stevetimetravlr

That would be the question, yes. I'm curious as would like to give it a shot before the winter sets in for good. Is there some issue why I never have seen anyone on it?

so no one present has done Masterpiece Theatre? To the naked eye it looks like a warm glass of brown ale......Stout!

Ivan, to funny!

Well, if Classic Crack is not hardcore enough for ya to solo, there are routes are either side of it that are the same height just a little stiffer. I don't see anyone soloing them......much

Jim Opdyke told us they were his pins if you ae referring to the pins on Blownout Direct. I thought there was only two....I maybe confused.

Rick blew off climbing to work yesterday, has his priorites screwed up, or we would have been out knocking rocks on you guys. Are you serious first ascent of Blownout was done in january in the cold? That took some serious gonads.

Here is one of the best tools I've found for what is going on up at Hood. http://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/mthoodmeadows/now/

Man it looked like you guys were having so much fun. Staying stoked and staying on it. I'm envious.

Hood isn't real safe unless the mountain is frozen in in Fall, its one giant choss pile that sheds mortar rounds. Another problem might be the water ice on the descent thru the Pearly Gates. Waiting till the Spring is a option, or at least until it gets a couple feet of snow and has gone thru some freeze/thaw cycles this Fall/winter.

badass endurofest. Thats a ton of stiff vertical and allot of hiking to boot, impressive!

so I'm trying to talk Rick H into going climbing at Beacon tomorrow and he tells me it takes 3 days at Beacon for it to dry out properly after a rain to do harder free routes, any truth to that or is he just being a slippery dog? Seems like one day would be sufficient...Dod's/Dastardly possibly in shape by tomorrow?

Ivan's TR's are great. full value and funny as hell. I wish there was one for Jensens Ridge as that offwidth has me worried.

Wadi Rum, Jordan. You can stop and visit the ancient city of Petra carved out of sandstone on your way back from the Rum to the airport. Experience of a lifetime, highly recommended! http://www.rumguides.com/categories/8-climbing

Kenny and Justin getting wet as well, good to see it! Yeah, grigri's don't work to well with wet ropes. I was out on Saturday in White Salmon enjoying the sun doing some yardwork, thinking about how nice Beacon must be, when that storm came rolling in like a freight train and it went from sunny and warm to torrenial rains in about 5 minutes. it was awesome! You captured the ambiance Ivan with your videos.

Gack!

Good TR. What a rainstorm that was. Cool trivia to know Fresh Squeeze is called that for a reason.

Back in the mid 70's and early 80's there were hardly any homes in the Icicle, and none near Classic Crack. We would crash out at the base with a campfire and take turns soloing it as everyone got progressively more beer in them, not that I reccommend that. We spent allot of time during the summers at the UW climbing rock, most midweek evenings in the summer. That place teaches you how to jam in such painful nasty concrete(tape up!) that if you spend anytime there, climbing Classic Crack will be a cakewalk. The UW climbing rock cracks are probably the best place to train for Yosemite and granite splitters that I could imagine. Does anyone train there anymore or is it not in vogue? I left the Seattle area many moons ago.....

Classic Crack has always been a solo rite of passage for 5.10 crack climbers and drunken 5.9 ones.

Has anyone contacted the Access Fund on this? or is the crag worth battling over?

dude, that is getting it done and then some. Way to rack up some mileage.

Right across from the gravel pit, yep thats it. Its a old quarry. Some of the craziest climbers learned to climb there back in the mid 1970's a whole group of us. It was posted No Climbing by the 1980's. The place was studded with old pitons from those that had gone before us. There were not bolts then, but it was a good practice area because you could set up a belay from the trees on top. The wall to the right was darker and looser, to the left shorter. Right about in the middle was some cool short cracks and little aretes. It was a fun place until we got our drivers licenses and discovered the UW climbing rock. Dry Tool Crag, interesting.

Are you talking about the old road side quarry on Issaquah Renton Road?

Very sorry to hear this sad tale. TJ was living life to its fullest, and it could have been any of us, so true. Peace bro.

I am a hoping you are thinking Liberty Ridge....

The Classic Crack in the Icicle is WAY more classic then the one at Broughtons, no disrepect for Broughtons choss pile as i live in the Gorge here and climb on that stuff all the time. Granite splitter heaven for about 30 feet. Perfect 5.8 lockers.