rocky_joe

What routes have you absolutely loved (or hated for that matter)? Best Rock, Best Views, Most Interesting Climbing. Share your favorite NW routes here, maybe you've got one that isn't done commonly. They can be alpine, ice, rock, whatever got you stoked. Also, photos are bonus points (although I'm not sure anyone's keeping track)!!

i guess i should qualify my statements...dammit I knew that WR 122 class would come in handy one of these days...it's fucked to touch draws (other than an obvious bailer) on anything harder than 12a/b. no matter how long its been up. you leave draws on 9 gal. buckets and I'll take em down as soon as you rap off.

why would anyone take a whole line of draws? that's fucked. claiming some booty, ie bail biner/draw/gear is fine, but to strip a whole line? They ought to be lashed or something.

oh man, Three sisters marathon. I remember the last time I said that phrase without a sense of despair, pain or anger...about 5 minutes before we left Pole Creek. Beta...Don't ski it...wait til August and hike. Leave Pole Creek no later than 2am on the day you plan to do the marathon. Hydrate/Eat VERY well. Pack Iodine. Bring a 30m line to rap the bowling alley...it will save you 45 mins. DO NOT take the direct line up S. Sister's N. Ridge (skirt to climbers left, it's a walk up.) Trekking Poles are a must. GAITERS!!! Be in fantastic shape...from Pole Creek to Devil's Lake it is ~10000 gain/loss and 18 miles. Oh and one last piece of advice...don't get lost coming down S. Sister...the emergency bivy at 9000' is really unpleasant. Best of Luck and happy climbing.

sick line...looks way funking rad! Nice work! how big a rack would you recommend? oh and I saw the guy workin the east face...couldn't tell who it was...but he looked strong enough; his belayer looked super excited to have the job. ha.

craig- callahans on friday? or any afternoon...I've been wanting to get out there as well.

fuck yeah!!! that place is gorgeous...i might be a bit jealous.

yeah I kept trying to follow your boot pack, half of is was covered in fallen shit, but it was definitely appreciated on that windblown stuff up top. About Reid HW, how much more involved is that route in good condish?

Trip: Mt. Hood - Leuthold Couloir Date: 4/19/2009 Trip Report: After a failed attempt on Wy'East a few weekends back, and long week of school it took little persuasion to get me signed on for a trip up the hill. Thomas (maineiac) and I have been known to make any and all of our trips interesting (yeah, interesting, that's a good word for it). Whether it be me dislodging breadbox sized boulders, or Thomas navigating after the fact, it seems every time we step out of doors together we're bound for an interesting story or two. All this in mind I threw my gear in the back of the car and we headed out. Having both been up the cattle drive (him a few times), we wanted something a little more interesting, Leuthold seemed the obvious choice; short approach, great view, moderate snow. Our one qualm with the mountain in previous goes has been the damned down climb; Thomas, the skier that he his has remedied this in past summits with two boards and some poles, however on this attempt he's working on breaking in some shiny new boots. So, how on earth can one get down the mountain without skis or walking? Sleds seemed the obvious answer. A short stop in Sandy and were the very proud owners of two toboggan style sleds. We arrived at a very empty Timberline parking lot around 3:45. Thomas quickly signed us in while I readied the gear. Sleds in hand we hit the snow, presented with our first obstacle, we made quick work of rigging our sleds to carry our packs (better than on our backs, right...ha). The hike to Illumination Saddle was quick and (relatively) painless. The viiews of Yocum at sunset were stunning and everything looked to be in, hell we could even see (what we thought was) the bootpack up the couloir. Setting up camp was perhaps the one let down of the trip...no pre-dug pit :'( Out of the wind, we feasted, me on a safeway sammich and Thomas on some grouping of GU, clif bar and whatever else that kid packs around these days. 3am came quickly, but for the first time I was well rested for an alpine day (all 5.5 hrs of sleep!). Started climbing around 3:45...Thomas had to curl his hair, and I kept insisting I had nothing to wear, but other than that we were fairly quick to get to it. The schrund is just starting to open, only a few deep places. Not having traversed high enough, we crossed the schrund and we into the couloir. Thomas taking the Lead Thomas starting the hourglass Reaching the Queen's Chair I took the lead for the first bit, placing a few pickets, but we soon gave up on that; the snow could not have been better and the trough in the middle of the couloir made for a simple ascent. The crux was definitely dogding by all the little shit falling around us, but hey, if you can dodge falling ice you can dodge a ball (life skills 101). Thomas took the lead through the hourglass. The rest of the climb was straight forward and very enjoyable. The views were fantastic, stunning in fact. Once on the summit ridge we were struck with the reality that is a sunny day on hood. A flock of people were pushing for their summit, and all up the old chute. We snapped a few shots, said cheers and then were ready to get the hell off the hill. A brief traffic jam in one of the chutes (see: French Technique--lack thereof) was the singular hold up on the descent. Opting to avoid the crowds and a longer walk, we made our way down the west crater. Once in sight of the tents we knew the climb was over and the real fun could begin. We made quick work of tearing down camp and munching some lunch (breakfast). Wathched some Mazamas (might also have been Chemeketans, or Obisidians, but i don't care to differentiate) roped up just below the saddle doing something fancy (I think the called it "belaying"). A few minutes later the fun had begun...3000 vertical feet of sledding, 35 minutes, and one angry ski patroller later we were at the car celebrating. The sledding was marvelous, it only took three or four gnarly crashes to decide to pack the axes away and a few more to figure out how to link the turns. The ride was bliss...there was even a helicopter filming (a skier). I'm sure we'll be getting a call soon from the sickest sled sponsors. All in all a fantastic trip with a characteristic twist. Gear: 2nd tool (not needed) Pickets (placed 1 or 2) Glacier Line SLEDS!!! Approach: Huh?

fuck yeah. way to get out and shred that shit. sick write up and photos as well.

thanks for the boot pack, it's much appreciated. Thomas (maineiac) and I climbed leuthold this morning. I was astounded that no one else was on the route today, it was in fantastic shape.

So, that's the top then?

yeah i was kinda joking, i'd never waste my money. anyways, BD put out a real stinker with this one.

what do you do with the other rap strand? or do us sport climbers not rap?

The Freney is pretty similar...The EVO fits my foot better, but the Scarpa boot is about 20-25 bucks cheaper. I guess fit is the main issue.

how much for your camalots?

I have actually found I prefer the bowline on a bight. But same idea...I use the bunny ears to tie a rescue spider for assisted rappels, gets me down fast. Thanks for the input. Tom--that speed loop thing looks rad. I'm gonna give that a try sometime.

I went to that comp (I'm 20) with a buddy who's on the climbing team at the crux. I watched and bouldered mostly. Sweet gym...too sweet perhaps. I was messing around on a V3 just as we were about to leave and on the one small hold on the route, pulled too hard and BROKE my finger. the bone.

You don't sound like a troll, but maybe an elf. Ha, well really I'm more asking for good trad crags (I suppose my question was worded poorly). Mostly I've been a sport climber/boulderer, as are the majority of my buddies. I have done some multipitch and I'm looking to get on the big walls. I have done a bit of trad, but most of what I have done on gear is aid; I aid the columns atleast once a week and am getting pretty fast. I am competent in all my systems, from hauling to advanced rescue. I'm just looking for input on places that people have found similar style climbing (without heading all the way down to the Valley), so I can know what to expect.

snail--i'm not concerned about the gear related portions of the climb...that's where i am most confident in my skills and abilities. Cool, well looks like I'll be making some trips up north this summer. Pink-- why "KORE" why not "FUCK YEAH I OWNED THIS BITCH"?

Mostly I have climbed at Smith, lots of sport and a bit of trad. The majority of my aid/trad experience however has been at the columns and I am looking to start translating that to bigger, steeper, more difficult crags before really setting a date/plan for Yosemite. Have a favorite crag in OR?

A friend and I want to do a big wall this fall in Yosemite, we both have the technical skills, but perhaps what we lack is an idea for how difficult a Yosemite 5.9 is. Where would you guys say we could get a better idea of the style of climbing (eg good multi pitch fingers, hands, off-width)? To those of you who have climbed in Yosemite, what did you do to get ready for the climb? Where did you climb? How often? And what's one thing you forgot that you wished you would have had on the wall?

koz--dumbass? really? the best insult you could muster. also nice job taking my comment about spanish climbing being superior out of context. if you have read the thread Ivan specifically asked which would be of greater benefit to have his daughter learn for guiding/climing reasons. dumbass. and those housekeepers and guys selling tacos on the street are the fastest growing ethnic population in the US. Mexico is our closest neighbor and a huge trading partner as well (granted not close to China). Apart from Mexico there are 20 other spanish speaking countries, that's a lot of people one can talk to and places to travel through knowing Spanish. China is not our largest geopolitical rival, that would be japan. So no climbing isn't the basis for my statement but it sure is a plus, esp if one is inclined to clip some bolts on steep limestone. Oh and will be studying in Spain this next spring, bet you can't guess why I chose Spain over other spanish speaking countries...

Who cares, how often do you speak English at an educated level? i would guess it's quite rare. (I mean we are on an internet forum where slang is comun y corriente) Put her in the spanish program. Every kid in the US should be fluent in spanish by high school. And Spain (as well as Mexico) has way better climbing than China.

don't bother, with all the new snow, just the approach would be a significant challenge. also avi danger is quite high this weekend. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=44.33219834648983&lon=-121.83906555175781&site=mfr&smap=1&marine=0&unit=0&lg=en