builttospill

Will, I've got no problem with you outing the guy. If he sees this, he's welcome to post his response if he feels so inclined. It would be different if you had posted under a pseudonym. You said something--maybe you regret it now--but you said it under your real name, so who am I to judge? Like others, I've had some bad experiences with partners on the internet and those I've met elsewhere. I've been a bad partner myself I'm sure. If someone disliked me or was pissed at me enough to post it online, well....that says something about how bad I was. I'd be pissed for sure, but I'm not sure I could really blame the person if they seemed to make some reasonable points. Hopefully I've never been that big of a douchebag to other people that that was necessary. And to be fair to Will, I got stuck with bad partners when I felt like I had done my homework. When someone rattles off a few climbs they've done in the Cascades (I'm not from the NW, by the way), it's downright deceptive to not mention that they were part of an AAI class or guided course. How the fuck am I supposed to know that you got your ass dragged up stuff? Sure, I should have met the guy for a day climb before, but, as others mentioned, sometimes partners fly in for a trip and that's that. And the suggestion to just ditch the guy doesn't always work out well either.....when I left camp to solo stuff rather than risk ourselves on objectives that were over his head, I'm sure that pissed him off pretty badly. Pretty much sixes either way.

That's not a bad idea. I don't know anything about the mountains there, really. Also, I should have mentioned that when I say 5.9 or 5.10 rock, that's in "summer" conditions. I'm not real interested in climbing hard rock in a Cascades winter. That just sounds miserable, personally. But moderate stuff would still be fine.

Assuming money wasn't an issue (i.e. airfare is no big deal, but weren't not rich either), and time wasn't an issue, where would you go for alpine climbing in January, February or March. I may have a chance to do a long trip during that timeframe, but it kind of falls outside my normal plans for summer climbing. The Ruth Gorge comes to mind in the later part of that timeframe (March, April, May). Patagonia might work? (don't know, never looked at a trip there seriously). The Cordillera Blanca seems to be out. Ecuador might work? But is there much alpine climbing there, or more snow and glacier slogs? I'm not looking for standard-setting climbs, just good, long, moderate alpine routes on ice or rock. Up to 5.9 or 5.10, WI5. Preferably with a reasonable chance of success (this might eliminate Patagonia). A variety of moderates/easy stuff would be good too. Any other places I should consider that I haven't mentioned? The Alps? The Coast Range? The Cascades? Kind of a shot in the dark, but I figured I'd ask around.

What kind of camera is it? You might want to check on eBay for batteries that are "compatible" that are not proprietary. Unless it's a really higher-end camera, they usually have it. I got 4 batteries for my Canon 350D (digital rebel xt) for like $2 each from Hong Kong.

Depending on your willingness to drive, you should be able to find ice to climb. LCC stuff might still be in (Great White Icicle specifically). Provo Canyon is better and is usually still in condition that time of year....but you never know. Stairway to Heaven is the classic climb here, but White Nightmare, Miller's Thriller and some others are all great also depending on what grade you climb. Plenty of mixed stuff in PC also. If that stuff is not in, a drive to Joe's Valley (about 3 hours) will yield some excellent ice that is reliable. All of this is in Dave Black's book mentioned by others. Of course, if you're willing to drive 3 hours you could theoretically hit some desert rock, although January has always been too cold for me down there. As for alpine stuff, the two most commonly done or sought-after routes have been named. More information on the Pfeifferhorn's N Ridge is here: Trip Report for Pfeifferhorn If snow conditions are not stable or we've had a lot of recent snow, a better bet might be something like Guert's Ridge on Mt Olympus. Not quite as high or as alpine, but its long and fun and goes to a summit. Solo-able for most, but you'll need a rope for one or two raps. A friend of mine put this page together, with a bunch of options: Wasatch "Alpine" Climbs It's got its limitations, but those are the standards, and some obscure ones that no one does. S Ridge of Superior, N Ridge of Pfeifferhorn, Guert's Ridge on Olympus are definitely your best bets there.

I take that back, I was thinking of a new route report that I read, the one that was like 5.10, AI3+ and the guys were castigated for taking such risks under the hanging glacier. I'm sure you all remember it....it was an interesting read a year or so ago when I found it.

I've seen a trip report on this site for that climb haven't I? I think I'll pass.....I like adventure as much as the next guy, but that might be a bit much for me. Sorry to focus on numbers....I'm happy to climb 5.4 or even 4th class routes that are fun, but I need to limit the search somewhat in order to recieve helpful answers. Otherwise people will suggest 5.10 routes I can't climb and glacier slogs I'd rather not travel for. That's all. Thanks for the help though, everyone. These are some really good ideas.

I don't mind some....I just wanted to make it clear that we are not quite as ready to suffer as some of you here (according to trip reports I've read here). We recognize the need to bushwhack, we're just not used to it is all. But for truly spectacular stuff, we'll do it. What would people recommend in the Pickets if we decide to venture there (preferably with a central camp to do 2-3 good climbs)?

My partner and I are looking to do a 2 week trip (or slightly longer) hitting both the Bugaboos and the Cascades from where we live in Utah. We've got a pretty good idea of what we're wanting to climb on the first leg in Canada, but I'm less familiar with the Cascade range. Basically, we're looking for good climbs (off the beaten track is fine though) in the 5.6-5.8 range. Alpine rock only, not interested in cragging. We should be pretty fit after a week of climbing (and a summer of climbing), and we don't mind suffering a little bit....and we like to move pretty quick. Somewhat more remote climbs would be preferred to dayclimbs in the "frontcountry." We've thought about going into the Pickets, but I'm not sure whether we're up for the bushwhacking up there, coming from the Rockies where bushwhacking is pretty limited. Spending some time at a base camp and climbing from there is appealing though. We'll be there the last week of August most likely (and maybe the first part of September also). Any suggestions?

I've changed a bunch of stuff about this trip to prevent people's feelings from being hurt. I'm pretty "tense" compared to some here, but I'm not trying to make people feel bad. I've got to note up front that I'm no hardman. In fact I pertty much suck at climbing, but I do like to climb fast in the mountains. At least reasonably quick. I was working and going to school at the time, and had been working two jobs to pay off some debt for about 10 months. I was fried, summer was coming around and I really needed to get some climbing in. My girlfriend had a 4 week paid sabbatical coming up from work in exchange for staying at her miserable job for 5 years (she's still there, god help her). Not wanting to miss out on good times, I file my two weeks notice with my employer and they agree to give me a leave of absence if I'm willing to stay. 4 weeks off, unpaid of course, seems like a good deal. I shoot off some emails to people about climbing in Wyoming. 4 weeks becomes 5 weeks, and then I decide to tack on an extra week at the front end using vacation time. 6 weeks off in late summer...can't beat that. I get a partner from WAY out of state who is fresh off a course from AAI and has done some stuff in the Cascades. He likes ice, I love ice. Let's get on some alpine ice someplace. He flies out, I pick him up, we roll to Wyoming. We pack up our shit the next morning, loaded for 3-4 days in the mountains with full ice gear, boots stowed in the pack, etc. Heaviest pack I've ever carried in my life. I should have known something was wrong when we head out of the parking lot. It's almost 80 degrees and this kid is wearing pants, and a fancy baselayer undershirt for the hike to camp. It's a 5,000 ft slog I've done several times with rack and rope in ~3 hours. I'm excited cause I think we've gotten an early enough start to do a short climb that day. 30 minutes on the relatively flat trail and he wants to rest for a minute. He quotes AAI's recommendations "10 minutes of rest every hour." Well....it's been 30 minutes dude. Bear in mind this is the widest, most popular trail in the entire range probably. A bit later he's downing more water. He asks me if there is water along the way, which there is. He asks me how far. I say I don't really know, there's a stream along the trail. I never get water from it so I don't really know how long it might take to get there. An hour later and he asks to stop. He needs to get a clif shot out. "I think I'm starting to bonk." Oh shit, here we go. ("I need a clif shot, I'm starting to bonk" is now a running joke with my girlfriend, even though she doesn't climb or anything). He runs out of water and seems concerned but then we stumble onto the stream. Okay, fast forward to 3-4 hours into the hike. I'm thinking we should have been there by now, but the steepest part awaits. I suggest, for the second time, that I take my pack to camp and come back and get his. He declines, saying he wants to make it under his own power. A bit later, I suggest I just take some of the gear off his pack. I've got the rack and rope and he has the tent already. I take his tools, his crampons and the tag line, adding it all to my own tools, crampons, rock and ice rack, sleeping bag, etc. I keep trucking, and see that he has stopped to fill up his water bottles again, at another flow. I swear he must have drank a gallon and a half of water that day. The last bit of the approach includes a fixed rope up a rock headwall that is pretty easy but with big packs perhaps more daunting. I get up there, set my pack down near our campsite, drink some water and head back down. He is preparing to get up the fixed rope. I offer to take his pack and bring it up with me. I brought the rope down from my pack and offer a belay even though there is a handline. Much fumbling ensues and he gets his harness on, the belay is on, and we get to camp. It's now 6 pm, and we've been hiking for 7 hours. Good lord. We set up the tent and climb in. I'm already angry because I wanted to climb an easy route that day. It rains and hails overnight. We wake up and decide we're not going climbing. I'm not real good at waking up, so that was fine with me. At 8 am I get up and see that some people are high on the route we were going to do yesterday. I ask him if he wants to give it a shot and he says no. I decide to solo it, and tell him I'm going to go have a look around. I'm back in camp 4 hours later, meeting a nice group on top, whose ropes I ride down on. He seems upset that I abandoned him. Whatever. He's been telling me about how difficult his school and major are for awhile now and I'm getting tired of it. The next day we plan to climb our "warmup" route, involving a bit of rock and some moderate alpine ice. I'm ready to go down afterwards, and quietly push for that option. We get up, and I'm getting racked up for the first lead. He's standing on a flat area. No scrambling involved to get here, the first pitch literally starts off the trail. I climb about 40 feet up and he begs me to put in some gear. Alright, fair enough, I ought to protect the "belay." Two pieces later, I stop to belay. Pitch 2 traverses so I protect it more judiciously, but when he gets to the belay he requests that I start placing more gear. He asks me to beef up the belay before I head off again. He's standing on a 4 foot wide ledge, and there's a bomber stopper and a cam in. What more does he want from my meager rack? I start to get irritated again. We finally get on the ice. It's sloppy, lots of snow, no thick ice. The gully is melted out enough that I can't reach the good rock higher on the sides, and everything is rotten. The fixed pin on P2 of the gully is fully 6 feet over my head. There is no gear. I run it out, set a sketchy belay and ask him to please not fall. We establish a better belay higher up. I start running up a snow slope, wondering why we haven't unroped. He asks me to place a second piece, and then a third. I can't. I get angry. I put in 2 pieces later and tell him to start simulclimbing. He takes a two steps, and I move up. He stops. This repeats, until it's only one step. I look down and he has his head on the snow, resting. He's been at the belay for 10 minutes and took 4 steps and rested twice. He complains about acclimatization. I tug hard. I encounter ice, and keep tugging. I swear if he pulls me off i'm going to kill him if the fall doesn't. I top out, and set a belay of a slung horn and a giant boulder. He coms up, looks skeptically at my belay and advises me that I scared him and that he doesn't trust my gear. I've belayed people on much less and been belayed on much less and I recognize that in the mountains that's sometimes the way it goes. We chat on top and it comes out that all of his Cascades experience was part of the AAI course for a week. Well, that makes a little more sense now. We start heading down and things are taking forever. We can't seem to find the way off that gets us back to our packs, so I suggest we descend the other side and hike back around. It's the only way without leaving a lot of gear. Hiking down the class 3 gully takes forever. I am slow at this, but he falls far behind me even. It's loose, but come on! I wait for him and tell him that I want to go home when we're done. I want to rest for my next trip, with hopes for something better. He agrees. I tell him I'll go down, hike back up to camp and get our shit and meet him at the trail junction. I get to the junction and stare up at the 3000 feet of vertical above back to camp. I drop my pack, and it starts raining but we dont' have a lot of options at this point. A couple of hours later, I get up to camp, pack everything into one giant pack that he left there and head down. The guides at camp seem sympathetic when I tell them a fraction of my story. I meet him back at the trail junction, where he has been resting for an hour. He is tired and wants to stay the night there and hike the rest of the way in the morning. I tell him I'm going down now. He's staying in Wyoming and meeting friends, so I don't really care if he comes or not. I'm going to my car. He agrees to come down, but doesn't relieve me of all of the gear that I carried down for him. I've got the rope, the rack, the tag line and the tent. I pack it all back up while I watch him waddle away into the darkness and down the trail. Hiking out takes forever. There is silence. He nearly twists his ankle on the superhighway that is the Garnet Canyon trail several times. We get to the car. I drive him to a campsite, where I leave him. There are no stores open in Jackson, so I eat what little food I have left, drink some water that has been in my car for far too long and head out. I start the 5 hour drive home and fall asleep 30 minutes in. I have a history of sleeping at the wheel, so I pull over and sleep for a few hours, completing the drive in the morning. I am only slightly less angry by the time I get home. 3 days later my next partner arrives at my house from Flagstaff for another trip to the Tetons. I've climbed there with him before. Things go relatively smoothly, although I am again disappointed by our pace and ambition. We canoe across Leigh Lake on day 1, climb the CMC route on day 2 and canoe back on day 3. One route in three days is not my idea of a good time in the Tetons. He wants to check his email in the afternoon on day 3. Then he wants to catch a movie. I read a book in a coffee shop instead while he watches Batman. The next day we hike a peak and drive home. He stays at my house that night, where my girlfriend has prepared a bed on the couch for him. I'm angry again, but nearly as bad as the last trip. My girlfriend says she admires my ability to keep cool, since I am notorious for becoming frustrated to the point of rage. Trip #3 starts 2 days later. My good buddy Brian, a better climber than I, suggests we go for the Cathedral Traverse and the E Ridge of the Grand. I'm getting tired of this drive, but lets go for it. We take two days on the Cathedral Traverse, spending a night in an excellent bivy spot just below Mt Owen. The route is exquisite and the N Ridge of the Grand is fun and straightforward. We're almost down from the Grand and Brian says he is toasted. Let's not try for the E Ridge. He's satisfied. Fine with me. We head home, and I win points with T (the girlfriend) for getting home earlier than expected. Lessons learned: 1. Don't partner up on a real trip without knowing someone. 2. Don't partner up with people from the flatlands and expect speed. 3. Try to contain rage when neophytes critique my gear placement, especially with bomber boulders or horns being slung. 4, and most important. A good partner makes a huge difference. Even if Brian and I had failed it still would have been a good trip because I know Brian can carry his own weight (literally and figuratively). I climb almost exclusively with Brian now. I exchanged pictures with the partner from Trip #1 but no words. After these three trips my girlfriend and I spent 6 days in the Winds backpacking and being lazy and then 8 days in Yosemite and San Francisco. My car got pulled over on the way home for doing 95 on I-80 and I've got illegal wine in the trunk (you can't bring wine across state lines into Utah). After searching my car for drugs the cop lets me off with a warning and lets me keep the wine in exchange for wasting my time. Anyway....6 weeks off.....pretty excellent, even if it had its ups and downs.