Spiral_Out

Nice! My buddy Dave and I went in there last week to go fire this route but there was a large group cragging on the huecos at the base. We opted to go climb somewhere else so as not to rain down rock on there parade. We went and climbed a "3 star" climb on big ben which turned out to be crappy choss. If the watt's guide gave that climb three stars we could only laughably imagine what the pitches described as deplorable would have been like. Good on you for getting on it from the top. That pitch looks stellar. It is too bad that most of the rock in that area is sketchy.

Howdy ya'll, I was just wondering if anybody has any favorite alpine climbs in the I-90 corridor/ sky valley that are conducive to a soloing day trip. Im looking for something that would max out around 5.6 and would not require rappelling so I can run in, fire it, and run out. I'll be checking my becky guide but thought I would dip into the vast knowledge well that is cascade climbers. Cheers

Yeah 5.10 C1 it is. I guess i'm just being presumptuous for the hardy soul who goes and gets that final pitch clean. I'm sure they will find it clocks in around 10+. Yeah Blake, that cirque is unreal. I can't say that I've been to a place quite like it in the cascades. Do you remember the aspen groves on the way in as well? That was a welcomed surprise.

Trip: Silver Horn - F.A. - Spice of Life - III 5.10 C1 Date: 8/12/2010 Trip Report: First off: Im impatient and kind of an internet numbskull so I've posted photos on picasa Spice of Life Photos If someone could send me a PM with some simple instructions to insert directly I would appreciate it. Anywho... So awhile back I was visiting our friend Blake Herrington and talking about climbing. Go figure. He was showing me some photos of his trip to Silver Horn in '08, remarking about the rock quality and pointing out the two lines that now existed from the previous ascents. To my peaked interest (pun intended) there was a large corner system on the upper half of the formation that still lay untouched. Fast forward a few months and my good friend Mike Pond and I are getting psyched to go fire this thing. We roll into Mazama with perfect July weather but get sandbagged by athletic tape. Turns out Mike is horribly allergic to the adhesive substance on the tape and after taping his ankle for a long day in the mountains it swelled up and blistered for a week. Ugh. Fast forward again, roughly one year. Im coming off an injury, Mike has not climbed any serious rock for a few months and needs a good send off before he goes to Ohio for grad school. Seems like a perfect time to test this idea of ours deep in the mountains so we start hiking up the Cedar Cr. Trail outside of Mazama. This trail is super mellow for circa 7 miles. We hit the first major drainage and started the uphill schwack that would lead us into the proper cirque. (It turns out that a pretty decent, albeit discontinuous trail can be found that runs about 50 yards climbers right of the drainage creek.) From the cirque it is obvious where to go and we settled in for an open air bivy in the gorgeous meadow below Silver Star, Silver Horn, and the surrounding peaks. We woke at dawn and began the approach up through the slabby gully just east of Silver Horn to the base of its apron wall. Blake's line, Playin' not Sprayin', is an obvious corner system that looks fantastic. Although tempted by what is sure to be great climbing for the apron pitches, for the sake of doing something new we opted for a corner/crack system that runs between sprayin' and The Chalice. We swapped leads as we climbed and after reaching the bench and looking up the massive corner system that lured us up there I almost creamed my pants. The climbing through here is fantastic and the position is awesome. Topping this out we were met with a surprise. Thinking that it would top out, instead this put us about 15m below to summit. The rock for this short pitch left something to be desired and we probably would have opted to finish on the last chimney pitch of sprayin' as it was just out of reach via a sketch down climb. I attempted to tackle what seemed the "best" section of rock via an offwidth through a roof. My OW skills also leave something to be desired and after fussing with the crux for a bit and not totally trusting the rock/gear I frenchied the move and finished what was still some hard 5.10 climbing to the top. Mike tied in short so he could haul the pack up this last pitch and was able to pull through with a well placed fist jam. A quick mantle on the summit block and some belly timber for the soul left us ready to descend. To descend we rapped off the W/NW side into the gully (1 rappel) that heads south to into the cirque. Eventually cliffing out we resorted to rapping from tree to tree. Wondering if we took the shitty way down as we approached the final rappels down some slabs Mike made a mild suggestion to rappel of a questionable bush. As he said this I looked at my feet and there lay some sunbleached tat around a horn. I chuckled at the circumstance and remarked that we either had indeed taken the right way down or someone else had made the same mistakes. Assuming there was not a skeleton below we replaced the worn cord and reached terra firma 2 raps later. After all the terrain covered with the moments of tension and joy, at the end of the day, adventures like these boil down to one thing. Climbing is what we love to do. It is the spice of life. Pitch Breakdown: P1: Start 60 or so ft' right of Playin' not Sprayin' in a giant left facing corner. This widens drastically and move left into another left facing corner. Follow nice fingers to hands past a hollow flake until it pinches down to a seam. Pull right over an arete and back into the original corner for 20' to a small ledge with a tree. Move left along wicked finger rail traverse back into the other corner system (5.10), past some hanging flakes to a tree belay. 40m P2: Head straight up into a left facing flake/corner. Move past some slabby tree-grovel moves up and left of a small roof (past some more trees) and up about 15' right of a wide crack. Pull a bulge into a finger crack (5.10) that arcs from hands to wide and onto the belay. Sick! 60m P3: Follow grooves and a small flake up to the bench mid point. (5.7) 10m From the bench, move the belay left until you are below the awesome left facing corner. The next two pitches are brilliant. P4: Follow beautiful, mostly clean cracks on great rock. Stem your way up and pull a wild exposed mantle out right to the base of a prominent hand crack. (5.10-) 1" - 2" gear for belay. 50m P5: Climb the splitter until forced into chimney moves. Grovel/climb/work your way up until forced out left into a corner. Follow up into crazy orange rock and chimney up through the horn feature. (5.10) 60m P6: Climb exfoliating, suspect rock through an offwidth roof (effin hard!) and continue with mostly wide crack to the top. (5.10+ ish) 15m Mantle the summit block and be psyched. Gear Notes: Doubles in fingers through hand sizes. Single #3 and #4 (crucial). 60M rope. Good approach shoes. Approach Notes: Head up Cedar Cr. Trail for circa 7 miles then start bearing west up into the alpine cirque. From there it is obvious to the base of the apron.

My buddy Dave and myself wandered up to do some climbing in the cheeks area yesterday. As we were getting ready to cross the "perverse traverse" a falcon made it very apparent that he did not like our presence in the area. We watched him for a few more minutes and he was clearly pissed that we were there. Assuming that the falcon was nesting somewhere on that part of the cliff we departed to come back another day. So if anybody wants to go up there its probably best to wait until the standard time for falcon closures gets lifted (end of july) or risk being an ass and some talons in your back.

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western mountaineering "highlight" is a full bag that weighs in @ 16oz and packs the size of a nalgene. In either case of a half bag or a full bag, sleeping in all your clothes and with a nalgene filled with HOT water will always give a temperature boost without adding any extra weight to your kit.

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I'll be passing through the area this coming week and am hoping to get some climbing in. Looking forward to climbing in the lower gorge @ smith or trout creek. I have a good size rack, but if trout creek is on the agenda, please have some gear of your own so we can crush the splitters. Just let me know when and where you'd like to meet. Cheers Matt

Hey Everybody, I'be making an extended stop in Joshua Tree from about mid-february through the middle of March. Is anybody going to be in the area? I'll be their solo and will be on the lookout for fun, capable partners. If anybody is going to be in the area during that time frame please drop a line! See you in the sun

Just go buy a shitty pre-pay verizon phone for backcountry use.

I believ the word "string" is somewhat misleading. "Kevlar string" is more appropriate. That shit is strong. I own two mastercams that have so far been well abused and up to the task. I got them a few months after their release.

I own a pair of Aztarex tools. For what they are (super lightweight alpine tool) I think they do a pretty good job. They climb alpine ice and snow very well. They can climb waterfall ice but sometime they feel almost too light for bullet hard water ice and you end up using a lot of energy trying to get a good stick. Probably a better followers tool in this situation. They swing great though. I recently had to do some mixed steps in the 'pine a few weeks ago and kinda wished I had a tool with a trigger on it and something a little burlier. The tools sometimes feel scary light in those situations. The viper and aztarex seem to warrant different situations in terms of their use. Aztarex = super light, moderate alpine (AI 3-4, WI 4) the Viper = harder more technical routes, more mixed, etc. just my two cents

I heard a nasty rumor that the road leading to the Heliotrope Ridge trail head was washed out. I called the ranger station today and they confirmed it. The road is washed out a mile up from the turn off of the Mt. Baker highway . Apparently it won't get cleared until August!

Bump. Whats the good word on 8 mile road?