Mountain_Shots

Was climbing at Paulina Falls Thursday. Everyone was a bit surprised with the warm conditions considering the sub zero temps we have been having for several days in a row. The ice quality was rather poor but climbable. A member of the other party climbing on the left side of the falls was lowered into the open creek at the base of the falls swinging out of control, and lucky he didn't get hurt.

Here's a few more shots that may help. I would guess 40 near the road getting steeper higher up before the verical cliff band at the top of Hogg. There were visable slab fractures the entire length of circling around Hogg Rock Tuesday. Yesterday it was all covered with fresh snow. Tuesday morning after the slide was cleared. Wednesday showing new snow.

Hog Rock is just West of the Hoodoo turn off. It's not uncommon for that area to avy cross the highway. The whole area around Hog Rock is very unstable now, as the two series of slides indicate. We had 7 feet of snow at the snow marker yesterday, then got somewheres up to two feet of new overnight / today, and by this evening consolidated to 7 1/4 feet (at the marker). That puts us over twice what we had last year with more to come!

Was up to Paulina Falls Saturday December 1st. The ice is building up. Hope she stays cold.

Belknap Crater is easily acessed from McKenzie Pass just East of the obseratory where the P.C.T. crosses the highway. Head North a few minutes through the woods before breaking out into the lava flow. The trail goes through the middle of the flow the rest of the way. Little Belknap Crater will be to the right, a short diversion with a few lava tubes to check out. Then follow the trail until it leaves the flow, and start looking for your way up Belknap. I spent the afternoon on Belknap last summer watching the George Lake fire work it's way toward me. This was the last day McKenzie Highway was open due to the fire, August 13, 2006. At first all I saw was smoke because the fire was blocked by one of Washington's East ridges. But soon the fire crested the ridge. Flames jumped two to three times the height of the trees. The wind came up so strong it knocked over my tripod mounted camera. The scene was awesome. The smoke plume billowed up and came right over the top of me. It covered everything overhead. To capture the full height of this atom bomb like plume, I had to stitch together three of the images taken with my 17 mm lens. The fire burned to the lava flow. I can't guarantee a trip this amazing everytime, but a hike to Belknap Crater does make for a satistying afternoon leg stretcher. Lake George Fire and Mt. Washington as viewed from Belknap Crater. Again, view from Belknap Crater. Here's where the plume rose up and covered everything overhead. Spike Camp for the George Lake fire was located at the Washington Ponds, a nice place to camp on the S.W. side of the mountain.

A few years back Kendall Cook set out to solo climb eight mountains back to back. He summited Thielsen, Bailey, Scott Mountain, and McLoughlin. The next day he was car shuttled North and climbed the Three Sisters. Opting out on Broken Top, he settled for Seven peaks in two days. Not bad. But Kendall wasn't finnished. He wanted to throw some bigger mountains in the mix. I met Kendall Cook and Mitch Thompson on the summit of Mt. Jefferson on their first summit of an eight mountain marathon heading South. Due to some high winds on Washington, they had some trouble rapelling which put them behind their agreed food pick up on Mckenzie Pass. I was more than happy to run them up two grocrey sacks of grub from Sisters to keep them going. Their goal was to climb Jefferson, Three Finger, Washington, North Sister, Middle Sister, South Sister, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor. They met their goal in four and a half days. Impressive to say the least. The first attempt to climb all Three Sisters in a day took place in 1926 according to Oregon High. The climbers didn't make it. Slowly, the challenge became more popular and more locals steped up to the feat. Bob Sandburg likely holds the record for the most climbs, he stopped counting at eight. If he hadn't been slowed down by the car that knocked him off his bike and broke him up pretty good, he would have many more climbs to his name. After several marathon trips, Bob thought about adding Broken Top and Bachelor to the list. by the time he climbed the Three Sisters and Broken Top, he ran out of gas. He talked Pat Creedican into trying for five. In his early fifties, Pat set out solo and the race was on. He ran into Kendall Cook on the North side of South Sister. Kendall was scouting his route for the Three Sister's section of his 8 mountain goal. Pat went on to complete the five mountains in 26 hours, just barely over the 24 hour goal. A few years back, I managed to solo the Three Sisters just under half a day. I was set on trying the five under 24. I felt I could do that even being past my prime in my early fifties. Sandberg swore there was a short cut off South Sister dropping down to the Old Crater Route, linking into Broken Top. The day I was scouting this route out was the last day of the season before the snows hit. I missed my chance for the year. Bend Living Magazine, October, 2007, has an article by Kevin Grove about his Marathon venture with Max King. Kevin works at Rebound in Bend and has been putting on workshops at Smith with Steve House on fitness training and mountain skills. Kevin and Max finished the Three Sisters Traverse in 8 hours, 59 minutes. The days for the average mountaineer to set a ball busting record are gone. My congrats to Mitch, Max and Dave. 5 mountains, 8 1/2 hours faster than what I had hoped to do. Where the numbers will go I don't know but the game is now calling out to the best of the best. A group of Three Sisters Marathoners. This photo was taken at one of Bob Sandberg's slideshows. Third from left is Pat Creedican. Bob Sandberg is wearing the green shirt with his summit dog Reggie.

Here's a few more shots I took of Mike on the Knife Edge Ridge. The bulk of the elevation is finished when topping out on the glacier. The heavy breathing Isn't so much from elevation gain as from exposure.

You're probably interested in the South side, but here is a look at the East side Sunday, July 8.

We ascended climber's left of the lower bergschrund. We heard rockfall from the area above us while in camp but had no rocks falling while climbing the glacier, 1:30am - 4:00am. The glacier was surprising firm considering a light or no freeze the night of the climb. There was plenty of room to skirt the lower 'schrund before making the traverse to the upper Bergschrund. We were all smiles the route was in and the weather was perfect.

Trip: Mt. Jefferson - Jefferson Park Glacier Date: 6/27/2007 Trip Report: Putting two photographers on a climb together can slow the pace a tad. We pushed the climb ahead a day to miss the weather coming in, and decided to camp high at the foot of Jefferson Glacier above tree line to get an early start. Left camp 1:30 A.M. and intended to cross the schrund climbers left but found no easy way to cross at the rock. The rock wall itself looked unclimbeable and the snow was too soft to hold tools. We found a snow bridge less than a rope length away, cut a few steps, set some pickets, and were above the schrund. The Knife Edge Ridge was pure delight. Mike G. led most of the ridge placing a nut or hex when needed. We followed it along the crest the entire way, gaining the north ridge to the summit. We followed the ramp like section of the summit block traversing up and South. The most difficult part of the climb was the last 20 feet to the summit. The consolidated rime was soft and would not hold a tool well. I did get into some solid ice when chopping out a step which took a screw. Along with a picket placed a few feet below, I made the move above the gear through less than ideal tool placments, and with a few dicy moves, was on the summit. Two raps later, we were heading towards the Red Saddle. Dropped South, then East and North towards the WhiteWater Glacier. With the business behind us, we stopped to photograph often and set a pace that would get us to camp before dark. The clouds and lighting were great and our cameras were kept busy. The climb took 19 hours, I told you we weren't out to set any speed records. The aspects of this mixed alpine route made it my favorite Oregon climb. Gear Notes: 2 pickets each 2 ice screws small rack of nuts and hexes slings, doubles, webbing. 1 ice axe and 1 ice tool each 1 alpine rope Approach Notes: The trail to Jefferson Park was free of snow and logs for the most part. Just as we reached the park, there were several drifts on the trail and the park itself is covered with lots of snow. Russel was the only lake I saw still frozen. The climb to high camp was mainly on snow. Jefferson Park Glacier Schrund Snow Bridge at Shrund Topping out at the Schrund First lead on Knife Edge Ridge Last and Most impressive section of the ridge Nearing the last of the ridge With the Mohler Tooth in the distance working along the North Ridge This route is the essence of alpine mountaineering. A belay from the summit, this was the crux of our climb Mt. Jefferson Summit Pinnacle

Posting those photos was harder than climbing North Sister! The first two were in the gully before the traverse. The third shot is nearing the end of the fixed line on the traverse. This left a short distance to the Bowling Alley without a rope. The last photo is self explanatory.

Kevin should be posting them here soon. In the photo of the Bowling Alley, after the first boulder was slung, Rod placed just a few pieces in the rock before reaching the webbing. The whole process of getting 13 climbers through there to the top went amazingly smooth.

If I could figure out how to post photos I'd show you. The camera icon seems to send your photos to other areas on CC. Enter an image isn't working either. So I'm stuck. --Mtn. Shots

Dinomyte, After talking to Matt and you at the trailhead my party hiked to the base of the SE Ridge up Soap Creek and found a great camp site. We ran into the two climbers along the trail that you had passed eariler, the ones heading to the summit. They said they did summit, but late in the day. They were chased off the top by lightning. We left camp shortly after 2am up the ridge. I had never climbed with the seven people I was with, but beings they hadn't been to the top before, I was asked to help out. Not sure of everyone's skill level, I was relieved to see that everyone seemed within the scope of climbing North. What bothered me was the warming trends in Central Oregon, and more recently the lightning storms pm. But things worked out. The snow at the traverse was in good shape, we put up a fixed line. The Bowling Alley was not that bad, just a few rocks and ice came down, but conditions were within reason. Rod led the single pitch, prefering to traverse right to the rock, and up. Another party of 5 came in behind us, met at the Bowling Alley, and they climbed a rock route heading up right at the base of the alley. Sorry you didn't summit. Thanks for the beta. Mountain Shots