Riley81

Way to get at it fellas. Looks like a fun day.

Banks lake trip report

Weather looks decent for monday. Interested in a multi-pitch rock climb. Maybe Dreamer/darrington DHLA/index or something in Leavenworth. Also would be down for some aid climbing at index.

I appreciated having a #6 when I climbed it. Having only a #5 leaves you with about 20 feet of climbing before you can place different gear.

Gotta love the blueberry snatch anchor.

Thanks Tyson. I know you got my back.

That is an awesome photo. Thanks for posting it.

You've made your bed but now it seems like you don't want to lie in it. I would forgive if you didn't have such a history of stupidity on this site. You say you're sorry but follow it up with the caveat of how everyone you climbed with loves you, and question my social integrity. How is that an apology. When i lurked on many threads you posted it seemed like you might have been a descent person who was just misunderstood, but now I see you meerly make asanine comments, backpedal with half hearted apologies, then change your username and hope it all blows over. You have your head up your ass so far all you can smell is your own nasty colon and you think it smells like gum drops and rainbows. I can say right now that I would never want to share a rope with you, not because I wouldn't feel safe, but because you're a jerk and 90% of climbing is who you climb with not what you climb, that is what I have learned as I have "progressed". And I don't know if you realize it, but you are the pretentious one.

Sounds like a hell of a weekend, thanks for the TR. I love the second to last picture, great perspective. You guys are smiling so much in the pictures I gotta wonder what was more sore at the end of the day, your hands or your mouths!

I agree discussion is definetly a big part of posting trip reports. I made sure to include details of the trip such as how much gear we brought, and how we went about it so people could think about how they would do it. But approaching the discussion in a civil manner is important. If all wetslide aka summitchasercjb aka isolatedsonsomething wants to do is belittle me then he should say nothing. Amazingly in the end I agree, the climb can easily be done with less ice screws and a 70m rope was unessecary as well. But we all make choices in the alpine environment, speed vs. saftey, run it out vs protect the hell out of it, two tools vs. one. and a lot of that has to do with the amount of experience and comfort level in the situation. I hope to learn from my experience and that of others. I even posted the picture of my over protected ice pitch even though I know full well that is not the usual style in which ice climbing is done, but it let's other people know that sometimes climbing is scary and there is nothing wrong with protecting from falls, since they can kill you and stuff.

Wow Summitchasercjb thanks for the positive feedback. I would have to say your 10 minute long video of AK47 was pretty fucking stupid as well. How about you never reply to any of my posts again and don't get started on what's ridicuilous. I have never Ice climbed before so I think I did pretty well. Shit like this is why people don't post post trip reports on this site any more. Have you ever heard of being tactful with your opinion. I guess not you dick.

I had a piece blow at that same spot. Only fell to the previous piece though. Pretty hard to avoid placing pro next to that block though as there are two or three of them.

Amazingly I feel safer walkinga #6 cam 30 feet then standing on crampons in ice. Guess it's just experience though. We will have to get out again this year.

I remember seeing two guys on the ridge above the cockscomb. Would love to see a picture of our position.

Trip: Mt. Baker - North Ridge Date: 5/12/2012 Trip Report: Benmurphy and I climbed the North Ridge of Mt. Baker May 11-12 in stellar weather and conditions. North ridge. We Started out from the car at around 10:00 AM on friday and had a leisurly pace to camp at ~5800 at the end of the moraine. We Set up camp at around 4:30 PM, relaxed drank some wine and melted snow for the following day. Sunset was beautiful with great views in all directions. Wake up time was 1:45 AM, we got headed out at 3:00 AM. Traversing the Coleman glacier was farily straight forward as there was very few open crevasses. We strated at 6000 ft making an oblique left traverese to around 6500 then headed more up hill to the base of the rock traveresing directly under to the base of the ridge proper. We hit the base just about 6:00 AM with the rising sun. Approaching the base of the ridge. Sunrise at the start of the steep snow. Conditions were good all the way up the lower portion of the ridge with ankle deep snow that was firm. A couple of old avalanches were visible just below the ice cap, but where the snow had slide was easier traveling. Looking up at the ice cap. More Ice Cap please. We got to the Ice cap at about 10:30 AM. I choose to head up just right of the end of the cap at a spot that looked good. In hindsight it would have been easier to go up further to the left, or even to traverse around to the other side of the cap and head up there. Setting up the anchor just below the ice bulge. We headed straight up from there and over to the lower angle side. I definetly bite of a little more than i could chew with my route choice, but found good screws that made me feel a little safer. 5 screws for about 35 feet of 80-90 deg. ice. Maybe a little overkill, but it made me feel better and we had plenty of screws. After finishing the vertical section I climbed about 35 feet higher to a nice little snowy alcove that is probably a calving piece of ice later in the year. Second anchor. The angle dropped to about 65-70 deg. and the ice was easier to climb. We continued up one more pitch until the ice began to be covered with snow. I set up one more anchor with a picket, snow stake and 1 ice screw. BenMurphy following the last pitch of steep ice. We did one more "mental" pitch of steep snow that was mostly unprotectable, but got us on to slightly mellower terrain. We continued up the upper portion of the ridge unroped to the upper ice cap. Another oblique left traverse along the top of the roosevelt glacier had us heading toward the summit. Traveresed under the ice blocks. Looking back at the ridge. From here was the difficult slog to the summit which seemed to drag on for along time as the slope seemed to continue up and up. We hit the summit at about 1:45 PM hung out for about 10 minutes and headed back down the CD route. We hit camp at about 4:15 and headed for the car. This was definetly one of the most strenuous climbs I have done even in the good conditions. Of course it was one of the most spectacular climbs I have done as well and am glad for all the suffering, including all the skin I lost off my big toe, that will help me remember it. Gear Notes: 70m 8.9mm rope 10 ice screws 3 pickets, one home made and a snow stake 2 tools, crampons, and an ice axe Approach Notes: ~2.5 miles of hard packed road snow and a well beaten trail. Head downstream at grouse creek to cross the trail.

How was the ice bulge on the upper part of the North Ridge?

Un f-ing believable man! I am so glad we went up there and did that. I had so little hope for a good conclusion from the work we did but it paid off in spades! Hopefully they get that first washout repaired soon so we can finish what we started.

Before it was called Vitamin R we just called it right of waterfall. Good to hear that the moss isn't back super thick. That area demands scrubbing to make the confusing sloper holds good.

Yeah the one I got stuck probably wouldn't have held a fall. Usually when your piece is overcammed it will tend to skate out before it activates.

Never thought of using a funkness on a cam. Maybe take a crowbar up there and try to pry the crack open a little bit. I got a cam stuck on the flakes at the beginning of Princley Ambitions once and they only way my partner could get it out was by pulling out on the flake with all his strength. That was my first lesson in over camming a piece.

Just last summer I had a couple of snohomish county sheriffs stop me on the road out to 3 o'clcok rock to warn of car prowlers along the Mt. Loop Highway. They had left notes on all the cars at the trailhead grading how people left their cars in relation to the possibiltiy of a prowler wanting to break in. Nice to see the patrol but a bit disconcerting at the same time.

Definetly a big waste of gas

I was up there that day, saw the new lot, and you were the first person I thought of. I appreciate all of the effort you and anyone else put into improving the lot and access at Index. It looks great.

Look like you guys were styling in the hut. I wish the thermometer was reading that during Part 1.

It was a great trip by far. Nothing beats hiking 5 miles and 4500 feet in North Cascades winter storm when you get a "Comfy" cabin in the end. We all slept good that night. Well all of us that didn't get a #3.