rocky_joe

Here is the only photo I have of the N. Side of I-Rock...sorry about the finger in the top corner. There was still a fair bit of bare rock and most of the rime (in other places) was quite thin and awful.

well of the two of us, Neal has his set of vipers, just chose to go with the viper vemon set up. my poor ass on the other hand only has the one aztarex. the aztar is a buddy's.

there now. but sideways. i turned my laptop on its side...and the photos work fantastic. I need to get over there.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall Date: 11/26/2009 Trip Report: With knee surgery lined up for the 14th of December I have been on pins and needles waiting for the goddamn snow to let up and get a decent weather window for a shot at the North Face. So, when this window came around I was soo stoked to get one last alpine fix(with hopefully one more to come) before 3 months of dreaming. As soon as I saw the forecast I knew Wendesday would be the day to get it done, however I was wary of jumping on such a committing route first time out for the year so my buddy, Neal, and I decided on giving the Reid a go. Us both being the most studious of students (reeks of sarcasm) we took off from Eugene around 6:30 on Tuesday night after having fulfilled out school commitments. Along the way we stopped for some BBQ off the 12 exit on 205. Goddamn does that town smell awful; the parking lot held an aroma of some amalgamation of baby pooh and vomit, boy were we glad to be out of there with stomachs full and minds set on the hill. The parking lot was empty; I was amazed. We both had some trouble imagining why no one else was up on the hill for the weather window (albeit nice to have the summit to ourselves.) We managed to bag about 3hrs of sleep before taking off from the cave at 2:30ish. I had forgotten, but have now recalled, how much i absolutely hate slogging. I swear to God, that walk to I-saddle is the hardest part of the climb; it feels like the 4th kilometer of a 5k: "why the hell am i doing this?...it hurts, i'm not the best...there is nothing to win...it's not fun!" Once to I-saddle we took a wee break for both food and gear. With our meager rations of pb&j, pop-tarts and granola consumed we lugged our cramponned selves down the west side of the saddle (I swear I cannot stand sidehilling in knee deep snow...best way to need a new pair of gaiters.) i failed to print a topo of the reid hw so we made the decision to take the first gulley, not know what would be around the buttress. Heading up the gulley we crossed the schrund easily as it is nearly entirely closed. Both below and above the schrund the clamboring sucked eggs. If there is one thing I can't stand more than slogging and sidehilling it is wallowing. Yuck. Well thank god that only lasted 2-300 vertical before we found ourselves in a nice little runnel with great cramponing and decently steep slope. Moving up steep terrain is sooo much more fun! the first steep step in the gully Neal coming through it Mountain Shadow Neal heading up some cruiser snow The 2nd steep step...probably about 65 degrees. We took a straight line up the gulley. This sent us over a couple fun 65-70 degree steps. God that stuff was fun. We moved with relatively good pace gaining the west crater rim about 3.5 hrs after entering the gulley. We did have an interesting little bit right at the end when the two options did not originally appear to be feasible. Climber's left was a steep mixed section that had been in the sun for a while, so when the slope got significantly steep and slushy I bailed off it without even getting to see what was beyond the crest. Neal then made his way towards the right side of the gulley to what had appeared to be a knife edge. In the moments between him gaining the top of the ridge and him shouting back that it was all good I was not enjoying the thoughts of retreating a mere 600' from the top. Luckily we turned out to be on course and gained the west crater rim at 10,700. From there we summited via the gullies to climber's right of the old chute. Summit shots After having no issues with wind the entire climb, the summit decided to blow like a cheap hooker. We took a few photos and got the hell out of there. Heading down skier's right of Crater rock we parted ways, briefly, so that I could go and fetch my sled at I-rock for the descent. This trip would end up being momentous in that not only was in Neal's 2nd and my 5th summit of the mountain, but it was also my 3rd (partial) sled descent of the hill (walking downhill destroys my knees). I took one major spill immediately below I-rock and then one more brief run before deciding to walk the remaining distance to the chair lift. From there I sledded the cat track and got face shots the whole way (and it wasn't even a pow day!) I made it to the lodge about 30 mins before neal and signed us out. As soon as he was down we peaced and had victory meal at the Ice Axe...great burgers! All in all a fun route, but I really want to get back and do the standard Reid route as what we did wasn't necessarily the true Reid HW. Oh well, I had a blast and got a little fix before the knife. A Winter well began. Gear Notes: Used: 2 Tools Not Used: Rope Pickets (3) Screws (5) Approach Notes: Slog to I-Rock and the drop down and climb up.

Keep it up man! It's awesome to see how far you've come in just two months! Happy Turkey Day! Also, good luck getting the problem cleared up.

yeah...sure , wait till they get a taste of AMERICAN 5.11 American 5.11 is better than French 8c just like American cheese kicks the shit out of their moldy lard wheels.

Does it really matter if the Euro climbers are sending 14a in their sleep and 14d on their 60th (or 13th) birthday? Their grades are probably soft like buttery croissants anyways.

miss the posts man. it's awesome what you're doing; that kind of motivation isn't around much these days. keep it up.

that's me on Wedding Day in your picture of the crowds. wrong...i was belaying a friend on latin lover in this picture. that's lila on wedding day

no ice? jesus wept.

chill out dude. no reason to chop the bolts. if they really bug you that bad then just don't look at them. Better worry about actually climbing something than about complaining about routes you don't even want to climb being over bolted.

that's it. i'm going next time it's not dumping.

With all these recent Baker TRs I'm assuming they've finally opened the road?

shit man, you're not fat, you weigh the same as i do...i mean unless, hey wait are you calling me fat?!?! imma go puke my lunch now.

Any recent photos or word about the road being closed/open?

absolutely fantastic photos. thanks for adding another adventure to my (quickly growing) list.

guesses as to how long before the right is in?

get on ropes and climb bunches of 5.8s & 5.9s. climb until you're so pumped you can't make a fist. do this a few days and go back to that last V1 that gave you grief. It'll go. the ropes will give you slightly easier, but more sustained movement (power endurance). But since routes take longer to climb you will also learn to be efficient on the "rock." At the V1-V3 level climbing is not so much about single move power but technique, movement and (?) endurance. good luck and have fun.

what is that third photo? it is AMAZING!

not in the military. and yeah he is using an the body builder in an illustrative manner...i'll break it down for you. --body builder isolate muscles to work specific muscles. --climbers need to isolate certain muscles that are specific to climbing. --hangboards isolate those muscles. --climbers should use hangboards. work now? (before you ask, that one didn't come from my rigorous elitist military past).

Everyone else, thanks for the links. I've used the articles you guys gave, advice from a friend who climbs 13d, and 8a. hopefully i've got a good healthy routine worked. this is what i've come up w/ to do 2-3x/week. jug-pulls-5 2finger pocket-pulls-5 medium edge-pulls-5 sloper-pulls-5 jug-hang-20sec 2 finger pocket-hang-15sec jug-negs-3-5 med edge-hang-15sec sloper-hang-15 sec med edge-lock offs-20sec 2 finger pocket-negs-3 small edge-hang 10 sec jug-pulls-5 takes about 15 mins when done in a 3 person rotation. i may end up changing some stuff as i go along and get some feed back from my fingers.

Kimmo, you should probably not make ridiculous claims like that military one. Pretty far-out and baseless. And about that body builder thing, the author used body builders as an illustrative point. Hangboards are not high on the list of things body builders do.

So I have a pretty decent routine right now on the hangboard. Looking to maximize my time in the gym (3-4x/week for 2-3hrs) and wondering if anyone has any advice as far as hang routines go?

Or maybe you're just buying a sterling rope cuz they're the shit. i mean, just cuz i see sharma sending in evolvs doesn't mean i'm ever gonna climb outdoors in them. (although i will admit they are my gym shoes cuz they're comfy and always like $25 at scratch and dent.) But on topic: i think sponsorship is of net benefit to the sport. I mean it makes getting gear for top climbers a lot simpler, lets them climb more. letting them climb more means more new routes, which means more movies, which provide more than ample stoke. Also, I'm definitely more likely to look into (not necessarily buy) and product used by someone like House, Trotter, Gadd, Papert, etc.

I do 40-70 a day (in sets of 5-10) but still suck. Oh to live in spain.