mountainmatt
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Posts posted by mountainmatt
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Damn man, that is some strong work! Way to get after it!
Hiking down from the chief with no headlamp must have been a bag of suck.
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G-spotter: Sent to Alpinist. I am eagerly awaiting a reply.
Rad: that would have been a good idea, especially since this traverse will surely be compared to the many traverses that Colin has done (such as the Torres Traverse). However, we would have had a hard time counting, as we did not have 34 fingers between us.
Marc_leclerc: I think it is fantastic that younger, strong climbers (such as you) are inspired to try such bold and visionary lines like this. I can’t wait to watch what the future holds for you. Finishing the Flight of the Challenger? Or perhaps the Torres de Plumas in reverse? Time will tell.
OMB: You should have come along for sure. If they do remove my rights to reserve Sunshine wall, it will be sad, but the send will still have been worth the sacrifice.
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Awesome!
I can't wait to head out to Darrington this season, sooo many new lines!
Where exactly is Illusion wall in relation to squire creek wall? When is the online guide coming out?
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Trip: Vantage - Torre de Plumas 5.7 R A0
Date: 2/21/2010
Trip Report:
Several years ago, we were sitting around a campfire in Vantage with the awe-inspiring backdrop of the feathers in site. Being climbing book junkies, we were all aware of the amazing history of the feathers; the successes, the failures, and the epics. We could identify several of the individual routes on each tower, when jokingly someone threw out, “I wonder if someone will ever link the summits of all of the towers?” We all laughed about the difficulties of the idea, but that night, a seed was planted in my mind.
The next couple of years I found myself climbing in Yosemite, Red Rocks, and Index, but my mind constantly drifted back to thoughts about the linking the towers of the feathers. I finally decided that I had to start taking the traverse seriously and began my training. As luck would have it while training one day, I ran into another inspired soul who had seen the traverse as well and was interested. ‘Shooter’ and I combined forces. We waited for months for the right weather window. With the favorable weather forecast last weekend, we knew we had our shot. We packed for a light and fast traverse, carrying only a single rope and one can of Rainier each for the entire traverse. We hoped that with some luck, that would be all we needed.
After a brief warm up, we set out to strike at the traverse. We started by leading the route on the far western end of the feathers, being sure to summit each tower on the way. After a bouldery start (see topo), we connected up with some anchors (likely left by another party on a previous attempt at the traverse). ‘Shooter’ joined me at the belay, and proceeded off into the wild terrain ahead. After a difficult ground avoidance move, he was back on course into a long section of tricky walking. Finding a large boulder (possibly one of the last good belays to be found), he set up the belay and brought me over. At this point, I couldn’t help but think about the new movie “The North Face” as people arrived to witness our triumph or failure. I only hoped that we would make it to the end of the traverse, so I could enjoy the Rainier I had so carefully stashed in my chalk bag.
Looking at the next section, I knew that I had additional tricky walking ahead, so I grabbed some extra gear and set off. After summiting another tower, I arrived at the giant steps; a series of four foot down climbs that come one after another. I took a couple of deep breaths and thought about all of the training I had done over the last several months. I knew I was as ready as I could ever be; I set off down the stairs towards the unknown.
The first stair provided little issue, nor did the second or third, and soon I had arrived at a large ledge near the large gap in the traverse. Finding another anchor left by a previous attempt, I set up and brought ‘Shooter’ over to the belay. We discussed at length our strategy for the next section and decided that ‘Shooter’ was the best candidate for the crux of the route. I lowered him down to about halfway down the tower, were he proceeded to start the “queen swing”. After several runs back and forth, he managed to connect to the other side in a full body stem. Luck would have it, that there were holds there to allow him to continue off to an adjacent crack. Far from the anchor, we were both desperately hoping for some gear but there was none to be found (hence the R rating). ‘Shooter’ who had also been training very hard, was up for the task: composing himself, and sending the crack to the top of the next pillar.
After setting a belay, I lowered off the previous anchor and climbed up to the tower. We celebrated a brief victory; the ‘queen swing’ had been done, which we knew would be one of the major cruxes of the route. However, it also meant that when we pulled the rope, it would be very hard to traverse back the other way. And furthermore, the next section of the climb was about to provide the scariest moment of the adventure.
After crossing another long section of technical walking, I stumbled on a good bivy site for two. I made sure to take note of this in case we didn’t complete the route in a day. But I really hoped that we would, since we were traveling so fast and light, and we only brought one Rainier each. After another short section, I arrived at another large gap, finding another old set of anchors, most likely left by a party attempting the route from the other direction. I began to step across, when I felt something shifting in my chalk bag. I instinctively reached back and grabbed my only can of Rainier from falling out of my chalk bag and into the darkness of the chimney. I took several minutes to compose myself before I attempted to climb any further. Accordingly, we have named the feature, ‘nearly lost my Rainier step’.
At this point, I could see what I thought was the end of the climb, but the traverse did not let up. A complicated section of walking that involved technical footwork was ahead. There was also little room to place any protection, keeping my blood pumping until the very end. I finally set up a belay and brought ‘Shooter’ over to the end. We celebrated our traverse by cracking open the Rainiers before headed back to the car nearly 400 feet away.
The main objective:
The summit of an early tower:
Bouldery start
Seconding pitch 1:
Route finding:
Looking down the traverse (note the ground is very close on the right):
Heading out on pitch 2:
Approaching the ‘giant steps’
The ‘queen swing’
Nearing the end:
Celebration:
Topo:
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So Ryan, they would be ideal for a "Yosemite/Squamish approach/descent shoe"
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Awesome! Thanks for all the work!
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Don't know if you can still find these but I have a couple pairs of La Sportiva sandles that are similar to Chacos. I got them for $20 and they've been awesome.
Yup, they are still out there. Light weight, sticky rubber, cheap (available in better colors than shown below)
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Got nailed by one at Erie around Jan 15th.
So did I! I hate those little buggers...
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Cool that your hats are taking off Evan!
Here is my little review: I bought one of these last year, being fairly skeptical of how good they would be since they are down (wet down = no warmth). To test it out, my first trip with the hat was a winter ascent of Rainier last year. I found that I was toasty and warm all the way to top. Next I took it out on one of many alpine climbing trips last year (Stuart, CBR, SEWS, etc.). While I never led with the hat on, I found it so small and compact that I could easily put it in my pocket and put it on to keep warm while my partner was seconding the pitch. The hat compresses nicely under your helmet as well, which makes it a nice addition for ice climbing (which we surprisingly got to do a lot this season). I was also surprised to find that when the hat gets wet, it dries so quickly that my fears about a wet down hat were misplaced. When the hat gets wet, I simply air dry it for a couple of minutes, and I am good to go. I now take the hat on almost every trip, and think of it as an invaluable part of my wardrobe.
For JANUS, I would suggest that you try one out before you shit all over it. There are two other companies making these things and they charge between $75 and $120 for their hats (which look more like someone stapled a quilt on their head).
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"Texas finger crack" South Platte (an 8" off width crack)
"Weasels rip my flesh" South Platte (an INSANELY painful finger crack)
"Fuzzy undercling" Red River Gorge
"With friends like that, who needs enemas?" Squamish
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Skaha
Leavenworth
Smith
Vantage
Tieton
Mt.Erie
Occasionally index
Lots of stuff to the far east of WA
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I have a silent partner, and although I don't use it very much, I haven't had that problem before. Then again, there are a lot of new coatings coming out on ropes these days.
Did you try this when it was under weight? Or just by pulling with your hands? (ie. would the clove hold better with weight?)
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Wow! Darrington is already shaping up?
Way to get after it.
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Dumbest thread of the decade.
Are you sure? There is a great thread about Infinite Stupidity going on as well...
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Scarface back in the day...
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Sweet man! Scary stuff for sure! 27 #2 and #3 pecker placements in the tuff must have been pretty spicy! Not to mention the core shot rope.
I have always looked at that line wondering what the story was there. Nice work.
Did you guys take any pics?
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So the list is something like this now (if I am catching all of the suggestions):
1. Liberty crack, Liberty Bell 13-
2. Thin Red Line, Liberty Bell 12+
3. The Tempest Wall, Colchuck Balanced Rock 12
4. Vanishing Point, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 12
5. Northwest passage, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 12-
6. Independence Route, Liberty Bell 12-
7. Dragons of Eden, Dragontail Pk. 12-
8. Pangaea, North Early Winters Spire 12-
9. Tooth and Claw, North Early Winters Spire 12-
10. West Face, North Gunsight Pk. 11+
11. The Passenger, South Early Winter Spire 11+
12. West Face, Colchuck Balanced Rock 11+
13. The Scoop, Colchuck Balanced Rock 11+
14. Northeast rib, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 11+
15. Der Sportsmen, Prusik Pk. 11+
16. Firefighter, Cutthroat Peak 11+
17. Devil finds work, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 11
18. Dragonfly, Dragontail 11
19. Supercave, M&M wall 11
20. Gorilla’s in the mist, Mt. Stuart 11
21. Hyperspace, Snow Creek Wall 11
22. Northwest face, South Early Winters Spire 11
23. The Girth Pillar, Mt. Stuart 11-
24. Direct East Buttress, South Early Winters Spire 11-
If we are including things like Snow Creek Wall, do we also include the upper town wall?
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It also really depends of you are trying to do the full north ridge or just the upper half:
If doing the full north, I would highly recommend taking Pete_H's advice, however it technically requires a permit to camp up there during the "enchantments season". Unless you really want to bivy mid-climb (heavier packs), I would suggest doing the route in a day (fast and light).
If only doing the upper half, coming from Ingalls makes more sense and descend via the Cascadian.
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I don't think it's possible to make a list without actually climbing them all
In terms of making a top ten list, I agree with you Mike. However, having a list of the "hardest alpine" by grade provides an interesting tick list.
Since numbers don't tell the whole story, what are some of the scariest/boldest alpine leads?
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AlpineMonkey is correct, Hubba Hubba is in and phat. There are also two lines to the left of Hubba Hubba central that have 1-2 pitches of good ice.
No pictures, as we were climbing in the fog all day...
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I can't really comment on the "top 10" in terms of quality routes as I have only done a couple of the routes listed below. Here is a list of a few of the other hard routes out there:
1. Liberty crack, Liberty Bell 13-
2. Thin Red Line, Liberty Bell 12+
3. The Tempest Wall, Colchuck Balanced Rock 12
4. Vanishing Point, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 12
5. Northwest passage, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 12-
6. Independence Route, Liberty Bell, 12-
7. Dragons of Eden, Dragontail Pk. 12-
8. Pangaea, NEWS, 12-
9. Tooth and Claw, NEWS 12-
10. West Face, North Gunsight Pk. 11+
11. The Passenger, South Early Winter Spire 11+
12. West Face, Colchuck Balanced Rock 11+
13. The Scoop, Colchuck Balanced Rock 11+
14. The Passenger, SEWS 11+
15. Northeast rib, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 11+
16. Der Sportsmen, Prusik Pk. 11+
17. Devil finds work, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 11
18. Dragonfly, Dragontail 11
19. Supercave, M&M wall, 11
20. Gorilla’s in the mist, Mt. Stuart 11
21. The Girth Pillar, Mt. Stuart 11-
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You mention that the tempest is 12+, however motamota rated it as 12. Has anyone else free the pitch yet to confirm the rating?
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Top 10 Hard Alpine Free-Climbs in WA State
in Rock Climbing Forum
Posted
I agree with Blake and Pete. Most of the routes that are going to be clean will be in N&P. I wouldn't say any of them will be as clean and polished as Yosemite though...
If he doesn't mind leaving the alpine, just send him to Index. Plenty of good, long hard climbs there.
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