montypiton

I see 'em come up on ebay fairly regularly....

Dan - Before ya let that go, just remember that, like the old warthogs, it will work as a rock-peg, too. Call me Linus, but I love carrying the "security blanket" of a couple of ac-dc pieces. that said, Corvallisclimb, I do have a handful of bongs that haven't seen use since '82... pay shipping and you can have 'em, or visit my place in Der Worth and take 'em off my hands. I won't miss 'em --got pictures.

Keep 'em comin' Craig. Mark should be back tomorrow... We gotta hook you up with some more of the Old Farts! -Curt

Thanks for the source - I hadn't read that, and it was so much better than the usual drivel that passes for climbing press...

In close to fifty years of wilderness travel in every state west of Kansas, plus BC & Alberta, I've had the great fortune to see two cougars in the backcountry, eight grizzlies (five of these on a ten-day caribou hunt in AK), and I once had a small black bear sniffing around my head on an open bivvy in the Yosemite backcountry. A former manager of Leaveworth's Der Sportsman once swore to me that he'd seen a sasquatch near Lake Wenatchee. Can't say I've seen any shred of evidence to support the sasquatch stories. Yet, from my formal training in logic, I'm also aware that it is virtually impossible to prove the non-existence of anything. These days it seems practically commonplace for "primitive" fishermen to turn up with catches of sea-creatures the "experts" told us were extinct since before humans existed, so I guess I'll remain "agnostic" about sasquatch.

I'll let you know if I see something worth "call in well" for...

Craig - thanks for the quick report. It sounds like I may have a partner for it Tuesday or Wednesday... -Curt

Check Alpinemonkey's "Goatee" TR. The Funnel is marginally in. Another week would really help. Roadside ice in the Icicle still has a ways to go. I'm hoping to repeat the Goatee sometime this week. My time window is 0830-1400 (I drive a school bus in Leavenworth) pm me and I'll provide a phone # -

Craig, what's your midweek schedule like? I'm pretty much shot for weekends until after Christmas... -Curt

yeah! take the thermos! a BIG one! the one item of gear that I take on EVERY winter trip regardless of the objective. (I'm deadly serious about this...) On the other hand, free advice is often worth about what you pay for it. I'll never be able to forget the helpful gal at Frenchman's Coulee who offered to "fix" my ten-year old son's munter-hitch belay "oh, it's all twisted up! let me help you untangle that". Fortunately, I was still close enough to his anchored stance to prevent her intervention... Oh yeah - and if you're "prepared" for it, then it's not a "bivouc"; it's "camping" and and always remember the mantra of the legendary Fred Stanley: "It's never too early too turn back"

14' F. at my place this morning... with a ten-day forecast for more of the same. Roll on winter!!!

Hey Alan - I found that newsclip about Ben - Congratulations! If he hasn't tried ice-climbing, and is interested, tell him to look up Tyler Farrar and ask Ty what it was like to learn with the "Old Farts"... and check your pm's...

I was perfectly serious - I LIKE weird epics, and I AM working today -- but I'm available Sunday...

I agree, you probably CAN get to ice near Anchorage as fast as you can get to Sierra ice from the Bay Area. And even if it takes slightly longer, it would still be the better option... And kurthicks is right - except you probably don't want to bivvy in any of those places unless you have a heated camper or plan on building an igloo or digging a cave... colder than the temps I had on either of my Denali climbs...

as I said "as far as I knew" -- I witnessed Jeff placing bolts while leading new routes a number of times, in fact, that's how I met him, watching him drill from the "sharp end" and wondering who he was. I'm not familiar with Ozone - I moved from Corvallis to Tillamook, and then to Leavenworth in '79, and although I've gone back to Smith Rock a handful of times since then, I certainly haven't followed the climbing scene there. If Jeff rap-bolted a line or several at some point, I'm happy to be corrected... I don't climb barefoot with a natural-fiber rope threaded directly through natural-fiber runners on jammed natural pebbles. The nylon, metal, and rubber used by trad and sport climbers alike certainly impacts the environment more seriously than drilling holes in rock and filling them with bits of ateel. Among Frank Smythe's crowd, it was considered a duel-worthy insult to be called "the type of man who would drive a piton into British rock". (although it was fine for the Brits to use pegs in the Alps...) Witnessing the vitriol spewed by a few on this board makes me wonder whether some of these folks ever had a mother instruct them to "play nice". I will try to be more careful about where I play, and with whom.

Yee-haw - back in the late eighties had a 12"+ diameter ponderosa pine come down at my place that crushed the roof of my subaru and punched a hole through the roof of my house! Had enough windfall in the fourteen years I lived there that I never had to stray more than 100' from my driveway for firewood, which was the house's primary heat source. Probably best to just stay above timberline...

WD40 might work, but Marvel Mystery Oil, if you can find it, has been known, on occasion, to free seized engines. Any "penetrating oil" is a reasonable bet if you can soak the fitting in it for a few hours. Oiling the next bolt you use, before installing it, should prevent a recurrance, as will products like locktite

Darn - if I didn't have to spend the day driving busloads of snow-train tourists around Der Worth, I'd be all over this...

Smith Rock had a good twenty-five years or so of climbing history before Alan drilled his first bolt there, and those folks never bothered with the gorge - that area wasn't developed before the late '70s. Zebra with the Zion traverse to the Lions Chair finish would be a classic anywhere. And for those who'd like to climb harder than 5.10 and still use traditional style, Sunshine Dihedral (heard a rumor its been downgraded to 5.11d) still didn't have any bolts when I thrashed my way up it, long after better, more imaginative and courageous folks pushed it free. A climber of normal ability could spend a lifetime at Smith and never clip a bolt. A number of old-timers did precisely that... Some might argue that Jeff Thomas, before Alan Watts, really began the bolting revolution at Smith, just by the quantity of bolts he installed, even though, as far as I knew, Jeff's bolts were always installed on the lead.

Sounds pretty typical, actually... The most ice I've ever seen on Dragontail's NW face was the weekend after Memorial day about nine years back. Early winter, that wall is usually pretty dry. Had a GREAT time on the Gerber-Sink the last weekend in April about four years ago -- pioneered an alternative start up a very tiny thread of ice that went at about WI5, meeting up with the G-S maybe 500'up. April to June most years offers loads of opportunities from Dragontail to Stuart. Pioneered one on Stuart that was easier (WI3-4)last Memorial Day, located between Stuart Glacier Couloir and the NW Buttress - climbed the right-most of three undocumented gullies on that wall, all three of which I've seen well-iced from April to June the last few years... plan on bein' up there again next spring... FWIW - verglas is thickening daily on Icicle Butt-Rest and the Candlestein Crags (a name from the old Beckey guide - I forget what Victor calls the cliffs between Rainbow Gully and Careno Crag) the Funnel is coming in rapidly -- much of this could be pretty entertaining by next week...

Alan - I'd be surprised if you remember me (used to bring groups from OSU to Skinner's Butte when you were in Eugene). I was pleasantly touched by that interview. I remember being saddened when Kent Benesch told me about your hands going bad on you. I was happy to hear you'd transitioned to a fulfilling family life. Although your "famous" climbs were made in a style that would never have occurred to me, I can't say I disapproved. Jeff Thomas's routes were plenty challenging - I never did solve Shoes of the Fisherman -(when Donini fell off of it, I didn't feel so bad...) and my only attempt on Chain Reaction never got as far as the second bolt. At any rate, I applaud your courage to respond to the horse-doo here. Just more proof that being famous is like having somebody paint a bulls-eye on your back - glad to see you're still the down-to-earth character I remember. Best of luck with your son - sounds like fun! Sounds a little like Tom Ettinger's boy (don't know if you remember Tom - from Bend, climbed a lot with Mike Putty) who recently won the U.S. Collegiate Mountain Bike Championship. My three sons are good strong climbing partners these days, and luckily have not reached the point yet where they lead stuff harder than the Old Fart can climb... Cheers! -Curt Haire

Bear in mind that there are precious few places in the Cascade backcountry where you are not either on, above, or below an active avalanche path... the Source Lake basin is infamous among Washington's professional avalanche workers... at least carry transceivers & shovels, & practice with them before you tour. The Scottish Lakes High Camp, on McCue Ridge, about midway between Stevens Pass & Leavenworth, offers a commercial version of the introductory tour you describe. Comfy tent-cabins, good food, & local, current information are plusses. If you want the lady to enjoy this intro, I'd at least check them out. They even have a snow-cat ride to the camp available if you don't want to ski in. Skyline/Heather Ridge, across highway 2 from the Stevens Pass Ski Area, usually has a cat-road up it all winter, which makes it an easy, attractive backcountry approach. Bear in mind that that cat-road is put in and maintained each winter by the Washington DOT to provide quick access to the ridgetop for their avalanche control workers, on their highway protection missions. Translation: not a place for the avalanche ignorant. There are lodges & B&Bs in the Winthrop/Mazama area that cater to backcountry skiers, but I'm not as well-informed about them as I am about the Scottish Lakes operation. I've heard lotsa good talk about the area...

Geez, if your partner's coming from Anchorage, and you're in the Bay Area, why not just meet in Canmore? Or would that be a case of "been there, done that"? Utah has Provo Canyon and Logan Canyon, both easily accessible from Salt Lake City. Colorado has Ouray (more than just the ice park), Rocky Mountain National Park, and the canyons around Boulder. Since ya gotta travel, I've also heard good things about New Hampshire and even upstate New York. The other night I had an old friend enthusiastically describing the ice-climbing in Delaware! (a new one for me...) For Bozeman or Cody, allow plenty of time. You'll burn the better part of a weekend just getting to either place, and return, from the Bay Area or Anchorage. Both destinations really deserve their own trip. I wouldn't try to do both unless you have a month or so... driving between Bozeman & Cody can be iffy any time during ice season. (Not to diss Mr. Frieh, but I grew up not far from there, and with nieces & nephews at MSU, the family still deals with the roads...) If you get desperate enough, there's ice in the Sierra, but after Valdez it will seem like visiting a local one-pitch sport crag after you've lived in Yosemite... Hope you got a generous vacation package...

Pete H - right on. Alan was a superb crack climber. I watched him climb 5.12 thin cracks protected by tiny wired stoppers (all there was, in those days, unless you wanted to hammer in pegs) back when the 5.12 standard was still mostly just an idea. He was not one to place a bolt next to a protectable crack. Yes, he hung sometimes. I've never climbed with anyone who doesn't, tho I once shook hands with Henry Barber (the only guy I was ever aware of who made a big deal of retreating rather than hang, and would always retreat after falling, since he regarded getting caught by belay as equal to taking a hang) And I agree, if Alan hadn't begun the bolting revolution in the US, someone else would have. Hell, in Colorado Springs, the Garden of the Gods, where I cut my rock climbing teeth, had ladders of bolts placed up blank faces by previous generations, that basically went nowhere, and will likely never have a hope of going free. They were placed, as nearly as I could tell, by climbers who just wanted to practice bolting... So much for the ground - up "ethic". Hell, I don't even approve of that use of the word "ethic". "Style" is a more appropriate term. Climbing doesn't really have an "ethical" dimension, except maybe when you're belaying, when there is arguably an "ethical" dimension to yanking your leader off his/her holds, or carelessly failing to catch a partner's fall. True, Alan's style of previewing and pre-bolting routes ran counter to my "ground - up" alpinist type preferences. But it had, and "sport" climbing still has, a great deal in common with what we old farts used to call "practice climbing" back in the '60s. Only differences I can see is the standard is higher now; some climbers are focusing on it exclusively; and the "name" has changed. Same process happened with skiing, when they started building rope tows. Ski lifts and bolted climbs are easy to avoid for those who choose, and they have legitimate purpose for those who use them. Salathe was right: "Vy cant ve chust climb?!?!?"

Dane- I could be up for stuff near der Worth, but would have a tuff time with anything longer/further than the Funnel or the slab that ices over on Pearly Gates, cuz my time window = from about 0830 to about 1400 (I drive a school bus to keep the bills paid). Not much available within reach, yet, but that could change by next week with the current forecast. PM me if yer interested. Icicle Butt-rest gets some fun mixed lines, but nothin' there at the moment 'cept hints of verglas...