mattschweiker

Really cool!!

Cool Thanks!

Trip: Johannesburg - NE Rib 1957 Date: 8/12/2012 Trip Report: I've often heard the saying "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun" used in reference to alpine climbing. I can't think of another climb I've done that epitomizes this phrase as well as J-burg. Vern and I arrived at Cascade Pass TH and were off by 10am on Saturday. After crossing the base under the CJ Couloir, we had to decide on our start. Steph Abegg's trip report, which is pretty much the gold standard for information on this route, shows a slab pitch further up the gully. We chose to ascend lower somewhat near the short snow finger in the picture below. We were able to scramble up a moderate gully and traverse back and up onto what we believed followed the 1957 variation closely. Our varaiton saved time by not requiring us to "pitch-out" the start. We followed the rib up through vertical brush and heather until we reached a section of very loose and exposed 4th class rock which led to a ridge and the snow arete. We found a decent spot to bivy and brewed and settled in for the night. It had taken us 8 hours from the car (3'500) to the bivy (7'100) The next day we continued up the snow arete to the headwall. which takes you to the summit. We were happy to be on the summit but knew not to let our guard down because the descent of the east ridge to the CJ Col could to be equally as tedious as the ascent. By staying 75-100 feet below the ridge to the climbers right, we picked our way down 3rd/4th class loose exposed rock to the Col. As mentioned in Steph's TR, it is tempting to want to descend the CJ Couloir, but we had heard ice and rock thunder down the colouir several times during our trip which made our descision to stick with "Doug's Direct" very easy Doug's Direct was prety staight-forward and we were back at the car's around 4pm, 9 hours after leaving our bivy.

Trip: Mt. Stuart - North Ridge Date: 7/29/2012 Trip Report: Chad and I climbed the N Ridge over the weekend of 7/28-29. We approched from the South via Ingalls Lake and Stuart Pass. We crossed the Stuart Glacier and were happy we had lightweight crampons and ax's. It could have been done without but easier to have them. We found water on the climbers left side of the glacier before ascending to the notch. The bivy spots at the notch are excellent and Chad and I had a really cool bivy. There was no one else on route the entire weekend, which I'm told is a bit unusual for this time of year. We simul-climbed everything except the 2 great gendarme pitches. As reported in a earlier TR, there are 2 fixed cams in the 2nd 5.9 pitch.

Trip: Mt. Maude - Entiat Icefall Date: 7/23/2012 Trip Report: A few weeks ago Vern, Jens and I climbed the Entiat Icefall on Mt. Maude. The glacier has receded significantly since the days when, as described in the Beckey book, there were 9 pitches of ice climbing on the route. We approched mid-afternoon on Saturday via the Phelps and Leroy Creek Basin and reached a very nice bivy above Icy Lake. The next morning we dropped onto the Entiat Glacier. There was only one section of ice climbing that was moderate and didn't require the rope. We climbed snow to a notch and then ascended an easy 4th/low 5th ridge to the summit. Its great to get out to new areas in the Cascades, this was my first time to the Entiat range and it was a good one! Gear Notes: A few screws (didnt use) and a light alpine rack.

@Ben, we played it safe and did it over 3 days. Considering how much down time we had in camp, I'd probably go straight to Thumb Rock the first day. @Sam, Still alot of snow, there was enough ice to make it fun but the schrund pitch was covered in snow.

Trip: Mt Rainier - Liberty Ridge Date: 7/4/2012 Trip Report: Josh, Gerry, Matt and I climbed Liberty Ridge in perfect conditions over the 4th of July. We left early from Seattle on July 4th to arrive at the Ranger station to get a permit as soon as they opened. Considering the weather had been pretty miserable in June, we figured we wouldn't be the only ones with the idea to jump on this route with the excellent forecast predicted through the weekend. Our hike into Curtis Ridge was uneventful. We did meet Tom, Franklin and Don who were attempting Curtis Ridge. We spotted them once from Thumb Rock but don't know how their trip ended. Hopefully successful! Getting onto the Carbon Glacier wasn't as straight forward as we expected. We spotted a boulder with a few slings but .decided it looked too unstable and found a right traversing chossy scramble that landed us in a small moat. A few easy moves climbing out landed us on the very broken up Carbon glacier. We picked our way through the glacier and moved as quickly as possible up the slopes below Thumb Rock. Even early in the morning there was enough rock fall to make us move as fast as possible. We started early and had perfect snow conditions which allowed us to move quickly. Route finding on the ridge was very straight-forward. By sunrise we encountered our first easy section of ice. This could have been bypassed by staying right but it looked fun and was very low angle and wouldn't really slow us down. We expected the schrund to be the crux of the route but as we got closer we saw there was an easy snow bridge to cross. From this point on the wind picked up considerably. We took a brief break below Liberty Cap and Matt busted out a firework that he had lugged all the way up to this point. After laughing pretty hard at the unexpected fireworks display we continued on to the summit. Gerry headed towards one more steep section to make things interesting. We got the summit but didn't stay long because of very high winds. Summit photo minus Josh. The descent down the Emmons was easy enough and we were back to the car by 3pm. Great route with a great group. Gear Notes: 2 pickets and 4 screws

Nice work and great TR!

"Please call : 206 seven zero ate three three 0 three" Zero ATE hahahaha

Thanks, approx 8 hours, we weren't in much of a rush because we needed to snow to soften up for skiing down.

Trip: Mt Rainier - Fuhrer Finger Date: 5/13/2012 Trip Report: Jeff and I headed to Rainier this past weeked the climb and ski the Fuhrer Finger. We had an easy day Saturday, leaving the car at Paradise at noon and arriving at camp (9300ft) at approx 4:30. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather on the mountain. We left camp at 4am and headed across the glacier and up the finger with ski's on our backs. At the top of the finger, the other group continued along the ridge while Jeff and I traverse onto the Upper Nisqually and continued the long walk to the summit. Jeff had already summited via the finger and wanted to save some gas for the ski descent so he stopped a few hundered feet short and boiled some much needed water for our trip down while I continued on and tagged the summit. We encountered variable conditions on the descent, from hard crust at the top and getting more wet and heavy the further down we descended. The snow in the Finger was pretty good corn. It was a long ski run down!!

Nice Work Vern!

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Triple Couloirs Date: 4/29/2012 Trip Report: Jeff, John, Gerry and I climbed the Triple Couloris route on Dragontail this past weekend. The road was still closed as of last weekend but looked to be in shape to be opened very soon. At our camp at Colchuck lake we weren't sure whether the runnells would be "in". Conditions were perfect neve in the couloirs which helped us make good time of the first colouir to the base of the runnells. The conditions in the runnells alternated between thin (1-3 in) ice and snow/mixed climbing. We used only several screws and mostly pins and cams for protection. There was one more thin ice/mixed pitch between the 2nd and final couloir. To the summit was more crusier couloir climbing in pefect conditions. We saw Jess's group and got some good photo's, send me a PM with your email address and we can send them over

Trip: Colfax Peak - Cosley-Houston Date: 4/15/2012 Trip Report: Jeff Street and I climbed the Cosley-Houston route on Colfax Peak last Sunday. The road is closed 4 miles from the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead. It took us 5 hours to ski the 4 miles of road and 3 miles through the woods to our camp at 6K benches below the glacier. We set-up camp and then skied up to the ridge and got to make some turns before we got into our bivy's. The next day Baker got at least 5 inches of snow and the weather switched between complete white-out and sunshine. The route starts with 2 short sections of moderate alpine ice to the base of the crux WI pillar. The pillar was short but vertical with an overhanding buldge at the top. We simul climbed the rest of the route. We made one rap across a bergschrund and traversered back to the saddle. We spent 4 hours on the route and got some good powder turns back to our camp. Here's a close up of the crux on the Polish route, looks hard. Somebody go get it!!!

Trip: Banff - Weeping Wall/Curtin Call Date: 4/6/2012 Trip Report: Vern and I decided to roll the dice and head up to Banff last week to see if we could find some late season ice. It was both of our first trips to this amazing area. We left Wednesday 4/4 knowing that a storm was moving through the area and that too much snow would kill our chances of being able to climb. We made it to Radium Hot Spings and it was dumping snow. Several locals advised us to not cross the pass into the park until the morning. We camped in Vern's KIA and went to bed not too optomistic of our chances of getting to climb (and pissed we paid $35 for an 18pk of Kokanee). The next morning the weather was great and we headed over the pass to the Icefields Parkway area. Our first stop was the Weeping Wall area. We climbed a WI-5 line with a cool mixed traverse. The final pitch was very soft, unprotectable ice that Verne ended up running out about 60m. That night we camped in the parking lot of near the Weeping Wall. Vern took the back seats out of his KIA Sephia, cut a hole in the trunk and istalled 3" of memory foam. I was skeptical at first but it was pretty comfortable! Next day we headed down the road to Curtin Call and climbed the Central Pillar WI-6. The climbing was hard, fun, and we had nice belays inside a few cool caves. Vern led these like a champ! The last day we had a mellow hike into Beauty Creek and played around on a WI-3/4 flow. We decided the climbing we had done so far had entirely surpassed our expectations and we headed back to WA. On the ride home we saw a 70M WI-4 off the interstate and stopped and hiked to the base and climbed it to break up the drive. Gear Notes: Bring Vern the rope gun Approach Notes: Wait until next year