rob

We just did SEWS, approaching from the hairpin turn. Approach was about 50% snow covered -- snow started about half-way up. It is starting to moat out around the top near the col and the usual moating around boulders. There was a bit of snow getting to the base of the route, but it could have been avoided with some scrambling on ledges up above. Approaching from Blue Lake TH looks to have about the same amount of coverage. The snow was pretty soft (partner was in approach shoes), but I was glad to have an axe. But, a couple of trekking poles would probably have been fine, too.

wasn't he friends with the guy who started the El Salvador Death Squads? Chele, AKA "The Blowtorch"?

you're just jealous of my long shaft. I get that alot.

scheissami -- dude, thanks for the rad trip! When are we getting out again? But then where would I keep the beer?

Trip: South Early Winters Spire - Southwest Buttress Date: 7/2/2008 Trip Report: After a relaxing morning sleeping in, Scheissami and I left the hairpin and made our way up the scree and snow to the col below SEWS. Rather than traversing over from the huge chockstone to the base of the route, we opted to start at the split-top larch a pitch or so under the 5.8-ish crack pitch obvious from the ground. Scheissami and I swapped leads, with him starting out and leading up and over a small overhang to the next ledge, where I took over and brought us up easy terrain to the base of the 5.8 wide crack (my favorite pitch on the route), which fell to Scheissami. He led it in good style, and I took the next, easy double cracks in the dihedral. I was extremely relieved when the next slab pitch fell to him, and before we knew it we were at the base of the bear-hug cracks. The bear-hug pitch fell to me, and I led up, scoping out the off-width cracks above me. Now, I kind of like off-width, but a #3 and #4 camalot are NOT sufficient to protect this pitch. You can get a #3 or a #4 in around your feet, but the crack widens up quite a bit above that. We had been planning on sliding the #4 up with us on a long sling, but it was obvious to me that once I moved a couple feet higher, the #4 would be too small. I didn't like my odds, so I put the 3 and 4 in at my feet and had Scheissami lower me off. He led the pitch with the #3 at his feet, and was able to make a total bullshit placement with the #4 a bit higher up. The climbing was not hard, but it certainly would require a #5 to protect the ledge-fall. Thanks, dude! As a pennance, I took the next slab pitch. I clipped the bullshit bolt (did that thing come from a car?) and was able to get an alien in at my feet before sketching my way up the unprotectable slab arete. I do NOT like climbing slab, and I'm a bit ashamed to say that I shrieked a little bit on my way up. I didn't know my voice could get that high. But, I stuck it out. Luckily there was nobody else around, and Scheissami promised me that he would destroy the video. We rapped down into the gully between the "rabbit ears" and I was racking up for the easy crack on the summit pitch when we felt the first drop of rain. The thunder hit us at the summit. Downclimbing to the first rap station on the south arete, the hail and wind started. The hail was pretty large, and sounded like marbles hitting my helmet. The wind was blowing our ropes sideways, and the thunder and lightening kept getting closer and closer. While coiling the rope over my nylon-clad shoulders, I could feel hair standing up due to static build-up. I did what anybody else would do: I grabbed my partner's rack to ground myself. About half-way down, the wind and thunder started to pass, and we were greeted by a brilliant double rainbow above us, over the hairpin. Nice touch. The IPA at the car never tasted better. Gear Notes: Salami Bring a big piece for the bear-hug pitch

Burned and spurned? Scheissami is supposed to post pictures, but I think he's been too busy drinking beer and being Austrian.

What's wrong with that? I'd certainly hope he refines his policy after receiving data that will surely only be available to him as president. But apparently republicans will look for any excuse to belittle him. If he says a, they're mad he didn't say b. If he says b, they say, "hey, what about a?" Apparently, Obama needs to speak more clearly and slowly so that republicans can understand him.

I've had my whisperlite since I was 10 or so, and it's been running strong ever since (like, 19 years). Other than regular cleanings, I've never had to repair or replace anything. I ended up replacing the fuel pump last fall, but not really out of neccessity....

Of course not, it doesn't have room for a gunrack, or a dog. Where would you put the "vote republican" bumper stickers? And there's no way you could have a ton of gravel dumped into the bed like in those F-150 commercials.

OH MY GOD! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! Good thing I still have the bomb-shelter I built during the Y2K scare.

That's not change we can belive in

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Serpentine Arete Date: 6/30/2008 Trip Report: Friday, Scheissami and I left to do a few days of cragging in Leavenworth before tackling Serpentine on Monday. We arived around noon, and it was fucking hot. After wandering around private property for a while looking for poison ivy crack, we decided that our brains would melt if we tried to climb this south-facing shit, so we headed up to pearly gates instead. Scheissami led Dog Ate My Topo. We were going to finish up with that second slabby pitch above it (Scene is clean?) but we decided we'd rather get punched in the dick than do more slab climbing, so we went over and I led Loaves of Fun, where I managed to find a way to totally gumby up the top of the climb, trying to avoid the 5 feet of protected slabby moves by traversing over and up some shitty grass-infested choss to a higher anchor Scheissami took the next lead on Celestial Groove, where he fell off the bouldery start onto a yellow camalot. He failed in his attempt to land on his head thanks to the vigilance of his extremely talented and attractive belayer, and after a few more tries we decided that it was too hot for anymore of this bullshit, so we went into town and had beer and german food at Adreas Keller and retired to the nearly full dirtbag lot -- thank god we had reservations! The next day we woke up early and climbed around Barney's Rubble (in the shade) until it got too hot, so we went to sleep until the evening when we ventured out again to alphabet rock where Scheissami styled dogleg crack. We TRd that 10-ish sport climb to the right of dogleg, and then TRd meatgrinder. I belayed Scheissami on a TR lap of z-crack and then we went for beer at Ducks and Drakes, where Scheissami was hit on by a crazy woman. The next morning we woke up early-ish and lapped classic crack a few times until the sun peaked over the trees, and then went into town and watched Germany lose to Spain. We figured we couldn't put it off anymore, so we packed up and headed up to Colchuck Lake in the afternoon, where we set up camp in the boulder field near the moraine. Up early the next morning, we sauntered our way up the moraine to the base of Serpentine when the coffee started doing it's magic. Take it from me, there is a new cairn near-abouts with a special little surpise inside. I wouldn't kick it apart if I were you. We found the start of the climb allright but had some route-finding trouble lower on the route, on our way to the top of the pillar. "How far off route do we have to be before it's a FA?" I asked, as I scoped out a lichen-covered slab above me. Scheissami has posited "wandering retards" as the name for our new variation. From there, things went smoother. The crux pitch fell to Scheissami, who styled it. I freaked out a little bit on the easy friction traverse over the the start of the thin 5.7 cracks (you all know how much I LOVE friction climbing), where I panicked and put in too much gear down low and had to run out the last 20 or 30 feet of facey climbing to the belay. We simul-climbed most of the rest of the route, stopping every so often to belay the occasional mid-fifth step, which gave us an opportunity to re-rack gear and drink water. Tons of fun scrambling on this route, with huge positive edges and blocks to pull up on. About 2/3rds of the way up, the thunder clouds came, which really put the pressure on us to haul ass. Luckily, they stayed a few miles out, and we never had any rain or nearby lightning. Climbing to the sound of thunder kind of sucks. I ran out of water, which is a near-disaster for my body, and started bonking. Scheissami led the last 5.7-ish variation to the summit, where we celebrated with candy and photos, and booted our way down to aasgaard pass. I stopped at a tarn to drink deep of the watery goodness. Booting down the rubble that is Aasgaard Pass sucks ass. We ended up hitting the moraine at nightfall, and wandered around for a few hours trying to find our tent, which we had cleverly positioned behind a boulder, sheltered from wind and from view. We were pretty beat when we finally found camp, so we ate some food we stashed earlier, and crashed out. We hiked out the next morning and picked up a few double helis at heidelburger and bathed in icicle creek. We drove out to WA Pass later that night for more fun and games. Gear Notes: DEET Approach Notes: Hide your tent behind a boulder.

Cashmere Mountain

Columbian hostages freed Fucking awesome story.

The NW Forest Pass is just for parking, right? Hell, when I did the bailey traverse in ONP I didn't even have a car -- I had to pay to sleep on the ground, and to travel on a unmaintained trail. At least I don't have to pay a permit fee to go climbing in wilderness areas. Oh, wait....

YEE-HA

I don't know why you would expect your climbing to slow down because you got married. Surely you didn't marry someone who's going to tell you what you can and can't do with your own time? It's not like you have kids. She's your wife, not your mama

I don't believe the stuart lake TH has picnic tables, does it?

Close, but no cigar. This was the previously oldest living thing: Unlike McCain, this tree can still sprout wood

Ain't that the truth.

Leftover salmon is nice too

nice Cashmere is a fun scramble. There was no snow when I did it though, and I ended up taking a "short cut" down a shitty gully on the way down. That hike out really does feel long

great photos, very nice

sorry, bill. If I didn't, someone else would have.