ericb

as far as slinging chickenheads, I don't recall if there were that many on the upper pitch that had a enough of a nice mushroom top that would give me a high level of comfort as pro....nice foot rests though. There were some on the lower pitch though.

now that you mention it, why aren't there any chickenheads on the lower wall?

For the record, I'm not trying to save face here with my rack recommendations. I'm admittedly a cautious leader, but am hoping to at least redeem our unimpressive speed with some descent Beta for those that are interested. Based on my recollection, there's about 80 feet of the crack on pitch 7 that was too small for #3s and too big for #1s, and relatively parallel. So a leader's level of comfort/prowess would dictate how many cams in the 2" range to take. If you are comfortable with 30' run-outs, take 2 cams. I do recall a stretch of the crack (~20 feet) with no real chicken heads, so if someone wasn't bomber on hand-jams, they might want an extra.....

9.667

For the record I left out some details (for my own protection) of what took place in that hour between arrival and departure. Let's just say that Dinner at Los Camperos and a Starbuck's Double Shot Espresso drink with breakfast was not a good idea.

You are worse than the press - pulling out select quotes from my TR and putting in "...." where it serves your purpose. Perhaps you should include the sentence after your first, chump.

Johnson....what time did you get to the base of the route?

Who took 11 hours?

curious...what's the difference between a few #2s and four?...not being an ass, just asking for the benefit of the thread. Also, the definition of "running it out" varies from individual to individual. Would running it out be a piece every 20 feet, or 10 feet. I personally would not want to take any amount of lead fall on these pitches given the chicken heads.

you...never!

Tough call, but looks like the dipshits slept on top...we had dinner at the Alley Cafe

CBS...thanks for the redirect....you will now inflate my TR views!! I do find it interesting that, by your own admission, you apparently needed to get your skills up before leading Orbit (5.8) this summer. Also, for the record, IMO, it was the party behind us that were responsible for the traffic jam...but just IMO.

more like 9.5, but not sure...I took my watch off at the begging of the climb, and didn't look at it again until the top. Before any spray about our speed (who you???), please note that we took the time we were given by the team behind us.

Sampco - totally fair to be a bit pissed that someone bit off more than they could chew on such a popular route, but based on my observations, many of the folks that topped out in the dark got to the base of the climb around or after 9AM and decided to stick with their plans despite many folks in front of them...I'm assuming, unless you say otherwise, that you are one of these people???. There is ample opportunity to bail off the route on or below the belay ledge for pitch 5, and it should have been pretty obvious to the latecomers that continuing beyond this point was going to mean running out of daylight. Don't bitch about the spray on this site...you've now done 4 posts, and you are 2 for 4. If you are such a stud that you can climb 5.10b, you certainly had some less popular options available to you.

Climb: Snow Creek Wall-Outerspace Date of Climb: 9/23/2006 Trip Report: Brian and I had planned a climbing weekend for some time, and even flirted with taking Friday off, and doing a 3 day alpine trip. Work proved harder to escape on Friday than hoped, and with a required 5 p.m. Sunday return for Brian, we decided to head to Leavenworth for some cragging. At 9pm, after a phenomenal Mexican meal in Leavenworth, we sat around a picnic table at the 8-mile campground flipping through our climbing guides and going back and forth between “going for it” on Outerspace, and lesser objectives in Icicle creek canyon. Brian looked at me and said “I think we should go for it”. We spent the rest of our waking hours assembling one of the biggest racks either of us had ever climbed with….doubles of everything from nuts to number 3 cams, including micros, and a couple big hexes thrown in for good measure. We set a 4:15 am wakeup time, knowing that we’d want to be at the base of the climb near dawn to avoid getting behind other groups on this very popular and long route. Within 10 minutes of the alarm going off, I was dressed and pounding my canned Starbucks Double Shot, hoping to get things moving while the outhouse was an option – let’s just say my plan worked, and I made two stops before we departed the Snow Lake trailhead via headlamp at 0530. As hoped, we had usable light was upon us just in time to locate the climbers trail, and we were the first ones to scramble to the base of the route at about 7 am. Base of route Start of first pitch We took our time scouting the start of the route, fiddling with gear, donning the harnesses, and were finally climbing at 8AM, and up the first pitch when company began arriving. As the events of the day unfolded, were very glad to have gotten an early start! We were just starting the second low/mid fifth class pitch when a team passed us simul-climbing. The leader was apparently the self-proclaimed “record holder” on the route. “For speed?” I asked…..”no….I’ve climbed it 50 times”. Lets just say that we saw them briefly on the next belay ledge, and never again. Brian then took the lead for the first of the difficult pitches, and what is, at least, the mental crux, if not the technical crux of the climb. After a short 5.8 finger crack, and some more 5.6ish climbing, you plug a small cam around a blind corner and cheval out into a upward-slanting horizontal hand crack, and move about 15 feet up and right with jams and underclings for hands, and smearing for feet. Brian got pretty pumped out, but completed the crux with style. Brian starting crux Almost through crux I then followed, and after tiring on the traverse, and with only a couple feet to the next cam, made a committing lunge for a bomber hand hold up and right….I missed….good times. Fortunately I was able to spot a hidden foot hold as I dangled from about 3 feet of rope, and was able to complete the traverse and join Brian at the belay. Brian asked then asked me if I wanted to take a shot on lead. We looked at the route description.....5.6 run-out climbing finishing with a 5.8 corner.....hmmm....my arms were pretty shot from the crux…..I deferred. I joined him at the next ledge, and took the rack for the next 5.8 finger to hand crack....the “money pitch. I fiddled in a tri-cam, and then a medium nut higher up, found a finger jam, and went for it. After some fiddling and fatiguing in the first 15 feet, I got a couple more pieces in, and got onto some of the famous “chicken-heads” for a rest. Soon the crack widened, and I got a bomber hex in, and my fears of a ledge fall faded. I was then able to enjoy the rest of the pitch. I “stiched it up” quite nicely, hanging on to my #3 cams in case I need them higher on the pitch or for the belay, and finally reached the ledge with 2 #3 BDs. I built a gear belay with two small nuts, micro cam, and a tri-cam, and put Brian on belay with my legs dangling over the edge of the ledge....phew!. view from belay Brian near top of first Hand-crack pitch Brian and I at the belay ledge Before I knew it we were both snacking and drinking on the ledge debating whether to jump directly into the 5.9 finger crack above, or the unprotected 5.6 bypass around to the left…not to mention who would lead it. I won, and Brian lead out, and used up 3 of his ~ 2” cams trying to protect a pendulum fall while moving from a subsidiary hand crack left of the main crack into the main crack....a big mistake! The bypass sucked as you could only marginally protect the move back to the crack, and you use up cam sizes you will need higher in the main crack. Next time, I’d give the 5.9 start a try as it looks like you could fiddle in some pro from below (sizes of which you won’t need later), and have only a couple hard moves before the blessed “chicken-heads” reappear. Brian had to run out this pitch beyond his level of comfort since he’d burned ~ 3 hand-sized cams doing the by-pass. I was just joined on the belay ledge by the leader of the following party at ~ 5:15 when Brian shouted off-belay, and I pulled the anchor and made room. Apparently there were 3 groups below them lower on the route, with only 2 hours of daylight remaining...ouch. I cleaned the pitch, and just kept going past Brian up the final 60 feet of chicken-head studded low fifth class rock where I topped out and put him on belay from a stance behind a boulder. He joined me on top at 5:40 where we quickly packed up to start the infamous descent. It went quite smoothly, and we were at the base at 6:40. We used up the last day-light to make it to the main trail at 7:15, and looked up to see three more parties still on the wall. By 8:30, we were enjoying a fine Italian meal in Leavenworth. Pix http://ericbakke.spaces.msn.com/photos/?_c02_owner=1 Gear Notes: Double cams from 0.5 to 3...coulda used 4 x #2 BDs

FYI...we were the first folks on the route, and we didn't see anyone up there at the base of the climb until starting the second pitch at about 0830. At least two groups arrived after 9AM. Perhaps you were one of those groups? Based on our research, and knowing it was a forecasted sunny Saturday, and a popular route, we left the trailhead at 0530 and hiked by headlamp to get an early start. We didn't climb fast, but made a point of not delaying the group behind us. The one addition to the cluster that I can comment on was on the ledge below the 2 hand-crack pitches. The lead climber on the team behind us waited 15 minutes at the ledge for my second to exit before belaying his second. He was just being polite, but could have set up a belay at the bolts on the pillar above the ledge rather than waiting for my second to clear the ledge completely. He then waited for us for approximately 3 minutes at the next ledge to build an anchor. With that said, we might have been responsible for a few minutes in the queue, but were a little shocked that so many people were arriving so late for such a popular climb. If I arrived at 9AM and found two groups ahead of me on this climb, I'd probably moved 200 feet south and done Orbit.

Pretty sure this isn't the Mounties. The woman in the front is not wearing gaters.

One partner climbing on a doubled 8mm x 60M - both very comfy on mid-fifth class....planning on simuling a lot of it.

Thanks.....we'd do a leisurely 3 days....with my only concern being summit day. It looks like we've got ~ 12 hours of daylight to play with, and from my survey of TRs, looks like ~ 1 hour from Col to ridge, 4-7 hours on route, plus descent and return to col. Many say it took as long to descend as to climb so figure 5 hours - we'd be doing single raps. Sounds like a 12-13 hour day if all goes well.

I think I saw a single cam in the flagship store 2 weeks ago...one of the bigger ones. Not sure about the smaller stores.

Thinking about giving this a go this weekend. Is a #4 necessary to protect the crux offwidth.....seems like a long way to haul it for a single placement. Looks from photos like there might be a chockstone to sling. Would a #9 WC Hexentric work in Lieu? Assuming you run it out, what the biggest cam necessary?

my two cents....a lot of the precip falling in the last week has been with the snow level below 6,000 feet, and the current storm has forecasted snow levels ~ 7,000' so conditions might have changed a bit since early september. If there's new snow, you'll want something waterproof.

This is exactly what Gary was talking about. Knock it off or I will suspend my involvement here and start posting my 5.5-5.7 alpine trad TRs elsewhere.

I've got an older synthetic pre-pockets, pre-hood version and love it. Very warm for the weight, but I'm not sure if it would be warm enough for really cold high alpine conditions. I generally carried it for day ski tours more as an emergency layer, and as a camp/belay jacket for summer climbs.

yep...all set on the stats....looking for input on practical performance. RuMR....any reasons why you feel this way. How do I know you are not just a viral marketing mole on BDs payroll.