mountainmatt

Trip: Snoqualmie Pass - Rumors of Ice #7 Date: 12/14/2007 Trip Report: When hiking up near Red Mountain last weekend on the PCT, I happened to run into an ice flow that I had never heard mention of before. In checking the Washington Ice book it mentions: “There is an interesting single pitch climb about 2 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail toward Kendall Peak, at approximately 3800 feet. The route tends to be steep for 20-30 feet and then kicks back for the remainder of the pitch. The route can be done at approximately WI3. Avalanche danger is severe.” The route that I saw appeared to be about 2 pitches long, so I called my friend Stewart up, and we decided that playing hooky to ice climb was a much better idea than actually working. We hit the pass at about 6 AM, and after about an hour we could look up at the route. The route looked bad from below, but we decided to hike up anyways to get a good look. After about another 15 or so, we got to the base. We passed through some avy debris here, and we were both happy that we were wearing our beacons. After looking at the route for a while and drinking some coffee, Stewart decided to give it a go. The first pitch was about 35 meters long, took screws the whole way up (various sizes) and only had one short section where the ice was thin, luckily the climbing was easy at that point. We belayed off a set of small trees on the left. Surprisingly, the second section of the climb looked pretty good once we actually got up there. Not being as strong of a leader, I passed the lead to Stewart and he headed up again. This pitch was definitely harder than the first, and had a section about 10 feet long that was “fragile” (left variation). For future parties, you could head to the right side which appeared to be a bit thicker. The entire pitch took screws the whole way. At the top, Stewart headed over to the climbers right and belayed off a nice big tree. For descent, we rappelled off a large tree on the climbers right (single 60 meter would work), hiked down about 30 feet, and rappelled off another large tree on the climbers right (to use the same anchor would require a single 70 meter rope). The route overall was pretty fun (definitely good for the crap normally found at Snoq). Additionally, the flow was growing while we were there (several of the screws had to be chipped out since a half inch of ice formed before they could be cleaned). Perhaps the flow will get better? (if so, future parties could attack the last 20 vertical feet perhaps?) Rough topo: Looking up from the PCT: The ice: Approximate route: Stewart on pitch 1: Gear Notes: Used a variety of screws (short, med, long). 70 meter rope or double 50/60s required if using our anchors. Approach Notes: Park at the Snoqualmie parking lot, hike about 2 miles on the PCT, look to your right once you enter into a big open area with boulders.

Just found some good stuff at Snoq. Pass, TR to follow later tonight... 2 pitch, WI 3, right off the PCT, ~2 miles in

Pretty scary... http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1733591;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25

Correction: Problems Other: 98 Bitch: 1

http://www.jamphat.com/rap/

http://www.struttergear.com/products/CLUCKING_INFOPAGE.html

In Nepal they call it Sherpa oxygen. While trekking over there, I here stories of various Sherpas lighting up at very high altitudes, claiming that it helped them climb better.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15825820

We headed up the first weekend in June 2007. We had huge clouds move in over the top of us on the summit, but the ice was in good shape for the section above thumb, and the crevasse travel was straight forward for the approach/descent. Have fun!

Nothing German could be bad... D4S-hCMcFYY

Hmmm.. let me take a guess. You were at Vantage this weekend complaining that the "wildlife" was being disturbed. I was also upset that all the rattlesnakes were being scared away.

Heads up for anyone that wants to try CTD: The hanger on the top of CTD has been hammered flat (not sure how recently this happened). But with the rest of the rock up there being typical vantage choss, its pretty hard to set a TR on now. If you want it, you might just have to bust out the RPs

I was flipping through my guidebook last night, and it said that Yodemeister is only a 10a. I assume this is a misprint when you are comparing it to CTD and RMMs?

Your pictures are just great! Way to go

I just love the comments on the shirt: Tom12 says... My cawk grew 3 inches ever since i bought this bad ass shirt now my girl cant get enough of my 4 inch penis.

http://www.birkoph.com/Wolf_tshirt.htm

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=76226

Just a quick note on this route. Positive side: First off, there are several really good pitches in the route that make this a worth while outing. The negatives: The route is safely bolted except for a few runout pitches (which although dangerous, are not that bad because they are 5.1). However, pitches 16 and 17 are just retarded. I did the route last weekend and nearly got killed by a rock. After raping to the ledge, I sat in the most secure spot I could find (no way to secure myself) and proceeded to pull the ropes. At some point a large rock came off and came about 10 feet from hitting me in the head and taking me off the lower 16 pitches. After that, I still had the ~100 feet of soloing back to the anchors over loose terrain. I am not a fan of over bolting, but this is dumb as hell. I would never do the route again without rebolting that section. Even if you are a skilled climber, you can still die on this route due to the poor choices of the first accentionist.

Nice work up there. But realize that its not really complete until you bring a little mini car with you.

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/

A friend of mine nearly stepped on a large rattle snake, but I never saw any.

Was up at Tieton last weekend and a group of six accidently picked up my guide book when they were taking off. It was brand new so I hadn't written my name in it or anything. If you happen to find it, please PM me. Thanks

Trip: Darrington - Exfoliation Dome - Blueberry Date: 5/12/2007 Trip Report: Chad and I met up on Friday, grabbed some beer and headed out to camp up in Darrington. We got up early the next morning and headed to the trailhead. After my last attempt, I was convinced to not get destroyed by the approach this time. We followed the beta from my last attempt and we were able to walk right up to the granite slabs in about 30 minutes, and 30 more to get to the base of the route. Besides some route finding issues on pitch 4 (head to the right set of cracks) the route went fine up to the terrace (all of the pitches were dry). After relaxing for awhile, we decided to try the final three pitches to the top although we had little information about them. We headed to the far left side to a set of anchors, and started up, first traversing to the left and then angeling back to the right to the top. The first pitch was mostly clean, but the remaining 3 were mostly covered in trees, moss, and dirt. We tried to get more to the left, and although clean, there was no gear anywhere. We topped out with the last pitch ending 20 feet from the summit. Due to bad weather, we didn't spend much time on the summit and headed to the ~12 rappels down the east side (see notes). Green Giant Buttress 3'O-clock rock Ahhh the joyous approach This beats bushwhacking any day Chad on the granite slabs Starting up pitch 3 Chad on pitch 4 Relaxing on the terrace Gardening anyone? On one of many raps... Gear Notes: Rack to 4", some slings are nice for the trees. Gardening tools if you do the wrong finish like we did. Approach Notes: The granite sidewalk is dry enough to walk without major difficulty. Note on descent: The initial 5 or so rappels are best done with a single 60m rope. The last rappel before the major ledge is about 20 feet short of the next set of anchors requiring some scrambling or the use to two 60m lines. The remaining rappels are double 60m rappels. The very last rappel is also about 20 feet short, but easily down climbed.

Nice work!

Looks like a great route! How did Exfoliation Dome look?