Riley81

Great, time to head back out to work valley. Can't remember the last time I went out there without a 50+ lb pack and a drill.

I'm not sure anyone can give you good answers to any of your questions regarding conditions two weeks away right now. The cascades are quite variable in the spring months as was shown in a recent 20 degree jump in temps in one day, which has now plummeted back down to normal temps. My only piece of advice would be to watch the weather for freeze-thaw cycles as that is how spring ice generally forms in the Enchantments. Both of those climbs are still considered "in" when you are here so it is worth the time and effort to head up and check them out as long as it is not too warm. As for the road, it just opened up to the trailhead, and flotation is usually not necessary that time of year.

I have not climbed the crack on the prow around the corner, and I don't think the cracks in your photo have anchors at the top.

Throw some bolts at the top of those things. The rock on top is shit. Take a push broom with you too and clean it off so a top out doesn't slice your belayers throat. Just make sure the bolts are either really long or glue in because the exposed rock at the top of those columns is really weak for the first 2-3 inches of exposed material.

I've climbed a few of those cracks. You should probably just climb them and have fun, not worry too much about secret crags or FA's. There's not much left around there that hasn't been climbed before.

PM sent

Third that. And I'm not sure it's ever dry at the top.

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Ingraham Direct Date: 1/26/2014 Trip Report: I have not seen a good weather window like this in Washington for a long time. Especially one that lined up with a weekend. After some short discussions with my climbing cohorts it was decided that it was too hard to pass up such a good window for a high alpine assault in the winter. We settled on Rainier and thought that Gib ledges would be the way to go. After arriving at Paradise and getting a good look at the ledges we weren't so sure that it would be the best route. Having heard on here that Ingraham Direct (ID) was in and Gib ledges looking thin the discussion of route choice lasted right up until we went to bed. In the end we settled on following our most likely descent route and headed up the ID. Crew ready to go at the parking lot. Me, Christian, Andy, and Bryan from left to right. Saying that it was crowded at the parking lot would be an understatement. I guess I am not the only one who noticed the good weather report. Begin excessive use of Emoitcons NOW! The Mountain looks good from this perspective. Slogging it out. Hard to say what was worse, the hike to Muir or the climb to the summit. The masses moving along like ants, just another ant. Endless great views to the south of Mt. Adams Panorama of the Mountain. The Nisqually Glacier was making a raucous all day with the largest seracs falling off around 2:30 PM. I was lucky enough to get a few pictures of the snowy cloud it produced. We took a good amount of breaks on the way up and arrived at camp at about 3:30 or so. Set up in what I thought was the best camp site in the whole place. A nice flat spot built up right in the middle of the saddle. Turns out that the NPS or guides or whoever built it didn't make those rock retaining walls so I could have a sweet camp site off the snow. Something about helicopters and shitters or something. I wasn't really listening. Hanging out melting water at camp. Sunset over the guide shack. I said excessive great views of Mt. Adams. Now enjoy them! Our tents are the higher tents looming over everyone below on the snow. I hate sleeping on snow. Milky way extending over Rainier, with a little bit of photoshoping. We left camp at about 4:00 AM after deciding that laying around for a little longer would be beneficial for some reason unknown. Something about not really wanting to get up and slog up a giant hill. Taking a break just above Ingraham flats. We went straight up from Ingraham flats and split a couple of big blocks to access the glacier. Some other teams headed up closer to Disappointment Cleaver. View through Cadaver Gap. Stuart Range. The sunrise views were amazing peaking out over a sea of clods settled in the valleys below. The cloud layer seemed to stretch endlessly to the south. Another break around 11,500 when the Ingraham starts to flatten out. From here we headed up and left toward Gibraltar rock and connected with the Gib ledges route just above Camp Comfort. Top of Gibraltar rock. You can just barely make out an old trail coming up the steep snow. There was a ladder sitting at the bottom tied to some rock. We were blessed with amazing clouds all day that drifted across the sky. But the wind actually seemed to get lighter as we got closer to the summit. obligatory Summit shot with St. Helens in the background. Nice Panorama to the North from the Summit. I imagine many of you can see were you were climbing in this photo. Heading down to the Car after a long day on the Mountain. We got back to the car at around 6:00 PM and were greeted by the sight of a helicopter in the parking lot and four NPS law enforcement officers approaching us. The asked why we were late as I tried to start my car only to find my battery had died while we were gone. After apologizing profusely for arriving after 5 PM, which is the current gate closing time the officers were nice enough to jump my car and radio down to have the gate unlocked for us. I am pretty sure they wanted to get us out of there for the impending helicopter launch to extract a woman who had broken her ankle hiking in the park, which is understandable because some of the trail was so icy we could hardly stand; I was wishing I had my micro-spikes. Long story short we benefited from the woman's injury which is crummy but true. Next Time I'll make sure my group leader remembers the GPS so we don't get lost coming down from camp Muir. Oh yeah and if you climbed anything this weekend it wasn't really a winter ascent. It was cheating, and cheating can feel SOOOO GOOOOOD. Gear Notes: Perseverance and some climbing stuff Approach Notes: Join the huddled masses yearning to be free at Camp Muir

+1 for Hyalite. Reliable and doable in a 4 day weekend. Cheap lodging and easy access.

Its a trap put out by the National Park Service and their anti-bolt minions. DON'T ANSWER!

Good times buddy, good times. Next up is the Russian Caravan. 8D

Jake is awesome to climb with. It only took me two days of climbing with him for him to almost kill me. He was stoked to get past the lower rock step.

Trip: Colchuck Peak - North Buttress Couloir Date: 11/23/2013 Trip Report: Went up to find some early season ice this weekend in the Enchantments and was slightly disappointed. Not a lot of ice but some good mixed climbing was had. After a late night hike in on Friday night we settled in just before the boulder field at Colchuck lake for a few hours of sleep before a nice alpine start. Alarm beeped lightly at 4:30 AM and we were off by 5:30. The most treacherous part may have been the partly covered snow field on the way up to the moraine. We came into the couloir from climbers right at the top of the moraine just missing what looked like a good ice flow at the very bottom of the coulior. Probably should have started lower. Climbing consisted of shin to waist deep fairly well consolidated snow with bare rock in the step areas. We pitched out the mixed rock step near the beginning and a little bit of spiciness at the start of the northwest face. Other then that it was a good day on steepish snow and bits of uncovered rock. Hit the summit around 1:00 and was back to the tent just before dark for a relaxing night before heading out on Sunday. NE couloir of Colchuck looked doable with steep snow at the finish, most of Dragontail was uncovered so it would be mixed climbing the whole way. Very thin ice flows on the Cotter-Bebbie, very little visible ice on the Gerber-Sink. Picture Time! Sunrise over Colchuck Lake Sunrise over Colchuck Glacier Dragontail, Backbone ridge on the left. Following the lower mixed rock step. Starting out onto the Northwest Face Cruising the NW face Rock step on the NW face Looking down on the rock step on the NW face. A Little summit view A Couple Summit Shots- A good day was had by all. Gear Notes: Small rock rack, a few KBs, no screws or pickets were used. Approach Notes: Trail was very icy. Bring your micro spikes or pay the price Road is still open.

Same as everyone else but replace the ushba or minitraxion with a petzl microsender. No teeth to damage the rope.

anyone have any new info on the conditions since the dump last weekend?

They don't, but as the NW forest pass proves, the roads and the parking do.

Trip: Yosemite - EL Capitan - Zodiac 5.7 C3F Date: 10/2/2013 Trip Report: As the looming government shutdown approached I stayed positive. "It's been over ten years since the last one, they can't possibly shutdown over such trivial issues". Boy was I wrong. It was imperceptible when first in the valley that anything may change. I arrived on the 28th on a free entrance day and the rangers were all smiles. I asked the lady at the entrance what they would do if the shutdown proceeds. She shrugged and said she didn't really know. My first objective was a solo climb while waiting for my partner to show up. After a day of logistics I set out on the South face of Washington Column on Sunday the 29th and two stellar days climbing the Column. My friend called and asked me how I was doing as I spent my last night enjoying views from the top of the column, It was a hard climb, but as they say about solo climbing it is worth twice as much after you are done. I think I was simply twice as glad to be done. I meet up with my partner Sean at the valley store and he relayed the news to me that the Government shut down was on. This was the first I heard as my cell phone had died. He had gotten two nights at camp 4 and that was all they would give. It seemed like the park needed a little time to usher out tourists by way of making the stay just a little more inconvenient. Everyone was to be out by the 3rd. We headed back to camp after getting my first good cup of coffee in a few days and mulled over our options. It was either get the hell out of dodge our get the hell up into the vertical world where the long arm of the law couldn’t reach out to pull you down. Amazingly it seemed like less people were choosing to do the latter, but it was really a no brainer for us. It was time to pack up and head off for Zodiac. 5 nights seemed sufficient for the climb. No fixing lines and one night at the top after the climb. Hopefully this whole shut down thing would blow over by then and we could enjoy another week in the park. We spent a full day fervently packing for the climb. And all the time we were a sight to see. With so few others packing to escape the law on the wall the question was always the same. What are you packing for? With a follow up of you know the park is closing. Our reply was a curt nod and cryptic answers of you know just getting ready for whatever. As time passed we became more suspicious of every person who wondered. It was more then the usual competition for space on the trade routes, it became a lurking suspicion as to wether one of these strangers was actually trying to head off our attempt. It was an undeserved concern, but it would have been very disappointing to show up at the trail head with the haul bags packed only to meet a ranger intent on stopping our plans. Fortunately this never happened; our plans went off without a hitch. After 12+ hours of packing and moving food to bear boxes at El Cap meadows we were set for Blast off the next day. Everything packed and ready to go up as everyone else gets ready to go out. DAY 1 The weather looked good so we were able to pack fairly light on the gear, Enough food for six days and seven gallons of water and it was time to go. We thought it was imperative not to dilly dally and get up on the wall as soon as possible. We were able to climb up to dead bird ledge for our first bivy. Sean leading the first pitch. It took some time as it had some of the hardest climbing on the route, but the pitch went clean and we were off to the races so to say. As Sean led the pitch 2 girls were rapping the route after they had lost a piglet the night before. We had the unfortunate task of breaking the news that their descent not only meant they were done with the route, but would have to leave the park. One of the girls Amanda was intent on getting back on the wall and began calling around for another partner to get back on the wall as soon as possible. Starting the traverse of pitch 2. Would have been a nasty swing, but the lower outs always save time. Sunset on Day 1. It felt good to be on the wall at this point. Our only concern that was left was whether our cars and food would still be there upon our return. That and the whole climbing a big wall thing. DAY 2 We had anticipated on fixing to pitch 4 the first day so we had some time to make up the second. It would be 4 days of 3 pitches a day and one day of 4 pitches. We were intent on getting the 4 pitches done this day. As we spent the majority of this day recovering from the previous days extra work and trying to get the days work knocked out with a little extra time there were very few pictures. The black tower was the highlight of the day. Two hand placed sawn angles on the way up to the tower and a hand placed tomahawk to some fixed mank and a ball nut above the tower that would have resulted in a horrendous fall onto the tower saw me up the pitch and to better gear above the tower. At the end of the day we fixed pitch 8 into the night and were into the gray circle. Sean leading the final pitch of the day, thin climbing that took some shenanigans to get done, including a double nut cheat stick to reach some suspect fixed gear. Another beautiful Sunset. It was obvious the first few days the park was closed. The meadows were devoid of people and at night there was a cop stationed at the east end of El Cap meadows sending people back out to 120 or 140 which are still open since they are state highway. Today we also saw Amanda below us. She had found a partner and was back on the route catching up with us fast. They climbed to pitch 4 the first day and would be on us the next day as we entered a bit of a cluster just above the nipple. DAY 3 Today we made our way through the gray circle up to pitch 10 just above the nipple pitch. This would be my first free hanging bivy which was an interesting experience, but not as bad as I thought. We shared the bivy with a soloist from New York, Andrew, who was working 1 pitch a day at that time, and had Amanda and her partner just below us biting at our heels to pass since they were looking to get off the wall in three nights. Sean leading pitch 9, the nipple pitch, after jugging pitch 8 in the morning. Amanda and her new found partner Phil, a fellow CC.comer, caught up with me that day at the belay below the nipple. Since we both had to wait for Andrew to climb the nipple pitch it turned out to be a bit of a slow day, but we got our three pitches done and were ready to pass Andrew the following morning on the Mark of Zorro pitch. I only wish I had some pictures of Pitch 9 in the gray circle. It is such an aesthetic clean corner with amazing thin climbing on great cam hooks and small wires. DAY 4 I would have to say this is the day we really hit our groove. It became fairly evident that the climb was going to go, and clean at that. The pitches started going faster and we ended up at our bivy by 4 o’clock that day. It left us plenty of time to get comfy and let Amanda and Phil pass us at pitch 13. Looking down at Sean Andrew and Phil from the roofs of the Mark of Zorro pitch. It was a bit of a cluster to get going in the morning. Initially we had planned to let Amanda and Phil pass us first thing in the morning. But after Phil took two big whippers on the nipple pitch when a cam hook and a fixed pin blew on him they did not get up to our bivy as early as I anticipated. I took the opportunity to head out in the hope that starting the climb would get both of us out of Andrews way as soon as possible so he could keep his schedule. Sean leading out on pitch 12 just at the Devils Brow. A few expanding cracks and some run out hook traversing got us to peanut ledge were we had the enjoyment of watching Phil lead the non-descript pitch 14, known as 80-feet of 4.5” crack. I kinda think this pitch deserves some recognition name or something cause it is really quite scary bumping #5 cams for 80-feet. Soloist working a route as seen from peanut ledge. We were not alone on the wall regardless of the shutdown. The beautifully flat Peanut ledge with amazing glacial striations sculpting the surface. Getting artsy with it. Looking up at the 80-foot 4.5” crack. Sean contemplating existence and all that is in the beautiful surroundings of the Valley. He saw a lot of faces in the rocks on this trip. DAY 5 With three pitches left to go this would be our last day of climbing. It started out with a bang in the morning as Sean lead out on the infamous 80-feet of 4.5” crack. Fortunately Phil and Amanda brought three #5 cams and were kind enough to loan us one. This along with the one remaining rivet mid pitch made the climbing a little more manageable. Sean leading pitch 14. No pro after the first few cams to the rivet about 60 feet off the deck. The pitch ends with a little roof traverse to a ledge. Sean was kind enough to let me lead the final two pitches since they are both shorties. Some sweet cracks and hook traversing on thin flakes gets you to the famous top out. Looking down on pitch 15. It is nice when there is a laser cut crack splitting an otherwise blank slab. From here it is one more pitch to the top. A little bit of fixed gear and some fun hook moves and it is straight up to a flat top out with awesome views of the Nose and Half Dome. We had a lot to do before we could hike down, and since there would be only leaving the park after this we spent the night at the top of Zodiac enjoying our last day in the park. Sean enjoying our accomplishment One last sunset. It was a great trip with a great partner that only feeds the fire. I am not sure how many climbs it takes to get addicted to the Captain, but I am pretty close. I need to visit in spring now to enjoy the more fragrant ledges and robust waterfalls. Gear Notes: Tomahawks, sawn 5/8" and 1" angles, cam hooks, tricams, offset nuts and cams, ball nuts, and triple sets of micro cams, and three #5's (but I think two would work) make this climb go pretty well. Approach Notes: Base route along the wall.

It was not until I clicked this link that I realized that this was something I needed and quickly added it to my list of favorites. Way cool.

Way to get it. That makes one more climb up there to put on my long term list.

Nice send man. Looks like everyone is getting out into the Mt. Loop late this year. I would love to hear more about what you thought about Ancient Meolodies as well.

Sweet TR. Great to see some Stoke for Spring Mt. I think that the picture of Moa starting pitch 4 is a great representation of how much scrubbing goes into those routes as pretty much every light colored spot in the picture is where a big patch of moss was. The more the traffic the better to kepp fighting off the moss.

As a grown man it is humbling to see a picture of Chris climbing something the year I was born that I was excited to climb this year.

It's crazy to think that I was in the same area climbing the same mountain and didn't even think any else could be around, when in fact one of the people who practically served as a guide for my trip climbed the same route within days of my group. Thanks for the stoke and the beta Tom.

I have had the pleasure of calling Chris a friend for the last 4 years and can say that his positive attitude and passion for climbing was contagious. He was a constant inspiration that shaped my climbing path and I will strive to carry on his hopes and aspirations for Darrington climbing. You will be sorely missed Chris

Right On Nelson, That's a great climb for getting back on the horse, a little bit of everything. I remember that great crack pitch and a very intersting free hanging simul-rappel to get back off the summit.