still_climbin

Not mine. Musta been the Mammut sling fairy.

Climb: Improbable Traverse- Date of Climb: 8/19/2006 Trip Report: I just landed a three-week consulting job in South Carolina starting Monday so I decided to try another quick alpine venture to tide me over. Partner, George was available Saturday on quick notice and we decided to give Improbable Traverse a try. We arrive about 9:00 am and reached the face by 9:40. We found the talus on the left side of the cone to be much more stable than elsewhere and only fought scree the last 100 ft or so. We climbed the broken rock to the left of the corner up to Lunch Ledge. That pitch was fairly easly with a couple 5.6 moves. George led the Travers pitch which went smoothly. I really liked the rock on that pitch. It was clean and solid, when you needed a hand or foot hold it would be there and the exposure was energizing. The exit off the summit was a little confusing. We thought it would be a walkoff but we had to scramble on or along the east side of on the crest accross a couple more summits to get to the decent trail. The trick is what to do when the last (north) false summit is reached. Trails head down both to the west and east. The one to the west dead ends at a cliff. You must decend east about 100 ft into a gulley (rap or downclimb) and climb back up a slot that again reaches the crest just north of the north summit. There the trail begins and all srambling ends. Back in the Tri Cities in time to join my wife at dinner on the Columbia River. P.S. Bootied 3 binners and an 8 mm Mammut Spectra sling. Gear Notes: - Light rack to 3" - 60 M rope (long enough to do the traverse in one long pitch) - Tennis shoes for all but four class 4 and 5 leads. Almost accross Happy toes. George at the cruxy thing.

How are the crowds/ Thinking of going there Saturday.

Very nice. What is the rock? Granite?

Another lower commitment ( but excellent into to WA Pass alpine rock) is Rapple Grapple which is next to the Beckey route on LB. It's 5.7 to 5.8 depending on who you ask and its on consistently good rock with fewer crowds than Beckey. The rappel route is straight forward (two single or one double rope rap) and you get to see half a dozen LB/Concord Notch routes up close. On your second day try one of the longer, more committed routes like SW Rib SEWS or NW Corner NEWS.

Nice TR. Looks like you had a great trip. What kind of rock comprises Black Peak?

Fixed my underground sprikler system. Severe withdrawals. Must do alpine this week or die.

Control's what you want? Here's control. Bubbles Now that's an engineering problem.

Nice. Brings back memories.

Now that you mentioned it I checked too. Whitlaw says 5.8, Beckey 5.7+. But, who's to say.

Climb: Liberty Bell / SEWS-Rapple Grapple Date of Climb: 8/4/2006 Trip Report: We returned to Washington Pass Friday to work some more routes and to initiate a newby to alpine rock. George, Darrel and I got a decent early start up to the Lib Bell / Concord col fearing crowds. We arived with one party ahead of us on the Beckey route. We waited an hour for them to clear the first pitch which allowed us to pass them by doing Rappel Grapple, our intended target. Although the route doesn't seem to get much traffic (more lichen on the rocks, etc)I thought it was better that Beckey. After doing the first pitch of Beckey you move a few feet right to a thin finger crack which becomes a left facing dihedral about 10 feet above. The first couple moves are 5.8 and then it eases off to pleasant, clean 5.7 corner climbing. The next pitch is somewhat easier but clean and varried. The last pitch joins Beckey starting at the white slab. I'm suprised this route doesn't get more action. BTW, four parties were on Beckey as we left. Saturday we hit the trail even earlier, worried about the rumor of a Mountie assault on SEWS during the weekend. A brand new, never done a mountain before, gym climber, Stephanie, joined us for an initiation on SEWS South Arete. We arrived alone and didn't see others until we were leaving the peak in the afternoon. All in all it was a really fun relaxed climb and a great first experience for Steph.

I saw one one the southeast shoulder of Mt Daniels a few years ago. We'd have missed it except it ran accross a snowfield and we saw the motion. Also heard one scream a number of times on the Foss River near the Necklace Valley.

Great pics. I've done both routes but not your way... Yours is a first.

The President of the United States says Area 51 doesn't exsit.

- I'm not getting any younger.. lets go for it NOW! - No fall, no gain. - New gear is an investment in safety, so.....

Climb: Ingalls Peak Traffic Jam-South Face Date of Climb: 7/27/2006 Trip Report: Four of us from the Tri Cities motored up to the trailhead Thursday morning trying for a quick shot at Ingalls sans weekend crowds. We arrived at the lake about 11:00 am and could see a climber on the skyline doing the route we wanted. No problem since he'd certainly be off by the time we arrived. No such luck. We hit the base of the route around noon and scooted up the first easy class 5 pitch in a few minutes as two independant rope teams. Arriving on the large ledge at the base of the face we were greeted by a party of five climbing as two teams strung out over the entire route. They included several climbers from Seattle and two from Texas. Two were teenage boys who had little if any climbing experience. The second team hadn't even started the first pitch off the big ledge! Well, we waited and waited some more. After an hour I led the 5.6 crack right behind the last guy. My toes suffered at times waiting for him to make his next move, but fortunately they let me climb through their belay which was only about 80 ft up from the ledge. Well, long story short, we slipped through them while they climbed, but soon after they reached the top rappel station they set their rappel rope as others of their party lounged on the summit. Hence we found ourselves in line once again. Turns out that was fortunate for them. Their trip leader, and the second rope leader zipped off the summit to set the rappel below, leaving one adult and the two kids to fend for themselves. One kid had an ATC and the other a BD Figure Eight. Neither had rappeled before nor did they have a clue how to use those devices. The remaining adult was using an old 70's vintage brake bar with an ancient oval binner and couldn't help the kids. Up to this point I was trying to not pay attention to their quandry but the adult asked for assistance so I agreed. I ended up baby sitting the three of them off the summit to the others waiting below. I caught up with two of the adults at the second rap anchor. There the one who had rapped second from the summit expressed great concern that he didn't know how to rig the 3 binner caribiner brake system he was using (This is after he apparently guessed right for the rap off the summit). Again I found myself as the instructor and corrected his hookup (it was wrong). We passed them as they were doing the last rap. In all we had waited at least two and a half hours for this party and finally made it off the face at 5:00. I'm guessing they spent at least 7 hours on the face. Well, so much for mid week climbing luck. I'm REALLY looking forward to my Liberty Bell/SEWS trip this comming WEEKEND. Pic of the gaggle on Ingalls: Gear Notes: Small racks Didn't need ice axes Patience

If your referring to Overexposure on Lib Bell (the rappel route) I already ticked that one off my list back in the 70's. Also it wasn't really that great a route. I acknowledge the advice on the gully and rockfall. Its bad enough without other parties above or below you.

Question: How bad is the climber traffic on the Lib Bell/ Concord notch routes on weekends this time of the year? I did the Becky Route two weeks ago on a Tuesday and only two other (guided) parties followed us. Now some friends want to do Rapple Grapple this comming weekend. Is that insane? Would, say, the SEWS South West Rib be a better bet?

BD Alpine Bod also does't have a belay loop.

That's the one I saw and was wondering about. Looked more like some sort of feminine hygene device or something. Gary, would you have worn it, say, on Backbone Ridge?

A safe bet are attractor flies for thoses fish for the reason Trogdor states. Otherwise try shallow ends of the lakes in the evening with drys such as renegade or caddis. I found Shield and Toketie to be the best.

What's your favorite light weight, low bulk harness for alpine?

Try Givler's Crack. Its two pitches with a couple 5.8 moves the first pitch and a 170ft single 5.7 crack to the top, all on steep flawless slab. Only downside is the 1500 ft. approach in the sun in July.

Another mistake with painful consequences applies to persons with very long hair. When I taught climbing many years ago I witnessed, on two occations, hair being pulled through the rappel devise. In both cases another person had to rappel next to the painfully trapped woman and cut the hair (which was also painful but in another way). In one instance the rappeller continued to let rope and hair slip through the devise until she was virtually hanging by her hair. I second the idea of holding the ends of the rope from below. In event of an injury, say from a falling rock, the lower person can stop a fall and usually lower the rappeller in a controlled fashion by varying force on the rope.