bedellympian

Trip: WA Pass - Clean Break, NEWS WF, Da Bell NWF Date: 6/27/2015 Trip Report: Over the last two weeks I've made two trips up to the WA Pass area while visiting my friend Ryan who recently moved to Leavenworth. While these routes are fairly popular I figured folks would appreciate some disambiguation and encouragement to get after it. The first trip (6/18) Ryan and I climbed Clean Break on Juno Tower in 13 hrs car-car and 6 hrs on route despite getting lost and spending some time in slide alder purgatory. Ryan has the Supertopo guide and we noticed several inaccuracies: first the climbers trail starts on the left side of Silver Star Creek not the right, and the route topos were fairly disproportionate (something that held true for all the routes we climbed), and lastly the description says to stay right of the crest at the top of the route but we found the left side to be consistently easier and more solid. We also consulted Steph Abegg's TR and found her beta to be pretty spot on... Steph's TR Two places on the approach that we screwed up: 1. waiting too late to cross Silver Star Creek (you can cross pretty soon after the valley levels out and then head straight up the hillside and traverse around to Clean Break, thus avoiding the slide alder creek beds) 2. not traversing far enough over to reach Bench Camp and the Burgundy Col trail on the descent (we had never climbed in this area before and did not realize how far skiers left you need to traverse, so we traversed back right to find the trail we thought we'd missed, crossing more slide alder creeks and finally just following some game trails straight down to the road) Besides that the route is fantastic (great rock, great climbing, great belay ledges and awesome position) and much less sustained than the pitch break down would suggest. GO GET IT! Pics: Pitch 1, with lots of snow next to it. mellow climbing Ryan psyched for sunshine Top-out stoke! Looking up toward Silver Star's N Cirque West facing pics L-R from summit. The second trip our friend James came up from Bend and Ryan's friend Megan came along so we could do 2 rope teams. We initially planned on an enjoyable stroll along the Torment-Forbidden ridge line but with weather looking no bueno for Sunday/Sat-night, the excessive heat, and a potential lack of permits, we decided to just enjoy some alpine cragging on the Liberty Group. Saturday we drove up late in the morning and spent the afternoon OD'ing on vitamin D while being stuck at hanging belays behind two ladies on the West Face of NEWS (the bottom of the route was more crowded than morning glory wall on the first saturday of spring break! ). Just in case you are super stoked on doing this route... it is OK... that's right, I said just OK. Others may disagree but the pitches are generally very short (Supertopo says 60' for the crux 11a pitch but I would be surprised if it is over 20', basically a slab boulder problem on sharp finger locks). On top of this several of the belays are not that comfy, especially when the sun is on you. Maybe a cooler day where we could have burned it off in a couple hours would have swayed my opinion, it is certainly a good route, just not a 5-star classic as some people have suggested... my 0.02, end of complaints. It is worth noting that we managed to totally sink a brand-new nut on the crux pitch. It is a totally bomber fixed piece above the crux and none of us could extract it, funkness style, nut tool or otherwise. Finally, there is a new bolted rap line climbers right of the West Face route that goes straight down the face, it is very nice, but I have not done the other rap line into the gully so can't compare. Pics: simul rapping the WF Ryan at an exposed belay stance on WF Wine Spires looking attractive Sunday we woke up somewhat tired and dehydrated from the day before and opted to do a mellow adventure route before heading out. We settled on the NW Face of Liberty Bell to avoid crowds and the heat, although with rain in the forecast and overcast skies we could have probably climbed anywhere. The approach is pretty straightforward once you know it. The Supertopo guide says go up a step of low 5th 75 feet below a cave. There are three potential caves in the approach gully, we went up below the highest one and it worked fine but we had to hike down and around some slabs, it looks like the next cave down would have been more direct but we didn't climb up there so I can't guarantee it goes easy. The Supertopo says that you follow a ledge system above this step to its end and the base of the route. The "ledge system" you follow is really a big hill side covered in trees, we were unsure if the ledges ended above these trees and the slabs but you just keep hiking down and around and back up and you will see that where it ends is a really big drop-off. Everything in the route topo is pretty accurate except the length of pitches 2 and 3 are flip-flopped: pitch 2 is actually the long one and you want to stop on pitch 3 before going into the dihedral (P4) because you can't link them with a 70m rope and will end up in an awkward hanging stance (believe me I know). I thought this route was fantastic and tons of fun, but the flakes on P3 are definitely hollow down low and some of the moves in the P4 dihedral are awkwardly difficult, not everyone in our party agreed with me. Compared to the W Face of NEWS the pitches are long and interesting and the position is pretty wild feeling, things I really like in a route. Pics: Ryan topping out the NW sub-summit of Lib Bell Summit shenanigans... I was too hot in that t-shirt and its color had the unfortunate quality of attracting several wasps while leading the crux pitches Conditions pics as seen from summit of NEWS 6/27, I would love it if someone could help me identify all of these: Gear Notes: We found the supertopo gear lists to be right on, this past weekend sunscreen was more important than a windbreaker, I never used another layer, climbed in shorts and took my shirt off whenever possible, especially in the shade... climate change sucks. Approach Notes: See above, avoid slide alder, keep moving to avoid mosquitoes.

I'll be in the Leavenworth area and want to pop over the hill to Index too. If anyone wants to team up or mentor me on a little aid let me know. -Sam

I'll be there. I have trad, aid, sport, mountaineer gear. I'd love to climb at Index as I've never been there before and would like to try some aid, but really I'm down for just about anything. PM me if you're interested in teaming up. -Sam

Also thinking about doing a quick run up Adams south side to ski a lap next week. Any more recent updates?

Ivan, what's Abraxas rated as an aid climb? Does it go clean? I've looked at it numerous times and always wanted to go climb Tombstone Crack at the top but the 5.12 choss lower on the route is a little over my head right now. (Yes, I know you can rap in and climb out but it seems like a lot of shenanigans for 1.5 pitches of climbing! Would be way cooler to go ground up IMHO.)

Good point on the tri-cams, I have a set but rarely use them. Might have to start bringing them out to practice aid, would probably make me more comfortable using them free-climbing. And yes I have some off-set nuts. After reading several reviews I think I'm going to go with some Metolius 4-step aiders. Sounds like they are comfy but light and should be fine for everything I'm interested in. Regarding solo-aid... I was thinking about just using a clove hitch system. Is this significantly more dangerous than a modified gri-gri? Any general advice on this?

Hey guys, thanks for all the input, I didn't expect all the responses. Buckaroo, it sounds like you really like the sliders and they work great for you but I will be sticking with something more simplistic since I'm really just looking to transfer these skills to the alpine where they will only be used for a couple pitches per route. Light and simple with easy transitions between free and aid. The videos Gene directed me to were great. And the ideas for Smith Aid have me psyched. I think I will begin doing some solo aid practice soon on single pitch and I heard it enough times that West Face of Monkey is now on my to do list.

Disclaimer: This is not a page for aid haters, if you'd rather free climb get off your lazy butt and go do it. I have been alpine and free climbing for a few years now but would really like to get some experience aid climbing and either do Liberty Crack or some other grade V this year. I have tried aiding a 5.9 crack with a friend's aid setup once. I have done plenty of french-free and random stand on a sling BS, just screwing around at the crag and in the alpine. Really I want this experience just so that I can have another tool to push my alpine climbing. Questions I have for those who might know... 1. I know I need etriers and theoretically two daisies... is there any other MANDATORY gear I should get for C1? I have plenty of gear for trad climbing, lockers, etc. 2. Smith is my local crag so I have done plenty of A0 and avoided the A4 shit shows that seem to be everything else. If I was going to go do an intro multi-pitch aid climb, where should I go? Index? Anywhere closer to Central Oregon? 3. Anyone want to do a little mentoring in late June or July weekends? Thanks in advance...

I think you'll find that 99% of climbs on the west side of the mountain get approached from Timberline. I would check the USGS and other topos... http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=45.37743,-121.7184&z=14&b=t My guess would be that you can just pick a trail or ridge-line and follow it most of the way. Not sure where the Top Spur TH is but if something stops you from there then it would stop you from Timberline too.

I would check craigslist and also look in Redmond and Terrebonne. Bend is way over-priced and it is farther from smith and trout.

Yeah, the Sierra/s are on my radar (grew up in Reno where most people say Sierras, but met plenty of sticklers for s-less Sierra too). Got plenty of alpine rock objectives (Winds, Bugs, Tetons, Sierras, Cascades, Sawtooths, etc.), probably too many given how short life is, but alpine rock is only climbable a few months each year and I'd rather go alpine than crag... thus the request for alpine routes to progress past this last ice/mixed alpine climb.

Yeah Marc, I would love to get on Slesse but it is an 8+ hour drive for me through Seattle area traffic I will definitely get on Slesse one summer at the very least, and keep that South Ridge in mind for a future Wadd trip! Sounds sick! Kurt, I've already done a bunch on Hood, including an I-rock route, N Face, DKH, etc. It's definitely the best alpine crag in OR and I'll keep going back. And yeah, I live in Bend so I spend plenty of time at Smith and the other areas you mentioned (Jeff Park is a sweet route). I appreciate the nod to Snoqualmie routes since I always pass them by for the Stuart Range, I've always thought about NY Gully as this hard test piece but after last week it sounds really reasonable, and Stuart Glacier Couloir will be a good one too with the mixed ridge and more complex descent. Thanks guys!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Several of those were already on my list but a bunch weren't so now I have some research to do. Ivan, I appreciate the nod to some aid/wall routes, that is an area I could use some practice that I'm sure would pay dividends. keenwesh and christoph, thanks for the push to get on an expedition. Unfortunately the Ruth is probably not going to work out as I work in schools and April/May is not really an option with that job... unless I substitute next year ... I have been thinking that routes in the Canadian Rockies, Waddington, Cordillera Blanca, and Denali (higher altitude routes) in the next few summers would be good goals but I feel like I need a few more stepping stones to prepare for that sort of trip... or maybe I just need to train my ass off and go big like keenwesh

P.P.S. I'm in grad school right now and probably won't be able to get on anything big again until May, so please don't tempt my homework-ridden self with climbs that are in condition "right now." This is more for me to think about potential goals and objectives for next winter and beyond. Thanks.

I just climbed the Gerber-Sink on Dragontail this week (see the TR if you want). It was definitely a level-up from what I've climbed previously in winter. My question is, what other routes should I consider to challenge myself and expand my abilities/experience? I know I need some more ice and mixed cragging experience, but what are some bigger alpine routes I might build toward? Both the Black Spider and Yocum Ridge are on my radar already but are highly conditions dependent. Living in Bend it's hard for me to access some of the more remote stuff in North Cascades due to time limits and variable conditions, so please consider the added drive time. P.S. I know that there are plenty of great moderate routes out there and I don't need to always be pushing my limits, etc. etc. I do intend to enjoy easier routes and this is not about me pushing myself in some mad desire to become a high-level alpinist, but goals and progress are nice and I feel a little unsure of what to target after this climb. Thanks for the suggestions. -Sam

Yeah that makes sense. We were definitely in the third couloir once we got out of the gully. Gotta love Dragontail... there are just so many possibilities up there.

Thanks Alex! Yeah I looked at a bunch of TRs for G-S and was noticing that most people actually start it almost the same way we did, instead of how Beckey shows it in CAG. I have a hard time believing there are reasonable variations that haven't been done given the number of ascents and caliber of climbers who have taken their turn on the route. To clarify though, the gully I'm talking about is NOT the final couloir in Triple Coulis. The gully was tucked right next to the side of the fin and popped us out into the couloir about half way up. After looking at pictures in other TRs, it looks like people usually go further left and enter the couloir earlier. This TR shows it better. Here is a picture from that TR that I put some arrows on... red = fin yellow = rock feature Beckey shows the route going up in CAG purple = the "gully" we climbed green = the pitch most winter TRs show people using to access the last couloir in the Triple Anyway, now I've sprayed beta all over the dam place. Hopefully I didn't ruin anyone elses adventures

Crazy. Well maybe Alex could comment and let us know if that was what he bailed off of. The two nuts and sling were all spread out, the lower nut had a bail biner on it, the second nut did not, the sling was tied off and hard to tell how old in that environment but still slightly green colored. If anyone knows anything about this behind-the-fin variation let's hear about it. It's a cool section and I think could actually be straight forward ice runnels in the right conditions. Definitely worth investigating if you want to avoid some more snow slogging.

Okay so maybe those pitches haven't been done in winter before? You'd think with a peak like Dtail it would have been climbed at some point. Edward said he felt the pitch was maybe around M5, at first he thought maybe even M6 but I guess he got a glove stuck in a handjam and had to pull it out. I've never really climbed M-graded stuff before so I really have nothing to compare it to. It felt kinda like old-school 5.9 when I followed it, a little committing and awkward but all there once you go for it. DPS- Did Alex make a TR? Can you link it?

Trip: Dragontail - Gerber-Sink variation? Date: 3/24/2015 Trip Report: Edward and I both had time off in the middle of this week so we drove up to Leavenworth from Bend to take our turn on Triple Couloirs. We hiked in to Colchuck Lake Monday night and went to sleep dreaming of a cruiser climb up steep snow. That night it started snowing. We woke up at 4am and it was still snowing so we went back to sleep. At 5am it was still snowing, and finally at 6am it stopped. We expected an inch or two but soon found out it had snowed about 6". We got out of bed and looked at the clearing face to see constant, large spindrift avalanches coming down, many dumping into the hidden couloir and blasting snow out the bottom. We sat around for an hour wondering what to do and finally decided to check out the white streaks right of the center buttress. I knew that the Gerber-Sink was in this vicinity and that it had been climbed as an ice route, but did not know where it went. The white streaks had not gotten dumped on by spindrift for maybe 30 minutes so we got to the base and Edward started to try climb a mixed pitch left of the main streak. He tried two separate starting pitches, both had no pro and as soon as he got into the business it started coming down again. At one point I couldn't see my tools in the snow two feet from my face. The sloughs were constant and unrelenting. After backing off from both attempts we presumed the trip was a bust but I wanted to try one more mellow ramp pitch further left where there was less spindrift coming down. I climbed up some stubby trees on top of a ramp and accessed a snow ledge above where I could build an anchor. Edward came up and it was already around 10am. We discussed bailing but a runnel led up and right and Edward said we might as well do another pitch just to see where it went. Up the runnel we traversed right on steep snow and popped out a pitch up the white streaks which were now obviously perfect steep neve. Unable to resist I led the next pitch up perfect sticks with a couple screws and ended up on more steep neve above and no decent anchor. Edward came up and with no anchor and more perfect neve seeming to continue forever we committed to the face. A couple simul pitches later we emerged from beautiful runnels to a steep snow field. We thought we could see the bypass entrance to the third couloir but there was another couloir up and right tucked behind the Fin from the Backbone route. We wallowed up that way thinking it would be an easy top-out, but soon found thin ice and mixed climbing forcing us to break out the rope again. One pitch later Edward worked up the crux of the route, a verglassed slab-layback with gloved hand jams. It was pretty committing but had obviously been climbed before due to the two fixed nuts and faded sling we found on the pitch. One more short mixed step above this deposited us a couple rope lengths from the top of the third couloir. We slogged up through deep snow and tagged the summit around 6pm before heading straight back down Asgard to the Lake. We had both told people that we would be back in Bend that night but it was now almost 8pm. We packed up and hiked out making it to the car just after 11pm. We drove into town to get cell reception and then took the first available forest service pullout and slept for a few hours before being awoken before 6am by the cold damp that comes from sleet falling on the tent. After looking at the Beckey guide, I can say that our route was not the Gerber-Sink because it started on the right side of the buttress and followed the ice runnels and neve streaks which at some point probably shared several pitches with the G-S. Then instead of climbing the rock buttress at the top we climbed the gully behind the fin. I'm sure all of this has been done before by other parties, except maybe a couple of our starting pitches to avoid the spindrift might be slightly different. Regardless of what route it is, it is fantastic and I enjoyed it immensely. Here is our route with the false starts marked in red. Here is the picture sans route. Gear Notes: 60m rope, 4 screws (1x stub, 3x med), single rack, tools/pons, and a deep water-proof hood for spindrift Approach Notes: boots of even guide tennies, trekking poles help with the slick trail but its not too bad

Christoph- one of my partners who does rope access work uses a shunt for solo TR. He likes the redundancy and non-toothed cam, but he has to pull slack through the shunt by hand. That's the downside. It does work though.

Several people on MP's thread for solo TR have recommended using a CAMP lift. It seems pretty similar to the Petzl microcender. Does anyone one have personal experience with the Lift? Would it be likely to have similar problems to the Ushba? I was contemplating using a Lift and a Microtraxion so that I had redundancy and one cam-only device with one toothed cam. Thoughts?

Also, as my list #3 indicates, I need more ice/mixed/alpine experience. I have a week off in late March and would just like to put it out there in case anyone needs a partner or would be willing to provide some mentorship in exchange for beer and a belay slave.

Going to the Bugs in August if everything works out... B-C is my #1 objective but I'm not sure if my partner and I will be fast enough to tackle it. We did Backbone/D-tail in 19 hours car-car last August. I know I can move fast on moderate terrain and snow, and I know he can climb all pitches no problem, just not sure if we can keep up with each other on our non-strengths and avoid taking the dreaded bivy gear.

1) Have climbed. Exum Direct (car-car first trad lead) Complete North Ridge on Stuart Jeff Park (winter solo) North Sister (winter, stormy weather) Tenaya-Matthes-Cathedral solo linkup 2) Capable of but have not climbed. Torment-Forbidden Traverse N Butt on Terror Beckey Chouinard on S. Howser Regular NW Face on Half Dome Evolution Traverse 3)**Want to climb but need more experience or to climb harder.** Polar Circus North Face of Mt. Alberta Ragni Route on Torre Super Canaleta on Fitz Roy Slovak Direct on Denali (why not set big goals?!) 4) Admire but will never climb. 5.14 (I only climb 5.11 right now, but I'm tryingg not tto set limits) A4/5 scare fests (I'm fine with C2) double corniced ridges (hopefully, but you never know where you might find yourself )