CamelJockey

Nice work Nash, Niki, and Monocle!!!!

Jason Downs, I <3 you like a fat kid <3s cake.

I believe it. It was raining on us a bit while we climbed on Sat. By the time we got in the car and were heading towards Stevens Pass, it was a torrential downpour. I imagine the snow stability on Sunday was terrible.

Trip: Leavenworth Ice Climbing - (pics + helmet cam) - Millennium Wall Date: 1/28/2012 Trip Report: Brian and I got out Saturday and ventured onto Millennium Wall. It was a great day out. It wasn’t as fat as when I was out there a couple times last year, and the ice was not the best. It was pretty soft on the outside layer, causing crampons to sheer off unless you kicked in solidly. Tool sticks seems to either rain down ice, or go in too far, resulting in added effort to release the tool. The upper part was hollow and airy (I had drilled in a 22 at one point and didn’t hit any good ice until the end). The very top where it mellows out before the tree was all snow. Still, it was quite nice. Not perfect ice, but hey, we live in WA, so we can't expect that, right? All in all, lots of fun and well worth the outing. The ice was super fun to top rope, but my initial lead was time consuming since I was paying lots of attention to what I was doing. Once we got the rope set, we basically did multiple laps up it with slight variations. Not sure how it will be now that the rain + warmth came in. FYI - Careno and Rainbow were probably climbable as seen from the road, but they were by no means fat. They are probably flowing waterfalls now. The line we climbed on the right The left lines Here is a helmet cam video. It's not meant to be motivational - it's meant to show you the conditions. Gear Notes: 9 screws pair of double ropes (although the pitch is 30 meters so 1 rope would suffice) Approach Notes: Snowshoes halfway up the trail

Trip: Chair Peak conditions as viewed from the base - NE Buttress and North Face Date: 12/10/2011 Trip Report: Josh and I decided to give the North Face of Chair Peak a go on Saturday, but we decided to turn around at the base. Cornfed's TR inspired us, as did the low avy danger and what we thought would have been a decent cycle of melt/re-freeze to build some ice, but what we found was not what we expected. We went in expecting mixed climbing, but from what we could see on pitch 1, it's doubtful one could fire in a single ice screw. Not knowing what pitch 2 and 3 would hold for us (I'd only been there in ideal winter conditions), not planning an an abundance of extra time in case we had slow sections on the ascent, and not knowing how the downclimb from the summit to the rap gully would look like, we decided to bail. Here is what it's looking like: East Face East Face and SE Shoulder View from close to the notch SE Shoulder SE Shoulder Base of North Face - pitch 1 Base of North Face - pitch 1 Base of North Face - pitch 1 There was a party of 2 climbing the NE Buttress via the right ramp as we bailed. We only saw them on pitch 1 before clouds moved in super heavy and whited us out. Of course the North Face is climbable to those that are interested, but from what we saw, it would be more about dry-tooling than mixed climbing and could be time consuming. We kept our eyes open for some good ice to crag on while hiking down to Source Lake and back out, but things weren't formed yet. Gear Notes: Gummy worms Approach Notes: We hiked in on boots. No flotation necessary. Lots of boot pack and skin tracks that are solid.

Thanks guys - much appreciated. And thanks for setting up a station Unkle Huck.

Nice trip report! I was wondering how the route is shaping up. Question for you - when we did it last year, we could not find the 2nd rap station in the rap couloir. We did a single rope rap off the pitons at the top, but on the way down we could not find the 2nd rap station so we downclimbed. Were you able to find it, and if so, where is it and how far down from the top is it?

Solid report and pics, Downs! Great work dawg!

Trip: Mount Triumph - NE Ridge Date: 8/20/2011 Trip Report: Here is another report from your friendly BOEALPS'ers. Justin, John, Brian, and I climbed the NE Ridge of Mount Triumph from Fri-Sun. We had initially planned on a 2 day push, but wisely changed it to 3 days. Timeline Fri: left th @ 4PM, camp just below col @ 9PM (5 hours) Sat: left camp @ 5AM, summit @ 3:30PM, back to camp @ 3AM (22 hours) Sun: left camp @ 10:45AM, back to car at 3PM (4h 15 min) 48 hours car-to-car w/31+ hours being climbing. As you see, Sat turned out to be super long day. No epic -- just some routefinding issues followed by a very long descent. Details below. We met in Everett @ noon on Fri and drove to Marblemount, making some stops for food on the way. We got permits and drove to the th. We left the th @ 4PM. The hike to saddle that drops you to Thornton Lake was straightforward, with several stream crossings, all with easy logs and rocks to hop. From this vantage, you get your first view of Mount Triumph. First view of Mount Triumph + NE Ridge (obvious ridge on right) Once you get down to the larger, Lower Thornton Lake, you cross some logs. Effectively, the trail dumps you out at the log crossing at 6:00 and you need to go clockwise to the next lake @ 12:00. There is a trail that we were losing here and there due to brush and some snow cover, but all in all it went ok. There was one section near 11:00 that required some downclimbing. Lower Thornton Lake w/gully in the background that you will need to eventually climb to get to the col (the snow covered one in the distance) You eventually get to the base of Upper Thornton Lake (as it turns out, there is yet an "Upper Upper Thornton Lake," but you don't end up going to that one). Upper Thornton Lake You effectively exit at 6:00 once again, but this time you go counterclockwise to 12:00 to get to the gully that takes you to the col. This required a combination of boulder hopping, following a series of trails, and eventually kicking steps for the last few hundred feet to the col. Deer On A Cliff -- better than Snakes On A Plane Does a bear poop in the woods? Just before you get to the true col, there are some camp spots on the left behind some trees. But there are no views here. This was also the last place we were able to find flowing water with the exception of some on the glacier that was hard to get to. We decided to drop down from the col about 200 feet to the big rock band that has some awesome bivy spots, a view of the glacier, ridge, and The Pickets --- freaking gorgeous. We arrived there at 9PM and set up camp. A couple of us got the stove going while a couple of us went up to get water from the col (20 min up, 10 min down). View from camp We got up at 4AM the next morning and were moving on the glacier by 5AM. There was 4" of soft snow on top of a hard/icy underside so crampons were nice. The first bit was a bit steep requiring careful footwork, but there were plenty of nice suncups to help. Still tons on snow on the glacier. We only had one rockband to cross and although there are crevasses, we had no issues avoiding them. Glacier crossing in the morning We made it to the gully that leads to the notch, crossed a moat which had some sketch-factor but not bad, changed into rock shoes, and started climbing. Right away, we realized the route was taking us away from the notch and we were face climbing. Offroute already --- reset. We found a rap station so clearly were not the first people to get off route. We rappeled down back to the snow, kicked steps in our rock shoes for 200 feet or so (didn't feel like changing back into boots), crossed a moat, and got on route. The key here is to gain the notch by getting on the RIGHT side of the couloir. The notch is pretty obvious to find. We could not climb directly up the couloir because the snow was getting really broken up/moated in it. I bet folks reading this who climb it in a "regular" season don't usually even see snow in that couloir. Anyhow, finally on route and at the notch, we decided to leave our boots, axes, and crampons behind and get to the gettin'. Justin and I paired together and John and Brian paired together. Justin led out, making quick work of the terrain. Right from the notch, there is a gendarme that can probably be climbed directly over, but we opted to go around to the right. It’s kind of interesting - so much of the climb is blurred together in my mind because most of the terrain is 4th and low 5th. Klenke's Summitpost report does a really good job of describing the route --- better than I will, for sure. I suppose you could break it out into 4 sections: 1. Notch->the knife edge (1/2 the climb distance) 2. Knife edge->crux (1/8 of the climb distance) 3. Crux->notch (1/8 the climb distance) 4. Notch->summit (1/4 the climb distance) 1. Notch->the knife edge: We pitched out the first few pitches before switching to simulclimbing. There was a pitch early on in which you could either do a mid-5th lieback on the right, or take an easier gully on the left, which is what we did. It pretty much all goes, which was the case for the majority of the climb. The nice thing about a ridge climb versus a face climb is that it’s hard to get REALLY off route. A couple pitches up, we got to the flat bivy spot that could accommodate 4 people….maybe more. There was a small mound of snow here, but likely all gone now so if you do decide to camp here, get snow/water i) at the col ii) on the glacier or iii) near the notch. Justin on lead Looking down the ridge Justin approaching the knife edge 2. Knife-edge to the crux: Once we got to the knife edge, Justin took the lead as I belayed him. He chevaled it (saddled up on the knife edge like it were a horse) and scooted across. There was a 1000’ drop on either side. I was able to climb most of it by clinging onto the knife edge and hanging off the right side, finding footholds. Choose you own adventure, I suppose. Justin “cheval’ing” the knife edge After the knife edge, there was a bit more 5th class. I belayed Justin the full 60 meters and he got almost to the base of the crux and to a rap station. He belayed me up. Scary thing now. I had tied my rewoven figure-8 with a sport/yosemite finish. I looked down and not only had the sport tie off come out, but the last weave of my removen figure-8 had come undone. In other words, I was unprotected and at times, so was my partner. I don't know when this happened -- maybe on the knife-edge, maybe before, maybe just after. I am used to not leaving a long tail on my sport tie off because i. it gets in the way ii. my ropes are supple so they usually cinch up better than a stiffer rope and iii. I often climb with thinner ropes that don't seem to have knot slide as much, but with Justin's stiffer and thicker rope, the sport tie-off simply came undone and worse, compromised the integrity of the rewoven figure-8 because it left a gap in it to allow the tail to come out one segment. Scary. I will still use a sport tie-off, but I will be leaving a longer tail from now on and making sure it is cinched up extra tight. Looking down towards Brian 3. Crux to the notch: I was about to lead out on the crux but didn’t like the fact that we were still about 40 feet away from the base of it on low-grade, almost flat, terrain. This would mean that either a. Justin would either have to keep my rope super tight or b. if I were to fall, the rope would straighten out and I’d be going for a ride. So, we moved up closer to the base of the crux and slung a horn --- issue resolved. It’s worth noting that you are able to start seeing the 5.7 offwidth crux well before the knife edge. It looks ridiculous from afar – “wait, we got to climb THAT!?” It looks pretty overhung and improbable. Reports say that like many rock cruxes, once you start getting closer, it looks easier. This was not the case, though. Until we were almost climbing the crux, it looked improbable. The crux The crux at the base of it I led up the crux. It's broken out into 2 somewhat separate portions. The first portion is easier - an off width crack that some some good hand/foot holds on both sides of the crack. The second portion is the steeper and 'cruxier' section. Save your #3 for this one. You can find some other gear placements if you look hard enough. I know some folks bring a #4 for this route --- personally I'd say leave it at home. Sure, it would help on the second portion/crack, but it's really not necessary. The exit from the crack was maybe the most challenging part. Dare I say though that I didn't think the crux was that bad? I expected a uniform off-width with no other holds, but there were holds and the sides of the crack. You do want to be careful and look for your holds, but contrary to how it looked from afar, it was very doable and it was also really freaking fun! I climbed a short bit higher to a rap station and set a belay. Justin followed up. John led out for he and Brian and they got up to our belay station as we were continuing up. Justin led up towards the notch going to the right of a gendarme. 4. Notch to the summit: From the notch, there is a trail for a short while. It ends after a short bit, then you climb up a short gully (15 feet), and gain another trail which ends again. You then start climbing up the heathery face on easy rock (albeit loose), some more trail, pass a couple rap stations, and then finally on the summit! Me on the summit Justin on the summit Team shot There is a summit register up there now -- seems like since 2009. People must have a tough time finding it, though, because we were only the third entry. Summit register We had hoped to be on the summit by 3PM at the latest. Justin and I arrived at 3:15 and John and Brian, taking a more "challenging" route, arrived at 3:45. We left the summit at 4:10PM. We had budgeted 6 hours for the descent to the notch, hoping to get down most of the way by dark. Although we were fairly close on all our other time estimations, we were off on this one. It took a lot longer than we had expected to get down. We did a bunch of double rope raps (most of them), one or two single rope raps, and some simulclimbing. We ultimately didn't get back to the notch until around 12:30AM -- about 8 hours after leaving the summit. This was due in part to the following reasons: i. Rope-nests from low angle double-rope raps requiring first on rappel to re-toss several times ii. Constant switching from rappeling to simulclimbing iii. 2 times of double-ropes getting stuck – one was able to be pulled loose from below with Herculean efforts and the other requiring prussiking about halfway up to jar loose iv. Being incredibly cautious once we lost daylight to ensure no slip-up occurred; after all, we already lost the race against the sun so might as well take the time to be extra cautious now Looking towards the col and camp Sunset Mount Despair Rappeling in the dark We got to the notch, changed back into our boots, and did a double rope rap down to skiers left. This did not get us down to the snow, but there was a sort-of trail that was class 3 that was easy enough. We got back onto the glacier, cramponed up, and headed back to camp. Throughout the entire climb, parts of the glacier were galling apart. We heard a loud sound behind us and it turned out to be the couloir below the notch that was breaking apart. We eventually made it back to camp at 3AM. We were all out of water and super thirsty, so a couple of us went back up to the col to grab water for the team. The next morning was uneventful. We broke camp, started hiking out at 10:45AM, and back to the car at 3PM. View of the glacier + route from camp the next morning 0020 We stopped in Marblemount for some BBQ from that caboose on the side of the road and it was stellar. We stopped back at the Marblemount Ranger Station for a bio break and to report on the conditions. This was an interesting entry just put in by a ranger. Naughty marmots! For those of you that have a full 3 days, I'd recommend that you approach on day 1 all the way to the bivy spots a couple pitches up on the ridge because you can be more comfortable with time on summit day. And if you get back down to camp with time to spare after summiting, you can break camp and hike out to the col to make the last day a shorter hike out. The biggest logistical challenge will be water, but even if you have to haul several liters in a platypus from the col, it's not really any elevation gain so no huge deal. In summary, this is an amazing climb on a long ridge, a sweet peak, awesome remoteness, inspiring views, and with wild exposure. Definitely one of my favorite climbs to date - simply spectacular. Do it! Gear Notes: Ropes: Two ropes are nice. Established rap stations are for double-rope raps. There are intermediary rap stations for single rope raps, but not everywhere so you may need to improvise. Rack: Standard alpine rack to 3". Cams seemed to work better than nuts on this route. Picket: Brought one but didn't need it

Great work guys! There may not have been a plastic tiger on the summit, but sounds like there were some AnImAlS up there - YOU! Way to go!

Hi Val, I'd def recommend the S. Ridge over the SE Face. It should be lots less time for you and your sister than it took us. Managing the 2 ropes took time, and we had some other issues. Re: the moat in the gully, it is no issue at all. It's minimal and actually the gully turns more to rock later anyhow. You won't have a problem. BTW, you should really read this description on the Torment-Forbidden Traverse. Awesome pics. I'd recommend printing them out. https://sites.google.com/site/stephabegg/home/tripreports/washington/northcascades/tormentforbiddentraverse If you want more beta on Torment, let me know and I'll shoot off my phone # to you and we can chat. Cheers.

Trip: Mount Torment - South Ridge ascent / SE Face descent Date: 8/6/2011 Trip Report: Here is another trip report from your friendly BOEALPS’ers. Josh, Ryan, and I climbed the South Ridge of Torment this past weekend, August 6-7 2011. We got permits quite easily for Torment Basin (we were the only ones camped there). We decided that we’d approach via Boston Basin th given i) the navigational issues we had heard re: the Torment Basin th and ii) starting 1300’ higher. We left cars at 2PM, got into lower Boston Basin at 4PM, upper Boston Basin at 5PM, and camp at 6PM. We hit snow in Boston Basin (5600’ or so) and had almost all snow the whole trot to camp. Flowing water all over the place to drink from. Boston Basin Mount Torment Friend We decided we’d be up and moving around 4:30AM or so on Sunday, but we awoke to the typical white-out the area is known for. We snoozed for a couple hours and ultimately left camp at 7:15AM. The hidden gully was easy to find and took about an hour to get to. Josh and Ryan approaching hidden gully Bottom half was snow, then a small moat that was collapsing, then class 4 rock. We belayed Josh with a picket, he placed a piece, got to the top of the notch, and then belayed Ryan and me up. Josh on lead Following this, the 20’ descent folks speak of was unnecessary since there was still snow on the backside. Josh kicked steps to a rap station and belayed us in. We changed to rock shoes. The chimney on the right and dihedral on the left were quite obvious. I took the lead up the dihedral with twin ropes largely because Josh and Ryan hadn’t climbed with twins before and more importantly belayed with them w/ an ATC Guide or Reverso. The dihedral was easier than it looked - low 5th class and blocky, but hard to protect down low. Dihedral on the left (can't see chimney in this pic) I passed one rap station and got to a second, below a headwall, and set up a belay with my ATC Guide. Ryan started, followed by Josh 30 feet after. You are not actually on the ridge at this point – actually to the left of it. Frankly, you are never quit on the ridge. The terrain looked mellower now so we got back on one rope and simul. Ryan took the lead. Class 4 terrain We had some route-finding issues/questions at this point. We rounded a corner and he kept heading up. The question was whether we should have continued across to a “dirty gully” which was quite large continued on our route. Some descriptions mention a dirty gully but we were along to the right side of it. Entering it would require a 100 foot rap. We decided to continue on our route. Ryan got to a cruxxy section -- about 30 feet of mid-5th. He belayed us in so he could get a fixed belay. Got to the top and a rap station. He continued up, passing another rap station. I then took the lead. I headed up and left, and eventually our ledge system met up with the gully. I took this to the 2nd notch which now provides you views back towards Taboo Glacier. From this point, it’s really only class 3, but feels more due to exposure. We simuled up, then traversed below the summit (maybe 100’ vert below it at this point), then scramble up to it. Amazing views and weather. Given route finding issues, some fixed belays, and other logistics, we didn’t summit until 2PM. Off the summit at 2:30PM. We had planned on descending the SE Face which is supposed to be class 3 and class 4 with the exception of the lower part, which requires some raps. I encouraged the team to downclimb as much as possible in simul-mode, setting pieces, because raps take forever. Josh led. It was moving along ok, with a couple cruxxier spots, until we veered too far skiers left. The terrain became more slabby and “chute’y.” It was closer to class 4. When I read class 3/4, I assumed Fischer Chimneys which is fairly easy imo, but it was harder than that. Josh saw a rap station and worked his way down to it. Ryan and I followed. We set up a single rope rap and this got us within 20 feet of the next station. I was belayed down to that, then I belayed Josh and Ryan in. We now had to rappel into the abyss, so decided on double rope rap. I went first. Double rope rap was nice since there was no intermediary rap station and needed both ropes to get to the last rap station, 50’ above the moat. There appeared to be spots to set an intermediary rap if you only have one rope. We changed into our climbing boots and got ice axe handy. I took lead on the next rap. The terrain was such that it wanted to pull you a bit too far skiers right into the moat and away from what was the best exit. I set a directional cam. I got into the moat and did some funky distortion to get on the snow. Josh jokingly taunted “just go for it” and I jokingly told him to screw off and said I’d enjoy laughing when he got down into it. I set a picket up high as a directional for the team, and rapped down some more. I set another picket and fixed the rope to it to help prevent the followers from a pendulum. Josh followed and when he got into the moat, realized the awkwardness involved. I chuckled a bit and took some pics. Josh on rappel Ryan then rappelled, but since he had to pull the directional cam, he got too far skiers right making the exit onto the snow challenging. Josh kicked steps up the snow and threw a cordellette his way, and then effectively helped pull Ryan towards the edge of the moat as I spotted with a fireman’s belay. Yes, very awkward. Ryan trying to exit moat It was now 8:10PM – ~6 hours since summit. Time must have flown by. The descent was not hard but not trivial. We plunge stepped/ran 1000’ vert to camp in 15 min. Packed up and on the go at 9PM. Saw some headlamps on the lower part of the W. Ridge Forbidden couloir and some more on the Quien Sabe. We had some issues finding the trail out, but ultimately did. Back at cars at midnight. McDonalds in Burlington at 2AM. Seattle at 3:30AM. JBerg at night Fun climb, not incredibly technically challenging in any one arena, but presents many great alpinism challenges combined into one climb – route-finding, a glacier crossing, fixed belay climbing, simul climbing, downclimbing, rappelling, a fun moat problem, and singing to ward off bears. Great times. Gear Notes: 2 60 meter twin ropes 2 pickets rock rack rock shoes - not "necessary" but I really recommend them Sour Patch Watermelons Hammer Sustained Energy powder (first time trying it -- it's great) Approach Notes: Boston Basin was all snow

Nice work Jason!!!

Nice work Dana and Brian!!

NinJosh! Great work man! Unplanned bivy, eh? Great work and I hope you guys weren't too cold that night.