mkporwit

So get hands-free on the rappel (leg wrap/autoblock/mule hitch on the device/whatever), clip your pack loop, and get at the contents of your pack. Problem solved. Try drilling a 3/8" bolt hole with a hand drill in granite sometime. Just be sure to clear your calendar for the afternoon.

Looks like your route up pitch 5 and mine join up right above where I'm standing. All y'all can disregard my comment about the crack needing gardening then -- I thought the open book was above my stance in the photo, not below it...

Trip: Le Petit Cheval - Spontaneity Arete Date: 9/1/2007 Trip Report: Last Saturday, Larry Rafferty and I did the Spontaneity Arete on Le Petit Cheval. We got to the TH at 9:30am, and by 10:45 we were at the top of the first static hand line. We were unable to locate the second hand line, so we headed left and up, eventually having to do a "pitch 0" to get over the rock band. The Spontaneity Arete Once above the rock band, we spotted the overhanging roof marking the start of the second pitch, and made our way to the base of the climb, getting there around noon. I led the first pitch up a nice crack, but the pitch quickly flattened out. Larry led the second pitch, placing a couple of #1 cams and then scrambling the rest of the way. We got to the start of the 3rd pitch, and as a consolation prize for the lack of quality climbing on the second pitch, Larry led that one as well, combining it with the fourth. The quality of climbing greatly improved. I combined the fifth and sixth pitches into one lead. Rather than going directly up the corner crack of the left-facing dihedral on pitch 5, I took a crack to the right and then did a slightly spicy (for me) traverse at the top to a sawed-off tree. The crack in the dihedral looked like it needs some serious gardening to clean it out. Me on the fifth pitch There was a party of three ahead of us on the route. As I was leading pitch 6, they were waiting to rap down. Pitch 7 is a scramble, and we topped out at 6:30. Larry scrambling to the summit on the seventh pitch We spend a few minutes at the summit, then rapped down to the gully and scrambled down to the base of the climb. Larry caught up with the three climbers, who had just finished rapping the entire route. Seems like the gully is the faster descent, even if there is no snow. Me on the summit We made it out to the cars by headlamp a little before 9pm. We lost the trail a little before crossing Early Winters Creek, and had to bushwhack from the creek back to the TH. Seems like you'd do fine to skip the first two pitches, hiking up the gully instead and picking up the route at the base of pitch 3. There's a lot of black lichen on the rock, and a few portable hand holds. Gear Notes: Cams up to #0.5-4, doubles in #1 and #2, nuts, hexes including the #11 BD cowbell. Approach Notes: The start of the second hand line is almost straight up from the end of the first hand line, above some steep blocks. Otherwise, the trail is pretty easy to spot and well marked with cairns.

We had two close calls with rocks. The first one was the one that Dylan referred to. The rope probably knocked that one loose, and it missed Dylan's head by no more than a couple of feet. Maybe 20 minutes later, while chatting with the Canadians, we had two watermelon-sized boulders knocked down into the gully by a goat standing on an outcropping above us. Like Brian mentioned, the idea was to get down with fewer lowers. In a larger party we could have had people leapfrog on the lower, setting up anchors ahead of time, but it took me a while to gain confidence in my initial observation that my partner was reliably A&O 4/4, so for a while two of us assisted him very closely, with Brian running the belay from above. As for the pieces, I mentioned in a previous post that they were a green alien, a #9 BD nut, and a .75 BD Cam (from top to bottom). The alien has one of its outer lobes deformed in one spot, suggesting that it put up a bit of a fight. Unfortunately, in the initial fall, my partner's leg was tangled in the sling/rope of that piece, which may have contributed to it pulling. The other pieces popped pretty easily after that. The cordelette was in a girth hitch around a huge block/horn on a belay ledge to the right and above from the first rap station on the NF of Concord. Brand new 6mm cord. Glad that it held, given the limitations of the girth hitch. I've since upgraded my cordelettes to 7mm, and I'll try and avoid the girth hitch in the future.

Dylan, I have your trekking pole, and your note from my windshield. I'll be sending you the pole via UPS on Thursday, and I'll send you the tracking number for that as soon as I have it. Unless you're planning on being in West Seattle between now and then, in which case I'll leave it at Mountain Madness. Thanks for letting us use the pole -- it came in very handy on the hike out.

I was into the cordelette with a clove hitch on the actual rope.

As the guy holding the belay... I'd say the fall was 70+ feet or so. We were on the second pitch. My partner was 30-35 feet above me, fell, pulled out a green alien, #9 BD nut and .75 BD cam, and fell past me over the ledge. He did not deck, but was caught by the rope ~30 feet off the ground. I was spun around ~90 degrees by the fall -- I was facing the face when he started falling, and he fell past me on my right. I came taut against the belay when I was spun around. I lowered my partner to the notch, and then we self-rescued.

Anyone been on St. Helens in the last couple of days, since the big dump of snow? I'm looking at taking my skis up there this coming Saturday...