scottgg

Nice man, that place takes some gettin use too!

I didnt really "need" a new headlamp, but this thing is so cool I couldn't resist! If you get one headlamp, make it this one. It is brighter (60 lumens), has a longer battery life (160 in economical mode), is lighter (80g), and has more features (red light and emergency whistle in strap buckle) than the previous headlamps in the Tikka series. About $50.

Trip: Alpental - Thoughts of Luke Gullberg Date: 12/30/2009 Trip Report: Climbing was what initially drew Luke and I together, and a deep friendship blossomed from it. After four years in the military, I wondered how Luke and I would connect again. He was a talented English major and I was a veteran Jarhead just readjusting to civilian life. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but we two made plans to climb Mt Rainier during our first summer back together. We had a blast and fell hook, line and sinker! We went on to climb many other peaks together, often via challenging (for us) routes. Lukey always seemed to draw the crux pitch, except on Dragontail Peak’s Northeast Couloir. As I inched my way upwards, Luke and Dave shouted encouragement and his high praise, though undeserved, had me beaming like a child opening the perfect Christmas present. When I moved away to North Carolina in 2008, Luke continued to hit the hills with the same fervor, though his focused had changed. Instead of fast and light climbs up technical routes, Luke began to focus on moderate routes that he could bring several novice friends up. He led trips up Baker, Hood, Rainier, Stuart and several smaller Cascades Peaks. Through his patience and determination Luke introduced several people to the magic of the mountains. Luke passed away last month on the precipitous western flank of Oregon’s Mt Hood. On December 11th, along with Katie Nolan and Anthony Vietti, Luke set off to climb the Reid Glacier Headwall. The weather was wonderful, and the climb well within Luke’s experience level, he being a veteran of several ascents of various Cascade’s volcanoes in all seasons. At some point during the trio’s climb there was an accident, and it appears Luke went to get help. However, he was overcome by the elements and died of hypothermia before being able to alert rescuers of the serious situation of his partners. I currently live on the east coast, and my boss was more than willing to extend me a generous leave of absence to assist my father and sister of attending to Luke’s effects, helping with his memorial, and generally spending time with our immediate family during the holidays. During my flight home, in an effort to put my immediate grief on the backburner, I made a list of outings I could do during my brief stay to honor Luke’s life. Knowing a thing or two of the Cascades fickle winter weather, I knew my chance for a suitably awesome climb in Luke’s honor would be difficult indeed. Nevertheless I made a few phone calls, sent a few emails and finally concluded that a link-up in the accessible Alpental Valley may be just the ticket. Mark Bunker, Luke and I have spent several days in mountains together, and we felt that Lukey would also have been keen on the idea of linking together a waterfall ice, alpine ice, snow, and rock route in a long day. Mark was keen on the idea of linking a variety of routes together, and we managed to effectively schedule our attempt on the very day that the typically wet Cascade’s winter replaced the atypical high pressure system that had excited alpinists across the PNW! Unfortunately, although the ice was in good condition, the snow was not and we were forced to abandon our attempt after only two routes. We left an empty parking lot on December 30th at 4:30am and began climbing Alpental Falls via three fun ice pitches and then Chair Peak’s NE Buttress, dangerous avalanche conditions forced us avoid Bryant Peak and the Mighty Tooth. Alpental Falls NE Buttress All smiles after the icicle rappel No biggy, I thought, I’ll think up something else in Luke’s honor. I tried all sorts of adventurous ideas: Fat Ass 25k Race at Tiger Mountain (failed to come in with an impressive time), North Face of Mt Index (crappy snow conditions again thwarted this one), and finally another shot at finishing what I had come to call “Lukey’s Loop” (the water ice/alpine ice/snow/rock thing at Alpental). Again the conditions/weather failed to cooperate on my final free day, and my sister Becky and I were forced to abandon our alpine attempt to a brief jaunt to Marymoor Park in Redmond. Having failed thus far to do anything noteworthy in Luke’s name, we decided to try and climb as many of Luke’s favorite routes on the artificial Marymoor spires as we could in an hour. Despite efficient climbing and changovers, our five routes proved unimpressive. Although in retrospect, perhaps that’s the point of this whole thing. Luke and I climbed more impressive routes in our head than we ever did in real life. We imagined ourselves climbing thunker ice, or onsighting that spooky slab pitch, or climbing thousands of vertical feet up narrow couloirs without tiring. Perhaps it is appropriate that my initial attempts to honor his life follow a similar vein of aborted attempts and hair-brained schemes. In the end, that was Luke’s real gift to us, the family and friends he left behind. The determination to dream big, aim high, and ultimately see your wildest dreams to fruition. Luke spent three weeks this past September traveling the Pacific Crest Trail from Oregon to Canada, using the time alone to reflect on life in general and specifically the effect his mother’s death last year was having on his life. He chronicled his journey in a love letter to his girlfriend, and those words convey a difficult journey in reconciling his mother’s inopportune death with his Christian faith. In the end Luke reaffirmed his faith and excitedly reentered normal life after his 500+ mile journey. His untimely death has left a void in all of our hearts, and we anxiously await the day when we are reunited. Luke was a man of many hats: volunteer, consummate student, climber, brother, uncle, son, boyfriend, athlete, and teacher, but I will forever remember him as the friend who happened to be my brother. See you at the top Luke! Here is a pretty accurate list of Luke’s climbs… if you’ve climbed with him and have something to add, please send me a note! Mt Baker 10,785’ – Coleman Glacier and Easton Glacier Liberty Bell Mountain 7,740’ – Beckey Route (In the middle of the night!) Silver Star Mountain 8,876’ – Silver Star Glacier Burgundy Spire 8,400’ - North Face Eldorado Peak 8,868’ – East Ridge Forbidden Peak 8,815’ – West Ridge Del Campo Peak 6,610’ – Southwest Buttress Baring Mountain 6,125’ – South Slope (2nd time was a charm for us Ingalls Peak 7,662’ – South Ridge (we did it once as a simul-solo, great memory!) Mt Stuart 9,415’ – Stuart Glacier Coulouir, North Ridge, Ice Cliff Glacier, and Cascadian Couloir Dragontail Peak 8,840’ – NE Couloir, Backbone Ridge, Serpentine Ridge, and via Colchuck Glacier Jabberwocky Tower – East Face (winter) Mt Si 4,167’ – Haystack Gully and Karen’s Spire (possible FA on west side of Peak) Mailbox Peak 4,841’ - Summit Trail McClellan Butte 5,162’ – South Ridge Bandera Mountain 5,241’ – Bandera Trail Silver Peak - West Ridge Trail Granite Mountain 5,629’ – Granite Mountain Trail Kaleetan Peak 6,259’ – South Ridge The Mighty Tooth 5,600’ – South Face Bryant Peak 5,801’ - East Gully Chair Peak 6,238’ – East Face and North Face Guye Peak 5,168’ – Improbable Traverse, Guye Summit Trail, and South Gully Snoqualmie Mountain 6,278’ – Alpental Slope Trail Red Mountain 5,890’ – Southwest Slope Kendall Peak 5,784’ – North Ridge Trail Alta Mountain 6,151' - Standard scramble Mt Rainier 14,411’ – Disappointment Cleaver and Emmons Glacier Unicorn Peak 6,917’ – Snow Lake Route Gilbert Peak 8,184’ – Via Conrad Meadows Mt Hood 11,239’ – South Side And lots of cragging at Peshastin Pinaccles, Index Town Wall, The Feathers, Exit 32, Exit 38, Icicle Canyon, Static Point, Ranch Rock, Stone Mountain (NC) and Snow Creek Wall.

Luke passed away this past weekend while climbing on Mt Hood with two friends. Come celebrate his life this Sunday, December 20th, at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, Washington. 3 pm 12-20-2009 22705 24th ave south Des Moines, WA 98198

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers everyone!

Thanks Ivan... They were planning on a day climb. There are actually a few SR teams on the mountain right now searching for them.

My brother and two friends attempted Mt Hood via the Sandy Headwall yesterday. They left early yesterday morning and should have been back yesterday evening/this morning. Anyone see them up there? Two guys and one girl, all in their mid twenties. Thanks!

August 1971 Route (Gerber-Sink) Dragontail Peak WI3 5.7 Amazing route on one of the best alpine faces in the state! From hard rock routes like Dragons of Eden to moderate snow and ice routes like Triple Couloirs, this peak has something for everyone. The Gerber-Sink isn't technically harder than Triple Couloirs, but it has five times the technical terrain. Iced-up corners, scratchy mixed sections, and long stretches of neve combine to make this thing a hoot!

Dang, that looks like a swell area!

Wow, inspiring!

HOOAH Scott! With that kind of endurance work you should be thinking about the best ranger comp... bet you'd do awesome! Thanks John! Man, best ranger comp looks great, maybe next year?

Trip: East Coast Highpointing - Barfing and Bonding Date: 11/7/2009 Trip Report: I'm not sure how I originally got into "Highpointing", the practice of trying to climb the highest summit in each State. It must of been when we relocated to North Carolina, and I needed a good excuse to travel the back roads, see the rolling green hills and raging rivers, and enjoy this beautiful country. Here follows a brief description of two very different attempts to chip away at my highpoint checklist. The first, a 24 hour sufferfest and the second a mellow father-son excursion up three easy but memorable summits. #1 When endorphins are not enough: 5 State Highpoints in under 24 hours Forecasted rain forced Sam and I to change our plans from rock climbing at Laurel's Knob to an soggy attempt at climbing the highpoints in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and finally South Carolina. Even though he's more at home on hard trad than hiking/running, Sam made an excellent partner for this trip! Solid dude. Our self imposed rules stated that we must use a trailhead to hike up the mountain as opposed to driving to nearly the top (as most of these summits feature a parking lot and paved trail to the summit lookout) and finish the whole thing in under 24 hours. We managed it in 23:15, covering 44 miles and approximately 15 hours of driving. #2 Man, why do they have to put the summit tower so far from the parking lot? My wife flew back to Washington for the week, and I took the opportunity to introduce our 2.5 year old to the outdoors. On Friday we staged in Cumberland, MD, and woke up Saturday morning and hiked up the highpoints in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia before getting back to North Carolina Saturday night. Joe joined us on this trip, and I was glad to have his company during the long drive when Logan was fast asleep. Another solid dude. Joe following Mercury's Lead, Stone Mountain, NC O yeah, this one's for Frieh:

Light and fast?

Good on ya man! Hope these abnormally chilly temps last!

Man I'm sure missing the NW right now! Wish I could join you all for some winter!

Nice Leor, inspiring as always!

Nice trip John and co!

Looks like a fun climb, thanks!

Great report, thanks. I'll have to head back up there sometime for this route!

Looks interesting! I have fond memories of scrambling around the base of this peak when I was younger.

Looks cool dude! Though still not buying into the whole "alpine-start" thing, eh?

Amazing Leor, great job!

I've often thought about that west wall, nice reading about your climb!

Very cool line, it must have been quite fun!

Awesome job fellas! Proud line on a cool peak!