dorianlee

Climbing jeff, I spotted this. Only have one crappy photo unfortunately, but looks like some decent handjamming to be had, anyone climb there?

Thought yall might like to know, at e-omc right now there's vipers for 345 and cobras for 500. I'll be jumping on this..

No thanks on the Flys.. Someone's gotta be getting rid of their old, defunct quarks soon, new ones are way more stylin!

Thanks for the offer! but looking for something else. Quarks, Vipers anyone?

Might be moving to alaska soon, so aiming to acquire a pair of decent tools, not necessarily the most recent model. Particularly interested in the previous gen quarks, but will also consider others. Looking to spend 300 or so.

Greatest of times for watching bow-legged lady, she make benefit for all on most glorious of climb! Much time I spend thinking of how many peoples have made sexy time explosions on this womans. One day I trap woman like she, is very niice!

Enjoy

My accomplice had a jetboil, and we thought it ruinous to put it over a fire. It would survive, but would be charcoaled to shit for life.. Besides, we only had fire making supplies down in the valley in the beginning of the trip, when hunger wasn't near its peak as we had other non cooking foodstuffs to burn through. The rice took on real importance once the relatively delicious options were exhausted..

We didn't have a cook pot worthy of fire roast.. Cold water soakage softened the crunch a bit but it only slightly reduced the nastiness. Used to be my favorite alpine dinner but now, even cooked, it conjures sensations of ill. Good to hear from you Jason! The lookout sure saw good eatin, I think smoked wieners in mashed potatoes might just be the best thing I've eaten in the mountains..

Climbing root balls is surely unsatisfactory.. Not only do the holds evaporate, they quickly end up embedded in your lungs and ass crack.. Lessons were learned on the stove too. If you bring a stove, make sure the fuel works! But also, on this type of trip, a stove really isn't necessary, pure luxury. If you bring the right kind of food and some iodine, you can cut big weight.

Hey oldlarry, or anyone else whos got one, hows the durability seem? Looks like a good pack but lots of reviews online say it'll crap out in no time.

Trip: Olympics+ - Valhallas to Olympus Traverse and more Date: 7/22/2010 Trip Report: The good fortune of late summer unemployment brought ample opportunity for some pack er' up and get the hell outta town action. We took off July 22nd with an open schedule, a full car, and high intentions to make the most of it. Over the next 18 days we climbed in the Olympics, North Cascades, and the Enchantments, combining all into a grand road trip that'll be hard to match in the future. First up were the Olympics, the closest and most ambitious of our venture plans. Inspired by Steph Abegg's TR, I decided a Valhallas to Olympus traverse was a perfect introduction to the range, this being the first time in the area for either of us. I have long fancied a trip into the Olympic mountains, but other places have usually won out in favor. Besides having the most appealing mountain names outside of the Pickets, the Valhallas' remoteness and spectacular scenery made the area a clear choice. Besides, might as well get the worst approach out the way, and now things only look up. Its not the long distance that keeps the crowds away, but rather the miles of bushwhacking and tedious scrambling before you even reach the base of the mountains. In all, it wasn't that bad, and I actually somewhat enjoy that kind of approach. We covered a lot of unsavory terrain and numerous times hit impasses that forced backtracking, but overall it was better than a long, monotonous trail. Bred and raised on the Oregon coast, our schwacking abilities are that of many men combined, and with that we faced the legendary approach with confidence.. Returning the way we came, however, was a thought we both despised. So if you plan on climbing in the Valhallas, you might as well do the traverse. Plus, if you want to summit Olympus, this way you save the $15 park entrance fee. Sorting group gear has never been easier. With a fifi hook, picket, quickdraw, and two plastic bags we achieved total balance quite quickly. Massive logjams were the joy of day number one. Evidence of locals. For the first two days we followed the S fork closely behind a herd of elk. They would stay just out of sight and we would follow their many signs and tracks for the easiest route. This worked well except when they opted to ford the river, understandable though considering it was fiendishly hot out. This photo represents deep anguish, hunger, and hours of revolting consumption of crunchy rice. After a long day's effort we were excited to cook some dinner, only to realize the fuel we purchased didn't fit the stove.. Damn you campingaz! It was worse than being kicked in the balls, more like losing the love of your life.. Depression set in and we almost called it quits. We eventually decided to push onward, but we were forced to do so with a useless stove and dinner every night that tasted like something between vomit and cardboard. Typical terrain for the first half of day two. Side-hilling through thick brush above a not so friendly 30 ft drop to the river. Exposed log crossing. Ascending Valkyrie creek was the crux, as expected, but It wasn't as bad I'd imagined. We must have found one of the better lines, for sheer terror was never encountered. Because of low water levels, we were able to cross the Hoh right at Valkyrie, and from there we followed the creek for a short ways and ventured up to the left as things became steeper. Lots of 4th class forest and shrubbery saw us uphill towards the ridge. Hours of groveling up tree lie backs, roots jugs, and dirt slabs brought us the alpine meadows; arrival here and finally seeing accessible mountains was quite the relief. No major obstacles were encountered, but in hindsight, crampons and axe would have been mighty useful for the tedious uphill battle. At last, alpine meadows and the Valhallas. We had planned on climbing Mt Thor and Loki Spire before heading towards Olympus, but by this point we had realized our food supply was a major limiting factor. Remaining rations averaged about 1300 calories a day, and with half that being uncooked rice, our food situation was far too meager to climb everything we wanted. We committed to the Olympus traverse, preferring it over the alternative of peak bagging in the Valhallas and a return out the S fork. Traveling from the Geri-Freki to Hubert glacier was straightforward at first, but eventually turned into a series of guesses as we picked our way over the series of ridges and sub-summits. Doing this in inclement weather would be impossible, but our day was bestowed with all too perfect, into the frying pan weather. It was fairly miserably hot at times. At one point we refused to move for over an hour, just lying there in the hot sun, sucking water out of snowballs. As we moved closer to the Hubert, route finding became less and less confident. We saw a snow ramp heading down and out of sight, presumably in the right direction. It appeared our best option but was a blind, hopeful decent down the only visible line through the otherwise cliff lined valley. The slope kept getting steeper until we reached what looked like the end of the road, a drop off down to the toe of the glacier. Moral here was rather un-jolly, considering our bleak options of re-ascending and searching further, but an inquisitive peek over the edge by Gabe found a miracle ledge, cutting across the steep face and leading to snow at the bottom of the valley. We descended from the shoulder at top center, to the snow finger below, where a ledge through the choss-nastiness brought us to the bottom. Route of day three. Mt Olympus from the south. From a distance the line looked questionable, intimidating at best. It turned out to be very smooth and straightforward. From the snow dome we joined up with the boot pack and headed for the summit. A group of eight on the summit block meant for long breaks, up and down, but after our journey's effort, that wasn't a problem. They even left their rock gear in place for us to simul through on the way up, thanks! This was handy, as our entire rock rack consisted of two tri-cams. East Peak from Olympus Summit. The hike out was long, painful, and hungry. Parting shot from the Olympics. The rest of the trip saw amazing adventure as well, almost as glorious as the traverse. In the North Cascades we stayed with a backcountry ranger buddy in Marblemount, climbed Sahale mountain, and made an attempt on the Triad. All went well except the entirely too regular, about to get the zap of a lifetime lightning affairs. Multiple times we found ourselves running/scrambling beyond the point of exhaustion with our ice axes buzzing and arcing and our hair literally standing on end, certain that at any moment we would be struck down by the rods of Zeus. This happened on three separate occasions within five days. The storm's a brewin' Mt Forbidden Scrambling towards the Triad Hidden Lake Good times and most excellent adventure Gear Notes: We went light, 35lb packs for five days including 30m 8mm rope, 2 pickets, and 2 tri-cams. Next time, less clothing and way more food. Approach Notes: Follow the elk to Valkyrie Creek and head up.

Well it was open when I was up there around the 1st.. Too bad it had 10 dumps and a bucket of piss n paper residing there by the time I inquired.

What about waterproofing boots with little to no leather, would sno seal work? I have Vasque m finity boots and they're in need of some good sealing.

Thanks Bill! It was a whole lot of wallowing for sure. Gaining holds on the trees and rocks up high was a nice change in scenery, and who would of thought you'd get a killer bicep workout on such a tame route? The tree damage was probably the result of a boulder. The inner fibers seem to be piled at the bottom instead of torn away and out as a beast might do, and the angle of fall is right. It just happened to be located next to a huge animal bed and lots of tracks so it had me thinking.

Trip: Chief Joseph - NE Date: 3/21/2010 Trip Report: Wallowa Lake Four young hooligans headed to Joseph for spring break. A whole lot of buffoonery and some mountain climbing ensued. I picked up the crew in Newport and we made the first of many incredibly timely departures, leaving town around noon on the 20th. A long drive as usual, the nine hours is best accompanied with the mindless consumption of potent food, some music, plot scheming, swagger talk, and other pleasure inducing things. Another way to break up the time is a venture into the La Grande Walmart super-massive-consumption center, where you can surreptitiously wander amongst the aisles with weirdos and good deals abound. Chief Joseph, from the town, of Joseph. We climbed straight up from the large brown pole to the left. Once in Joseph we went straight for Fernmaster's lakeside cabin. Here we continued our carb loading gluttony before passing out. The next day we began the climb, but only after hours of gear sorting and jaunts into town to pick up last minute supplies. The plan was for a total of five nights in the mountains, and between climbing gear, clothing, and luxury foods we already had huge packs so we decided to leave the snowshoes and whiskey behind. The former would turn out rather awful. By 2 o'clock we were on the move up Chief Jo, for us this meant simply walking outside the house and heading up. Despite our lazy-ass departure time, good progress was made initially and we plodded uphill with little rest. Things turned foul however, when shortly after the snow level we encountered some rather objectionable tree-falls. Deep snow mixed with criss-crossed layers of log humping obstacles and leg hungry holes slowed us down and made for some relatively treacherous conditions below tree-line. With time, we made our way higher, finding decent terrain at times before everything turned to complete crap. Crawling for progress, slightly entertaining but mostly unsavory As the skies darkened with oncoming weather, the post-holing party began. In no time we were getting dumped on with fresh snow while doing whatever we could to move forward. Post-holing up to our hips was interspersed with crawling on our hands and knees and general deep snow wallowing nonsense. We eventually found a flat spot worthy of camp and decided to call it a day as it was getting dark and the weather was coming down pretty hard. On top of that, we weren't sure of our location on the mountain and the whiteout wasn't doing anything to help us find the chute we were aiming for. The weather didn't abate by morning so we decided to call day number two a rest day. We packed our faces and rested up for the next day's adventure. Joseph's north face from camp. Pick a line, any line! Day three was glorious with completely clear skies and virtually no wind. Snow conditions were even shittier than before but with light summit packs it was doable swapping leads. Once past the initial couloir, we opted for a more featured ridge line to the left and trenched our way higher. The climbing was tedious but fun, a unique mixture of insanely deep post-holing, rock scrambling and tree climbing all at the same time. From the top of the face, we followed a line of cougar tracks coming all the way from the summit. The tracks were mighty fresh and we probably just missed him. Whats odd is the tracks completely disappeared at the point where we hit the summit ridge.. On top we spent some time and enjoyed the best summit views Oregon has to offer. The weather forecast looked grim so we all agreed on escaping the mountain that day. Shots from summit day: Heading up Following cat tracks on the summit ridge Mount Cusick at the end of the valley, a large undertaking this time of year I've taken a liking to the wide angle lens lately Summit shot towards the high Wallowas: Hurwal Divide, Matterhorn, and Sacajawea Back in town, the bar manager hooked us up with free beers.. Nice! Perhaps it was our exceptional attempt at karaoke, or maybe it was because she was drunk, old and toothless, and overly randy.. With some spare time before leaving town I decided to scramble up Bonneville a ways to eyeball route possibilities for the near future. Not far up the mountain I found this tree freshly inflicted with unknown serious trauma.. and holy damn I would want no part with whatever caused it. Any Ideas? Gear Notes: Floatation would have been nice. Approach Notes: Exit house, aim uphill and go, jumping property lines as necessary.

Sounds like a good book to have. If all goes as planned I'll be making many trips there in the near future. Plus, its the spend your REI dividend time of the year again...

Anyone have it? Is it quality?

Sure wished I had a boomstick this one time. About 3 hours bushwacking solo up mt joseph in Oregon I came across a black bear. Startled me a bit but I figured I could head away from it and continue up.. As I started to do so the bear got curious and decided to get closer. With the first loud huffs and grunts I was pondering my mortality, my sphincter was puckering and I glanced around in search of non-rotten sticks. Nothing worthy. I quickly bailed on any summit plans and began my retreat. Almost the entire trip down the mountain, he was close behind, following my tracks, huffing and sniffing the ground. I would stop and face him, and he would pause, then I would continue and he would follow. Some trippy shit.

Hell yeah, you don't see enough Wallowa trip reports on here, especially in winter. Hopefully I can make it over there soon and add to the collection. It really is the place to be in Oregon..

From Colin Haley in Patagonia.. pretty cool http://vimeo.com/8444961

Sale Pending.

Bump. Price reduced to $250

Not from steepandcheap and not for profit.. I've seen some good ($1) deals on that site but never been able to snag em since they're always gone instantly. I am interested in a less-hardcore pair of pants, soft shell most likely.