YocumRidge

I am very happy with my 40B, I used it for a few years now, and nothing comes close to it. I got rid of the various "ultra-light" large volume packs as they were just simply too painful for me with heavy loads. If you are thinking of winter trips, multi-day trips, hauling - get this pack. Very comfy to climb with, great back suspension. If the loads are 40 lbs +, the extra frame sheet it comes with does help.

Another correction: The picture on P. 165 (Cooper Spur chapter) shows the summit pyramid and overhanging cornice for the standard North face route, but not Cooper Spur. See this TR: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=967319

Yep, Steve - have fun, look good, safety third - I think we got it all covered here!

Bill, please contact ColinB re: NF rap situation. He has got the latest topo/updates, possibly pics. How are they going to do the book signings if they did not even get the book in stock?

Thanks for the recommendation, John!

Trip: STUART - Ice Cliff Arete Date: 8/10/2014 Trip Report: Ever since I climbed the complete north ridge on Stuie last September, I was admiring the impressive skyline dividing the Ice cliff and Sherpa glaciers – the elusive Ice Cliff arête. I made some inquiries which yielded little info. The glorious John Plotz however reassured me that the arête is a hidden gem and should be “fun”. I guess we would go with just that. Ice Cliff Arete as seen from the lower North Ridge (September 2013): Dan (DPS) and I rolled into the Stuart lake p-lot around midnight on Fri. The 8-mile road now has a striking resemblance to the access to Black Velvet canyon in Red rawks – wheel alignment ensued. We started at the TH at 3.15 a.m. – the going is always fast, refreshing and light in the dark but not so much when the sun is up. The meadow and boulder field below Sherpa gl. are vicious. The mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds live there and they almost ate me alive. At the base of the arête: We went up the clean slabs to the left of the first tower between two waterfalls on cl. 4 – mid 5, passing the signs of the earlier human travel – a few pieces of fixed gear. At this point I was sad to part with my new hiking pole made of Oregonian pine and specifically designed to deliver the individuals with injured ankles to the base of alpine routes. My other one had tragically died on me a few days prior almost at the same location: Bloodshed Dan is about to head up the approach slabs: After crossing the right most snow finger, we located the famous “pink granite” ramp and roped up in the moat below it. The pink ramp however turned out to be a total blank so I went up the crack system to the left – 3 pitches to the crest of the arête. En route to the crest on the delightful Sierras type granite: The last pitch to the crest behind the ice block: Once on the crest, the simul-climbing on cl. 3, 4 and mid 5 had begun for seems like an eternity. Here is an overlay of the first half of the route: Getting to the snow field at the col below the Black Tower was a happy moment in our lives – we had finally reached the shade and a plenty of glacial melt to refill on water. “What does the route description say as to where do we go on the Black Tower?” “It says – to climb the Black Tower”. So, we climb the Black Tower. The right side thereof did not look awesome, neither was the left, so we chose the black open book in the center and cut right thereafter and then left again. Dan is heading up the open book: A few more pitches (I stopped counting at this point) and more simul-climbing, and we are on the top of that freaking tower. Dan admitted the headwall above looked awfully steep but that must have been due to an angle distortion in the fading light. I went ahead and fixed the next pitch along the knife edge ridge, then traversed left and up around the awkward laybacking block. In the fading light. By the time I got down, he had already cleared out two bivy sites on the top of the Black Tower overlooking Sherpa peak. Next morning we made through the transition and started up the headwall through the overhanging corner. After a take #2 and a small fall, I was very happy to be done with that section. Here is a long distance action shot of us taken from West Ridge on Sherpa (Photo Credit: Colleen Murphy) and an overlay for the upper part of the route: Looking down on the Sherpa gl.: North Ridge and Girth Pillar: The upper headwall from the belay: After Dan arrived at the belay, he graciously offered to lead the next pitch… And the next, and the next, after which we simul-climbed for more, through the final OW slot to the summit ridge. Dan mid-way on the upper headwall: On the summit ridge: For the descent, we slogged down southeast below Sherpa, rapped once through the cliff band and merged with the standard Sherpa “trail”. I am still hurting to think about that bitch: way more slow and painful than the crapcadian next door. All in all, we thought the ice cliff arête was a harder and more thought-provoking alternative to its neighbor - north ridge, with the exceptional quality granite and by no means less aesthetic. Probably, my favorite route on Stuie yet. Thanks to Dan for another awesome trip! Gear Notes: 8 mm x 60 m rope, 0.3 - 3", doubles 0.5 - 2", orange link-cam, DMM wallnuts and offsets, RPs. Used all. Approach Notes: Mountaineers creek

I thought you took the best ones last week, no?

I bet. Now I have one criminal hand too

Trip: GOODE - NE Butt via Park Creek carryover Date: 7/27/2014 Trip Report: On July 27th my friend Simon and I climbed NE Butt on Goode and carried over via Park Creek over 3 long days. The cops in Darrington are mean and for some reason gave me a ticket for the dead headlight. It has been raining when we got to the Bridge Creek TH and crashing on the cement in the p-lot was not the best thing in the world but it worked. The restrooms at Bridge Creek TH are high end and can be certainly a much better choice of the bivvy material (Ivan?). The first 10 mile approach on PCT was swift and it took us 3.5 hrs to reach the North Fork junction. Still full of energy: Second barefoot crossing of the Grizzly creek: North Fork Bridge creek crossing was less fortunate for me, as I did manage to fall into that freaking creek: Simon approaching the slabs: As we were getting tired of the shwack and heat at this point, we forgot the beta to traverse climbers right and pretty much stayed close to the left waterfall. Not a good idea. The class 3 quickly transformed into a serious cl. 5 for which we got the rope out. Clean and smooth rock and way more solid than anything we climbed on the butt the next day. Still, how many people rope up on this approach – more like a “0”, but whatever – 9 hours after leaving the car we had arrived at the highest bivvy sites at 5400’. If you think Goode is a remote peak, think again – we had two teams of 4 next to us that weekend. At the bivvy sites: Megalodon ridge at sunset. My friends climbed it two weeks prior and rave about it. It would certainly be a mega-classic like TFT if not for the sucky approach (which is less sucky than that for NEB anyway). Still, it seems to be trendy these days and I am secretly hoping it is more solid than NEB too. We did not see any bears, but this dude chewed a hole in the Simon’s water bladder at night: Next morning we had to sacrifice some time to fix the bladder and then crossed the Goode gl on the left side through the icefall: Short vertical alpine ice steps in the approach shoes and Alu crampons plus an ice tool in hand. The other team went on the right side of the icefall and their way seemed to be more straightforward then ours. Simon in the moat at the base of the NEB (left side): Hiking the lower NEB: Simuling the upper NEB along with other 8 people (hello Forbidden west ridge): Plenty of snow on route: Obviously, everyone wants to bivvy on the summit but the summit does not take 10 people (6 at most), so we chose to bivvy below the Black Tooth: On the summit next morning: Descending SW couloir was pleasant and way more solid than I expected. Bedayan couloir, on the other side, another descent option, leaves much to be desired. I almost threw up when I looked down that thing from the summit. Looking back on the south side of Goode: The crux of the descent was finding the “trail” on the “timbered ridge” to get down to Park Creek trail. Don’t try to cross-country here – that sucked a big time. We got lucky and picked up the faint trail again in the meadow to the skiers right of the downfall. 400 mg of caffeine and 20 mile back to the car followed. Still alive at the South Fork. Bridge creek is civilized here and has a bridge for a change: My Gooded out feet at the car next morning: Gear Notes: Light alpine rack to #2 and a 60 m half rope Approach Notes: 35 miles total

I used LS Trango Extreme Evo Light GTX boots and stainless steel Sabertooths (dual horizontal front points) and was very happy with that combination for the ice part. As we could not pass through the main shrund below the Chrystal glacier and went through the chute to the right instead, we took the crampons off for a few rock pitches we climbed there, it was way faster that way.

I used Scarpa Crux approach shoes on NEB while my partner's footwear choice was more elaborate: Plus Alu crampons and one ice tool in hand for crossing Goode gl. Have fun. I probably should post a TR as well when I get time.

I had to fertilize the Stuart range soil with a liter of fresh erythrocytes... Geoff's truck has a weird clutch - it is why he advised me not to use it much - I stalled only once over the 1.5 mile stretch.

It is what sport climbers do - they wear tights and don't carry packs.

You have to look for the pants that are marketed as J-burg proof.

Nice, Ivan. Yocum does look good. You should have continued further

Possibly, but I hear someone was getting fairly soaked 6 pitches up on the Half Dome at that exact moment?

Yes, and they were trying to sell me a trigger replacement kit ($15) plus shipping. Seriously? Would I ever use C3s again - the answer is obvious.

Neither for me. Broke two C3s in falls and got rid of them. Shitty construction. Now I have switched to alienes and Totem cams. What a difference.

Stay classy, Alex. I know you can .

Trip: Johannesburg in da rain - Dan's Direct & East Face Date: 7/5/2014 Trip Report: To get an easier onsight of the holiday traffic, I left Portland a day earlier and rolled into the Cascade Pass p-lot at a decent hour of midnight on Thu. Next morning I woke up to steady rain and this reassuring view: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Canadian Rockies - the land of intimidating 5000’ north faces! If only you can see them on the 4th of July weekend. I have peculiar tastes I guess. My desolation angel in the morning: While waiting for Dan (DPS) to arrive from Seattle, I was desperately trying to come up with backup rain plans - like hiking Magic mountain in the rain, for example. Or Buckner. Or Cascade pass trail. This was my first time climbing with Dan and wow, what a treat it was. Buy him food, gas, or bribe him with whatever so he would go climbing with you…First of all, he brought a better weather to Cascade pass. The rain had stopped, the clouds somewhat lifted and after 5 min of sport climbing approach, we were putting the crampons on at the base of the couloir – our backup option #3. These wet, bear-like dudes residing on J-burg don’t give shit about weather, so why should we? Dan’s Direct we took to the col: Dan soloing the couloir: “The constriction” was about 3’ wide and would not last for long it seems so future visitors are encouraged to take a cl. 3 rock bypass 50’ to the left. In the moat higher up: TFT Resplendent – as seen from another moat in the couloir. I climbed it last year and now it is looking back at me: Happy arrival to the best view in the cascades and more clouds and rain above: TFT in the limbo: We pitched in the tent to precariously hang at the lip of the col – the flattest spot we could find: The rain persists. The snow got “lumpy” under the Dan’s insulate pad at night and he was apparently sliding somewhere, to the base of Formidable or into another moat, not sure. Neoair are great however – one can use it as a swimming mattress too but I still got my hair wet. I slept for about an hour that night. The rain has finally stopped and Dan was up at 4 a.m. ready to go. I am on the other hand is a lazy sport climber and my alpine starts begin at 8 a.m. these days. I blabbed something like the white staircase needs time to dry out and went back to sleep. Finally I woke up with the sun shining, crawled out of the tent and to the base of the staircase. The staircase is wet and we solo it. Not bad really, if you don’t make hasty moves. Dan on the white staircase is carrying my new “no-women” dyneema Cilo pack, just because he needs to be trendy. I carry nothing – I am trendy like that too, I suppose. At the top of the staircase we put the crampons on and solo some steep snow trying to shoot for the grey tower on the summit ridge. Despite the adventurous routefinding, we did not dead end once and always were able to find connecting ramps between gendarmes and rock ribs. More steep snow we soloed: Somewhere half way up the face, I fell through the hidden moat. Not wanting to become an asphyxiation victim of the underground terrain on J-burg, I reluctantly suggested we should probably rope up at this point and start simul-climbing. Dan is easy and agrees to everything. It’s amazing. Here is the only piece we placed on the face - while trying to get through another spooky moat: Dan is approaching the summit ridge: After our boots begun getting soaked, we moved to the rock section just to the left of grey tower. It was wet, smooth and felt harder than the white staircase. I already decided in my mind that I am not going to downclimb “this” on the way down. Finally we reached the summit ridge. What a great spot: vertical gendarme to the left and skinny cornice to the right. I kicked the cornice with my foot and luckily it did not give away. Getting on to the cornice: Dan is escaping the cornice and downclimbing to the summit ridge: Looking back at the cornice: At this point we already see the false and true summits along the ridge and drop all our gear once we realize there is no more snow ahead to deal with. Once you are on the “trail”, the going is actually pretty good since most of the choss has been already cleaned out by the previous visitors. We did get off the “trail” a couple of times, and downclimbed too far down on the south side. That was not a class 2. Yocum Ridge here it comes: if you don’t like a hold, take it out and build a new one. Do yourself a favor and try to avoid the Yocum Ridge variation – if you want to live for a little bit longer. On the summit: 5000’ down to the p-lot: Bad weather behind us: The show is over, the clouds closed in and the rain/suck is about to begin: We reverse the path to get to our gear, put the crampons on and start downclimbing. I quickly realize that the snow/rain is not compatible with my boots. Thank you La Sportiva for making such a great product. I would certainly buy it again. If anyone ever been wondering about screaming barfies in summer, get these boots – LS Trango S Evo GTX. We are getting soaked. A combination of belayed downclimbing, simulclimbing, soloing and rapping followed as the rain hit harder. I choose to rappel more than Dan (who downclimbs the snow next to me in sync) as my feet were getting hypothermic and alternating between rock and wet snow kind of helped not to loose them completely. It worked. We are back at the col. Weather is seriously unhappy: The post-descent recovery for the emotionally traumatized individuals: Are we taking Doug’s Direct back to the car? You bet. It must be fun in a whiteout and rain. Plus I am lazy and hate extra hiking when there is no need. Dan is “easy”, so I can do whatever. Call it my unhealthy inclination, but we will obviously downclimb the couloir. All our gear is soaked, and at least twice as heavy as before. Although everyone soloes the couloir these days, right then I was not particularly looking forward to carry a dead wet cow in my albeit trendy pack. So I sheepishly asked Dan if he would be OK to have the rope out granted I will climb first, kick in steps and promise not to fall. Again, no problem. A barrage of chickens off the Cascade peak flew by suspiciously close to us reminding to hurry up so that we can go home unharmed. As expected, I get another bout of screaming barfies in my feet and almost get rid off the freaking soaked through boots right down into the moat. Boots or a lack thereof, there is not much difference really except extra weight - might as well continue in my socks. But the car is near, so I suck it up. A good 4th of July weekend on a true Cascadian testpiece. Thanks, Dan! Gear Notes: One picket, C4 #0.75; 1 nut, 1 KB and tat - for raps Wet boots Approach Notes: 0

Why is the east face forbidden?

West Side road is now closed completely at SR706 due to a recent landslide. Mowich Lake Rd. normally opens just before 4th of July and I personally prefer that approach for Ptarmigan. Its shorter and more scenic but does require a car shuttle.

Aweful news. RIP. Pretty frequently early in the season - before the snow pack had a chance to consolidate. The 45 deg "ramp" above the lower ridge and the terrain above to the summit ridge are especially prone to high avalanche activity. This happened almost exactly one year ago but went unnoticed in the news: 3 climbers caught in avalanche on Liberty Ridge, May 2013

A good one, Ivan. You should put Heathens Highway (on the Friar) on your immediate list. The things you find there....are so totally bomber.

Indeed. Great news, Bill!