Telemack

Nice job, long tour. We are headed in to Glacier the 25th and I'm confused about road & TH access. Is the White Chuck River access closed/damaged? We were thinking of the Boulder Basin-Sitkum Glacier route. How do we get to that? And what aspect of the peak did you ski? Cheers

Thank ewe

I too count by the season, and it's been confusing this last year. I mark the season by when in the fall I first ski on freshies, so last autumn that was in mid-Oct. on Muir. Hope next season starts early....

1. What are we looking at for total miles from the Darrington side? 2. Anyone know about approaching from Stehekin? How far/conditions? 3. Are the standard routes still skiable? Quantity hardly matters since the approach would be very long, but safety of glacier travel and size of runnels/cups are issues. tx

Try these: Blair, Seabury. Backcountry Ski! Washington. Sasquatch Books, 1998. Mostly shorter/winter season tours, but I've used it a lot. A bit of non-Cascade stuff too. Repetitive but good maps. Burgdorfer, Rainer. 100 Classic Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Routes in Washington. The Mountaineers, 1999. The standard, with lots of long hard tours. Maps hard to read. Van Tilburg, Christopher. Backcountry Ski! Oregon. Sasquatch, 2001. Good also, tho I've only used this a few times. Focuses on volcanoes, w/ snowboarding emphasized. Lots on Hood, a bit on Wallowas, some S. WA tours.

I have BD 01s on some K2 (red) Work Stinx, and I had the latest model Voile ski crampon attachment mounted. Haven't used them yet, but I've put the crampon on the ski at home & it seems no problem. My skis are 89mm waist, but I went with the wider crampons (105, I think, not 90mm)'cuz I'm planning on going wider. BTW, avoid the BD tele ski crampon, the one that mounts between the boo sole and the binding cables/cartridges. Every time you raise your heel on a climb the crampon exits the snow, so it's uselss with the climbing wire up or any time the boot isn't flat on the heelpiece, i.e. the crampons almost never bite!

You could try belaying the second w/ a Grigri if this is a big concern. Petzl is a good source for doing this too.

Split Pillar is quite safe. 2-#3s, #4 c4 up high. Burgner-Stanley is easier. P.5 Start facing R, up to the last stance, then turn L (right side in). 1-#3, 1-#4. P.6 Can use the big stuff again, then save smal cams up high. You can do these, bro, but get an early start if you are thinking this fall.

We've all been there. Abs tired on an overhang? Consider a bent-gate on your belay loop, or a fif hook tied in short so you can hang close to the placements w/omuch muscle efort.

Ah, the joys of semi-hard climbing in comfy, sloppy shoes....

Does anyone know if there is still water available at the campsites below Burgundy Spire and Col? Where do you get water if you bivy at the Col? gracias

Is this the formation you briefly look at straight ahead while driving W from Mazama?

There's a bit at the trestle of Exit 38: -hiking up the trail you hit a mossy large bloc w/a few things -when you hit the next boulders by the credit-card-thief sign, take a right and look up behind the low mound---there's a good traverse and some up-things -Lots of elims., traverses, and starts of routes to boulder at the Nevermind Wall -A few more traverses are further down at the first short section of We Did Rock. Also,try looking for the "Black Forest" on this site, but I can't tell you how to get there.

Nice shots. Current road status and approxiamate time from highway to trailhead?

This is my 1st cc.com TR so I hope I get it right. With my wife due back from Europe in 2 days, my son working, and no partner, I drove the North Cascades Highway and got to Blue Lake trailhead. After some sorting and waiting for the big heat of the day to pass a bit, I left at 1:40 PM. Hot hiking with a break or 2 in the skimpy shade got me to the Liberty-Concord notch. A pair from Durango was just starting the Beckey route as I suited up w/ a harness, 60m 8mm rope, and lots of chalk. I had done the route 10 days before, but had climbed right of the first chimney, so I was pleased to find this a secure way to pass them. The route felt uber-solid after the rope drag and multiple layers of before. After laying down and resting on the summit I headed down, gave descent pointers to the CO couple, and rapped to the notch for hydration and celebration. At 5:00 I scrambled back to my trekking poles and picked up a good trail that went through the little cliff band below NEWS, saving time. It was buggy and I put on more DEET below the South Arete, then headed up at 6:45 pm. The start was indeed confusing, I went too far right, but I eventuallu dumped the rope in the chimney and went left around the chockstone. On top all was very quiet and scenic; by then I was the only person anywhere in the Spires. After only a few minutes on the summit I descended. Tiredness and my celebratory mood made me zoned enough that I went a ways down the SW Couloir before backtracking up to the left exit from the couloir. Cautiously downclimbing took more time than the up. By 8:45 I had packed and scrambled down to my poles, and got out to the car just after 10 PM. I only needed the headlamp for the last 1/2 mile or so. Then it was a party of one at the car and crash in the woods. Next day I drove through Leavenworth and unwound with boulders and swimming at The Beach across from Castle Rock. My knees were sore enough that every climb out of the driver's seat was momentous....

Even the bad pitches are good. The layback takes an old #4.5 Camalot and it's below your feet anyway. Isn't some fixed pro near there? #0 TCU for the crux....

I second the rec. for MJ dihedral---very clean, though a wierd hanging stance atop the first corner pitch, backing up old 1/4-inchers. Tough for the grade. Starts and finishes on Orbit. Anyone done the Blast Off start to Orbit? Could be a good alt./another thing to do on SC Wall.

You might check out Mt. Baker Rock, on the left 3 miles past Glacier on the MB Highway. 40 min. drive? Not tons or stuff but good quality metamorphosed igneous, and several of the harder routes stay dry in the rain. The dry cliff with the bolted 11s (and up) is a whole 1 minute walk from the road. There is a Bellingham rock guide I got at an outdoor store downtown, but I don't know if it's available. Bouldering at Larrabee is not stellar but quite fun, in a beautiful seaside locale.

We all have had non-ascents like this, welcome to the club. I find it often gets me motivated for the next effort, whether that turns out to be a similar goal or not. Keep on pushin'.

Neat looking mountains, much different from the Dolomite rock climbs I've done. What I REALLY want to know, though, is the location of the hut that serves the "strumpets"!

Hey there---Ashland/Siskys aren't exactly the Cascades, but my family and I did several days of theeter there and it's a good place to combine culture and crags. The Rogue vol. 3 guide is very useful. The Ashland Boulders are quick to visit from in town, about 10 min. drive and 10 hike. The rock is solid, sharp granite with bad landings and ratings all over the place. A small pad is a good idea but many of the bases are so slopey,loose.uneven that a spotter or 2 are more useful. PM shade with the trees and the hillside. Bring a wire brush for touch-ups and variations. Emigrant Lake has really good, super-hard sandstone that climbs and feels like Eldorado Springs Canyon in CO. Easy walk and some early AM shade, then quite hot. The lake is right at hand for a quick dip after sweating up the routes. Good variety 5.8 to 5.10+/11-, though the nice harder lines are underwater when the reservoir is high. Good cliff jumping and also potential for some deep-water silliness. No lower-offs on top the left side; use slings on the bolts and walk off. Other areas around there look good too and more extensive. There is a ton of developed rock Eugene and south for those of us ranging afield from Puget Sound.

I've only been to Beacon a few times, and last visit we climbed ffa; it seemed pretty natural to rap off the mid-anchor and TR ffs. A lot of these mid-stations are plenty useful and well established; do we want to make popular crags into must-climb-to-the-top-or-leave-gear choices?

Could you do it in, say, approach shoes and crampons?

I've been reading this thread for a while now and it's overblown. The main point is don't bolt cracks, duh. Some observations: I visited Clem's and Special Spot last weekend and thought the bolts were fine, with a couple of exceptions- -The first one on Gun Rack is overkill and right next to a crack. The last bolt on p.1 could damage a biner if fallen on, but the route would not be very safe without the bolts. -Javelin could do with fewer bolts but I still used gear between 'em. Leave the chopping tools at home and make ethical statements by putting in your own lines. That curving bolted flake on the Fish Wall is about 10+ and not in the Kramer guides. It looked cool and strenuous so we did it. A piece or 2 is still needed after the crux where it joins to Shark Bait, the 10a that is in the guide. See that raw spot in the flake between bolts 1 + 2? When my partner followed he yanked off a section of flake about 1 x 1-1/2 feet with a very sharp edge. It could have cut a leader's rope but on TR it merely smashed into his shin, cut it to the bone, and earned him several stitches. As I bandaged him up I felt my doubts about those bolts evaporate. Almost every rock thread I have read on this site quickly turns into a slander-and-cussfest. It's not appreciated by others, even when you direct it at your friends for amusement, and it's far worse when strangers are attacked on the basis of a few sentences. Darryl is a good example: very friendly guy, done a lot for WA climbing over the years. Maybe it's time for the moderator to edit this thread? If you wanna do something positive for climbing then carpool to the crags and support politicians who care about the environment.