mountainmatt

There have been a few requests for larger topos, so here you go

[video:youtube]Lc1aSMuXDMQ

You are absolutely right. Giant boulders are constantly rolling over the descent trail. Thanks for your amazing insight!

Just a heads up that the normal descent route down Dragontail has had some recent rock fall (08-16-09). Below is a picture taken just before and after a large VW sized rock came down the approximate descent path.

As of a few weeks ago there was still a nice stream running in the valley below Thomson, after you cross Bumblebee pass. Its probably still going, but the snow was definitely melting out fast. If that doesn't work, you can also fill up at the small lake about 5 minutes away from Bumblebee as well.

Sweet! Looks like another one to add to the list.

Hells yeah man! Sketchy on the serac How was the upper section? (I have read reports of it being an ice climb, others reporting a couple of rock pitches) I tried to get on this route two years ago and was turned away by avalanches. Glad to see that the route is getting some travel

Hells yeah Stewart! Where is the cool picture of the crevasse opening up in camp though?

Click the image for a bigger topo!

Click the image for a bigger one!

Holy crap Mark! I am glad that you made it out ok and are on the path to recovery. Its scary to think that I just came down that same descent recently and did some raps in there as well. Was the rap off a blue piece of cordalette?

I am having issues getting things to load on the CC server, so here are some links to large versions... "The Scoop" Topo Routes on CBR as of 08-2009 I like the triple Scoop idea, that would be one hell of a link up!

Thanks everyone! It was definitely a great time with good friends. Some of the days spent digging out cracks were not as fun, but once we got them clean, we found some spectacular climbing under there, and that made it all worthwhile. The route is pretty clean now, but a little traffic will definitely help finish it off. As for other routes up there, you would be hard pressed not to find additional lines if you spend an hour at the bottom of the boulders with some binoculars. Not to mention all the rock you walk past on the walk off. You might avoid the left side where the large rock fall came off a few years ago though I also forgot to mention a big thanks to Matthew Hall from exposureimagery.com He just happened to be hiking up there to take pictures of Colchuck, Dragontail, and Stuart and took a few great shots for us. He also got to see Evan send the scoop pitch on the last day (as well as hear Stewart and I yell at the top of our lungs at Evan).

Trip: Colchuck Balanced Rock - The Scoop III+ 5.11c (FA) Date: 8/9/2009 Trip Report: During a trip to climb the west face (III 5.12a) on Colchuck Balanced Rock (CBR) last year, Evan and I were amazed at the lack of development of lines to the right. We decided on the spot that we had to try and find a new route next year. We took a large number of high-resolution photos and trudged our way back down the gulley to Colchuck lake. Over the winter, we spent time studying the photos, drooling over several possible lines, but one particular feature kept catching our eye: a large dihedral carved out of the rock about halfway up the face. It almost appeared as if a giant had used an oversized ice cream scoop to dig it out, creating a sharp dihedral at the bottom and slowly “scooping” out into an overhang. Not knowing what was in store for us, we knew we would need another strong climber along, so we contacted our friend Stewart, and put in for two separate four-day permits. Our first trip began on an early morning in June, with three of us slugging heavy packs up the loose gully to CBR. We set up camp amongst the white bus-sized boulders at the bottom of the route, and started setting up for the unknown. Although dirty, the first three pitches were dispatched onsight and free (9, 10a, 10a) leading us to a large ledge that seemed to be the launch point for a wide variety of lines up the second half of the face. We were now finally face to face with scooped dihedral that we had been dreaming of during the rainy Seattle winter. Even though we were now directly below the pitch, it was impossible to tell if there was a crack in the dihedral or whether it was simply a copperhead seam. Stewart set off aiding the pitch and we held our breath in anticipation. With every foot of progress came questions from below, “Is there still crack above you? Does it pinch off? What size is it?” As he continued to climb and remove the thick lichen, we were simply amazed that it continued to dish up a beautiful finger crack that widened into occasional hand jams near the final overhanging 20-foot section. It looked like the line might go free, but the major concern was the lack of good foot holds most of the way, and lack of rests for over 120 feet of the full 200-foot pitch. If it would go, it was going to be one hard pitch for sure. On the third day, we started late in the cold spring temperatures and wind and soon found ourselves sitting on a spacious ledge at the top of the scoop pitch. Across a slab twenty feet to our left started yet another long dihedral, angling up into two large ominous roofs. It was our luck that there was a small sloping ledge that allowed us to traverse across into the thin crack and up to a very dirty corner. The crack was filled with decades of accumulated dirt, moss, and plants and at this point we knew we had to go back into aiding and try to return and eventually free the pitch. A couple of hours and twenty pounds of dirt later, we came to the first of the roofs. It was almost as by design that a small knob appeared for a foot below with a hand crack under the roof allowing us to traverse to yet another ledge. The second roof appeared to be even harder than the first, requiring climbing up, traversing, and down climbing again to get back out and left to the end and into the final dihedral. The edge of the roof provided a unique “fang” feature that allowed for a nice rest following the delicate traverse. Again due to the dirtiness of the cracks, we aided through this section to gain a large ledge system several hundred feet below the summit. We knew from climbing the west face route the year before that we were about four easy 5th class pitches from the top, but due to weather we proceed to rappel down the route. On the last day, we headed up to give our first try at the scoop pitch to see what it would require to eventually lead it. After several runs on top rope, we knew we might be able to eventually lead it, but it would take everything we had to get it. We rappelled to the ground and headed back to the car in a mid-June snowstorm. So far we had everything that we were hoping for: a new route on CBR that was completed ground up, and never required a single piton or a bolt. Now the question was, would the line go free? Six weeks later, we found ourselves on the long hike back up to CBR, this time leaving most of the aid gear at home with the hopes of going into full free mode. We had two major goals: top out the route and free the three pitches that were previously aided. The first goal was fairly easy, after topping out on pitch 6, the three of us roped up and simul-climbed to the summit. The second goal was a little harder. On the summit day, each one of us tackled one of the remaining aid pitches, with only pitch 5 going free at 5.10b on the first go. After some additional cleaning, pitch 6 eventually went free at 5.10a, making it an excellent final pitch to the route. The scoop pitch evaded us for three days and we were worried that we may not be able to send it at all on this trip. On the last day, we got a late start and headed back up to launch ledge and Evan’s last go at the lead. The cold temperatures were perfect for friction, but unfortunately were also good for creating numb fingers and toes, not great for the sharp crack and featureless dihedral. To warm up, Evan lowered down pitch 3 and took a warm up lap to get the blood flowing. After a 5 minute rest and a few deep breaths, he launched off the ledge and sent it on his first go of the day. The last remaining pitch now went free at 5.11c. There was little discussion or argument about the name of the route; due to the dominance of the feature on pitch 4, we all agreed to name the route “The Scoop”, III+ 5.11c, 10 pitches. Stewart and Matt figuring out where to start the route: Stewart leading p2 (in the v-slot): Stewart belaying Evan up p2: Matt leading p3: Stewart finds a hidden crack below all the lichen: Evan starting the Scoop: Below the first roof on p4: Start of the overhang on p4: Evan on the Scoop p4: I'm not sure the tape helped here: Stewart coming across the groove: Stewart leading p5: Evan and Matt coming up p5: Matt on p5: Matt leading p6: Simul-climbing to the top: Evan and Stewart at the top of CBR: Matt, Evan, and Stewart after the clean send: Our river beers were waiting at the car: Topo (PM me for a higher res image): Routes on CBR:

Wow! Fantastic trip! Definitely makes me want to spend some more days in the Olympics.

Mountain climbing interview with Shatner: [video:youtube]8HlplfG5Ezk Musical version: [video:youtube]HU2ftCitvyQ

Nice work! We did the line earlier in the day and saw you top out. We had communication problems as well, for whatever reasons, we could not hear each other at all on the first three pitches. Oh well, it all worked itself out. For us, the descent took longer than the ascent (partly due to the thunderstorms last week creating a bunch of new landslides and loose rock). Glad you made it down before dark.

Hells yeah! That is a sweet looking line! Way to get after it

Sweet video Wayne! Can't wait to see the next installment

This might get you started... http://www.summitpost.org/route/168476/northeast-buttress.html

I am having similar problems loading pictures. Browsers: FF or Safari File type: using either .jpeg or .png formats File size: as large as 2 MB, as small as 500 KB Post clicking: just loads infinitely (or) says each picture has some error (too large, outside parameters, etc) After the failure, sometimes a picture will load anyways (about 1 in 20 times) and can then be added to a TR. It was because of this that I didn't add more pictures in my last several TRs, just takes way too much time.

Ahhh, we were wondering who put some of those nice tracks in. Thanks! It was definitely helpful coming down in the beginning before the heat caused the steps to break through. We had heard the beta about coming down the slabs on the skiers left, but since it was dark, we tried our luck getting over to the snow on skiers right. Thankfully it worked out

Trip: Mt.Stuart - Full North Ridge Date: 7/19/2009 Trip Report: The original plan was to head up Girth Pillar on Mt.Stuart, but due to the warm temperatures, the disintegrating ice cliff, and the large number of avalanches coming down from high on Mt.Stuart (we watched several and heard them fall all night long), we had to come up with a plan B. I had always wanted to climb the full north ridge, why not now? Since we were not planning on doing the full north ridge, we didn’t have a topo, just the beta I could remember from talking to various friends who had done the route. Aaron had done the upper section before a couple of years before in a storm, so we at least had that. The other downside is that we did not have any “fast and light” setup; instead we had heavier boots and a large pack that we had intended on hauling up girth pillar. It was pretty warm, but the winds would be keeping us cool, so we threw in 6 liters of water, some food, jackets, ice axes, and a headlamps and set off on Sunday morning around 5:30. The opening pitches were fairly obvious and had good climbing coupled with good gear. After the first four pitches, we started trying to simul-climb as much as possible. I just repeated the only beta I could remember from my friend, “stay on the ridge, if in question go left first, if that looks impossible, go right”. It seemed to work out fairly well, going left first inmost cases. We hit the notch at the start of the half-north ridge by about 11, took a short break, and continued on. By the time we hit the gendarme, it was in the shade, making for much needed cooler temperatures. We topped out in the sun at about 6, wolfed down some food, and headed over to descend the sherpa glacier. There is a fairly good route taking you to the top of the sherpa glacier with only one long section of snow to down climb. The sherpa itself is a mixture of snow and scree/rock for a long ways. At this point, we had been out of water for a couple of hours and were definitely getting tired. We filled up on some snowmelt, did a rappel over one of the steeper sections, and continued down the snow. The bergschrund was fairly deep, but easily passed and we were soon on the flat portion below the upper section of the glacier. The lower section was easily bypassed on the skiers left, followed by a traverse to the skiers right, and into the final snow field to the boulders. Overall, it was a fantastic route with a great partner. Super long day, but I can always recover at work. Next year Girth Pillar! Hmmm... maybe we should do another route? Route: The start of the FNR: Looking down on the start of Girth pillar: Aaron coming up high on the route: Gear Notes: #4 is still fixed. Lots of other fun gear fixed along the way. Approach Notes: Mountaineers creek, trail most of the way, watch out for the mosquitos!

That is me behind Jens...

Hells yeah! Another new line in the enchantments! Way to get on it. It sounds like most of the route was pretty clean from the beginning. Can you post a pic of where the line goes?