spionin

the crazy hat - yes! but not on top of a puffy hood??? nice job dudes! -veronika Anatoli. Or Kunz. Zat iz you? the honorary russian!

ah, nice! it was definitely busy up there - lots of groups and everyone having a good time. good job, you guys.

no, he is. he's just multitasking

the crazy hat - yes! but not on top of a puffy hood??? nice job dudes! -veronika

Trip: mt baker - easton Date: 6/5/2011 Trip Report: my little brother, who had never climbed a mountain before, recently decided that he wants to do rainier. so it was my duty to show him the ropes, provide a dose of reality, and try to kick his ass (the latter mission not accomplished). i decided to take him up baker. since he's getting married in two weeks, this was also like a demented pre-bachelor party (he's going to cabo next weekend for the real b.p. and some more sunburn, a little more his style). anyways. since i had done my other two descents of baker on skis, he decided that he wanted to drag his snowboard up as well. thankfully, rei rents full strap-on style vasaks, which fit his boots perfectly. his moon boots were also very comfortable the entire time, which was very fortunate. the approach goes through hwy 20 to baker lake road (about 22 miles from i-5). the road to baker lake t.h. (3200 ft) was still snowed in to about 2.5 miles. b/c of heavy snowmobile traffic, it's full of moguls and burms, which make the approach very tedious. the constant exposure to exhaust and the high-pitched "eeeeeeeee" isn't awesome either. the freezing levels this weekend were above 10k ft, it was very sunny and warm. the snow on the approach was very mushy and soft. the skins on my skis benefited from skin wax, and pavel came to appreciate his snowshoes. we made it up out of the woods in fairly unpleasant heat and constant sun, supplemented with regular water intake and generous sunscreen applications. our goal for the day was to make it to about 5500 feet, to treeline. we picked a nice spot, and i set off to do regular camp chores. pavel did what he does best - relaxed and sun bathed we spent a few hours learning snow skills, walking with an axe, walking on crampons, walking in a rope team, self arresting, and placing pickets and clipping off to them. i figured that we could turn around on our summit attempt if i saw crevasses, if anything felt marginal, or we were tired. we started climbing at 3:30 from our camp at 5300 ft. the severely softened snow had firmed up overnight, and crampons made for fast progress. took a few quick breaks, constantly assessing our comfort level and speed. based on times in previous reports, we made nice progress. i was very impressed with his tenacity and persistence (apparently, soccer and yoga make for a decent mountaineering training regimen ). i also made sure he kept focus, was ready to self arrest if needed, and was paying attention to his foot placements. we continued to have food and water, he did totally awesome, never got sloppy, and i felt comfortable enough to continue unroped. saw quite a line heading up the coleman deming, as we slowly made our way up our side of the roman wall. we were on the summit at 10:00. the views were wonderful - incredibly clear. we cheered with our summit almond joys, and started down. represent'n the initial part of the descent was a little unnerving. i made a few sharp turns on the scratchy, icy steep part of the wall, but also had a few falls and made use of my whippet. around 9000 ft the snow changed to an amazing, buttery softness, and we glided down in pure joy. so much so, that we flew past our tent, and then had to hike back up and search for it for about 45 minutes. d'oh! lower down, around noon at this point, the snow became quite sloppy, and we set off a wet slide. i could see it forming and got pavel to move off the slope as quickly as he could. no falls, but it was a little unnerving. we packed up and started a grueling descent. back by the car at 16:30. the road had melted out about a half mile since the previous day! as usual, stopped for a mandatory beer (and growler refill) at birdsview brewery on our way back to seattle and got treated to some live bluegrass renditions of beatles in their beer garden. great weekend, and needless to say - i'm totally proud of my bro! Approach Notes: two miles of walking up to the trailhead on sunday. follow snowmobile tracks up.

holy jeebus, woman. glad you survived the grand adventure!

went up easton this weekend. the road is melting out quickly (big difference between saturday and sunday). about 2 miles to TH, as max said. the road is all burms and moguls due to snowmobile traffic, it's really kind of exhausting.

hilarious. looks like an awesome weekend. how many were in the sled dog pack?

like matt said, i think you're a little ambitious with the number of stops. just doing a quick calculation (14 cities x 3 days per city) is 42 days. and your travel times can get longer (and more expensive) than you suspect. so you're definitely looking at being there through august, if you are still considering all the destinations. another thing is that just like here, you won't be able to easily get to some climbing areas without a car. one place i found to be somewhat accessible was calanques. i can't remember the bus route number, but you can catch a city bus to the university of the mediterranean campus from downtown marseille (near the fish market), and it drops you off literally at the trailhead. then again, there are lots of cliffs with different degrees of accessibility, some of which are accessed from other towns (cassis, etc). just an example. maybe start with a big map of europe and mark your "cultural" destinations, and figure out how you're getting between them (train, bus, air). then look at the map here: http://www.climb-europe.com/areas.htm and see whether there are any climbing destinations that are nearby, or at least not off track. figure out what are your options for getting to those places (city bus, renting a car, posting a note in a local climbing shop about ride sharing?). it'll save you time and money. check out "rock climbing europe" falcon guide. and keep in mind that some places will get really hot in july. are you planning to solo or hope to run into people who'll climb with you? some places get more traffic than others, and you might want to check into crowd situation before you take a few days to hitchhike into some cool off-the-track crag only to end up not being able to climb anything. good luck.

awesome pictures and a very informative, straight-forward report. cheers and thanks!

great picture and nice stoke! been looking forward to going there this august while visiting family on the right coast!

beautiful weather window! and thanks a tonne for the beta!

there's an article in 2010 ANAM about a woman who took a lead fall, and one of her cams got caught. the cam was on a gear sling, which in the course of the fall strangled her. i was just trying to look up this particular incident on google, and it brought me to this mountain proj page, which has the same discussion: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/climbing_gear_discussion/to_gear_sling_or_not_to_gear_sling/106903530__1

hilarious! good job dodging tickets (oh, and the awesomne climb, too)!

thanks guys - it was a great presentation. one suggestion: you should either provide beers for everyone next time, or give us a heads-up to pack our own.

awesome! did you take some climbing gear to its skull?

bibs sold

route 155 is currently closed between steamboat state park and just south of electric city. the road will remain shut until april 10 and will reopen with single-lane traffic and flaggers thereafter. construction is expected to go until mid-may. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr155/electriccityrockscaling/ the easiest way to access highway rock is to detour to the town of grand coulee (one option is via 17) and drive south on 155 until the "road closed" sign. it's a 25 min walk from there. a nice local lady let us park in her driveway near the closure.

i thought the name was perfect. "vsyo normal'no" basically means "everything's ok" or "[relax] everything is going according to plan".

misja pec has very stout routes (like, 9s), is mad overhung, and thus great for rainy days. crni kal is also well worth checking out. viki cafe on the way there is the standard meet-up for climbers in the morning. cheers!

that was such a pleasure to read! hilarious, and totally filled with quotables. loved the weapons training. nice job on the route, and great job with the patience!

Arc'teryx Alpha SV Bib - women's, cinder, size S - $175 - SOLD - bomber bibs in very good condition - ultralight Gore-Tex XCR material to keep you totally dry - laminated zippers are in pristine condition - three-quarter length side zips stop just short of your waist, so they won't interfere with a harness or hipbelt - through-the-crotch WaterTight zip - these would probably be best for someone about 5'3" - small tear near left knee Marmot softshell jacket - women's, black, size S - $30 - well used, but in really good condition - all seams and zippers are perfect - breathes well and has pit zips also - raglan sleeves - small burn hole (camping fire) TNF light fleece jacket - women's, light gray, size S - $10 - very lightweight, good condition PM if interested, and thanks for looking!

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holy shit dude! put it to rest already! i get it, ok? what would you like me to do? apologize to the climbing community for getting on that pitch? promise to never climb again? censor every picture of me that someone else puts up on the web?

wow nice!! love the comment about 6ft+ Armenian machine! hi Raf!