thefritz

Yep, but so it goes... things are just things. Though, it's fun to lost and found. I lost a camera on mt washington a few years ago and got it back 2 years later, still with the pix on it. Tough little guy, still using it today!

Lost FitBit Tracker on 9/29/12, probably on summit block of Mount Washington, in Oregon. It's a small (about 1/2" x 2") black-and-blue clip with a single button and a display which is usually dark. Looks like: this

yep, pics here: http://www.fritzcapell.org/Photos/index.php?dir=Other_Hikes_and_Climbs/2011-01-22-Saint_Helens_Scouting

Trip: Mount Saint Helens - Swift Creek/Worm Flows Route Date: 1/22/2011 Trip Report: Went up just today to check out the conditions and get some beta for a group climb next weekend. The roads are generally passable with most vehicles, some stray snow but nothing challenging for any all-wheel-drive. Slippery at night once it refroze. The snow is rather unconsolidated, and on a warm day like today that meant a lot of postholing. I would definitely recommend snowshoes, but you can probably stash them when it gets steep. Leaving early is probably a good idea as well. I only reached 4800 ft but the groups coming down from above said that the conditions on the faces above were icy, and several groups were turned back because they didn't bring crampons. The only team I talked to that made the summit today had both snowshoes and crampons. The glissading was apparently excellent. Climb safe! Fritz Gear Notes: Recommend snowshoes and crampons.

Trip: Broken Top - Green Lakes to Northwest Ridge Date: 7/10/2010 Trip Report: Excursion Time: 13 hours car-to-car Carpool Ratio (people/cars): 2.0 A group of 10 climbers from the Santiam Alpine Club reached the summit of Broken Top on July 10, 2010. Most of us arrived late in the evening the night before, and camped at the Green Lakes trailhead, a very hospitable place for camping, with a soft surface, a babbling brook and last-minute water source, and even a pit toilet - first class accommodations! We placed our tents randomly, but the ranger came by in the morning and scolded us; apparently there are some posts marking appropriate places to camp, which we never saw in the dark. We'll look for those next time. We awoke to a few deer grazing nearby, and rousted ourselves to a rather embarrassing 6:50am departure. I won't name any names, but are we climbers or hibernating bears? I'm going to have to wake some of you earlier next time I schedule a 6am climb. Fortunately, we had a wide open climbing window, so we could afford a yawning start. Heavy June snowfall made this an unusual year for snow. The trail was bare at the trailhead, but soon drifts appeared, making the trail rather difficult to follow. Since it follows Fall Creek, it's hard to get too lost. We abandoned the trail when it departed from the creek up the side of the hill, as my climbing instinct wouldn't let me give up the elevation we'd gained. Turns out it would be better to lose a little elevation and stick with the creek - we returned via that route, and it was a much easier passage. We reached the Green Lakes area at about 9:30 and scoped ourselves out a route up onto the ridge to the north, targeting the western edge of the ridge's saddle. The area around Green Lakes was very snowy, though melted through in some areas, and the lakes themselves were full of ice. The ascent onto the ridge was mixed snow and rock, but not difficult. We were on the ridge by about 11, stashed some of our gear there, and continued eastward up the ridge, reaching The Nose around 1pm. The Nose is basically the crux of the climb, a slightly tricky little rock pitch that we usually protect because it is rather exposed. The accumulated snow on the north side of the ridge alleviated much of the exposure, and most of the team felt they could tackle the pitch without protection. But we set an anchor and roped up anyway, just to make good use of the rope we'd hauled all the way up here, and anyway we figured the descent would be better rappelled. We set up an anchor and Jeremy belayed everyone up, and from there they continued with the last traverse, around the horn to the south and then back across on the east side to the summit. Our first climbers reached the summit shortly before 2pm. We encountered only one other group on the mountain, four hikers from Corvallis who arrived as we were belaying. I offered to belay them up without considering all the ramifications - they were without harnesses or helmets, and without even the skills to tie themselves in. Simon and I gave up our harnesses, Rory and others helped them tie in, and their heads were their own problem, as it would have been foolish to give up our helmets. Probably shouldn't have done that, but it must have been worth some serious karma points. Everybody got a few minutes at the summit, which was in perfect form. Beautiful day, mild temperatures, and we could see every mountain from here to everywhere. The view of the Sisters from that vantage point is especially spectacular from there, and the more so with a heavy dusting of snow on them. I could have spent several hours up there, but the team was anxious, and some had already headed back toward our stash down the ridge. We used FMRS walkie-talkies to keep in touch, but interference from other groups was a problem, as always, high in the mountains, because the range can be extreme. Tom and Peter had a second GPS, so they went on ahead back to the cars. Our team rappelled, Rory belayed the wayward hikers, we tore down our anchor, and we all picked our way back down the ridge to the stash spot, for a last rest before pushing our way down through the mosquito lands. We plunge-stepped easy snowfields back down to Fall Creek, and made the rest of the hike out along the usual route. A few sketchy snowbridges across swollen creeks, and we reached the cars shortly before 8pm. Gear Notes: Requires about 25ft of webbing, and biners etc., to set anchor at the Nose.

bvail - thanks for trying. Sounds like you made the summit, congrats! Andy - good to see you out there, sorry I'm doing Broken Top and Smith that weekend.

Trip: Mount Washington (Oregon Peak) - Standard North Ridge Dog Route Date: 6/26/2010 Trip Report: A Santiam Alpine Club team of 9 reached the summit of Mount Washington (in Oregon) on June 26, 2010. We took the standard North Ridge "dog" route, starting from the PCT trailhead near Big Lake. In this highly unusual precipitation year, we had little idea what to expect on this mountain. I went by there the weekend previous to check on the conditions, but the visibility was very poor and I was unable to see the mountain at all. Based on my observations of nearly zero snow around the trailhead, my guess was that snow would not be an issue. As we arrived Friday evening to camp at Big Lake, we got our first view of a very wintery-looking peak, and quickly made a complete assessment of what traction devices we had all brought along in defiance of the official gear list. We departed the trailhead at 7:30am on Saturday, and the Pacific Crest Tail almost immediately became buried in snow. We followed tracks and felt like we were on the right route for much longer than we actually were, and by the time I consulted the GPS we had meandered pretty far to the west and completely missed the cairn marking the usual departure from the PCT. By this time the surface was all snow, and we had to bushwhack and guide mainly by eye up to the ridge. The going was rough, and we probably lost a half hour or so. The ridge was clear along the top, but the eastern side was a huge, deep snowfield. For most of the ascent, we could choose to pick among the rocks, or stomp up the snow. It was a hot, clear and sunny day, so the consolidated snow had a pretty good mush layer on top, and offered good and stable footing. None of us ended up needing our crampons or traction devices. In a few places the snow had collected into an unexpected obstacle, but nothing that we couldn't safely traverse. We saw only two other teams during the day; one pair of skiers who were playing on the eastern snowfield, and one other pair we encountered near the summit block, but who had turned back at the saddle. We offered to help them up, but they declined. We reached the saddle about 12:30pm. I set up protection on the first pitch, and spent nearly two hours getting everyone up to that anchor. That crux is always a challenge. It's usually windy up there, and difficult to throw the ropes down to the climbers below, but this time it was even worse, because most of the saddle was covered in a slippery and exposed snowfield, leaving only a very small target toward which to throw the rope. Many times it blew off uselessly over the cliffs to the east, many times it fell uselessly on the snowfield to the west, and many times it got snagged up in the rocks, requiring me to rappel down and untangle it. Very frustrating and time-consuming. Especially Victor's yellow rope seemed to have an attitude all its own. By 3pm we were still working that first pitch, and I hadn't even been able to leave the station long enough to check out the rest of the summit block or set anchors up above. With a 4pm turnaround time, it was looking like we may not make the summit. Finally, with everyone up that wanted to tackle the summit block, we took one rope and one anchor and pressed for the top. Though there were a few tricky bits, everyone felt comfortable enough to take them on with a little coaching, and fortunately on that mountain the more difficult climbing bits don't correspond with the more threatening exposure, with the exception of the first pitch that we had roped. There were a few puddles of snow, but nothing that caused us any difficulty. We made the rest of the ascent without roping up. We reached the summit at about 3:50pm. For about ten minutes we enjoyed the view of some very snowy Sisters, an imposing Jefferson, and a craggy little Three Fingered Jack. We took our summit shots, which we may never see, since I seem to have set my camera down at the belay station and neglected to pick it up again. It was a beautiful clear day up there, and we wished for more time, but as usual, the press of daylight pushed us on. We picked our way carefully down the summit block. Rockfall is always an issue in that area, usually kicked down by your teammates, but everybody did really well at placing carefully, and warning each other where the loose ones were. Only one major rock fell, requiring Jeremy to artfully dodge behind a cornice. Everybody rappelled the last pitch, a beautiful ride off the cliff and back to the saddle. For a final complication, that yellow rope refused to come back down, and I started preparing to lead that crazy pitch yet again to untangle it, but it turned out it was only me it didn't like - as soon as somebody else pulled on it, it obligingly returned to the team. We packed up and headed out. We descended down the ridge, instead of the alternate route down the scree field, which was now a very steep and intimidating snow field. The ridge descent was very pleasant, the slush allowing us to slide a lot on our feet or butts with minimal effort. At the end of the ridge, we descended toward the PCT, and almost immediately lost the trail, but it made little difference. We stayed in clear areas as best we could, and made sure we were going between North and West, eventually finding the PCT just above the cairn. Another hour or so of snowy trail, and we reached the cars again by about 9pm.

Found the snowshoe on the northwest face of Mount Washington (Oregon), a hundred feet or so below the familiar saddle. Looks pretty new. Anybody got the other? Please describe the snowshoe for identification purposes... I presume you have one you can look at for details... Fritz

All I used was one anchor built with about 8 ft of webbing, biners for that, and one rope. I can free climb that block no problem, but if you're more nervous on rock you might need to set something else. My team (of 9, inexperienced) didn't need any pro except on that first pitch, but some teams in the past have appreciated setting anchors in a couple spots above, especially for descent. I brought enough for three anchors, but only used one. I've never used any trad up there. If you're experienced enough to set that stuff, you're probably good enough to free climb it. Just watch for rotten rock, that's the main issue. And watch your fall lines, rocks always come down. Finding the trail is a challenge, hope you have some GPS guidance or good nav skills. Good luck!

Need any beta? I was just there... briefly: lots of snow, hard to follow the PCT or any trails down below. Solid, consolidated snow and good footing on the east side of the north ridge. Summit block is clear. I have GPS routes if you're interested. I'll probably post a full trip report in a few days. Thanks, Fritz

Lost: portable Panasonic camera on Mount Washington (Oregon peak), Saturday June 26, 2010. I believe I set it down while belaying, right at the anchor at the top of the first pitch on the summit block. I would very much appreciate its return. Fritz