Dannible

Does Triumph have at least a semi legit spot to bivy on or near the top? Thanks, Dan

Something about that second picture makes my spine tingle. Good job.

Thanks all. No new camera gear aside from a tripod ballhead that I'm stoked on, but I just recently started bringing better stuff into the mountains when I can afford to carry a few extra pounds.

Trip: Black Peak, Bright Lights - Date: 7/21/2009 Trip Report: Few people consider it fortuitous to be in a position of having no home, little money, and no job. Having graduated from college in June, that's the situation I find myself in. As a climber, my situation seems ideal in many ways. Earlier this week I found myself near Washington Pass without a partner, without maps which would help me check out new places, and with little motivation to epic. I decided on the tried and true NE Ridge of Black Peak. I had climbed it twice before, once solo with a summit bivy, and decided to do that again but with better camera gear. The walk in was what it is; lots of huge flies that never give up, lots of boulders, and nice lakes. The ridge is I think my favorite easy route around, long enough to feel like you are climbing, and easy and solid enough to not be scary. Ending at a summit that has a perfect bivy spot and some of the best views anywhere isn't bad either. I got to the top way too early, around 1, so I slept and read all day, and got a good sunburn. Took pictures of the sunset, went to sleep, and eventually was woken up by what I though was a huge snaffle that kept me up all night last time. I didn't see the rat, but what I did see it took me a minute to understand. Green lights waving across the horizon shooting up like spotlights timed to some crazy cosmic beat. Was I losing it? Did all of that expired discount food finally take it's toll ( )? Were our alien overlords finally making themselves known? In my half awake state it made no sense at all. Then it clicked: the northern lights. A forest fire burned beneath them, northeast of Jack Mountain. Shooting Stars. I can't describe the way it all made me feel, so I'll just go with the pictures. Next morning woke up at sunrise to take more photos, drank coffee, and headed down to the land of the flies. I was disheartened to find that my beer stash had melted out, but after a dip in the still mostly frozen lake they were good enough. Some people would frown upon drinking at 10 am, but there are starving kids in China and I wasn't about to let anything go to waste. More pictures here: http://danhilden.smugmug.com/gallery/4602605_QEUuc#600864991_vNheT Approach Notes: Walk up, see mountain, go to mountain.

Crazy. Sounds like ya'll did a pretty good job in a bad situation. Glad that Steve is going to be alright, and that Jason has bivy gear and food. Lets all hope this weather clears sooner than later.

No time for pics (headed to squamish in a minute!) but you just have two biners side by side right next to each other on your belay loop, with the ropes and the keeper ring on your reverso (or atc) going through both instead of one. It increases the angle of the bend in the rope. Also a good option if you are using a wet or frozen fatter rope.

I use a reverso in high friction mode with 2 biners on 8mm ropes, and haven't had any problems.

I think the number would be a whole lot higher (like, twice as many) if you said 5.7 or harder because that would include things like the west ridge of Prusik and the Beckey on LB. From what I have seen it seems like there are a lot of people who only have time to get out a few times a year and can climb 5.9 on a good day or year, but would rarely actually do that in the alpine.

Why not just go out there and take a picture? You can probably get a better one than that.

Pretty sure I've posted a list like this before but I'm stoked that it's almost summer so I'll do again. I'll only comment on things I've done: East Face of Gunsight (which has now been on the lists of three of the four people who have done it as far as I know, so more people should get in there). NEB Slesse NW Face of Forbidden NEB of Goode Gunsight Traverse I love summer. I'm over all of this cold and snow stuff (for now).

I've looked at that. Its just choss. I did see ice growing on it once though, could be a fun mixed nightime toprope for about two days a year.

Cool, good job on not dieing and getting yourself out.

<1 hour from Olympia, but if you are on foot the approach is almost long enough to justify driving somewhere worthwhile.

So where are you gonna go that doesn't have taxes that are spent on the unproductive? I hear there are some good opportunities to be had in Somalia right now. The world is pretty black and white, isn't it?

I went there a couple of times a couple of years ago. There are maybe 10 bolted routes in the main area on some wierd rock that is steep but covered in knobs that look like they will break off but are actually ok. Most of the routes are fairly hard if I remember right. Bikes are the best option to get in there, as the walk/ride in is a few miles on logging roads. Parking didn't seem to be a problem, just make sure you aren't in the way of anything. The best way to do it is to get yourself some beer, head up after work with a sleeping bag, start a fire right next to the wall and climb into the night. Overall I would say that is is worth checking out if you live in Olympia, just don't expect too much. Some good views and neat madrona forests.

Does he have long shaggy curly black hair? Sounds like the same dude!

Could be, I've only climbed with him a couple of times, he seems to know his way around the area.

Climbed six or seven pitches in Hylite yesterday, which is a lot better than my average day of two or three pitches, but there was a lot less time for photos. The first is my friend Spencer on Dribbles, the second is of Specter. I also took a neat picture of some friends kayaking in the moonlight on Saturday.

Lame for sure, but I'm not sure wishing whoever it is will die is the best way to reason with them.

I'm over here for a while and am super stoked on that. Crazy weather though, last week it was almost short sleeve weather, now it's -10 in the city. Too cold for climbing if you have time to wait it out.

Having had the pleasure both of Giardia (Baker) and Salmonella (Peru) over the last few years, I consider myself an expert on the subject of GI problems. In Washington I hardly ever treat my water; only in popular areas, or when the water is in or came from a questionable source (lakes or ponds mostly). I have even drank untreated water running alongside logging roads a few times when I was really thirsty (descent from Slesse comes to mind). I figure it's good to let your ammune system stretch it's legs from time to time. When I do treat it I use iodine because it's light and I don't mind the taste. If you do use a filter remember to replace the O rings and filter sometimes. In Peru this last summer I spent a lot of time sick, in part because I forgot to do this on my old filter which I was using to treat tap water for the first couple of weeks. Another option is to take a shot of bleach after you drink water.

Apparently I drank a good chunk of someones expensive bottle of tequila not long after telling my friends why I don't drink the stuff, and then narrowly missed walking over a bunch of people in bivy sacks on the way back to our site. I woke up half in my sleeping bag with no idea why I was in the middle of the desert. No one seems to question that kind of thing there. The only place that I've been more sloppy is in the Squamish campground after a few days of steady rain in the summer.

Off topic for this thread, but I've got a Marmot pack that I got for like, $40 on sale, and I love it. Under 3 lbs, big enough to haul a weeks worth of stuff (in the summer), and it has stood up to a few years of hard use. I second the no REI bag thing. I had a 0 degree synth and it was super bulky and only good to about 30 degrees. Now I have a Moonstone 20 degree, which is ok for what I paid for it, but not great.

If you really have nothing to do you can always find a place to fill sandbags!

"Whilst soling you are naturally going to be taking your time making sure that you are fully relaxed and that all placements are good ones- on the flip side a speed soloist cant afford this kind of attitude and has to just assume that every first time placement isn’t going to rip. As Steck pointed out you really just have to go for it and even if you know the axe is wobbly or the crampon point could rip at any second you just have to put it out of your mind and keep moving on up- if you take time to replace all your dodgy placements then you can say goodbye to your speed record." To each his own, but a speed record is a silly thing to kill yourself for in my opinion. Still impressive as all hell.