keenwesh

I left a #2 behind as pro while I camhooked up a crack for several moves, felt warm and fuzzy inside, but I never fell. They rock. If you can find 'em on sale for 30% off buy a set or five.

Trip: Beartooths - Funeral for a Friend Date: 11/4/2012 Trip Report: The ice climbing forum has been stale for a while and I always like taunting westerners with the climbs in my backyard. First ice of the season, and a route that said "climb me!" the first time I saw it in the guidebook over a year ago. My buddy Justin and I hatched a plan for a rad FA in the Beartooths, and a full weekend was allotted. Envisioning 2000 feet of mixed ice and rock we packed a single rack with a bunch of KB's and baby angles, figuring there wouldn't be much ice we only brought 4 stubby screws. I met Justin in Laurel around 9.30 friday night and we drove up to the Glacier Lake TH in the dark, where we managed to get some sleep crunched up in the back of the troop. The next morning we got up, hiked to the dam and got blasted by the bitterly cold wind Camp was set behind a big boulder and we both promptly passed out for a few hours, the last thing we wanted to do was overexert ourselves Half of the junior supine alpine club in action In the afternoon we roused ourselves and walked up to scout out our rad FA, a line of mixed terrain to a prominent ledge system halfway up the face was picked out. As an afterthought we walked up to take a peak at Funeral, just "to see how it looked". Well, see for yourself Yeah, that looks a lot better than 800 feet of unprotected/scary snowed over rock that will never get repeated ever. Plans were quickly scrapped and the Friendly Funeral was on for the next day. 11 relaxing hours of sleep later and coffee was brewed, hot cereal was consumed, and warm jackets were donned. Retracing our steps from the afternoon before we found ourselves at the base. I led up the first snowy approach "pitch", below the giant chockstone, and built a belay with 2 of our 8 KB's, spindrift was blasting down the chute giving a good alpine feel to our icy gash in the granite face. We were convinced that there were two pitches still above us, so I led off again, heading up a fantastic slot of ice, the steepness made easier by stemming off either side. Only having 4 stubbies I ran it out quite a bit, so much for easing into leading ice this year. The envisioned cracks in the walls for pins never appeared, fortunately the climbing was so good I didn't spend much time worrying about the gaps in gear. The last 30 feet from the comfort of the rappel I reached the cave belay at the top and brought Justin up We had tossed around the idea of continuing up the extension that Shepard and Mulkey did a few years back at M6, but seeing as Justin had forgotten his climbing pants in his car and was wearing my rock climbing pants with patented duct tape gaiters© we figured it was prudent to bail. Not without the standard selfie. Raps were made to the tent, where a hour long siesta rested us for the arduous 4 mile downhill hike to the car. Made it back home to find that the friendly Bozeman police department had visited a get together hosted by my roommates the night before. As bummed as I was that I missed them I have solace in the knowledge that perhaps they'll come by again. Hopefully I'm out climbing. Gear Notes: Bring 6 or so screws, a couple KB's might be good for belays. Top anchor can be backed up with a nut when the fattest member of your party goes first. A warm sleeping bag and bottle of scotch would be hard to beat if the 2 day ascent (highly recommended) is decided upon. Approach Notes: Drive 8 miles up Rock Creek Road, walk up the trail to Glacier Lake. Sleep, if you feel like climbing do so, but it is optional.

I thought JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald...

I wish, the cassin has been at the top of my list for a long time. don't come to bozo during the ice fest if you want to go ice climbing, it's a zoo and there's a line on everything in the canyon. anytime midweek you'll have the place to yourself.

both those atrocious beverages are currently in my fridge, maybe next time I'll just cut to the chase and mix isopropyl alcohol with club soda.

excuse me, $2.40.

natty daddy, tastes horrible, but you can get a decent buzz on for about $3. Man, what I would give for a job...

Mark and I got by on a liter and a half per day on half dome, I was dying on the descent. For a route that you'll be hauling I would budget 1 gallon a day per person. dehydration sucks!

yeah, I showed one of my non climbing roommates this and he couldn't believe it, so freakin' cool!

the birthers are racist, what else is new?

Just saw this video, really neat stuff. I was in the valley when they were on this, wish I knew about it so I could have cheered them on.

one last bit of spray, then I'm done, I swear.

yeah, UM is a bunch of Obamatron pot smoking rapers. Commonly known fact.

Beowulf, was there any other reason to watch the movie?

casual http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=537860

Might as well be a lift to the top of chair peak, that N face is a mediocre black diamond after all.

also the cascadian is the worst part of any stuart climb. I'd avoid going up it like the plague.

millie creek fire burned up the drainage by storm castle. It's over the ridge to the west of hyalite. Hyalite was closed for a few weeks because they were using the reservoir to pick up water for the fire bombers and they didn't want to kill any SUPers by scooping them up and dropping them onto a inferno. Snow forecasted all week, it's cold. Winter is coming.

heading in to the funeral for a friend area with a rack of pins and double ropes. got some lines that look like they might be good, I guess we'll find out. Fingers crossed that the ice'll be good. I think most of the formations are caused by spring water seeping out of the cliffs. Seems like springs would be less reliant on rainfall, but what do I know.

Sure, I'll post a conditions thread after the next time I go up. Gonna be going into the beartooths in two weeks and I have to fill the freezer next weekend. It's my guess in the meantime that the drive won't be worth it until at least the second weekend in November. There'll be stuff in before that but probably thin and sketchy.

I'd argue the opposite. It seems pretty arrogant to believe that humans are somehow special and the entire universe, eukaryotes, bacteria, archea, everything, was created for human beings. We live on a tiny rock hurtling through space around one star among billions of trillions of stars. We're special? I don't think so, we're just the first creatures to become self aware. We're a accident, an experiment without a scientist that by some stroke of luck managed to progress this far. Who knows what's gonna happen next, but I don't see anyone saving us besides ourselves. In the mean time I'm going to continue climbing rocks ( a incredibly pointless exercise, and yet I get so much from it) The organisms that witness the end of the earth will be as different from us as we are from those first lifeforms that managed to thrive in the primordial soup ~3 billion years ago. That is a mind trip and really fascinating to think about, at least to me.

Just hiked up into flanders for a look-see this morning. Champagne should be climbable really soon. There's ice forming up nicely on big sleep and the killer pillar is beginning to form. I couldn't see anything on bobo like. Pretty damn good for temps hanging around the 50's in town for the last couple weeks, this year is shaping up to be really good!

I ain't gonna pray to no cock sucker. Cocksuckers can't get into heaven anyway.

I was walking though the mall today on the way to sit in library and look at climbing forums when I was distracted by a man spewing vitriolic hatred about homosexuals and fornication outside of marriage in the middle of the MSU mall. He was surrounded by a crowd of mostly rational human beings arguing that his hatred was not fitting for a man of god, but there were 2 people who had legitimate tears in their eyes crying for us "unrepentant sinners". I am an atheist. If someone doesn't see the miracle that modern science has enlightened our understanding of the world we live in I honestly believe that they are ignorant and unwilling to look at the facts in a rational light. However, as long as an individual is trying to lead a good life and better the experience of others they get props in my book, regardless of their religious leanings. Human beings share 89% of our DNA with zebra fish, 95% with mice. In my eyes that verifiable fact is so much more powerful than some instantaneous creation 6000 years ago by a supremely intelligent being. How can people proclaim "love" and "salvation" in such a arbitrary and negative light? How do you sleep at night preaching love while simultaneously telling people that the love they feel for someone of the same gender isn't actually love? It's the same as that scene in Mean Girls, except instead of a hilarious satire of high school cliques it is a fully grown man preaching "truth".

THEY'RE GONE!