danhelmstadter

thanks all! Gene, it would be a pleasure to disclose the location... in due time of course It was great running into, and hanging out with several friends up there, Mike, Eric, Ben, Shane, good to see you all! Here's a pic of Shane ripping.

Trip: Shukhorn - NW Culee & Undisclosed location Date: 2/9-10/2011 Trip Report: With thoughts of Monika and her friends and family, I had a couple memorable dayz of touring up on the mighty norwand of the Shukhorn. First day I went up to ski the "undisclosed loaction" it's a pretty route, the lower two thirds were ripper dreamlike powder (except for a spot of raincrust) while the upper third of the route held 60 degree water ice bulges and 50dg+ slopes of thickraincrust with a skiff of pow on top. I climbed to the top, used good judgement and climbed down to where the pow was fat. Here's a video, it turned out to be pretty good, with the last bit starting around 1:15 in being the best. [video:youtube] The second day I met up with Mike at the White Salmon lodge and we headed down to the valley together, we skinned up the glacier and parted ways at the top (as planned), he later reported wind affected snow on the glacier. Clouds were rolling in, and a fluctuating lenticular capped the summit. I dropped into the NW couloir and found mostly great snow except for the very lower portion which was manked up in various ways. selected clips from nw culee descent [video:youtube] somewheres in "Undisclosed Location" me at the top of the white salmon the mighty shukhorn

that setup looks really cool Dane!

Thanks Mick! great to hear from you! If this weather keeps up it'll be summer by march! give a hollar anytime.

yeah! the summit shot with the axe is epic!

whoa scary!! good job managing that terrain. sounds like more rain is on the way?! yuck.

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - NW Connection Date: 2/2/2011 Trip Report: The temps were cool and air was calm under high clouds for the ascent up the White Salmon. Sometime soon after gaining the Curtis Glacier clouds quickly blew in, a crusty old skin track enabled me to find my way through the white out. I traversed the Curtis/Hanging Glacier until the tracks disappeared - there I waited for an hour or so for the clouds to blow over. Realizing that I had better advance or retreat, I followed my compass to the northwest. Soon a slight outline of a ridge appeared through the fog, realizing that this was the ridge between the Price Glacier and the North Face, I stood there in hopes of a view - giving the probable cornice some berth. My hopes were answered and the clouds below broke momentarily in a moving window of tiny trees four and a half thousand feet of cliffy terrain below. Now that I knew where I was, I skied the ridge down to the North Face -- the way remained immersed in foggy cloudiness, I kept enough distance from the edge for safety, but close enough to give me some bearing. visibility of rocks and other defining features intermittently varied from about 10 to 20 feet. Reaching the entrance to the North Face, I took shelter in the interesting rock/glacier alcove, protected from the wind - waiting for brighter skies. It became apparent that the clouds were not going to blow over. A group had skied the North Face within the last few days, and what was left of their tracks gave some contrast and texture that made it easier to differentiate the snow from air. I dropped in and found excellent snow on the steep headwall, below the headwall recent winds had scoured the slopes exposing the raincrust layer, that in good judgment-necessitated survival skiing. The clouds broke momentarily, giving much appreciated opportunity to find the entrance of the hidden couloir. The base of the cloud deck approximately met the elevation of the couloir entrance. It's walls scenically framed the Hanging Glacier's ice cliff, the serrated upper arm, and the visible lower flanks of Mount Baker. Snow in the couloir was highly variable, windboard, breakable wind crust, and fun powder for the lower portion. The couloir ends in a cliff that I had planned on rappelling, and had come prepared for with a 36 meter 8 mil, a 36 meter tag line, and a healthy assortment of rock, snow and ice protection - none of which proved to be necessary because there was an option to easily exit via a 15 foot ice traverse (probably skiable with more snow). The crux of the traverse was a steep shelf with very little purchase for the tools, but solid enough for the pons. The NW Couloir had changed character since Sunday, it had morphed into a variety of less than ideal-for-skiing snow forms.

Trip: Mt, Shuksan - North Buttress Couloir - ski descent Date: 1/30/2011 Trip Report: I've had my eye on this line for a long time, but have always been a little too intimidated to go for it - yesterday early am was no exception, when my alarm rang at a cold 430, I drearily decided that the avalanche danger was probably too high, and new snow would have hid crevasses on the white salmon approach, much too dangerous, so I shut my eyes and slept until 8. I peered out the frosted window of my camper and saw Shuksan in the early sun, all fears disolved, I guzzled some breakfast and set out. Avalanche debris by the creek are a pain this year, but it was easy going above. The hanging glacier was acitve and displayed some impressive serac avalanche events, one was close enough to dust me. No track was in place on the white salmon, but the trail breaking was easy, I started lookers left to avoid crevasses on the right, and dug several pits, the snow seemed stable enough, there was a consistant failure about a foot down but it had a very dirty/rough shear. The surface 2 inches or so would break in shooting cracks in the more wind affected areas; weather was quite pleasant, sunny, cold, a little breeze up high. I made my way over to the north shoulder, took a little break, then dropped in the North Buttress Couloir, It was quite icey in spots, but there had been some crossloading, and one side of the couloir offered windbuff. Lower down the snow got much better, and was mostly windbuffed powder over ice crust, which was scary at times, since I hadn't climbed the route, I didn't know where I was going to hit it, and every tenth turn or so sounded like KKCHHHHHHHHH, as my edges struggled for purchase on the ice crust. I took my time and skiied tentitevly. As I approached the end of the first couloir, I busted out my crampons and ice tools and took a look over the edge to scope things out for a possible rappel etc... I found that it would be easiar to ski down to the left then curve around below the cliff on a super exposed traverse. I put the skiis back on and carefully skiied down to the traverse, where I again switched to crampons and traversed 10 feet of thin ice, then threw the skiis back on and shredded the second couloir, which was less steep and had less ice crust. The sun was shineing in it's pink pre-dusk light, bueatiful, but a clear indication of what was to come. I found some rock which looked like it would take some decent pro for a rappel station, after hammering in a pin, I dislodged a microwave size block, but it exposed more solid rock behind it. I equalized several pieces and a picket, then rapped a full 36 meters useing a 36 meter 8 mil, with a 36 meter 3 mil tag line - past an overhang, steep ice, then a vertical ice step with just barely enough rope for the last vertical step, I had to grab and stretch my tag line for the last few feet. There was still 100' of knar terrain left before I reached the NorthWest Couloir, but luckily I had rapped into a tight gully that held good ice which was easy to downclimb. By the time I reached the NorthWest Couloir it was night. I melted some water then shreded the NW couloir with my headlamp, It held excellent powder, every turn my headlamp would illuminate a plume of snow, it was stupidly fun. I knew where the cliff bands were, since I'd skiied it a couple times before. The ski down to the creek was fun too, with a few inches of pow over a spirnglike snowpack. My camera ran out of batteries, but I did take some helmetcam footage, which I may try to organize later. Does anyone know if a name for this route exists? NBC seems appropriate. Close up of the NBC (taken the other day)

nice tr!

great video and music

cool!

wow, cool stuff! the part about you guys being called out as dirtbags is halarious.

Ed, i used a grigri with a 10.2 60meter, the grigri didn't feed all that smoothly, so i ended up just stopping to feed out slack every 5 or 10 feet, then i built a good anchor and rapped down, cleaned the gear and climbed back up on toprope with mini traxions. yeah the pjs are kind of silly, function over fashion i guess, though you'll never catch me in spandex.

Trip: Prusik Peak - West Ridge Date: 10/20/2010 Trip Report: I got up to Prusik, and climbed the west ridge solo yesterday (what a place!). I self belayed the slab pitch, as well as the final pitch -- which I thought was harder than the "slab crux", but didn't use the rope on the other pitches. It took a long time, 20+ hours... which I blame on my heavy pack (I toeted way more gear than was nessecary). The area is incredibly bueatiful, and it was cool to cross the highlands back to asssuck pass in dusk fadeing to moonlight. I'd like to return and do the south face of Prusik sometime soon - it looks really cool. Tuesday evening as I was about to settle down to a few hours of shuteye at the stuart lake trailhead before heading off for prusik -- Hannah and Amar popped out of the trail, they had just done the snowcreek trail loop and were thinking they were going to have to hoof it back to the snowcreek th, but I was able to give them a ride, then on the way back up to the stuart lake trailhead, I picked up a family of three, who had done the loop in opposite direction, and I shuttled them up to their car at the stuart lake th, always nice to start a trip with good karma.

sweet! looks like fun

lookin for a few used cams, nuts...

awesome!

yeah!

Trip: Snow Creek Wall - Orbit & Outer Space Date: 9/2/2010 Trip Report: I was climbing at Alphabet Rock last week, and met a couple of stoked climbers, Tyler Lappetitos and Becka, Tyler was/is eager to get out and about on the rock of the area as am I. Since I am a rock climbing newb, and I lacked gear - my options were a little limited -- but Tyler from Cali -- who has been rock climbing for a year or so, and is a super strong climber -- was stoked on leading some routes up on Snow Creek Wall, and I was all for it. We hit up Orbit first - I was loving every bit! what fun climbing and varried climbing! Some of the leads on the route are a little run out, and Tyler was getting knocked around by the wind a little. We made our way down the descent gully and snacked - I ran down to the creek to re-up our water. Next was Outer Space - the lower peramiter of the route being well protected by hornary goats. We simuled the easy start - then BAM -- a knarly exposed traverse which was amazeingly fun. Tyler was super stoked. I was feeling good, and led the two headwall pitches -- which were pretty unreal -- a finger/hand crack - surrounded for the most part by knobs. The protection was good, I ended up walking a #2 and #1 cam in places - which worked well. Super fun climbing! The next day I met up with Telemarker around noon at Castle, the sun was blazeing. First we climbed "clean love" a couple times which Telemarker led (he led all the routes), then we climbed Smut which was really fun -- crimps appeared out of no where and I was able to send without falling. Then we climbed the Bone. The last time I climbed it a month or so ago, I did a desperate pullup move to pull the overhang, but this time I watched Telemarker closley and I was able to pull off the sequence correctly. Telemarker led the Nose on Jello Tower, (5.10d) and set up top rope. I was pretty worked at this point and My first "send" included many falls and sweat, being almost totally pumped out at the upper crux. We both took another lap, and I was able to get through most of the route without falling, only falling at the upper crux - I'm stoked to get back up there and send that proud. Another super fun day of climbing! Castle Rock is awesome. Tyler above in Orbit Tyler Stoked! upper orbit Jugs! me on leed on the outer space headwall ****************************************************************** Telemarker on leed the nose (jello tower) Me on the nose not sure if this was just before i sent it or just before i fell, if it was the later, everything went silent except for a slight buzz in my ears that came on the moment before I peeled off.

we hiked around to the north side i believe, i'm not sure about the name of the route.

Trip: Liberty Bell Group - peak bagg'n Date: 8/25/2010 Trip Report: Dan Hilden, AJScott and I climbed South and North Early Winter Spires, Lexington Tower, Concord Tower, and Liberty Bell yesterday in excellant sunny weather. We only saw a few people the whole day. Both Dan and Aaron had climbed the area many times before, it was my first time. We left the parkinglot at the crack'o'dawn. The SouthWest Buttress on South Early Winter was our first route; Dan and Aaron switched off leading it, and we climbed on double belay. Dan led white yellow wall a 5.10+ variation on the route. Dan Hilden leading the white and yellow wall 5.10+ Then we descended, and climbed the northwest corner of north early winter spire, rapped that and climbed lexington tower, I led a full pitch, then we simuled to the summit. We rapped and climbed concord tower in late day sun, rapped to the north. The sun was getting low, and we were running low on agua - since we each had just 2 liters for the day) but Aaron and Dan had been up Liberty Bell a bunch of times before, and we were feeling good so we went for it, scrambling a little down low, then simulclimbing the rest. The summit was purtty, with mountains silouetted in red dusk to the west. Aaron summitshot on liberty bell

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge Date: 8/20/2010 Trip Report: Dan Hilden and I climbed the full North Ridge on the 19 & 20th, Dan has been schlarping the classic Stuart Range climbs lately, most recently soloing Colchucks NE buttres just a few days ago. This was my first alpine rock climb, and it won't be my last. We only stopped to belay two pitchs on the lower ridge, simul climbing the rest. We bivyed on scenic ledges just below the notch, and woke to a sunny warming day and continued simuclimbing up to the gendarm, where Dan led a pitch of 5.9 layback, then a pitch of 5.9 fistcrack/offwidth. Getting my feet started on the fistcrack was the crux of the route for me, and I'm stoked I didn't fall or have to pull on gear. I led the last bit of simulclimbing from above the gendarm to the summit (my only leed). Clouds and breeze blessed us on the deproach down the rocky Cascadian gully, and back over Longs pass. I hope the 8-mile area fire gets doused with some rain this weekend. Dan on easy ground approaching the gendarm Dan on the gendarm layback Getting started on the Offwidth with lots of air below.

sweet!

it's all loose and nasty, but i think the easier way for ptar ridge is to drop higher up on the ridge from around 10k, not too far from the base of the route. the drop is less vert up there too. http://www.mytopo.com/maps/?mtlat=46.85280&mtlon=-121.75900

Trip: Kulshan - North Ridge Date: 8/6/2010 Trip Report: Andy Traslin was stoked to ski the North Ridge, and I had a festering idea about skiing it ever since skiing the Park Headwall last week. A few emails exchanged, and the deal was sealed. We left the parkinglot around daybreak, and took the low route on the glacier. This proved to be a mistake, and we end-ran many crevasses, and took a cirticuous route to the base of the North Ridge. Me low on the Coleman Glacier The bergshrund crossing looked intimidateing as hell from afar --thin brigdes and overhanging) but proved to be more than adequate. The lower face was fat and smooth. The transitional and relitevely low angle face was all snow. We snacked there and witnessed a large rockfall event comeing off the wall a little ways over from us, The rocks mostly hit the far wall of a crevasse with severe force. We traversed a little around to the climbers right of the standard North Ridge arete, to a variation on the east side of the arete, this is the variation that Sky Sjue and Dave Brown had skiied back in 07. And it is the same variation I had climbed and downclimbed when I skiied the route back in 08. The snow here was a little more wet -- probalbly due to it's east early sun hit aspect. This was all ice when I last was there in 08. Andy Cloud began to roll in from the west as we reached the ice... It was a couple pitches, and in excellant condition. Large serac fall fell to our left. Andy slogging on the upper mountain The clouds cleared in and out, then mostly sunny and breezy on the summit. The south east side of the mountain was the clearest, while the north and west aspects were being pounded with thick orographic clouds. After talking about possibly bailing down the CD, we decided on descending back down the North Ridge. Andy recoils the rope on the summit in preparation for use lower down. The clouds parted brefily and we were blessed with an amazeing bluebird window, and we shredded the upper mountain. Andy skis off the summit. Then the clouds enshrouded us once again at the top of the ice step. I belayed Andy a pitch, then he took the rope and rapelled a pitch. I cleaned the ice screws and downclimbed it all free solo. The clouds were thick, I switched to skis at the bottom of the ice step variation. The snow was steep here and sluffed readily. Just below the ice step and above the Rosevelt Ice cliffs. We took care to follow the boot pack on the transitional slope. We found the lower face -- still in clouds, and we shredded it -- the skiing was fabulous despite the visibility. Andy in the clouds Out of the clouds! We found a direct route back through the heavily broken maze of the Coleman Glacier. Thanks Andy! A great day in the hills, made more rewarding than usual by a fantastic partner, and a little anxiety thanks to the clouds and ice. Traslin, stoked.