Valhallas

I actually enjoyed walking in the fresh powder, although it was admittedly a bit treacherous. Jim and I each slipped a few times and I snapped a pole. It wanted to be replaced anyway. nice job on the FAs.

Trip: Silverton Sickle, Hall Peak Date:12.13.2009 Trip Report Today my friend Jim and I drove out to Silverton to give the Sickle on Hall Peak a look. We found it in what seemed to be absolutely perfect conditions. The hike in is super easy, and took about 1 hour of casual walking. The trail can be hard to find. On your way in on the road crossing the bridge, look to your right for two smashed up old camper trailers. The trail starts just to the left of them. Follow the orange tape up easy switchbacks along the Silver Gulch. We had to stop to gape numerous times. We counted no less than 11 amazing lines that may well have never been climbed. It was pretty unbelievable. 6 of them at least could be reached easily, as the trail approaches within 50 yards of their base across a dry creek bed. We estimated they were probably all in the WI 3-4 range. Two of them were enormously wide and thick looking. Farther up the valley we saw another 5 or 6 lines on a wall at the head of the cirque below Hall Peak. We were very tempted to try some of these, but decided to save them as a backup plan if we couldn't find the Sickle. We were also a bit leery about climbing unknown terrain with our meager rack (we had 7 screws, and are pretty new to WI climbing, so felt we would want more for longer, harder pitches). All of this is now covered in about 6 inches of fresh snow, but it is still there for the picking. This line kept going up Me on the approach Close up of the two lines from previous picture. Big and fat. Anyway, we found easy walking up hard crust (following some older, and some more recent, maybe 1 day old boot track) to the base of what we believe to be the Sickle. Jim lead off with a nice 50 meter pitch of WI3 that tops out on a large flat and very frozen pool. P2 starts with about 25 feet of WI 3+/4 up a fat bulge (I'm not sure about the grades. It felt a lot harder than anything we climbed on Bridal Veil falls yesterday) to some long, continuously 60-65 degree ice ramps. We only had 6 screws for the leader (we hoped to find some rock pro - got one nut and one hex all day), so I ran it out big time on the upper, very easy portions. Stopped on a nice level spot for an excellent belay. Me on Start of P2. This felt much harder than Bridal Veil. Jim on P3 P2 was more of the ramps broken up by short vertical sections, which Jim lead. Above that we found some WI1ish stuff that we soloed, and then the ice ran out in some small rock steps. I decided to get out of the little gully and we simuled up the snow to the side. We ended up doing this for maybe 400 or 500 feet until we came to another steep section. The start of the snow-simuling It was now around 1:30 and the snow was getting very heavy. Jim started up some WI2 but it didn't really look like it went anywhere, so we decided to head down. We ended up rapping off one tree and 2 v-threads, but if you wanted to it looks like you could hug the far north side of the big gully and walk down continuous snow. We opted not to because we couldn't tell if there was ice underneath all the fresh snow. Unfortunately I forgot my camera again, and we managed to usually give the camera to the wrong person to get good photos. I don't think we have any of P1, which was really stunning looking. We had an amazing time, but are a little confused about what we climbed and how it matches up with the route info in Washington Ice. We feel quite certain we were in the right place on the topo (both the drawing in the book and the actual topographic map). That says the Sickle starts with some WI2, then goes to class 4 scrambling, with the crux pitch being the last one before gaining the notch on Hall's ridge. We certainly didn't get to the notch, and we couldn't actually see it once we started climbing, but we found all the best, most difficult climbing right at the start. We speculate that perhaps these pitches were not in when the climb was FAd? Anyone know otherwise?

Friend and I climbed Bridal Veil falls today. I've never done it before, so I can't say if it's fat or thin, but it was fun and pretty easy to protect. He was there last year and said it was much better this year. Couple wet spots, but mostly easy to avoid with a pretty straight line left of center. Saw only 2 other people climbing.

Thanks for the link Dan.

I'm curious if anyone knows of any research pertaining to the strength of frozen webbing. I'm aware of the effects of sun bleaching and other summertime related strength loss issues, but haven't read anything about freezing. Presumably lots of the webbing in the Cascades that I'm sure many people rap and belay off freezes every winter and, if my limited experience is any indication, it is not all replaced each year. I think the two salient questions are: 1) how does the freeze-thaw process effect the strength of unfrozen webbing? 2) how does being frozen effect the elasticity and strength of webbing?

Climbing, and yes, Micah Dash.

Has any NW climber had his named spelled as often, correctly or incorrectly.

I bought a "mesh laundry bag" at fred meyer for $3 that worked great.

Interesting, thanks.

Maybe you can use some rainbow brite paint so it matches your purse, princess Yeah, wow, I really feel burned by you there. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the responses. I just bought two of them for $12 total last weekend at the used gear shop in Winthrop, mostly because I just want to learn how to use them. I feel like I've seen more fixed tricams out there than any other type of gear, so 1) they are either hard to place well and easy to fix, or 2) people don't know how to place them. I've heard that some people love them, so I'd like to give them a shot.

I'm just curious, when you say two sets of ladders/etriers, do you mean 4 total, of is this a set of ladders like pants come in pairs?

Silly little question: how do you all mark your tricams? I use those premade trango gear tags for all my biners, cams, etc. I'm skeptical that they will remain affixed to the webbing portion of a tricam and there's not really any space on the metal part that won't be in direct contact with rock at some point.

I wonder how long before Fox News starts reporting that some senators are trying to allow the "Evil Dark Lord" to speak at the senate. That can't be good for campaign contributions, right?

Pretty impressive collection, I really enjoyed the photos and reading your descriptions. Sometime if you find the time, you should take up Jake's suggestion and write up a nice chronological story about the development of the technology, your interest in it, and its place in climbing overall. I know I'd love to read it. Hopefully it won't take another groundfall to make it happen

It's somewhat heartening to know we aren't alone out there

I started this blog a while ago, mostly to keep my friends and parents (who live in NY) involved and up-to-date on the climbing aspect of my life. I also enjoy going back and reading about the things I've done. I figured I'd share it here and would be happy to get feedback on what's good and what's less good so I can improve. I realize the photography leaves a bit to be desired - I'm a point and shoot documentarian rather than a photographer. Enjoy. Adventures of an Introspective Vagabond

Having family in the PNW since the 1880s and being a second generation climber I'm sorry to say the answer is No We'll give you rent free guest privileges though Can you let my landlord know I'm supposed to be getting rent free privileges? Thanks

How long do you have to live here before they are YOUR rocks? I've been in Seattle since 2005 and started climbing in 2007. Can I call them my rocks yet? Or is that a prerogative of native washingtonians. Anyway, I bet there are maybe a couple thousand people that qualify.

I talked with Jim (his climbing partner) again and got a full update. Kris is in surgery now, with a titanium rod going into his leg. The docs said he could even walk as early as tomorrow, although the recovery period will obviously be longer. Kris thinks the rock that struck him was in between a softball and basketball in size, and clearly came from higher up on the mountain as Jim didn't dislodge anything. He knew immediately his leg was broken, and there was no fall as the news agencies have reported. Jim lowered him several rope lengths until they found a protected spot, set him up with the sleeping pads and bags and took his GPS coordinates. He then retraced their steps over the sandy glacier from the previous day until he found some S&R folks who initiated the rescue. It seems that Kris will be ok, which I'm very relieved to hear. Jim also deserves a lot of credit for keeping calm and acting quickly in the situation. I think they were both lucky to be climbing with each other.

Thanks everyone. I've talked with his mother and girlfriend now and his climbing partner, who I also regularly climb with. He's having surgery at the Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. They're going to put a metal rod in his leg, but, given what happened, it seems that he's in about as good of shape as could be hoped for. The Dr. his mom spoke to said he'll probably be back climbing (if he wants to, which, knowing Kris, I'm sure he will) in 6 months.

I just heard from my friend's brother that my buddy broke his leg on Hood today. Apparently he was hit by a rock on his femur and is going to be airlifted out. I just found out a helicopter was dispatched from Salem around 11. We can't get in touch with him, and his girlfriend is out in the Olympics, so her phone is off. I'm just wondering if any of you S&R folks have heard anything or have any info? Any idea what hospital he might be taken to? Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

Unrelated to the issue at hand, but why are your pictures so out of focus? If you've got a digital cam hold down the button halfway before you snap the shot. Even a phone cam should be able to focus.

I found some very small yellow la sportiva katana shoes at the Amazonia wall at X38 yesterday. They are well worn and have been resoled at least once. There was another group or two climbing there and after they left the shoes were still there, but I don't believe they belonged to anyone else I saw there. If you think they are yours, let me know.

I'm just curious why those of you who find Dave Page's service objectionable do? How is a climbing shoe 'ruined' by a resoler? Presumably they aren't much use before they get resoled (at least, mine generally aren't before I get them done) and then they are useful after resoling. Seems like the point, right? I've had two pairs done at dave's shop and none anywhere else, so I'm wondering how the repairs might differ.