Dannible

The date on this is misleading. I know little about time travel and did not go into the future to go climbing. The year selector thing does not give 2006 as an option. Ok, I figured out how to change the date.

Trip: WA Pass - Something on Liberty Bell's NF and SE Butt. SEWS. Date: 8/19/2006 Trip Report: So far this winter I have been shut down over and over by bad weather and poor snow/ice conditions; for this reason, I often find myself daydreaming about future climbs and those of this past summer. One that I was thinking back on today took place somewhere between the North Face Direct and the NW Face routes on Liberty Bell, and might share it's last pitch with the NW Face (5.9 dihedral). I meant to post something on this long ago, but alas, I am lazy. If someone knows anything about this route let me know. It is not in the CAG, but I'm hesitant to call it a FA because after all, it is Liberty Bell. I was still tired and blistered after a long three day trip to Mt. Goode earlier in the week, and work had kept my friend Michael from doing any climbing for two months prior, so we decided that slow and relaxed couple of days at WA Pass would be just the ticket. Our plan was to climb the North Face of Liberty Bell, sleep on the summit, and hit up the SW Buttress on SEWS the next day. The approach to the North Face is pretty straightforward: park at the Blue Lake trail head, walk down HW 20 until you can see the face, bushwhack for about 30 minutes, then do some scree (or snow earlier in the year I guess) walking for a while until you are at the high point in the scree (or snow) field. I found a super old piton with “Switzerland” imprinted on it in the scree that must have been dropped on an early attempt or FA. From the top of the scree we chopped a few steps on a patch of ice with sharp rocks, then worked our way up 3rd and 4th class rock to red gully. It is here, I think, that we should have roped up and started going up and to the left if we wanted to do the original NF route. Instead we went up the gully and roped up to get around a giant chock stone that blocked the way. Near the top of the gully I belayed Michael up to talk things over. I didn't know where our intended route was, but I knew that the left facing corner a pitch above us looked like a good time, so adventuring we went. I lead a loose but easy (5.5?) rope length pitch to a ledge at the base of the left facing corner, and after bringing Michael up I went up and to the right on an easy slab just to check out what was around the corner. I was surprised to find that ten feet below was a big tree covered bench and a trail, where, I later learned, the NW Face starts. I went back down to the belay and headed up and left to to the left facing corner. This steep 5.9 pitch was slightly loose but was one of the coolest pitches that I have climbed. It included liebacks, stemming, face climbing, and good pro. I stretched the rope a bit to belay off of a tree, making the pitch about 61 meters. We scrambled up to a big ledge and after eating lunch and watching para gliders for a while, I started up a shallow, flaring crack that seemed to be our best option. It was not long before I was aiding up the crack with small nuts. About 40 feet up the crack was an old pin with an old sling tied to it that I think had been used to lower off of. I aided another 10 feet or so before the crack became too flared to place gear in. After a few free moves I aided off a tipped out cam with only three lobes in the crack, and after no small amount of hesitation made a few moves of 5.10 on crumbling rock with nothing but the shitty cam, a couple of little brass nuts, and the old pin between me and the ledge (I was comfortable leading 5.9 at the time). I let out a loud “YEAH!” when I finally grabbed a nice big flake above. 10 easy feet higher I belayed off a small ledge and felt that nice high that comes along with a pitch of that nature. Michael freed most of the pitch but climbed the rope through the harder parts. Michael following the aid pitch. From here a 30 foot 5.8 rightward traverse led to a fun left facing 5.9 dihedral that might be the last pitch of the NW Face too. Above this we simulclimbed (could have soloed) easy ground to the top, watched the sunset, and bivied in a good spot right on the summit. I woke up at sunrise to take some pictures, then fell asleep for a few more hours. By the time we started descending at 9, our views were pretty much ruined by smoke from all of the fires. We climbed the SW Buttress of SEWS, which was fun (you don't really need big cams to protect it), and walked back to the car. Me on the bearhug pitch on SEWS. Moral of the story: climbing routes that you know nothing about can be a lot of fun. We did the route on Liberty in 5 (mostly full length) pitches, and I would say that it is grade III 5.10 A2+ (the aid might have been harder or easier, I am not an aid climber). Gear Notes: Cams to 2" and lots of small nuts. TCUs would have been nice. I had an alpine aider and used slings as the other aider. Cams to 3.5 worked for SEWS, as you can get nuts deep in the wide cracks. Approach Notes: Look at north face from road, walk towards it.

Jeezus H Christ, I almost left out the portable weather station! Part of me thinks it might be best to call off this whole expedition, but at the same time I am concerned that the media and my peers will think of me as a failure . Is it worth it?

Clearly you haven't been paying much attention to what the nonclimber climbing experts have been telling us. If you bring an MLU, GPS, avi beacon, sat phone, cell phone, super cold weather speeping bag and cloths, a weeks worth of MREs, some nitro (remember to keep it cold), matches and a little firewood, and a guide, there will be no risk involved. Now can someone remind me what altitude camp 4 is at on the south side of hood? Where I can find some sherpas around the Portland area to help me shuttle my safety gear to basecamp?

Looks like fun . I just got How To Ice Climb by Craig Leubben (75% off at FF ) and it has a lot of good stuff on drop tests that he and BD did. One set of tests involved dropping 185 lbs 16-28 feet onto screws in decent but not great ice; in these tests, 7 out of 12 screws ripped. A more realistic test was done by running the anchored end of the rope through an ATC with a 75 lb. weight simulating a break hand to make the falls more dynamic. The screws held three out of three times . In static tests in ice ranging from good to bad, the average strength of medium and long screws was 3,300 lbs, and 2,670 for stubbies. The strongest was a BD 6 incher that held 7,000 lbs, but in most cases the biners broke before that point. It seemed like in bad ice nothing worked well (no surprise there). One of those cheap Russian titanium screws held 2,700 (more than I would have guessed), but was bent in half by the time it pulled.

Sweet. Thanks.

I'm going up for a couple of days of climbing and skiing. Does anyone know how the ice is looking up there? Its been a little warm, but I think for the most part below freezing.

This is pure speculation, but I think that you are wrong.

There is NO EXCUSE not to have a tuantuan, and a PLB.

I'm on whoever's side FOX is on. They are the no spin zone.

Could it have been...dare I mention...cannibalistic mole people?

So many questions, so few answers. But hey, if we can fill 20+ pages guessing why it happened and who was really involved, we will get to the bottom of this. Like I sayed in another thread. We simply NEED underground bunkers. If Diana was underground...oh, wait.

Keep your nail clippers you terrorist. If the TSA says they're dangerous, then they will stay above ground. As for the mole people, you must remember that god is on our side.

I agree that climbing is not the only thing worth doing, but I feel like there are a lot of people out there who don't really do anything. It could just be my generation, but I know a lot of people who's lives consist of some combination of a job they hate, video games, beer, and a TV.

Yep, I often wonder why so many people, even friends of mine, would rather spend so much of their time watching fake people (in most cases) live their lives on TV rather than going out and living for themselves.

lemme guess, you wear black eye shadow and a black trench coat and listen to Korn? Dude, have you not seen the news? Its a scary world out there. Trees fallin, storms brewin, bombs going off; I'm just looking out for whats best for America.

Seriously though, we would all be so safe underground. Everyone living in a giant Walmart type place undergound; everything you need. Its paradise.

I think O'Reilly has a point, but the problem is that it is hard to predict weather in the mountains. If climbing was banned altogather though, there would be no problem. A few days ago I was walking down the street when it was windy outside, and I realised that the trees were swaying in the wind. I have seen trees fall on stuff on TV, so I knew that I was lucky to have made it home alive. This deadly situation could have been avoided by staying inside. I, for one, am going to build a home underground where I can live forever without having to fear all of those things that above ground people must. Vertical limit will calm my desires to climb, and O'Reilly will be my savior.

If I remember correctly the helecopter that crashed was not searching for anyone, the location of the victims was already known, and a PLB would have done nothing. In this case making up facts to support your opinion that climbers are reckless and selfish is like spitting on the graves of the climbers who died that day. In the case of the three climbers up there now, a PLB might tell SAR where they are, but it would not change the fact that the weather and avi conditions have been too bad to get anyone up there.

Well, as I understand it, the MLU only works on the SOUTH SIDE of the mountain.. These guys where climbing the NORTH FACE, and decending on the south side.... So, if they are dug in on the NORTH side of the mountain, that MLU is as useful as a brick in your pack.. And as far as safety equipment, they are carrying that kind of stuff. Ropes, pickets, Ice axes, crampons, and screws are safety equipment that all of us climbers bring along. So, unless they are free soloing the NF of hood, in T-shirts and Jeans, I would say that they are safety sissies... Well, finally, a logical reason to NOT carry an MLU. If what you say is true about the MLU's not working on the North Side then I can halfway understand why they wouldn't carry one. However, since they had planned to come down the South Side, it still would have been a nice thing to have, IMO. I'm curious if it is true about the MLU's not working on the North Side of the mountain. Can anyone else confirm that? People have been giving you a logical answer; weight is an issue. You already said that you are not a climber so you would not know the difference a little weight makes on a route like the NF of Hood. MLUs weigh a little under a pound, and they are just one of the many things that one would bring if they wanted to be able to do something about every emergency possible. If you brought a MLU, GPS, avalanche beacon, satellite or cell phone, weather radio, a fully stocked medical kit, and extra food and fuel for say, 5 days, you would be adding at least 5-10 pounds to your pack. Most of us know from experience that that is enough to slow someone down significantly. The point of going light is to be able to get out of the danger zone asap, so that you don't need to have people looking for you. These guys were out of luck because the storm came early, but in my opinion they made the right decision in going light.

I've climbed vertical glacier ice, but not WI and I think its about time. Would someone be willing to show me the ropes this winter? I have my own gear, and am doing my best at staying in shape despite the rain. I have a car (not the best for snow but I can make it work), and will have a lot of free time in December. I should have three day weekends in January. Any takers?

The outdoor climbing wall at Evergreen no longer has holds down low, but it has a bunch of holes and cracks, so I had a good time drytooling on it in the winter. You can also climb the big pipes running up the sides of A dorm. It's best to do it late at night because the cops don't know a good time when they see it.

We got snowed on up there a few weeks ago; the next day it was sunny and hot. Fun route, but covered with pointless bolts and it even has a fixed rope to help with 10 feet of 4th class downclimbing.

Mine have about 3" of tail. I have fallen on them and lived to tell the tail .

Mine are tied an I have never had a problem. Most of the time I have about 6 2 foot slings (doubled over) and a few sport draws on my harness, and 2-4 4 footers over my shoulder. I have used other people's sewn runners and look forward to getting some myself when I have some extra cash, but for now my money is being spent on gas. Check your knots before every day of climbing.