keenwesh

bring a #4 c4 next time. I placed that thing (and walked it) on 3 of the 4 pitches. beautiful route. the flaring chimney sucks though.

badass! did you manage to grab my stuck rope on the descent off inspiration?

45l cilogear pack can easily hold a weeks worth of backpacking gear/food. I wouldn't go any smaller though. I don't think I could get a pickets traverse sized load of gear in a 30... whats the weight difference anyway? I picked up the 45 worksack last spring and have used it a ton. best pack I've ever owned hands down.

haha sorry, I couldn't resist creating a little shit storm right there. while I personally don't carry/see the need to carry a PLB I am also a 19 year old with no children and no one who is dependent on me, plus I feel that I am fairly conservative and realistic about my abilities in the mountains. later in life I might actually pick one up, not because I want to survive if shit gets really hairy but because others are depending on me as a father and I can't imagine not growing up without a dad. My fist line of defense against dying though is making good calls and keeping a cool head when shit hits the fan. Carry on with the discussion about which beacon mrgecko should get and please disregard my previous post.

what ever happened to being self reliant? how about instead of buying some fancy device that can call in the calvary when you get a splinter you take a WFR course and act conservatively when you're way "out there" and realize that if you fuck up you could die. I go to the mountains to get away from it all, and having a button to press that sends a chopper really takes away from that.

it's 5.8ish, really fun and good. there are edges to stand on every body length so you never have to place gear from a lieback. the fingercrack that finishes it off is steller too. git on it!

sounds like you get to quit early!

coulda given you one last sunday...

I came pretty damn close last spring. was held underwater for 6 minutes. If it wasn't for my buddy getting me out I wouldn't be here today. If you're running class V, don't swim. I'd love to get on the clear fork though, supposedly one of the most beautiful places in washington/the world according to people who've been there.

theres much better kayaking in the gorge below that choss... supposedly it's choked with wood right now though unfortunately.

when I say s face I mean rapping directly south from the notch, on the skiers right side of the south face. Like I said there were 2 anchors with new tat on them visible from the notch but we couldn't see anything below that and it got steep and kinda blank looking. it's not near the south face route, farther off to the side. The actual south face is incredibly sheer, I couldn't believe it when we trundled a huge block off and it didn't impact until just above the glacier, quite a bit of airtime off that thing. someone should wingsuit it.

Thanks guys! does anyone know the word on the descent that goes down the south face? I'm wondering if things might have went smoother had we gone that way. We could see one rap station down about 75 feet from the notch to the skiiers right, but nothing below that, just steep grey rock. Do the raps keep heading right around the corner? please people, this is the shit that keeps me awake at night!

Trip: Inspiration Peak - East Ridge Date: 8/7/2011 Trip Report: Mark called me up last week to see if I wanted to do a trip before we both left for college, I flipped through the nelson/potterfield guide and landed on the pickets, a quick check of the weather and it was decided. I headed out early sunday morning, picking up mark in everett and making it to the trailhead by 10.30 or so. Bummer that they're turning goodell creek into a campground. We received a warning from a local woman about rocky mountain spotted fever and that "the trail is washed out about 2 miles up, you might have to turn around" I politely thanked her for the heads up, snapped a quick before shot, and headed up the trail. watch out for those shifty eyes... The cairn didn't take all that long to get to. damn that trail is steep There's good trail all the way up, I was surprised at how easy it was to follow. View from the saddle at 6,200 takin' a break before descending to camp. There was a group of 3 we shared the basin with, they had climbed west and east macmillan in the preceeding days. We got up the next day around 7 or 8 and headed out. (should have started earlier) traversing to terror glacier Thaaarrrr it issss!!! Heading up the direct and very steep snow finger below seracs and above a gaping schrund provided excitement, parts of that fucker are at least 60 degrees, at least when you reach the top it puts you right below the base of the route. We simuled to the ridge in 2 pitches, theres a fucking vertical garden of heather right off that bat that I nearly shit myself on. I hate that stuff. I stopped next to a giant loose block and brought mark up as I didn't want the rope to dislodge it as I climbed past. when we were above it I touched it with my foot and the whole thing went. trundling is a blast. smoke and dust fly everywhere. Mark headed up to the ridge and we took a quick break below the 5.8 lieback. I headed up building a belay below the splitter 5.9 crux. Mark came up and took the rack, he spent a while on the crux pitch, a combination of fatigue, exposure, and cold, as we had gone into the shade. Me following. one of the best and most sustained pitches I've seen in the alpine. A quick rerack at the belay, plus a longing look over towards fury and where I was almost exactly a year ago, and I was off Mongo ridge is fuckin huge, wanye I can't believe you put that up solo The next couple pitches along the ridgecrest were good and exposed. I simuled up to the summit, which we reached at 4.15. I was getting a bit nervous about the descent. hydrating on top summit yea mark took his shirt off for good measure The descent was hellish, the fist two raps wouldn't pull, so one of up had to reclimb the pitch and re set them, a couple more double rope raps and we hit the notch. I saw new looking slings heading down the south face so I rigged that and sent mark down 50 feet before looking around the corner and seeing slings that headed into the gully. I had mark come back up as I had never read anything about descending the south face. this ate up even more time and we were getting seriously worried about getting down before dark. 2 raps down and we hit the gully, with a super sketch traverse across the snow finger. when we pulled the ropes one got stuck, leaving us with no real option other than cutting one of our ropes (I'll let raindawg save his breath when I say that the most likely result of leaving a stuck rope on the mountain is the clearcutting and total devastation of the entire goodell creek valley...) we made three 25 meter raps and a sketchy steep snow downclimb for good measure before hitting the top of the schrund perfectly with about a foot of rope to spare just as the sun set. I quickly tied us about 100 feet apart and headed down in the fading light. We just made it through the seracs and other shit as it went completely dark. a long traverse to the bootpack and we followed that all the way back to camp. getting in at 10.40. A 15 or so hour day. No pics of the descent cause I was scared shitless and mentally half preparing to spend the night spooning on a ledge freezing my ass off. We woke up in the morning to the peaks socked in and cooler temps. the party of three had left while we were still asleep. Thankfully they put a good bootpack in up to the saddle at 6,200 so we didn't need to wear our 'pons, speeding things up. the trail was long and knee grinding somewhere in the forest Made it back to the car at 1.30 and sipped a cold beverage at goodell creek before driving home absolutely beat down. after shot, too tired for shifty eyes Gear Notes: double rack to 2, a single 3 you could probably get by with just 2 #2s and a 3, singles in the smaller sizes, but why not carry more when you can? Approach Notes: straight up

good work! that approach is just a little strenuous....

I talked to the guy who did this and according to him he had asked around before retrobolting to find out the local consensus. according to him he got the go ahead from everyone he talked to, I had no reason to doubt him... along with his partner they were some of the nicest people I talked to over the two days I was there. gave me a topo and told me where to go to avoid the sun. thanks guys! K cliff was a blast, also that bolt did need replacing. If you don't like it don't clip it.

I have a pair of boots for you, basically brand new. $250 boots for $120. think about it....

Trip: Washington Pass and Burgundy Spire - Date: 7/28/2011 Trip Report: I spent 4 wonderful days climbing and hiking with my dad last week. We tried to do 4 but managed to make it up 3 summits, and had a absolute blast. We left Olympia around 3 on wednesday and spent a good portion of the drive in traffic, ended up taking ~5 hours to get to blue lake trailhead. mosquitoes were horrible. Thursday morning we packed up our overnight gear and hiked in the long way past blue lake, finding a sweet campsite below news. After some lunch it was off to the West face. I led everything and provided tension when scott called for it. every pitch was great. I went from the big ledge atop P1 all the way through the 5.9 traverse to the base of the 10d crack scott following I originally had decided I was going to free the 10d crux crack, but after getting up to it and trying to get my sausage fingers to fit inside I quickly dropped that plan and pulled on gear to get up. Have tiny little baby fingers for this one. scott pulling the anchor and getting ready to grab the nylon holds I took the cleaned gear and started heading up the stellar next pitch This is so much fun! cruise up the crack, thin at first but not too desperate and it slowly widens. Most is bomber fingers though. Great exposure. I made it all the way to the top with a 70, so we did the W face in 4 pitches. scott coming up over the top Views on top Wine Spires chockstone rap we came back to camp and relaxed in the sun. I had thrown the entire beckey guide in my pack for reading material. The standard route on Liberty Bell and the tunnel route on Concord Tower were out on the next days itinerary. On the way up in the morning to the liberty bell notch we ran into the nicest looking goat either of us had ever seen. damn you look good The beckey route is so nice, all the loose shit that is usually on terrain like this has been knocked off. Fun and mellow in the sun. summit The Tower Route. Don't go by the picture shown in the beckey guide unless you like doing steep crumbling liebacks with absolutely no pro. Follow the topo, that might be right. My dad convinced me to follow the picture which doesn't really exist and for sure does not go at 5.7. I got to solo up and down the west face of Concord for a few hours, it was so fuckin' awesome. Saturday we headed for Burgandy, reaching the col in 3-4 hours from the road Coming up the 5.8 pitch to the big ledge midway up the face On the ledge At this point I headed up left, towards the obvious handcrack in a flare. Scott following the flare After the flare there is fantastic 5.7-8 face climbing up the crest, with the east face falling to the left all the way to the silver star glacier, there's a nice 50 year old 1/4 incher too you get to clip for the hardest moves too. I belayed partway across at a slung block. the next pitch continued up the arete finishing with a perfect handcrack so good!!!! After that sweet climbing there is another pitch or so of BS downclimbing and traversing to reach the standard 5.8 grunt that goes off the right side of the big ledge. it's not all that far but ropedrag becomes a problem. Scott on top, I have no idea who he's waving too... Tired and a little chilly on top Rap #5 (of 8, the route is so convoluted!) We got down, brewed up water and pitched the tent. Whoever left your fancy foil bag of crap under a rock, fuck you. Along with the other party at the col we played a guessing game of what was inside. when it turned out to be shit we were pretty disappointed. I also had the pleasure of carrying it out the next day. Speaking of shit, on the hike out my pops had to make a deposit so I was left to take sophomore girl pics of myself while I waited for him. here's the best I got. Gear Notes: At Washington pass I brought gear to 3, doubles to 2. for burgundy a single rack to 3, it was just about perfect. Approach Notes: Hike

good work. that chimney sucks, I pulled on gear the entire way up! rest of the route is a blast though.

a much delayed price drop, $100 for a pair of basically new boots! Someone can use these.

Rob was such a nice guy, always loved talking to him whenever I was at alpine or during the occasional run in skiing. man, this sucks.

rats! gotta go climb something else to try and win that prize. Hosted on cc? all my other trs with pictures have been linked from facebook. Do those not count? I've never bothered with the CC photo uploader, do I have to in order to score my name in the hat for the june prize?

Sol, did I talk to you for a bit last summer over at the country? I knew at least one of you leavenworth hardmen were there... Hope you had a good time out Sunday. Your adventure on BCW sounded wild too btw!

hey, we're 18 and 19, old enough to drink in the vast majority of countries. A single beer in the morning is no doubt wildly irresponsible for us, excuse me, I'm sure none of you would have considered such a travesty at our age. And Off, we left early to go shovel rabbit shit for E's mom, almost as good as underage drinking!

how hard would it be to get a honey bucket installed in the parking area? I'd chip in for that, I hate having to drive back in to town to drop a deuce.

Trip: Index - Date: 6/5/2011 Trip Report: On saturday my buddy and I hatched a half baked plan to go climbing the next day. he's graduated and I'm a senior who said fuck that to prom, wayy too much money that could be spent on climbing trips, plus you're not even allowed to dance when you get there, bullshit. anyway we didn't get the go ahead to borrow a car until around 6.30 that night (parents are notoriously hard to persuade) so we quickly threw as much of our shit in the car as we could and also picked up another kid whos friends bailed on him for that night. we blasted up to index, arriving around 11. the temps were perfect so we decided to do a quick run up GNS in the dark. it was sweet. night climbing is real nice. we crashed out by the river around 12.30 and woke up way late. in the parking lot we proceeded to look like idiots by my half assed parking job (hey I can't really drive a stick) and since we packed everything up in 15 minutes we had no food, just some PBR. so we were having beers for breakfast. it's just how she goes. we took a quick run up the GM route. I want to go back for the heart of the country. The squeeze was kinda in the shade so I went for that. we rapped off and headed over to a clusterfuck on tarus, eventually I managed to set up a TR on terminal preppie and gave that a (pathetic) go. someone shit on the ledge and my friend stepped in it in his flip flops. so whoever left that there fuck you. seriously man, come on. Gear Notes: food would've been nice Approach Notes: all of 150 feet