ericb
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Posts posted by ericb
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Yep...see that now. Sorry for the spray. As far as the other climb up there, I just remembered it....Witches Tower, looks like there are a couple routes...5.4, and 5.7. I've not heard anything about either though.
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I have to put in a plug for dynafits as well. I got a dynafits with Garmont Dynamite boots and love them. Very light, and comfortable. Also, the pivot point being at the front of the boot (instead of well beyond) makes them tour great. They do take a little practice, but after a couple flail-fests, I was able to get them under control. As far as the flexible boots, there are some stiffer options out there - the Garmont Megaride for instance.
Huge in Europe, I think they are gaining a following in the US. As a datapoint, I was in the parking lot at Snoqualmie getting ready for a tour, and saw what looked to be (not totally sure) the entire staff of Martin V's Pro Ski Service gearing up with Dynafits and Megarides.
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Hey all....I've got some vacation to burn so can, and want to do some midweek climbing over the next couple three weeks. Not as much experience as you, moved from mountaineering to multi-pitch trad last year, and ticking off/leading easy to moderate alpine routes last summer and this. Want to do Cutthroat peak south buttress before the days are too short. I have a shiny new/light rack that I can contribute with superfly/dyneema slings, new C4s, etc.
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DH...first I'm not a golfer
As for why I posted a TR, I noticed that while perhaps many of you studs climb in your sneakers, few provide much beta about the route. Being relatively new to leading, I thought I'd give a little useful beta for others in this community for whom this is a more difficult climb than you. Notice I didn't post any time benchmarks because I wasn't chest-beating about how fast I did it. In fact, we took it pretty slow and enjoyed it.
The question to you is, after all you read in this thread, why is it that the only thing you could come up with is a jab at my climbing prowess? With a tag line like sponsored by Satan, surely you can do better.
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Couple thoughts on gear....don't think we needed the #3 Cam...bring a few medium hexes instead. Also - we climbed on a doubled half rope to save weight...Pitches are short.
Gotta dissagree with MountainGirl. Snow lake trail is only steep above Snow Lake...and not loose. Assgard is very loose. If you are going to be up there for a while, perhaps consider dropping a car, going up AG, and out Snowlake for a little change of scenery.
There is a Mounties basic trad climb up near there....we ran into a group the bailed on it to do Prussik due to steep snow and no ice axe....can't think of the name of it but I'll get back to you. Agree with your thoughts on Beckey...almost died attempting one of his lesser known routes on Dragontail.
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Curses...I thought I had successfully hijacked this thread for my own personal gain (run up my TR #'s), but you were way too smart....you saw through me (Vesper Peak - North Face)....and tried to redirect to the question at hand....curses....(click, click, click). Now I'm going to have nightmares about Rove in pasties.
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Sweet...beers for both of you at the next pub club if I can make it....Look for a me in a "Lord's Gym" T-shirt. I'll be drinking soda.
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Wow...you rock....Alpinfox - if clickin the mouse is so easy, how bout pushing my TR over 1K! You can say anything you want about my philosophical handcap, as long as you run up the numbers on my TR.
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Not to get into semantics, but I don't consider FOTF a charity - they are a non-profit with their own agenda, much like many of the liberal non-profits out there. They have their view of the world they want their kids to grow up in, and are trying to push attitudes, laws, and values that way, just like the left. Talking about who's right and whose wrong would make this thread longer than it deserves, but I would like to make one comment.
However feel about FOTF, know this. Not all Christians and religious people out there like FOTF, and/or their means and methods, nor do we like to be lumped into that category.....there are lots of shades of conservatives, just like there are lot's of shades of liberals. I'm a Christian conservative, and personally feel that the Bible spends a lot more time talking about feeding the poor than it does about homosexuality - therefore I support non-profits that fight poverty, rather than gay marriage...I guess that makes me a liberal conservative. FOTF will never know that you are selling their material on eBay, or that it's sitting on your shelf as a joke, but they pass along to their donors that the coffers are running low, and that people are snatching up that free material..."send us more money please donor so we can get more books!!!"
So go ahead and spray me if you want, just as long as you continue to read my TRs. I'm getting of tired of clicking my own TR links to get the count up to a respectible level - Please note Vesper Peak - North Face....I'd like to hit at least 800 on this one, and my mouse hand is getting tired.
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Yep...I wish I would have taken your beta to heart. The gully was certainly climbable, but not enjoyable. I was able to get some protection in at the top where it got really steep and loose. It sounds like climbing the buttress adds to, rather than detracts from the quality of the climb.
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Scott - that's me - what's the question
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Did you do the dihedral or go up the center of the slab? The dihedral protected OK....the center of the slab was pretty smooth we didn't see many cracks that were wide/deep enough for pro.
Where we descended into the moat was really the only place we saw that didn't have an unacceptable pucker factor.
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Climb: Vesper Peak - North Face
Date of Climb: 8/17/2006
Trip Report:
Vesper Peak, North Face – August 17, 2006
Dave and I decided to play hookey Thursday from work and go climbing. The North Face of Vesper Peak has been on both of our lists for a long time, and the weather forecast couldn’t have been better. I picked him up at 3:45 AM in Snoqualmie, and we were on our way north up the Mountain Loop Highway.
We headed up the steep trail to Headlee Pass, and up to the notch east of Vesper Peak. After a bit of careful class 3 downclimbing we reached the glacier traverse, and begun discussing which option we would like to climb on the lower face. We roped up, donned ice-axe and crampons, and made the short glacier crossing only to discover that the moat was going to have more say on our climbing route than we were. What looked to be the easiest line (pictured in Nelson Vol II), would require a little “leap-o-faith”, with a mistake taking us into the abyss below the glacier. Nonetheless we contemplated it until Dave, probing for a belay anchor possibility punched through the snow with his ice axe ~ 10 feet from the edge. We very carefully retraced our steps, and were able to find a section 40 feet lower on the glacier where the glacier extended to the rock the rock below, protecting a slide under the glacier (climber nightmare material). It would still require downclimbing about 6 feet of vertical snow into the moat to reach rock. While the moat was less threatening here, the climb out was a series of solid but unprotectable downward sloping steps. Dave finally found a route out and up, but had to solo about 80 feet of unprotectable low 5th class before he reached a comfortable belay stance (no anchor).
I followed and then led the next pitch, loose unprotectable 3rd and 4th class where I finally found a flat spot with some cracks for an equalized anchor on the right wall (0.75 C4 + red tri-cam), with 20 feet to spare and brought Dave up. I then led the next pitch (still in the gulley) which became steep loose 5th class. Fortunately I was able to find a crack for a cam in the left wall, followed by a tree to sling, and then when the gully became choked with bushes, a nut in the right wall which protected a difficult and awkward move (5.7 ish) out of the gulley made much more difficult by rope drag. Once out of the gulley, I walked up easy terrain until I ran out of rope and set up a stance belay backed up by a long sling on a heather root I excavated, and brought Dave up. From the reports I’ve read, most exit the gulley either at or before our anchor station at the top of our second “pitch”, and this might be a better way to go. The top of the gulley got very steep, and I had to test every hold. I backed down from what would have been an easier exit on the left wall because both good looking hand-holds turned out to be dangerously loose. Sounds like the rock to the right of the gulley is similarly unprotectable, but of much higher quality, and there are some shrubs to sling.
Once Dave was up, we walked it up to a ledge at the base of the money pitches, and I happily handed over the lead, still a little rattled from my battle with the gulley. I built a pseudo anchor with a cam and pink tri-cam behind a thick flake, and Dave led a fun slab pitch with one OK cam about 100 feet up. Once we ran out of rope, we simulclimbed about 60 feet, until reaching a large ledge below the big dihedral. Not wanting to be the only anchor, I searched for a crack for my pink tri-cam again. Dave led up (the Weigelt route??) the dihedral which was a bit more difficult than the slab (~ 5.5 ish) but protected with the occasional cam. He placed ~ 4 before running out of rope, and then we simulclimbed another 100 feet until he topped out, slung a boulder, and brought me up with just sandy heather ledges between us and the summit. Other than a few clouds, the views were perfect. We ate, called our wives, and played “name that mountain” for about 30 minutes before heading down to the trailhead.
All-in-all, it was an awesome climb! Given the option to do the high traverse and skip the lower part that we climbed, I’d probably do the former, but I think the line to the right of ours out of the gulley was far better and might it worth playing moat-monkey.
Pix
http://ericbakke.spaces.msn.com/photos/?_c02_owner=1
Gear Notes:
Ice axe, crampons, long slings (for shrubs), tri-cams (pink and red), Cams 0.3 to 2. Larger cams (#1 and #2) used in dihedral.
Approach Notes:
~ snow free
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You mentioned checking out the "U" and "V" notches at Gunsight....how did they look?
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ummm...I'm not a geologist...I'll have to see what Beckey says....certainly not he solid granite of some of the other WA Pass Peaks. It's pretty fractured....this site mentions Tonalite and Quartz Diorite
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/noca/nocaste.html
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Climb: Black Peak - NE Ridge, Liberty Bell - Beckey Route-
Date of Climb: August 11-12, 2006
Trip Report:
On our last trip to the Bay Area, I got to talking with one of my wife’s friends Keoke, and discovered that he, while an avid ultralight backpacker, really wanted to try alpine climbing, but didn’t have any partners in the bay area. He jumped at my suggestion that he come up to Washington for some adventure, and within a week we had plans for a long weekend in the Cascades. He and his wife arrived Thursday, after working their way up the over the course of a week. The plan was to get an early AM start to Washington Pass, do the Beckey route on Liberty Bell on Friday morning as a warm-up, working on communication, etc., and then do the approach to Black Peak and make camp before night fall for a Saturday climb.
We arrived at the Blue Lake trailhead at 0800, packed our things, and hurried up the trail hoping to get on the route before a large guided group that pulled in 10 minutes after we did. After the treacherous gulley before the notch, we roped up to start the first pitch. The weather was looking quite ominous, and we started out (and stayed in) our shells for the entire climb. Fortunately, the weather improved throughout the climb, as I led the three pitches, and Keoke did awesome seconding, thoroughly enjoying himself. We topped out around noon, and relaxed a bit, before beginning our descent. Fortunately, upon arrival at the bolted rappel station, the first guided team which had climbed rapple grapple offered us the use of their double rope rappel as they wanted to wait for the second group which was behind us on the Beckey Route. We were at the notch after a single rappel, packed up, and started the unpleasant descent. I glanced at my watch upon arrival at the parking lot and confirmed my suspicions….the descent from the notch had taken longer than the approach due to the careful downclimbing in the scree/talus filled gulley.
We were on the road by a little after 4:30, and repacked with overnight gear and hiking up the Lake Ann trail by 6:00. The approach to Black Peak was astounding…one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done in the Cascades. We went up and over Heather pass, and the only less than enjoyable part was the downward talus traverse to Lewis Lake. We had hoped to make Wing Lake to camp, but we arrived at a great campsite at Lewis lake at 8:15, and weren’t confident we could make Wing Lake with adequate light (we later learned we probably could have), so we relaxed, pitched the tarp, ate, drank, and hit the sack around 10pm.
The alarm went off at 4:30 am, but we awoke to white out, and couldn’t get motivated to get started until 6:30 am. Fortunately we emerged from the clouds on the way up to Wing lake and were treated to bluebird skies! The slog up loose talus was unpleasant and we were glad to get on the snow of the glacial remnant below the Northeast ridge. We were unable to make use of the ice-axe and crampons we had each hauled and used only trekking poles to gain the 3rd class scramble to the ridge. We gained the notch and peered over the steep drop to the other side…wow!
We roped/racked up and I led out as we simulclimbed on, and then to the left side of the ridge for a while until the exposure increased, and the route became unclear. We climbed on a 30m short rope to save weight and keep rope drag down. I reeled in Keoke, built a small anchor, and then tried and backed off two different routes…..one low traverse ending in unpleasant sandy loose downsloping slabs, and then high to the ridge crest which was looked to be very difficult climbing. After some discussion, water and energy gel, I split the difference and found a moderate low 5th class (albeit loose) rising traverse below and left of the ridge crest with occasional pro – mostly horns to sling. After two or three simul-pitches to the left of the ridge on somewhat loose low 5th class rock and heather with limited pro, I spotted what looked to be blocky climbing to gain the ridge. For the first time, I found placements for the small cams I had brought in addition to horns, and happily gained the ridge where I built a solid belay by tying my cordolette around a horn on the crest.
After bringing Keoke up, I led out on now solid rock for several simul-pitches of very exposed but enjoyable 3rd to low 5th class climbing on or just below the ridge crest. After climbing another blocky tower, I was thrilled and relieved to discover it was the summit! The views were astounding, further adding to what was a very fun, and challenging climb.
We spent a little over an hour on the summit, eating, drinking, and relaxing, and then continued along the ridge crest to the South where we removed the rope after a short belayed down-climb and begun the loose unpleasant scramble down the gullies of the South ridge. The descent was completely snow-free all the way to the lake, and we were happy to have our trekking poles. We sped down to Lewis Lake, packed up camp quickly, and were only 30 minutes late for our 7:30 dinner rendezvous with our wives in Winthrop. Keoke thoroughly enjoyed his Cascade adventure, calling it one of his favorite outdoor adventures yet.
Pix
http://ericbakke.spaces.msn.com/photos/?_c02_owner=1
Gear Notes:
Small Cams, Nuts, 48-inch slings
Didn't need ice-axe or crampons
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Gotcha...we started on the arete a little earlier, and got two more pitches. The roof was actually pretty fun and spiced it up a bit.
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I did it last October, and thought it was pretty good. I don't agree with the ratings it's been given though. Felt more like 5.5 or 5.6. The reason we did it was weather - the forecast was pretty dodgy, and its location far east makes it a good alternative. Also, because of the descent gully, you can bail off the arete with a single rap at any point and walk off if the weather moves in....hence why we did it. Put it in the books as a good moderate poor weather alternative.
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Did you climb the roof pitch, or did you go up the gulley past this to start?
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Did the west ridge Saturday, approach in shoes...also walked back to balanced rock in rock shoes...its not very far....I know the start of the south route is a bit farther though.
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Where is the last running water before melting snow is the only option?
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CBS...seriously....we're not all pros here, and don't have perfect information when we start out. Maybe when we all have as much experience (and gear) as you we can post to CC without getting shat on...until then, it's WTA.org I guess.
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I did it as a carryover in late June and it wasn't too bad. 5 hours camp to summit, ~ 4 hours down to muir(stuck behind a crowd on the DC, and 2.5 hours from muit to paradise. We had really warm temps, much like it is now, so I had a 1# bag, 7 oz sleeping bag cover, and 14 oz ridge rest. This and my 1# share of the stove/gas meant our packs were only 4# heavier than they would have been otherwise. Some like to bring a stove, and emergency bag/bivy to the summit on big mountains, so the incremental weight on the carry-over is even less.
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Good luck...bottom line is I think Chiro, PT or both are effective for people...I don't think there's a right answer. I've often done both at the same time. I've had back issues for many years (disks and vertebral hypermobility), and done Chiro, PT, Cortizone, Yoga, Pilates.....you name it. I've found that core strength (exercises learned in PT) stretching, and an occasional chiro adjustment (1 per month) have kept me from tweaking it as frequently. Find out if it's muscle groups that are pulling you out of whack (hamstrings, hip flexors, etc.) and don't let them stay tight.
When my back does tweak and begin to tighten, I head home do repeated cycles of ice and inversion for a couple days and it relaxes. The inversion table for me has been the best way to break the chronic cycle. Major episodes used to last 2 to 5 weeks, now it's 2 to 3 days.
Skinny rope?
in The Gear Critic
Posted
Not sure if "Jobs" would be as much a factor as sheaths. Not sure about the Joker, but I've got a Beal 9.4 and Mammut 8.0, and like the softness of the Mammut....little easier to work with. Not sure if the sheath qualities are similar in their other ropes. I've found the Stiffer Beal seems to get twisted up more easily and frequently...and have heard that that can be due to the sheath stiffness. Could also be due to poor rope management.