jon_masaya

I think its a matter of preference, and skin resilience. I almost never tape, but many of my friends do. I like to think its because I'm a better climber, but then I see their hands after climbing without tape I see why. They bleed and scar and generally f*** their hands up without tape. Maybe its technique, but I think its just thin skin (or lack of Iron or Vitamin E? lol).

My buddy had a bunch of gear stolen out of his car last night in Seattle... doubting the shithead has any use for it, so guessing it will end up on ebay or craigslist. Keep an eye out! Thanks! 1 Mountain Hardware Dihedral 45L Pack 12 Mad Rock Quickdraws 2 Wild Country Locking Carabiners 2 Petzl Attache Carbiners 2 Black Diamond Screwgate Locking Carabiners 1 PMI 7mm Cordelette 2 Black Diamond ATCs 1 Black Diamond ATC Guide (Blue) 6 Black Diamond Dynex Runners 2 Black Diamond Slings 1 Black Diamond Climbing Harness 1 Metolius Personal Anchor 1 Red Chili Climbing Shoes 1 Petzl Climbing Helmet (Orange)

Nice work guys! Thanks for the beta too (we were the folks you talked to the following morning). We didn't have as much luck on the approach conditions as you did, that fresh snow melted off and we were left with harder ice. We were forced to carry boots, crampons, and axes all the way through. We opted to climb the 5.10 face cracks instead of pull our packs through those chimneys and it worked out alright. I ended up having to prussik out of that long rappel too! Damn, what a pain when you're that exhausted...

You can go straight up from the rap slings, but the rock leading to the overhang there is covered in tons of lichen, so we opted to go at it from the right side instead.

We did the traverse last time. Probably the best quality rock on that mountain. Still think going straight up was more fun though.

Trip: Guye Peak - Improbable Direct Date: 8/16/2011 Trip Report: Steffan and I decided to head back to Guye peak yesterday. Its been a little over a year since our last attempt on the same mountain, and we had a grudge to settle with the choss monster. Its a long story, but when we were here last we had only learned a few weeks prior what the hell a "cam" or a "nut" was and had never dealt with crumbling rock faces. We crapped our pants the whole way up, didn't summit, and came home a day late. Needless to say, we were in way over our heads back then. So we've spent the last year climbing nearly full-time, all over the country, exceeding even our own expectations for improvement. It was definitely time to come back. We left the car around 8:30 and hit the talus field. Arrived at the rock chute below the scrambling in about 20min, popped on the rock shoes and helmets and started up. We simul soloed up for a few hundred feet, until we reached a good belay about 150' below lunch ledge. (Skipping the first 1-2 roped pitches listed in guides) Nothing harder than 5.5 to this point, but the rock quality is terrible. It felt really good to come back and be more confident and much faster on this section. We did a quick pitch up to the ledge (5.6), moved the belay to the right and from there followed a short hand crack directly up (5.9?) to another face before hitting the large ramp. Good jams, albeit a bit dirty. Keeping to the right side of the upper face will keep you in better rock. This is a much faster, and we thought way more fun alternative to the improbable traverse. We popped out on to the bushy ramps (discovering and reclaiming our old slings from last year!) and hiked up, following the ramps with the most trees to the summit. Got to the top at about 12pm. Following the summit ridge north (which can involve some scrambling and downclimbing) leads you to the descent trail to Alpental parking lot. With help from a random hiker giving us a lift, we were back to the car in no time. About 5hr total C2C, leaving plenty of time for burgers and beer back home. Overall we had good ol' time, chatting and laughing the whole way up, just cruising. Diapers no longer needed for these two! Ultimately though, the only reason I can see to climb Guye is to have the satisfaction as you drive over I-90 and see it in your face. Still good alpine training either way. Steffan showing off his inner-Honnold. Coming up to Lunch Ledge. Taking the direct variation above Lunch Ledge. More scrambling towards the top. Summit! Gear Notes: helmet!! 60m Rope single to 3" double 0.5"-2" lots of runners Approach Notes: Park at the gravel pullout directly below the mountain in the Olbertal (sp?) resort area. Hike straight up the talus field.

Not sure if the raps are all set up, its a pretty long and airy drop straight down... just saw some slings down low, someone would have to confirm this. I couldn't see the nut listed in the topo, but there is a small BD nut stuck just above that section on the right. We thought it was yours and veered around it, but it brought us around with an airy move to a sharp rope-cutting rock, so I think the new nut is on-route.

TFPU JP! I had a blast,besides having to break in to my car at the trailhead. Oh and the ridiculous cloud of mosquitos that followed us the whole way. lol. The best beta for the last 2 pitches is just go whichever way is steepest and cleanest, aiming for the summit ridge (I don't think any of those cracks are harder than 5.9. Oh and the descent is worth noting. Don't rap in to the deep gully below the summit (saw some slings that other people had left down below). About 10ft below the summit pinnacle is a ledge cutting east below the next wall (listed as the optional P8 on the topo). Traverse around and scramble up and take one of the next two gullies back down. If you take the first one, as we did, stay left (following the bushes) or you'll cliff out. With a little more traffic (and maybe some trundling) this route will just keep getting better!

if radio is unreliable, why not trail a 60m wire with a remote on it? oh wait, we have those already... its called a tagline.

Awesome! I think many of us have stared across at Mt.Index wondering if we would ever be man enough to go up there, and realized... probably not. Props.

Ah, so the sun came out finally in Seattle. No time to make it to the mountains to climb, so thought I would go for a quick session on the water tower at Volunteer park. The tried and true training ground for the broke Seattle climber. I get a few laps in, when I hear "Sir! sir! Get down off of there!". I hop down (from a whopping 2ft) and am approached by a Seattle police officer (along with a parks employee hiding in his truck). The cop tells me that the tower is "private" (!!) property and that it is only to be used for its intended purpose. I tell him that I'm pretty sure its public property and that people have been traversing it for DECADES without incident. At which point he says, "Are you arguing with me? I am a POLICE officer, do you want to go to jail?". I say, "No.. I'm just trying to understand this. Why not put a sign up then? To notify people of the rules, because this is the first I've heard of this" To which he replies, "it wouldn't do any good, people will climb on it anyways" (um, OK!?). I head back to my car, while he sticks around waiting for me to leave. I considered being arrested, just to see if any of this would hold up. Anyone have insight in to this? Are they justified at all? At any given day there is someone traversing the tower, are they for real?! Anyone want to plan a water tower climb-off-protest in the near future...?

I've done the swing on a much more simple set-up (single rope w/ grigri) that didn't involve flossing people at the base and had a good 'ol time. Glad I had the opportunity. Smith Rock isn't new to such crazy shenanigans, so I'm a little surprised to see it get taken down so quickly. I understand the reasoning behind it though and I'm glad you got the approval of the bivy hippies first.

We were the party of 3 coming down around 9am. We thought you guys were crazy for going up there so late in the day! We turned around at about 9,900' after seeing how rimed the Mohler and summit ridge were. Figured it would take too long and put us back at the snow bridge and rockfall chute right around sunny-slush o'clock. Might have attempted if we knew of a better descent to the Russel maybe... ended up down-climbing instead. Amazing how much snow is still up there. We thought about going up the north ridge too, were stoked watching you guys from the base. Glad you got back safe. --Jon

I'll take the quarks if the sale falls through. --Jon

Nice work. I'm always hesitant to recommend this route to anyone who has access to a trad rack (you can have a lot more fun and get way more exposure on a single pitch at index than on 11 at goat wall). And all those rappels! Yeesh! Still fun though, those last few pitches are neat. Just don't go and do Infinite Bliss now, ok?