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Rafe1234

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Posts posted by Rafe1234

  1. Trip: Wa Pass - Liberty Traverse 2.0

     

    Date: 8/23/2014

     

    Trip Report:

    Last August, Jeremy Zachariash and I did a pretty solid linkup day on the western aspect of the Liberty spires at WA pass. Earlier in the year I developed a desire to go up to the western aspects of WA pass and do as many routes in a day as possible, given I could find a partner willing to do a little bit of a sufferfest.

     

    A couple weeks prior I met up with Jeremy at Aslan for a beer and he proceeded to tell me he had a couple days before done a through hike from Hannegan Pass to Ross lake in under 24 hours, and as of late, was super stoked and doing big day/through hike endeavors, not just crushing sport climbs. So I was like "Hey, if you wanna do a big day rally-fest linkup, I"ve got one that'll be a lot of fun". Not ever having done alpine climbing he wasn't totally sure, but I was confident he'd be fine.

     

    Having done the Liberty Traverse before I was pretty sure about the amount of routes with we could do from dawn till dusk, and still complete the traverse. It went as such, starting on Liberty Bell...obviously..

     

    Rapple Grapple

    Beckey Route

    Overexposure

    North Face Concord

    South Face Concord

    North Face Lexington

    NW Corner NEWS

    West Face NEWS

    Chockstone route

    SW Rib SEWS

     

    The idea was pitched and it was a go!

     

    We slept at the trail head and woke up at 3:00 am to be on the trail by 3:30. hopefully putting us at the base around 5:00 am to have a full daylight session of climbing ahead of us. I had never hiked up there in the dark so I passed left exit to the spires until I hit the Blue Lake sign and turned around. Even given the detour we still ended up at the base of Liberty Bell before 5:00 am, I think, as it was still pretty dark.

     

    We climbed fast and pretty uneventfully and completed the objective, just one rope stuck after rapping from Liberty Bell. It's really fun to be able to move that fast over so much terrain. Also, by the end of the NW corner, Jeremy had some gnarly blisters and couldn't wear his Muiras any longer and finished the day in approach shoes.

     

    We topped out on SW rib just as dusk has descended. We down climbed and rapped to the base, and then hiked out, with nightime upon us.

     

    We did 44 guidebook pitches, 27 rappels, and 4800 ft of rock climbing car to car in 18 hours and some change. Fun stuff! Man my feet hurt the next day!

     

    It's wild how busy the western aspect of NEWS is these days too. You have to que up weekday or weekend for either of the trade routes during the summer.

     

     

     

     

     

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  2. Depends on the person. I know numerous hardworking climbers who've started their own businesses in construction who were employed for several years by someone like myself prior going out on their own. As well, I've employed lots of shitty workers, none of whom were climbers. A lot of the previously mentioned negatives qualities found in climber employees exist in most people in the construction industry anyhow...figured I could at least have a regular weekday climbing partner!

     

    Job is filled anyways, sans climber.

  3. Not sure if this fits anywhere on this site, but I'm a contractor in Bellingham looking for an interior finish employee. Trim, cabinets, flooring, paint, etc. I'd love to hire another climber, so I thought I might post an add here and see if it makes it's way onto the screen of an interested cascade climber.

     

    Job is all new construction custom homes. All tools provided. Job starting Jan 5 and booked up through the end of the year as this is being posted. Workload will be fast paced so prior experience is required.

     

    Hit me up if you or anyone you know might be interested in working a cool, active job with another climber!

     

    Thanks!

     

     

  4. A geologist and sometime climber I worked with told me the only true granite in Washington State is at Washington Pass. Index, Leavenworth, the Enchantments, the Stuart Range, and Darrington are all composed of white grandiorite.

     

    Just to add to the discussion, I really like cam hooks.

     

    Sweet, just ordered a new cam hook set for Wa Pass... Just gotta make sure to keep it away from that uber choss pile over at Index..

  5. As for AK-47.. "I bolted it like you would protect a trad line.."

     

    That dude is such a clown... I like to believe CJB was just a fictitious character created by someone to troll climbing sites.

     

    Regarding the post...Does legislation like that exist anywhere else around the world?

  6. Im lookin for an alpine rock partner for the next two days, kinda short notice.. I have a list im whittling away at but I'm down for pretty much anything good or that I haven't climbed. Long days with linkups or harder routes are what I'm looking to do though.

     

    Cheers!

  7. Trip: WA Pass - First Amendment

     

    Date: 7/27/2014

     

    Trip Report:

    I'd been enticed by First Amendment since buying the Wa Pass guidebook this spring and driving by it so many times. It's a pretty cool looking face, from the road. The idea of getting off "the beaten path" was kind of exciting too. One of the things that struck me as interesting is that there is no other trip report or firsthand beta available other than Ian Nicholsons from his blog and a short review in the 2009 AAJ (which suggested bringing KB's and LA's ).

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    The guidebook is spot on with it's approach description. It details not to follow the lower sucker trail off left to early and not to start to ascend on easy ledges too early on the traverse to the base of the route. I think there is really pretty much only one way to get to the base. It's steep vegetation with a middle area of walkable'ish area, and rock face above. There is no discernable climbers path or trail.

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    The first "pitch" is low fifth and scrambles easily, and the climbing begins in earnest on a big ledge marked by a bright white wall and some trees.

     

    The topo for this route is pretty spot on too and marks easily identifiable features. As well, this route has seen some traffic and has areas where the paths and sequences are fairly obvious due to usage scrub from ascents.

     

    We did the 5.10 direct start, mainly because it's obvious, and direct, and I'm not sure why you would elect go the other way.

     

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    Although it has obviously seen some traffic, the route is still pretty dirty.

     

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    The changing corners pitch is the crux of the route in my opinion. It's just kinda dirty and a little bit cryptic, but takes good gear and certainly doesn't require knifeblades. I didn't have a topo handy could have swore I was supposed to continue right through all the corners, thus created a different variation, harder than .10c that I'm not sure I would recommend...

     

     

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    The "5.11" pitch is pretttyyyyy soft.. Either I unlocked some magic wizard super beta, which I doubt, or it's not very hard.

     

    There is some loose rock on this sucker though. On the pitch entering Spontaneity arete I stepped on a rock the size of a file cabinet, that appeared to be a solid part of a corner, and dislodged it with maybe half of my body weight. I'd never seen a rock that big come off of a wall. The rock got wrapped up in my rope for just a second and veered off to the right a few feet from my belayer, mangling my rope pretty well in the process. I couldn't see it, but the sound of that thing tumbling down the wall and crashing into the talus below was pretty amazing. That said, the warnings of loose rock in the book are correct. There are a couple more huge blocks perched on that route that, if, or when they go, are gonna be gnarly.

     

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    Corner cleaned and safe for future parties!

     

    As well, The "Goldie Crack" finishing on Spontaneity Arete has a ledge midway with a bunch of pretty huge loose loose blocks on it too.

     

    All in all, adventurous short outing. Needs a lot of cleaning, and isn't very hard. The guidebook suggests it as a good route for aspiring 5.11 climbers to break into the grade. Bad news, you'll have a rude awakening if you climb First Amendment and expect it to be a gauge for difficulty in the grade.

     

    Because of the shortish approach, I would barely recommend this one, mainly because I think if it got 10 more years of decent traffic it could be OK.

     

     

    Gear Notes:

    doubles .3-2 c4

    singles in 3 and 4 (didn't place #4)

    triples #0 (green c3, purple metolius, blue alien etc.. placed 3 in corners pitch)

     

     

     

    Approach Notes:

    Approach per guidebook description, it's spot on.

     

    Descend via gully, following cairns near the base of Spontaneity arete back down the slabs into the forest.

  8. Yeah actually this was the third time I've done it, and I think the same thoughts have crossed my mind each time. All that said, I would certainly do Paisano/Burg linkup again in the future as the years come and go.

     

    I don't recall a tombstone sized chockstone! The pitches bypassed are first and second with the linkup. Didn't notice it on the third. Wasn't keeping an eye out for one on rap either though.

  9. Trip: WA Pass - Clean Break-Paisano-Burgundy Linkup

     

    Date: 7/21/2014

     

    Trip Report:

    Having done both routes car to car in the previous week I felt a car to car linkup of both was also a fairly doable prospect, as it seems like the descent is the more tiring part and you have to do that no matter what.

     

    I estimated 18 hours for round trip and was a little off, and it ended up being more around 21 hours. I don't think I accounted for the bike ride back to the car, hauling the bikes out of a talus field in the dark after a huge day (crux), stopping to eat or drink and get water.. or really do much else other than hike and climb nonstop. Needless to say, all things listed above ended up happening, as one would imagine, and skewed my highly optimistic assessment of ascent and descent time.

     

    Plan was to hike from Silverstar creek, climb Clean Break, traverse to Paisano descending as little as possible, climb the West Ridge of Paisano and finish on the North Face of Burgundy. As a side note, I don't really get what's so classic about the North Face of Burgundy, just the history? Anyways, we started up Silverstar trail at 3:15am and found ourselves at the splitter first pitch at 6:30.

     

    Leah is 5'1 and has proportionately sized hands so I gave her the first pitch.

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    Clean Break went as planned, with climbing time at five hours. I'd hoped for more like four and a half, but not much of a setback.

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    Next was the descent/approach to the base of the West Ridge of Paisano, for which I'd budgeted 1.5 hours.... which also took a tad longer.

     

    Along the way to Paisano it was being hinted that my credibility in accurately predicting approach and descent times was in jeopardy!

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    "I can see the first pitch from here! We'll be there in like 15 minutes."

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    Paisano and Burgundy went down in a little under two hours a piece, putting us on the summit of Burgundy at 6:45pm. During the ascent of Paisano the smoke rolled in from the Methow valley at an amazingly fast pace. Within just a handful of hours, smoke that had been visible at a fairly vast distance from the summit a Clean Break was now obscuring even visibility of Highway 20 from the Wine spires.

     

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    Descent from Burgundy Col was uneventful and we arrived at our bikes with them still were we had left them, thankfully... and we arrived back to the truck at about 11:30pm!

     

     

     

     

     

    Approach Notes:

    3.25 hours to Clean Break. 5 hours climbing Clean break. 2.5 hours approach to Paisano. Paisano/Burgundy 4 hours. Rap Burgundy 1 hour. Descent to MP 166 parking lot 3 hours.

     

    2600' climbing, around 6500' gain. 27 guidebook pitches, climbed in 19.

  10. I've spent quite a bit of time climbing at steep, fixed sport crags over the years, but my interest in it has waned significantly in recent times. Even with decreased interest in it as a sport, I feel compelled to keep doing it as a means of fitness, and worry that my fingers will become feeble without it, and also at the same time, wonder how much it actually helps my climbing (and sort of recent infatuation) in the mountains. Has training, and rehearsing on steep fixed routes been an integral part to growth as a becoming strong alpine climber, even though the style, methods, and mentality are extremely different? Or does one progress the most from just engaging in alpine style climbing more? Does that crusher finger strength really matter up there?

     

    Any perspective from people having gone through the same thought process, and experience, would be interesting to hear.

     

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