ptownclimber

Jport - Dude, excellent photos, as usual. Thanks!

Anyone know what kind of shape Sunshine is in? How about the road? ...I'm hearing conflicting stories as to how close you can get to the TH.

Trip: Torment-Forbidden - Traverse Date: 6/28/2008 Trip Report: Our fourth couldn't make it due to a wedding...but we figured this would be an OK climb with a threesome given the amount of scrambling and simul-climbing involved. We'd had it on the calendar for some time and it seemed like a nice way to escape the heat. Gabrielle wondered if we were too early. "Well, it's almost July..." Hackie sack on the waterfront seemed like a better idea than sitting in traffic, so we didn't leave town Friday until seven. We got an early start Saturday and made good time up the road (washed out at milepost 20), through the steep, winding trail, avy debris and the Taboo glacier. crossing the first creek: looking back through avy debris at Johannesburg: It warmed up quickly but we had a nice breeze most of the time - great conditions for climbing. We found the bergschrund on Torment larger and steeper than expected. While approaching we watched a big slab of snow slide off right on to the 'schrund we'd be crossing to gain the SE ridge of Torment. We elected to climb the south ridge instead. This took a little while as Jport had to tunnel through a block of snow to get us to the rock. We simul-climbed some of this ridge – straightforward climbing but exposed. This took a while. We could see someone cruising around below, solo, to the SW. We were on top of the south summit around 3:00. We couldn't find our way down from the notch between the summits, so we scrambled over to the N. summit, downclimbed a little and rapped from there. The snow was soft and slushy– pickets and ice axe seemed pretty worthless. I soon recalled why I had retired my boots last year - halfway through the first day my feet were soaking wet. s. ridge of Torment: J-burg from Torment: It seemed like it took us forever to get down, around a crevasse and back up some steep snow to rock and our bivy on the first high point of the ridge. We had hoped to be further along the ridge - as it turned out we were only about one fourth of the way. We found a nice bivy spot with great position - 360 degree views. We enjoyed the sunset and read from Beckey's account of the forgotten peak...climbing the west ridge of Forbidden in snow with nailed boots: "Once the North Cascades have caught the alpinist he is likely to return soon." sun going down on Forbidden: sunset over Eldorado: moon over Forbidden: We found that we were sharing this spot with some little mountain rodent that looked like a cross between a rat and a squirrel. We stuffed all the slings into the packs so this little beast couldn't wreak any havoc. After we hit the sack I could hear him chewing on my boots so I moved them next to us. Later I could hear him chewing on something else...got the headlamp out but couldn't see anything...went back to sleep. It was a warm night, a pleasant bivy with a bivy sack, puffy jacket and light fleece pants. Four days from a new moon...the view of the milky way was pretty phenomenal. I was sleeping quite well when all of us were awakened by me yelling motherfucker! as this little varmint chomped on my index finger, right next to the fingernail. The brazen little bastard drew blood. I had to tape it up and stick it inside my jacket pocket. The next morning we found that he'd chewed halfway through the ratty chin-strap on my helmet (I've been meaning to wash it). Evidently he liked the taste and went in for the real thing. From our bivy spot it was a straightfoward scramble down to some snow, over to the next rock, down a gully and back up to the next band of snow. The beta we had talked a lot about avoiding the ridge by traversing snow. We did the opposite as we found the snow to be soft and crappy, even first thing in the morning. We were able to stem through a moat to gain the next rock band, up and around the corner, one more short section of steep snow (no crampons, as they didn't seem to help)...and we were on rock or low angle snow for the duration. We simul-climbed most of the ridge, which wasn't a whole lot slower than going unroped. As advertised, the route finding gets easier and the climbing more fun as you get closer to Forbidden. It had taken so long to get to the bivy Saturday, and we had so much ridge left to travel…we had quietly worried we would not have enough time to make it over to Forbidden in time to climb it. By the time we made it to Forbidden, we were in a good rhythm and simul-climbed the ridge up and back with the occasional hip belay. It was a lot of fun to climb that without packs. We were back at the couloir well before our turnaround time. We rapped the Couloir (three single raps...the first was a rope-stretcher and the second about 10 feet short, but close enough that we could down climb right next to the moat). This got us just over the 'schrund at the bottom. The slushy snow made for good plunge stepping/boot glissading as the angle eased off. On the way out we found the creeks running a lot stronger. The convenient little snow bridge we crossed on the way in (first creek) had washed out. We had to go upstream a little, over an intact snow bridge, up a small chimney, through some devil's club, alder, a few smaller creeks...your typical North Cascades bushwhacking fun. Below the first big culvert, water was running through a debris pile and over the road, where it had been dry the day before. Before we knew it Johannesburg was fading out of sight and the adventure was winding to an end. We had a watermelon in the car, busted it open with an ice axe & a rock, devoured it, let our waterlogged feet air out a little and hit the road. Thanks, guys for another great climb - for living good days. Gear Notes: -frittata sandwiches, fruit, nuts, chocolate -medium alpine rack; could have used less gear and more slings -one 60m rope -next time bring a rat trap

How about the sunshine route...anyone know what condition it's in?

How about the Sunshine route...anyone know what condition it's in?

Trip: Snow Creek - Outer Space Date: 6/22/2008 Trip Report: After a stellar day of single pitch slab climbing on Fish Rock and the Off Duty area and a great night hanging out at the best camping spot EVER...Gabrielle, Zen with an edge and I headed up to Snow Creek wall to check things out for the first time. We hoped to do Orbitz or Outer Space and expected crowds. After a leisurely breakfast and some hackie sack on granite (Zen with an edge insisted), we got rolling sometime around 11 or 12. The hike in was nice and warm. Better weather than Saturday. We hung out with a family of goats and ate some lunch...happy to find that we wouldn't have to wait to get on Outer Space. It was warm enough that we didn't think much about layers, wind, etc. We had our shoes, some water and a camera stuffed in one of the rope bags, and two headlamps. We had been duly warned to not descend in the dark Now, heading out as a threesome, late in the day, with no experience on that route was a little audacious, but we lucked into following another party of three...some guy who'd done the route dozens of times. In spite of this obvious advantage, we got promptly got off route, overshooting the traverse left (pitch two). Evidently we were not the first as there were a couple of rap stations just above the bolted anchor. Bucking the stereotype that men have a stubborn compunction about asking directions, we confirmed our predicament with the party ahead. Back on course after the inevitable clusterfuck of a belay station with two fat ropes...we found ourselves in the shade and starting to feel the breeze. It had been a nice breeze on the way in. Gabrielle 'won' the rock/paper/scissors for the next pitch, which she soon regretted, but led the pitch with great style, as usual. Zen and I were both glad we didn't lead the pitch. Very funky moves on that upper ramp. The fourth pitch delivered plenty of rope drag and more challenging climbing than we expected, especially getting to the top of the pillar belay. By this point we were really beginning to feel the shade and the wind. It proved unfortunate that we had to enjoy such fine rock in the cool of the long, near-solstice day. Now, these ladies are not only beautiful, smart, funny, and talented, they are also WARM...which made all the difference in this particular menage-a-trois outing on granite. So here is where the fun really began. First hand in the crack: "oh, baby!"...move feet, hips, hands..."oh yeah, there it is!"...(God this feels good)..."that's it, right there!"...repeat. We could hardly contain ourselves after the long build-up to the really good stuff. And the goods just kept coming. Start of pitch 6: cool moves right off the belay; my first heel-hook on a trad route . More beautiful rock. Farther up: wishing we had more gear in that hand-jam size range. The ladies are clearly having fun, laughing incessantly. I'm starting to wonder what's so funny. I don't find run-out amusing. Still farther - climbing is getting easier and rope drag is getting worse. Still farther - must be close to topping out, getting easier, run-out...running out of gear and slings, getting judicious with placements because of rope drag and lack of gear. Topping out...huge funky jugs like I've never climbed on before. I guess that's where the name outer space came from. I can see this crack right at the top...still have a few nuts, tri-cams and one big cam...damn this rope drag! Just a few more feet...Shit! Something must be wrong. I'm yelling down that I need more rope, can't hear anything comprehensible back. I'm pretty sure they're trying to say that there's no rope left. Pulling...PULLING...I can reach the crack, nearly on the flats...but not enough rope to tie in and zero slings left. Shit. I place a tri cam, a nut and the big cam as calmly as I can...jerry-rig some kind of shitty anchor together using the one remaining quick-draw, loose biners and nuts as slings. OK. PULLING...shit! still can't reach. I've got really good feet and all but I'd really rather not downclimb back to the last piece or belay w/out an anchor. Some more yelling, some more cussing...one more mighty pull and I manage to clip the rope through the 'biner. No knot, but I can tie one after I've belayed up a couple of feet. Better than nothing. First I have to yard up enough to get the belay device in. Gabrielle and Zen follow very quickly, happy to be getting on top so we can get out of the chill. I'm in a t-shirt, Zen in shorts. We get our crap together and cruise down as soon as we've all changed shoes. 8:50. We take a quick look around...a goat is sticking its head around the corner, silhouetted against the skies to the North...looking at us and wondering why the hell we make it look so hard. No time for pictures or high-5's, but we'll have that mental image forever. The ladies both have headlamps so the descent goes off without a hitch. We even had food, water and warm clothes back at the packs. All in all we narrowly avoided some kind of little epic on a perfectly good weather day. We had a blast. Thanks, ladies, for a great climb. Looking forward to the next one. So has anyone else had a rope-stretcher like that on the final pitch? Do most people just sack up and walk around the low angle crap on either side of the large flake/roof? Belay lower down? Gear Notes: -Could have used another red camalot or two...and more clothes -60m ropes -Arugula, salami, tomato and cheese bagels (Thanks, Zen!) Approach Notes: Thanks for all the nice cairns...

Dude, excellent photos, as usual. Nice route map! Yeah, SE buttress it is.

First pitch: Jport follows through the crux of the second pitch - stylishly in schoeller 'knickers': Looking down at the mank section of the second pitch - the last good rock is the block in the middle of the photo: Top of the second pitch: Snow saddle in the 3rd pitch...and you can almost make out where one of the steps blew a little: Rest of Ray's pic's: Approach:

Trip: Illumination Rock - not sure Date: 6/1/2008 Trip Report: Jport's excellent route map: Jport, Ray-on-tray and I had a stellar day on illumination rock. It rained over night in Portland, and we were dragging ass in the morning...drizzle, overcast, etc. I was hungover (surprise visit from an out of town friend) and still getting over the cold. Ray was not terribly motivated and talking about bailing. Jport was his normal, chill, non-chalant self. We had bounced around quite a few potential plans for the weekend and settled on this one, gear was packed...so we rallied. The regular bagel and Chai from Mountain Mocha seemed to help...and by the time we got to the parking lot, sunshine and blue skies were breaking through. The tops of the clouds are so much nicer to look at than the undersides. We didn't leave the parking lot until 9:15 - in retrospect two or three...or six hours earlier might have been better. I also could have used another layer. Ray was nice enough to loan me his shell - thanks, dude. We had great conditions for skinning and made pretty good time. We scoped things out as we approached - no real beta other than looking at summitpost and cc. The route we settled on took the right side of the large ampitheater (full of snow right now). The first pitch started with an interesting mantel move...then really fun stemming and cracks on mostly good rock. It continued for a full rope length - mostly moderate climbing, trying to avoid water, snow, gravel and choss. Ray led the second pitch - which turned out to be the big balls pitch. The first section was fun climbing in a quality dihedral. The second section was sketchy, run-out face climbing on manky rock - Ray stepped on to a snow block...an indication of how bad the rock was. There were good features and the climbing would have been pretty straightforward if the rock was solid...but it was really hard to trust hands or feet on this crap. This led up to a point above a small snow saddle (kicking steps in rock shoes is always fun) which Jport led - the window pitch up to a cool knife edge ridge. Words and pictures can't describe the view from under the truck sized chockstone. Looking over at the Reid...we were glad we didn't head over there as it didn't look as nice as it did 2 months ago. Every pitch used up a full rope length. All day we had great position, it was peaceful, not too windy...it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves in spite of the hoards. The fourth pitch took us back down along the ridge back to the rap route for the main route (left of the ampitheater) - mostly easy but the last bit was pretty sketch (chossy and exposed) and hard to communicate with the position and rope drag. My throat was still bothering me so that made communication that much harder. The rappel was mostly straightforward (turns out jport and I have matching ropes, distinguishable only by age), but it was cold and the last little bit was downclimbing (postholing) in soft snow in rock shoes. Jport and Ray were smart enough to wear their ski socks. About this time the clouds lifted and vis went to shit. The snow had hardened up again (it was after 6:00) so the skiing was pretty rough most of the way down. It seemed like it would have been pretty sweet had we skied down around noon when we got on the rock. Car to car in 10.5 hours Thanks guys for a great outing. Gear Notes: -obligatory parking lot R.N.M. "...your recipe darlin', is so tasty..." -the power of positive thinking (if you bring the shade hat, you will need it -tomato, cheese and avocado sandwich -alpine rack; tri-cams and more cordelette would have been nice Approach Notes: 9 consecutive months of skiing...3 more to go.

Looking to do something easy on Sunday...less driving

Anyone know what TH access is for either Cascade pass/Eldorado or south side of Stuart?

What are conditions like right now and when is that typically in?

There we have it. Nice work Jport. Thanks for the photos and a great climb. :-)

How about Utah desert...anyone climbed there in November?

Um, yeah. Bill, thanks for the patient belay. And yes, she did make it look graceful, didn't she?

Yes, let's. Next year we'll switch pitches ;-)

Anyone know if the road is open yet and/or a good phone number or link?

any photos?

How about longs pass down to the creek...how much melt out? thx

Anyone have any beta on road access to any of the above or been up looking around? Other ideas? Doing a B/C trip this weekend but only two days...

Did you use pro in the couloir or was it solo? Too soft for pickets?

Finally got some photos. All items priced OBO, will deliver in Portland metro area.

Slightly used Asolo Plastic boots, size 9: $90 Slightly used RINO combo GPS/Radio: $175 New liners for Koflach Arctis Expe size 8: $30

$50 for the clinic is a typo. The clinic cost is $25-$30 depending on membership with PRG or Mazamas. Check with PRG