moira armen

FOUND! (long ago.)

FOUND!!!

First off, you'll learn more skiing off-piste at resorts because you'll make more turns each day, but that's not to say you'll never learn if you just stick to the backcountry. The back country spot called Yodelin that's near Steven's Pass is an easy skin up a road and the bowl that you'll yo-yo is pretty low-angle, probably comparable to a harder blue run. The access road can be icy going down but you could snowplow down it. For miles. Don't go alone though, in case you get stuck/hurt/avvied. As for gear--I've never tried dynafits but I love my fritsches. They ski just like an alpine binding and tour pretty well too. #1 Gear requirement=beacon, shovel, probe, and ski buddy!

I haven't ever tried any of the "other leathers" but I will concur that the Nepal Evos are colder than plastics. That said I've climbed in down to about probably (I'm guessing) around 5 degrees farenheit and my toes did get a little cold during belays but nothing a little stamping around couldn't fix. I have a low volume foot and am happy to say, no blisters to date, hopefully I didn't just curse myself with that, but I have done some somewhat long (5 hour+/-) approach/deproaching in them. They are great for ice climbing, really flexible in the ankle. Also I climbed Mt. Adams in them. Just the steep snowy part where I needed crampons. Pretty comfy. They do seem to be the shit.

I posted in lost and found, but just in case thought I'd post here too. It is a Pentax OptioW20, a little waterproof digital in a Lowe case with a locking biner and some accessory cord on it. The last time I had it was when I took a photo just before skiing down the bowl at Yodelin, but I know I didn't lose it skiing because I had the biner locked to my pack...so I think I probably took it off my pack when I got down and then set it on the car and spaced it. We were parked at the Smithbrook Rd. pullout. I'm sure it's probably gone but if someone finds it...wow, I will be so happy!!!!

It is a Pentax OptioW20, a little waterproof digital in a Lowe case with a locking biner and some accessory cord on it. The last time I had it was when I took a photo just before skiing down the bowl at Yodelin, but I know I didn't lose it skiing because I had the biner locked to my pack...so I think I probably took it off my pack when I got down and then set it on the car and spaced it. I'm sure it's probably gone but if someone finds it...wow, I will be so happy!!!!

Wow! Thanks for the post.

9 resort 1 backcountry 3 cross country 1 ice 1 snowshoeing with my ice tools to not find ice :-( I love winter!!!! Especially during this epic cycle! :-)

I have had a bulging disc for over a year now and it's reluctant to heal...well, I am reluctant to give up my lifestyle and so it's healing slower. I did PT for about 7 or 8 months and still do exercises daily plus swim a couple of days a week. Saw my chiro yesterday and she said I am doing everything right. She recommended something called "prolo therapy" I am not the one to say if that would be right for you or not, but you might want to ask your chiro about it. I found that my chiropractor was much more helpful and knowledgeable than my MD, who pretty much just gave me a much needed prescription for antiinflammatories and painkillers and offered to refer me for a surgical consult. No thank you!!! My PT was also super awesome and extremely knowledgeable. "Prolo therapy" is something that naturopaths do. It involves injections into the tissue to increase the inflammation thereby encouraging faster healing.

give me a break, even i have walked up that face...certainly not first. layton needs a guide around here, and he already used his token Ouch, kinda mean! Next time I post a TR I will make sure to put it in "Cafe Sensitivo" 'cuz I am really pretty sensitive. All I wanted to see was if someone else had climbed that chosspile and if so what they thought of it, and also it was beautiful and a fun experience so I thought I'd write my first TR, but now I kind of regret it.

Control-click, awesome!!! I will do that next time I wish I could right-click. I did not pass a thin flake anywhere on the route, no.

Hey Porter, You rock!!!!! Thank you for fixing my trip report for me! I did look at those directions you gave me the link for...with a pc it's really easy, you just click the camera and then click the photo from the gallery. But that didn't work on my mac. I also can't right-click, due to the wacky mac mouse, so the other set of directions I found when posting didn't work either. But according to my computer genius friends my mac isn't as likely to catch a virus!

Hey Rat, So are you saying that someone has done this one before? I knew there were some other routes on the other face, the first one you come to.

Trip: Alpine Lakes - FA--"Bumbling Genius", Wedge Mountain 5.7R Date: 11/3/2007 Trip Report: I was in Leavenworth and was planning to climb with my friend Ben Hargrove. I had been thinking of doing Givler's Crack because it looks so spectacular, and some other climbs in that area, but when Ben suggested doing a second ascent of a route on Wedge Mountain, that sounded more interesting. After an hour drive we began the hike, which after about half an hour turned to a bushwhack across to the notch where we planned to gear up and leave our packs. Ben had forgotten to tell me that there wasn't actually a trail to or from his climb. I love bushwhacking about as much as I love early morning alarm clocks, but alarm clocks help me stay employed and bushwhacking gets you to good places. It was a beautiful day, so I forgave him. We reached the notch only to find a trail...after all that bushwhacking! We made note of it for the descent. We made our way to the face. We picked out an obvious ramp. Ben said he thought that it was our climb. We scrambled up 4th class rock to the start of the ramp, where I built an anchor. We reauxchambeauxed for first lead. I won but then Ben seemed really disappointed, so I relented and let him have the first lead. Here are links to some photos I put in the gallery. I couldn't figure out how to post them in the TR. If someone smart wants to follow the links and fix this post for me, be my guest!!! But please don't email me and explain how to do it, I already looked at the post in Newbies and it's just too complicated for me. Scenic! View of our route from the base. Go up the ramp and belay where the rock changes color, then traverse upwards and over to the flat ledgey thing you see to belay the second pitch. Pitches 3-5 are in the fog. Ben putting on his shoes. Check out the view! The first pitch was almost a full rope length and followed nice granite up a ramp, to a fun little crack and then some face moves, about 5.7 for the cruxes. Ben leading the rampy start of Pitch 1. At the first belay the rock changed from nice granite to some kind of crumbly, chossy gray rock that I decided was shale because of the way it peeled off in layers. I am not a geologist and I am probably wrong. At any rate, I ruefully took the sharp end and proceeded into a full ropelength of the scariest 5.6 face climbing I have ever done. I only found gear about every 30 feet and then I had to scrape off several layers of crappy rock with my nut tool to place a piece that I thought had any chance of holding at all. In addition my footholds had an eery way of coming detached when I tried to stand on them. I honestly felt more than once that at any moment the entire wall I was standing on and holding onto could become detached with me on it. As Ben yelled, "Rope ten feet" I neared a tree that looked like a good belay, and suddenly could move no further. My rope and gotten stuck in a crack below me! I had run out of long runners and hadn't been able to sling the rope loosely enough, so it was running tight over a block. I had been fighting rope drag and had had to pull out slack to move for the last 25 feet. I had wedged the rope into a crack near my cam, and now I was stuck. Fortunately the moves to the tree looked easy, although they went over some huge loose-looking blocks that I was very careful to avoid. I untied from my rope, placed a cam and tied the rope to it, then I soloed to the tree and anchored myself to it. Now safe, I went back down and built a good anchor for the rope, making it a fixed line for Ben to self-belay his way up with prusiks as he climbed and cleaned the pitch. Whew! This climb was getting pretty exciting in my opinion. When Ben reached the belay, I asked him what the rest of the route would be like. He said something along the lines of this not being the same route and he had made a mistake. Hmmm.... Looking down at "The Shale Pitch" Me very cold at the top of Pitch 2. I didn't know you could get screaming barfies in your feet! Looking up there continued to be a clear line and it appeared that it would go, at least as far as we could see. We decided to carry on--after all adventure was what we were after, and the only thing I had to look forward to on a retreat was lost gear and more bushwhacking! Ben led off Pitch 3 for a full ropelength over once-again beautiful granite up some face moves and into a cool corner/chimney, about 5.5. As I belayed Ben I took this photo and then my camera battery died, so I wasn't able to get pictures of the remainder of the route. Ben's rope up Pitch 3. I led Pitch 4 as the rock turned right up some optional face moves (5.7) and then headed up an easy ramp leading to some exposed moves and through a small roof (5.7). Fun!!! Be careful of large loose blocks. As Ben finished Pitch 4 it was getting dusky. He quickly led off Pitch 5, a full ropelength that traversed to the right and up through some fun moss-filled horizontal cracks/face moves and exited the route through a tree. Apparently someone thought I needed to work on my bushwhacking skills. (Actually, he was almost out of rope, and it was a safer bet. But you know, I can't let him get away with leading me through a tree without a little hassling.) We QUICKLY regrouped in the near-darkness and started hoofing it down the ridge. Be careful on the descent as there is another cliff band skier's left of where you get off the route. Traverse around the mountain to climber's right, above the cliffs, and you will find a game trail that leads down the ridge. Head down the ridge to the notch, and then find the tree-choked trail down to the fallen down cabin and onto the real trail. Doing this "trail" covered with blowdown, ice, and snow in my treadless shoes by my weak headlamp was a crux for me, but we made it back to Ben's car with only a couple minor falls on my part, and in no time were enjoying delicious porters! About the rating: Ben and I debated whether to give it an R or an X rating. There are some huge loose blocks up there, and if one did come loose and fall on the rope or your partner, it would be very very bad. But if you are careful, the climbing is pretty easy and there is enough gear to prevent a death fall, presuming it holds, which I think it would. But I can't recommend falling on this route. The route itself is actually pretty fun, an alpine feeling climb with a relatively short approach, under 2 hours, and the scenery is amazing. Two stars. Thanks, Ben, for the great adventure! We'll have to find some more chosspiles to climb in the near future! Gear Notes: 60 m rope (50m won't make it to good, solid belays) gear to 3" nut tool for scraping moss and choss nuts not necessary Approach Notes: Take the rutted back road up to Wedge Mountain from Blewett Pass. Bear left at all intersections. High clearance vehicle or good driving skills recommended. Go up the hiking trail. Go left at the intersection. At the fallen down cabin head uphill following a trail that is often obscured by blow-down, until you gain the notch. Bushwhack down past the first wall to the second wall. The route starts at the base of the most obvious granite ramp which can be gained via fourth class moves.

Wow. This is hard. I hate computers. I am never going to write another trip report again. Why can't I just put the cursor in the text, click the camera icon, go to my photo gallery, and click on the photo I want? Wah wah wah!

"9.) Corporate Power is Protected: (this my freinds is THE PRIMARY concern of neocons, and why most republicans ARE NOT neocons)" Hmmm...this is pretty much what republicans do. That and intertwine religion and government. And promote militarism. And fight against funding the arts. You are obviously making the point that republicans are a fascist regime? Either that or you're nuts. I obviously love to read things that are marked private. Next time, juicier please?

I understand/respect wanting to honor the original ethic. Of course it's totally feasable to toprope everything off trees, etc. and if I were rad I'd be leading that shit, but the truth is I'm just a whiny little bee-atch who wants to get off work and climb as much as possible before it gets dark! It was nice meeting you today, and thanks for telling me you had replied to my post because I would have never checked...hope to bump into you again someday!

I respect wanting to honor the original ethic. Of course it's totally feasable to toprope everything off trees, etc. and if I were rad I'd be leading that shit, but the truth is I'm just a whiny little bee-atch who wants to get off work and climb as much as possible before it gets dark! It was nice bumping into you today...hope to run into you again someday!

Bill--I live near Rocky Butte on 72nd and I would climb there more, except you often have to build toprope anchors by slinging trees, and those trees are frequently ensconced in poison oak, and I am SEVERELY allergic to poison oak. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your work in keeping the poison oak down. Without you I doubt I could climb at the Butte. Please keep spraying until Clif gets around to hand harvesting all the oak. Also, thank you for bolting/offering to bolt anchors. I am not sure where Crackwarrior is, and I've probably never climbed it, so I'm not sure I'm really qualified to weigh in on this specific bolting question. As a general rule, I'm in favor of bolted anchors on all of the climbs at Rocky Butte. Too bad someone keeps ruining the party. To the bolt-chopper, if you are reading this, here are two good reasons you should stop: 1. It seems like bolts would be not only better for climbing but also better for the trees. 2. If there were bolted anchors, more people might climb there and then the climbs would be cleaner, garbage would get picked up, etc. I understand concerns RE: people leaning waaay out off the cliff to set up topropes, but like Bill said, if it's too dangerous or outside the climbers' comfort zone, they can always set up a safety off a tree before setting up the TR.

I liked Mark Twight's book "Kiss or Kill"

Nice work, my friend. Travis, fine effort "off the bed". Although Louise was cold for a day or two, it's worth it for those battle scars!

Do you know when the closure will end?

In college I was on the cross country team and my coach sent me to a podiatrist who had me get some orthotics for overpronation, because I was running 50 miles a week and my arches and ankles were hurting. My feet were cast and the casts sent away to Seattle and they made me some graphite orthodics (sp?). I have been using them ever since for running, working (all my jobs have always required me to be on my feet all day), hiking, and cross-country skiing. They help a ton, if I don't use them my arches hurt. I have high arches. That was 12 years ago. I got them for free because my college paid for them out of their sports budget! I have no idea how much they would have cost.