scottgg

Thanks for the everyone. To answer your questions: Took about 4.5 hours from the car at Icicle Creek to a brew stop at Colchuck Lake. Good snowmobile tracks on the road, and nice snowshoe track on the trail (thanks Ivan and Tvash). Looked like tracks leading up towards Stuart also. On the face conditions were outstanding, with most snow being in the form of neve. There were a few thin spots, but nothing I'd call sketchy. Simulclimbed the whole route in about 5 blocks. In terms of grade, I think something like IV 5.7 AI3 sums it up nicely. The rock is fairly compact, and we found knifeblades and small cams worked best. Yeah, the pitch linking the Gerber-Sink to the 3rd Couloir was probaly the crux. Good fixed lost arrow at the base, but then no pro for 30m. Really fun though, with solid sticks in frozen turf and sporadic ice patches. Mark said it's 5.7 in the summer. Didn't get a good look at the Cotter-Bebie, but I'd bet its in good shape (though the finish right of the fin looked thin).

Trip: Dragontail - Gerber-Sink North Face Date: 2/17/2008 Trip Report: Before I scrambled up its ridges or kicked steps up its couloirs, Dragontail Peak captivated my imagination through the pictures and descriptions in Nelson's Selected Climbs book. After seeing pictures of its northwest aspect from Colchuck Lake, a winter route instatntly jumped out to my novice eyes: an asthetic line starting at the face's lowest point and continuing through steep gullys and exposed snowfields all the way to the summit. Turns out this route had been climbed in August 1971, by Eric Gerber and Charles Sink. Somewhere along the line, someone figured their rock route would be pretty spectaular when seasoned with snow and ice, and while the route is not as popular a winter/spring objective as the neighboring Triple Couloirs, its still gets climbed occasionally. Such was the case during this past Presidents Day weekend... Mark Bunker had a sailboat race on Saturday, and figured that would be the perfect warmup for a mid-winter romp in the Stuart Range on Sunday. He had climbed this route before, in both summer and spring, yet convincing him to climb it again proved easy. Hit the trailhead at 3:30am, stoked about the starry skies and crisp temps. Made good time up the road, then through the forest, and finally across Colchuck Lake. Started up the route at 9:45 and boy is it a fun one! Super stellar climbing led up thin gullys, exposed snowfields, and steep chimneys before joining the last of the "Triple Couloirs". Must do route for anyone enjoying long moderate mixed climbs! Marko starting the first pitch Alpine Bliss: Entering the 3rd Couloir: On Top: Headed down: Back to the car at 10:30pm, then off to McDonals for the requisite caffeine.

Howdy Sheri- I'm planning on the 10.4 race... looking forward to it!

Good stuff, thanks all! Worth menioning: a notable compromise used by local hardman Mark Bunker is to leave a leash on your non-dominant tool (adze) and go leashless on your hammer. Then you are free to place gear/pound pins/shake out with your dominant hand, while securely fastened to your other tool. See Colin's trip report on his and Mark's winter traverse of Mt Index for pictures...

In Nelson's book he suggest's either approaching from Paradise or White River.... what are your reccomendations? Any insight would be appreciated!

Pic is taken from a notch looking back at the traditional north side traverse (hence stuart lake in the background).... only part of the route that I wouldn't solo.

Howdy Amigo! I modified Bug's nice picture to show our route (in green) on the upper mountain. After the north side traverse, we dropped down a bit on the south side then set up a belay at a fixed hex with blue tat below a bombay chimney with twin cracks. Felt 5.6ish.

Looks good! Is this near Kit Lewis's "North Grove" route? From your topo, it appears your route is just to the left of the gully defining the North Grove's start?

After climbs, I often look back and analyze how thing went, then see how I can improve for my next foray into the hills. Did I eat enough? Was there extra food/water in my pack when I was done? How many route-finding errors did I make, and how can I avoid them in the future? Thats exactly what OTH was doing here by speculating that we could have gone faster by eliminating the rope. Not to say that we would ever do that on an route such as this, but it gives others an idea of what to expect... Leor's a good guy; very fast on the easy terrain, and a fun dude to be around. I figured the fact that he placed 2nd in the Cle-Elm Ridge 50k last Saturday would mean I could keep up with him (because I thought he'd be tired, which he wasen't), and I think we worked well together. Cool route, now bring on the winter!

After my brief encounters with BW personnel, their professionalism is what stands out in my mind. They are all former SF/Swat operators, and they take their jobs very seriously. Porter, you asked why companies like this are necessary. I think modern economic theory provides the best explanation: "do what you do best and trade (outsource) the rest". As Serenity explained, one of the military's core competencies is not VIP protection, so it makes sense to bring in experts to do that job (whether it be federal agents or independent contractors). I'm sure our congressmen and women appreciate having the most highly trained men protecting them while in-country. And lets keep incidents like this in perspective... if the Iraq government expressed the same outrage over the frequent suicide bombing and terrorist attacks within their own cities, perhaps they would get something done, and take a proactive role in quelling the flow or radical fundamentalists flowing through their borders from Syria and Iran.

Twas indeed a grand adventure, great write-up John! Limped back to the car just after 10:00pm, making a 16:45 day. John's a super-solid alpine dude, but I had no idea he was such a writer!

Hi Bug- Rescheduled for next week, but have fun up there!

Dang dude, that sounds fun! One of my favorite crossfit-esque workouts is: 5 pullups 10 pushups 15 squats Max sets in 20 minutes Question about the competition: I dont have alot of drytooling experience.... should I still try out, or is it "experts only"? Looking forward to it!

Yes indeed, excellent photos Mr. Scurlock! I also enjoyed Marko Prezelj's article "Based on a True Story". Kinda suprising to read out his fallout with Koch... dont see that kinda detail too often in the magazines.

Great looking trip Chris!

Interested in a quick climb of Stuart's West Ridge this Saturday? Light packs, simul-soloing....

Anybody here done it or heard of it being done? From the maps at least, it looks pretty freakin cool! Hike up to Easy Pass, climb Greybeard, then traverse south climbing Fisher, Black, and finally Corteo. End up at Rainy Pass. Lots of smaller spires/high point in between... Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I'd love to hear about someone beating Miles Smart's record on Stuart's West Ridge... something like 5:50 rt. Any other good ones?

Is there a sale going on?

Looks great! Excellent!

Knowing how to get off Wahpenayo is key, as we probably lost about 30 minutes trying to figure it out. Lots of other, minor route finding issues that will be much easier to deal with next time.

Is Danny H. "Off the hook" on this website?

No snow to walk on, but the plant life was fairly wet from the previous days rain. I would also advise climbing Foss, as an alternative to the long side-hilling between Castle and Unicorn. Looking back, I can see several instances where we could have saved time, and I'm looking forward to trying this this again!

Trip: Mt. Rainier and Tatoosh - DC and Tatoosh Traverse Date: 8/13/2007 Trip Report: I am a goal oriented dude, and I think it comes from my dad. You see, my brother and I spent the last several months psyching him up to climb Rainier with us this summer, and he has spent the last several months preparing his body for the challenge. He added mileage and hills to his usual running routine, and further honed his body with massive quantities of pushups and squats. Pa was physically ready, but once the date was set, he worried about those pesky crevasses that tend to come out later in the season. His solution: invite several of his friend along, in the hopes that more people on the rope would mean less of a chance of getting intimate with a crevasse. Mt Rainier This past Saturday dawned clear, and we joined the hordes for the trudge up to Camp Muir. The weather was forecasted to deteriorate on Sunday, and sure enough, we awoke to high winds and an apparent cloud cap around 13,000’. Started hiking around 1:30am, and made it to the crater rim at 9:10am. I was super proud of my dad, as he kept a super attitude throughout. Miscellaneous thoughts for those thinking of doing this route anytime soon: -Expect your Muir-Summit-Muir time to be about 2 hours longer than it would be in June/July (very circuitous). -I really liked the route, as it avoided the DC proper, and weaved around some awesome seracs and crevasses (generally without being threatened by them). The scenery is much more interesting now than earlier in the year. - The “steep” step around 11,700’ is only about 40 degrees and 20 feet tall (nice buckets kicked in). Nothing to get excited about. - Rainier gets snow even in August (probably snowed a few inches while we were up there). Tatoosh Traverse This summer my theme has been getting lots of mileage in on moderate terrain, and linking easier peaks together. The Tatoosh Traverse seemed to follow in this vein and my good friend Kelly Smith though an attempt on this mini-range sounded swell! Coincidently, his only free day in the foreseeable future was Monday, which was great because I’d be all acclimated from our Rainier climb the day before. So Monday morning saw me driving back into the park I’d left eight hours before. We caught a few hours of sleep at Longmire, and started up the Eagle Peak trail just after 6:00am. We reached Eagle’s cool summit at 7:20am, and could hardly believe our good fortune: several miles of high alpine country stretched off in the distance, with Rainier on our left, and Mt.’s Adams, Hood, and St. Helens looking on from the south. The area is so beautiful, with gorgeous wildflowers, rocky peaks, and lots of wildlife. Each peak had an interesting scrambling route, and the route finding was generally very manageable. This was our first time in the area, so we were please to only loose a half hour or so to wrong turns. After Eagle, we climbed Chulta, Wahpenayo, Lane (which we thought was the coolest peak thus far), Denman, Plummer, Pinnacle, and Castle, which we reached just after 1:00pm. It was then time for a decision… You see, Kelly’s friend (who shall remain nameless), had earlier agreed to start hiking from the Snow Lake Trailhead, and meet us around Pinnacle Peak. We had yet to see him, and we were both worried that something horrible may have happened. So do we backtrack to the Pinnacle Peak Trail, thus minimizing the distance we’d have to walk/hitchhike back to Longmire, or keep going in the hopes that we would run into him, then finish up the last three peaks of the Traverse (Unicorn, Boundary, and Stevens)? We decided to keep hiking towards the final three peaks…. We still had not run into our tardy friend by the time we reached the basin below Unicorn, so we sat down for about an hour and hollered, and looked, and waited, and hollered some more, but no sign of our ride. No problem, we’ll just have to come back and do the traverse again, and get those final three peaks (which I’ve heard are very cool). Kelly told me our ride may even be waiting for us in the parking lot: sweet! But it was not to be, so we started walking west on Stevens Canyon road toward Longmire, 15 miles away. Our spirits were high, and Kelly even estimated we could make it back to the car in an hour and a half, as most of the road is downhill. Thankfully, we never got to figure out how running 15 miles would feel after such a long hike, as a super cool couple picked us up near the Pinnacle Peak Trailhead! Back to the car at 5:00, burger’s in Elbe shortly thereafter. Miscellanous thoughts: Big thanks to Cluck (Scott) for giving me great beta/times for this traverse! Big thanks to the cool Mountaineer’s couple for taking pity on us and taking us down to Longmire! Big thanks to Mark Bunker for getting me hooked on moving fast in the hills! This traverse is very cool, and highly recommended! I will be back to finish this thing!

I'm dropping the wife off at a party in Monroe around noon, and I'll have a few hours to kill. Anyone interested in running this thing?