lookout Point area, there is 'Shader' at Private Idaho and a few along the base of Duck Wall.

Hi Wes, Sorry to hear about the accident. But I really appreciated the thoughtful report you wrote up. Indeed, there are some amazing people out there who will drop whatever they were doing to help out a person in need. It's the silver lining of a sad affair. Jon

Quite the amusing video. And now I'd really like to check out the Index River Boulders (i.e., see minute 10).

Also, the Golden Arch is not closed. So Ivan, you need another excuse...

I think your test is better than the one you mentioned by the physicist (because the latter involved such low loads), but there is one possible issue. Your left foot might just smear better than your right. Could be an important factor when the measured difference was "not by much", as you found. As we know, footwork is super important for climbing, and our left sides are never the same as our right,whether we are talking about our hands or our feet. Jon

Morgan, The stone Abalakov sounds interesting. I'm guessing that one drills two fairly wide (1/2"?)intersecting holes in a V shape, and then threads a runner through it. Do you have a picture of one? Was it hard to thread? Seems like it would be about as permanent as can be. But I wonder if the corner of the V would cut the runner under a high load. Perhaps some sort of prepping with a sand-encrusted runner would rub off the sharp edge?

For HREV, we just started at the bottom and went up, not knowing exactly what was ahead. The day was moist, but the line overhung at the start, so we could stay dry. As a result, it was never cleaned. It really should be though, as it is a nice line. Wow, so your new line is left even of HREV. It must be really out there. I'm really looking forward to heading back up there and trying your new line and Between the Cheeks, it has been something like 25 years... Jon

Thanks for the nice work. So, is this just right of HREV POBTAZ? I remember when we first did HREV, I was looking over to the right and thinking there could be a nice route or two over there. Jon

I just missed you. Nicola Masciandaro and I went partway up Jacob's Ladder on the 20th. We were scared off by the thin flake on pitch 6. But then, I got gripped just walking up and down the granite sidewalk. Has anyone tumbled down that thing? Anyway, looks like a nice addition to a great piece of rock. Thanks for putting it up! Jon

So that was the route you were on. I'd like to give it a go. Nicola Masciandaro and I were doing the Davis-Holland and Lovin-Arms route on Aug. 14th and we saw two guys waiting out the heat at the bottom before heading up this fantastic looking line near the Golden Arch. We started at about 2 pm when our route was in the shade but the rest of the Upper Wall was still in the sun. We heard the whoops of success as we stumbled down the trail. Thanks for posting the photos. Jon

I knew a fellow who would brush his teeth to stay awake. I've tried stopping, getting out, and doing some exercises like pushups, though the effect seems pretty brief. Jon

I agree that it would be really hard to find the holes, even though they are bigger than those for bolts with hangers. I often have trouble just finding normal bolts with hangers. Also the units are really expensive. I couldn't justify buying a set. For more on removable bolts, see the recent discussion on Mt. Project: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/removable-bolt-trial-by-fire-by-manufacturer/107502423 Jon

I too would like to see a mini-guide to the area. I went there once last year and there seemed to be a lot of great lines. So, if you get one, please pass it along. Jon

Perhaps this is about the DGS route, which is about 5.9 or 5.9+. A description is on Mountain Project: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/dgs-/107310316 For the descent, I think you need two ropes. The second pitch is pretty long. Jon

Thanks. That's a really useful link. Jon