Verticolorful

Nice work Eric! Hope your having a good time down there outta the rain.

Wayne, Nice to hear from you man! Lets get out into the mountains this winter?

I agree with Sol that Edge of Space is one of the best routes in Leavy. Even more so when combined with Iconoclast and the Psychopath pitch.

Trip: Stuart Range, Ingalls Peak, Mt, Baring - Various Date: 10/19/2012 Trip Report: With the alpine rock season slowly winding down to an end for the Cascades, I am finding myself reflecting on all the amazing memories shared with amazing people. Thank you to everyone who roped up with me this year and brought the stoke. I am blessed to have such experienced climbers taking me along with them and showing me the way of the "new school washington climbers." My passion for the mountains drew me back often two or more times a week to find what ever it is that we are all looking for. Alpinists search for that something as they travel up into the highest parts of our world; in a way they are searching for the deepest parts of themselves. After the photos I'm going to include a list of my 2012 summer ascents. Here are a few pictures of me and my friends enjoying a life of reverie. West Face of Mt. Stuart. Grant on GITM What a life we live Madeline below N Ingalls Lady M cruising South Ridge of North Ingalls Peak Me on N. Ingalls with Mount Stuart in the back ground Eric's way of dealing with the #6 on Backbone Ridge on Dragontail Peak A very messed up photo of Eric on the Fin of Dragontail Strolling by the Enchantment basin after Backbone Ridge Jens Holsten starting the Vanishing Point. Full write up here http://jensholsten.blogspot.com/ Its been a wild day belaying Jens on VP Cuttrought peak in the Fall during a solo assault on the area Winespires up top and Le Petit Chevil on the left of the lower formation Looking back down the S. Arete of SEWS \ Me having to much fun on the W. Face of NEWS This is not in chronological order but i think this all of them. I included Snow Creek Wall routes as well. Prusik Peak: West Ridge (twice), Burgner/Stanley, Der Sportsman (4/6 pitches) Colchuck Area: North Buttress Couloir (solo C2C 6 hours), Acid Baby, The Valkyre (3rd ascent) Mount Stuart: Gorillas In The Mist, Upper North Ridge, Girth Pillar (by way of Lower North Ridge, I was the belayer), Gorillas In The Mist (first one day ascent to the summit) Colchuck Balanced Rock: West Face (twice), Nectar Dragontail Peak: Backbone Ridge With Fin Direct Rat Creek Group: North Face of The Mole Snow Creek Wall: Orbit, Outer Space, Mary Jane Dihedral, Champagne, Iconoclast-Psycopath- Edge of space. Ingalls Peak: South Ridge of North Ingalls Peak Liberty Bell: Becky Route South Early Winters Spire: Direct East Buttress, South Arete (solo linked with LPC in a day) North Early Winters Spire: West Face Le Petit Cheval: Spontaneity Arete (onsight solo linked with SEWS in a day) Mount Buckner: South East Ridge Johannesburg Mountain: North East Rib (C2C) Mount Baring: Vanishing Point (I was the belayer) Guye Peak: Improbable Traverse (linked with The Tooth in a day) The Tooth: South Face (linked with Guye Peak in a day) Pingora: South East Buttress-K Cracks, North East Face Hay Stack: Minor Dihedral

Yeah for the most part the Jim Nelson's Vol 1 is a great resource for fun climbs. It is kinda my goal to do all the climbs in Vol 1. This summer I did 15 of them and a handful from Vol 2.

Trip: Alpental Area - Improbable Traverse-GUYE PEAK & S. Face-THE TOOTH Date: 10/3/2012 Trip Report: With dangerous air quality hindering me from enjoying my local area, I chose to take a drive and enjoy some fresher air and new sights. A couple weeks ago at The Craggin Classic, I was talking to Chris (the guy who recently made the TR where everyone cried about bolting the IT), and I decided I neededto see what all the controversy was about for myself. Knowing that this single route would not satisfy Eric or my hunger for the alpine I decided to sneek in South Face of The Tooth as well. We met at snoqualmie ski resort at 6:30 then drove under the highway to stash erics car in the Alpental parking lot, which will end up being in the middle of our deproach from GUYE and the approach for the Tooth. After hanging out in the cars and joking about how cold it still was, we jumped out of my car parked on Ober Strasse roade around 7:20. We soloed untill midway up pitch 3, then desiced to rope up. At this point i might have gone slightly off route?? I climed an amazing corner crack that was mostly big hands for maybe 35 feet, but SO FUN. I made a belay on a smaller slopping ledge. My next pitch climbed slightly up then began the traverse, which I easily linked into one pitch. After gaining the slab ledge we unropped and scrambled to the top. Yes that was only two pitches of rope climbing.... So with that said. my two cents. Bolting the traverse would only require one or two bolts. ITS ONE PITCH. I brought a plethora of small cams and wires to see if I could connect the dots but didn't really have luck with that. I personally think the spice added the flavor to this otherwise bland route. We set up the gypsy kitchen in the Alpental parking lot as we re-caffeinated and ate some food. Over lunch we discussed what we would bring for The Tooth, and our final decision was to bring no climbing gear and down-climb the route. The rock on the tooth was pretty darn good and it was a great final lap for the day. We took some summit shots, reflected on an amazing summer then trotted back to Eric's car. What a fun day, Thanks Eric (and everyone else) for such an amazing alpine season! Best of luck wherever your travels take all of you, my friends. Gear Notes: Less is more.

Yeah dude!! The direct east butt was super fun! Way to step up to the plate Sunshine! I'm stoked that you (Eric) have been charging it do hard

Hell yeah dudes! Nice Write up Ben. Jens Holsten and myself got on this baby yesterday; What a wild route!! The rock was very good and the exposure was amazing. An all around blast. I can no believe how much work was put into bolting this line, but wow! As beta is emerging and pictures are flying around the internet, this route might receive some of the attention it deserves.

Nice work Wayne! Lets get out and climb something fun soon dude

That route seems like it could be one of the best in the Stuart Range. Nice job Sol and Adam! Also nice work on DOE guys!

That route looks amazing!! Great job dudes! I for sure need to try that thing out

I love The Winds.. Great trip guys!

Trip: CBR & Mount Stuart - W. Face, Nectar, North Ridge, Girth Pillar, GITM Date: 8/19/2012 Trip Report: The further we travel out, to the mountains the further we travel within ourselves. Idle thoughts from deep in the mind eventually find their way to the front of my head; every step eventually being felt deep in the bones. The mountains so large and vast offer us a chance to glimpse what we are truley made of. A week in "The Laboratory" Sunday The research began early in the morning on Sunday as Chris Cox and myself put together a rack and made some coffee at my house in Der Town. We parked the car at Stuart Lake TH (and forgot to put the pass in the window) Then stomped our way up the hill. We got to the beautiful cirque below CBR just as the temps were becoming reasonable to climb this beautiful route. I climbed it with Sol earlier this season and we battled some rain and wet cracks, but this time everything was PERFECT! Chris and I fired up the first few pitches and got to the goods. We both sent our hardest trad leads that day; Chris styled the Long corner and I cried and howled my way across the traverse. Unfortunately I ran the pump clock out on the crux pitch, but we had a BLAST! We even threw the rope over the balanced rock and hit the sickest boulder problem in Leavenworth. Monday The next morning we woke up and wandered up to Nectar. I knew very little about this route other than it looking perfect from the ground. But in the name of science we observed the unknown. We approached via the first couple pitches of The Scoop. The Nectar pitch was SO GOOD, challenging 10+ splitter crack to the wildest flaring chimney thing that leads to some more fun climbing for a couple hundred feet. SUPER SICK. As soon as i got back to my cell phone i had an urgent text message from Jens Holsten. We had prior plans to do some climbing on Shuksan; I called him, and he began to tell me about conditions lining up for one of his clever schemes. Jens seems to be a man that keeps a few tricks up his sleeve waiting to fire them off when the planets align. We talked about "running" up the North ridge to peep conditions on the Ice Cliff Glacier. I was more than down, and before I hung the phone up he was on his way to my house. Tuesday Same old thing, we wake up at 4 to make coffee and roll out. Mountaineers creek is one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen. Blueberries were ripe all over and I munched them as we quickly walked on through. (Maybe not Blueberries, but as the human lab rat, I did not die) This was the first time I had been to this side of Mount Stuart. We noticed a party on the first pitch of The Lower North Ridge and we decided to run around the the notch to avoid getting stuck on route. The upper North ridge was beautiful. My first summit of Stuart was a great moment; such a rad partner on such a Classic mountain. It is by far my favorite mountain in the range; Its complexity and size make it a great place for alpine experimentation. We descended the Sherpa glacier colour while making a couple rappel stations. We made our way back to the car by 9 20. Friday Jens and I left my house at 2 pm and found ourselves geared up to enter the Mount Stuart side of the lab once again. And this time, we had big plans. Saturday We made our routine caffeine and crossed the talus field on the way to the Lower North Ridge. Just as we roped up to hit the 5.9 section on the LNR, the golden sunlight touched our faces. We simued to the ledges that lead down to the ICG. We crossed the glacier with ease and found ourselves crossing the vertchrum in no time. The first bit that we simu climbed was a bit dirty but became really good (I think some of this is a Becky Route?) The crux pitches are some of the funnest climbing that I have found in the range. Better than we expected, SO GOOD! Jens sent all the pitches styling with his backpack, hanging boots and ice tool. We brought 3 #2s, and when I go back I’ll be bringing 4 of them. We simued to the top of the false summit and descended the SGC once again. Sunday Today we slept in, meaning we woke up around 6:15. Of course we made a nalgene of Via, and then boulder hopped our way to goat pass. We had one last experiment to complete on Stuart. Gorillas In The Mist, to the summit, in one day. We blasted the route, then walked down to a ledge and dropped our gear. Bringing only one water bottle and a couple bars we aimed ourselves to the summit. We soloed the rest of the west ridge to the summit and i will never forget this moment of my life. This was a far fetched dream i had this winter that had just manifested before my face. after down climbing the west ridge we headed back to mountaineers creek.. I think we got the results we were looking for

We used to call Eric "Mini Epic"... but lately he has been stepping his game up. Eric took me out climbing for my first time ever back in spring of 2010. Thank you for everything brother!

WOW. Impressive work guys! I can't believe that people would post negatively about such a rad accomplishment.. But let the haters hate while we are out doing our own thing. Its too bad they will never know the true fulfillment of pursuing ones dreams with the positive energy. Pushing the limit is what the mountains are all about. We all express it in a slightly different way, so who decides which one is cooler or more appropriate for CC?

Way to go Eric and Wizz!!

Yeah Eric and Dave! Way to be getting after it.

there is still water near the summit in the CC i was just up there two days ago

I climbed OG GITM with my buddy Grant less than two weeks ago. We both found the route super fun and quite easy to follow. The rock quality is considerably high for such a long route that has seen so few climbers. This route could be scary for a party not used to such a steep and complex wall in the Stuart Range. And in my opinion the crux is 11a for sure, not 10+ when compared to anything else in the range. I personally loved it so much that i am going back and climbing Gorillas Direct this weekend.

I thought it would be cool to do a climb from the Stehekin area, so I asked my buddy Blake for some beta on his old stomping grounds. He suggested doing the SE ridge of Buckner. The first line on his email read something like "If your looking for solid rock this is not the route for you"... Not letting choss discourage me from an adventure I rounded up my buddy Eric, filled him in on beta and we started packing the bags. We sped the whole way from Leavy to Chelan to catch the boat, and we were the last people to board. We were STOKED to be on the boat heading to the North Cascades from the beautiful town of Stehekin. We cough the bus and rode it as far as it would take us then began our 14 mile approach. We camped in 5 mile camp that night and caught a gimps of our route right before dark. The morning started early and I noticed it was not particularly warm for a day late July. We avoided harsh bushwacking by staying on the south side of the creek soon after leaving the trail. The route was a super fun adventure and provided amazing views (when the clouds provide them) in a wild North Cascade setting. Rock quality was not the best but became a little better as we got higher. We followed the path of least resistance as much time as possible and only had to rope up for about 400 feet. We started the ridge at 8:30 and summited at 4:15. We chose to descend back down across the Glacier to the north of the SE ridge. After down scrambling for a while we came to a rap station where the glacier meets the lowest point of rock. After using this to cross the crevasse we walked back to our tent before dark.

Trip: Cascade Pass - Johannesberg Mountain, Northeast Buttress Date: 7/15/2012 Trip Report: This was my first trip into the alpine outside of the Stuart Range, so as Jens and I sped along the dark road to Cascade Pass I drempt of a super long route on solid white granite... This was not quite what i encountered. I have been wanting to see what i could fit into a solid day in the alpine. When Jens contacted me about doing the Torment-Forbidden traverse or J-berg in a day, i was thrilled for the challenge. Snow conditions helped us decide to take the long decent back around Mixup Peak. I considered this a beautiful tour of the North Cascades. We started around 6am and got back to the car right before midnight. I had never felt so mentally taxed from anything elese as i did the next morning. Spending so much time in the "no fall zone" was an intresting experience, but all experiences on the mountains offer a great deal of learning. We started to the right of the waterfalls. Jens starting our Simu-climb Approach Notes: Avoid large falling ice from the JC glacier.

Good job Team Ginger!

Yeah guys!! This route is amazing You inspired Jens and I to go car to car on this baby on Friday. After our own false start. We begun the route to the right of the waterfalls and did one section of simu-climbing and then one short pitch that brought us to an easy terrain. If your into steep snow, tree climbing, and scrambling rock this is for you! I lOVED IT

Yeah Wayne!!! Your the man! Inspiring trip report. The rock and routes look incredible. If you need a Leavenworth partner any of these summer days hit me up dude.

Sol, Ryan and I just got the 3rd accent of this baby on Sunday. Jens and Cole got the second on Saturday. Amazing 5.10 test piece that offers fun varied climbing on wild features. Four Star.