Dinonuggetz

Great video I enjoyed it! Congrats on the send too Audrey!

Trip: Red Mountain, Snoqualmie Pass - Southwest Face/Ridge Date: 2/24/2015 Trip Report: At 8pm Friday night I sent out what could be called a frantic email. It hit me that I did not have a partner for a day in the mountains on Saturday. I was slacking! I sent out a desperate email trying to get someone to join me. An hour went by and no replies... Looks like I would have to settle with household chores. Just as I gave up, bzzz bzzz bzzz my phone! I rushed and grabbed it. It was an unknown number. "My name is Don, what do you have in mind?" YES! A parnter! We met up that night discussed plans and decided Red Mountain was a suitable objective. The next morning Don picked me up in his Jeep and we were off! We were caught up in conversation and we quickly realized we missed our exit as we started to descend the other side of the pass. We turned around and made it to the parking lot just before 7am. We strapped our boots on. Packed our packs. And it was on! Red Mountain from the parking lot. We took the Pacific Crest Trail right as we went under the underpass. The trail was bare with several spots of ice and snow. We left the PCT at the junction, taking a left into Commonwealth Basin. As the sun climbed, morning light shrouded the peaks in a glorious glow of magnificent gold. Up ahead were numerous small creek crossings under beautiful waterfalls. Rocks in the water were frozen, making for a wet and wild crossing. A log lay across Commonwealth Creek, we would have to balance our way across. I took the first go and decided to completely dunk my left foot. Great! Don made it across fine. I got the water out of my boot and we carried on. We lost the trail and decided to just walk up the dry creek towards the ridge, which we could just make out through the timber. Soon we were snaking our way up the southwest ridge through the trees. As the path climbed the views became more grand. Guye, Snoqualmie, Red and Kendall Peaks (Left to Right) Sherpa Don and Rainier The snow on the ridge was great. It made for great steps. The ridge started to become rocky, and there was little snow cover in some spots. We came to a spot where I just could not seem to make it over! We dug down and realized that the snow had started to ice up. We were in an exposed spot so we traversed over by some rocks and kicked out a platform. We put on the crampons and continued up with ease. The snow changed its tone around this time and turned into styrofoam. NWAC said there would be windblown snow on the southwest face of the mountains. We had found it. Soon we were out of the treeline and the summit was tantalizingly close. Don high on the Southwest Face We crested the summit and enjoyed the great views. After sharing some cheetos and some chocolate chip cookies we decided to head down. Eventually making it to the crux log crossing. This time i cruised it! Hooray! We made it car to car in just under 6 hours. Red Mountain is fun if your just looking for a short day. I highly recommend it! Summit views to the south and north Looking back after the climb. Gear Notes: Ice ax, and Crampons will get you up the 45 degree snow slopes for sure. Approach Notes: Follow PCT, Cut left at the junction into Commonwealth Basin and aim for the Southwest Ridge.

No, I don't and somehow we don't have any pictures of them. sorry! I do remember Lane being pretty much snow free while Denman still had a sizable snow field around it.

Trip: Tatoosh Range an underestimation - Chutla and Wahpenayo Peaks Date: 2/15/2015 Trip Report: This Saturday, Cam and I decided to leave my house at 1130pm to head to the Tatoosh range south of Mt Rainier. Cam set up and the GPS on his "smart" phone, and promptly fell asleep for the entire 4 hours of the drive. Three hours into the drive, the kind voice of the phone told me to take a right. The road began to wind and twist, while the pavement turned to dirt and gravel. The path dead ended at a locked forest service gate. The phone had taken me the back-way to Longmire, but no luck. I turned around and headed back down, and an hour an a half later we had finally reached the park entrance. We were unaware it was free to enter the park today because of presidents day! We couldn't have planned it any better. We reached Longmire and started looking for the Eagle Creek Trail head. We drove up and down the roads looking for a sign. No luck. We decided we would sleep in the parking lot until the morning. We awoke in the morning and decided we would get a permit to camp due to the lost time. We got the permit and took off to the trail head. This sucker is hard to find! We missed it a couple times this morning. But we finally found it and parked. We packed up the gear, and we were finally on the trail at 10am. A couple hours later and we were on the top of Chutla. It was here that we sat down and had some lunch. What a beatiful day it was shaping out to be! Not a cloud in sight, and the gravity of Rainier weighed heavy as it demanded you to look at it in all it's glory. "That mountains huge!" I agreed as I scarfed some more PBnJ. It was time to leave this beautiful summit for another. After looking at the map and scoping it out, we decided our best way for descent was down a northeast facing couloir. It was steep enough (40'ish degrees) to force us to down-climb most of the way. When we were halfway down we heard a huge crash! The sounds of rocks racing downhill, jarring for position against one another, jostling to see who could make it off the mountain first. First thoughts were, OH SHIT! Cam was right in the middle of the chute. I darted behind a protected alcove. But no rocks came down the couloir. Talk about relief! We made it out of the couloir and started traversing around the east side of the mountain looking for the rockfall. We saw no signs of the event. We paused, and Cam brought up that his preexisting ankle injury had started to be re awoken on the down climb. We weighed our options. Retreat? No, Cam wouldn't allow it. "I didn't drive this far to just climb 1" (more like sleep all this far). We trudged on to Wahpenayo. The snow had become soft on the sun baked east face. As we started up the north face the slush turned into amazing snice. It allowed just enough for crampon points to bite in. Up we went crossing many mini ridges. My plan had to be to climb the north face of the mountain. But upon getting close enough Cam noticed the corniced ridge looming above. Nevermind the north face plan. We opted for the northwest ridge. We gained the corniced ridge and started to traverse to the summit. From down low it looked like it was going to be a cake walk. But as we got closer to the summit it appeared it was going to be a little harder then that. The summit was guarded by steep sections of bare rock slabs and numerous snow buried trees. We battle through the trees, both of us getting hung up by our trekking poles several times. After that we had 2 short 40 foot bare rock sections to negotiate with our crampons. At 4pm we were at the USGS summit marker. Again we rested and munched on our sandwiches. Cam's ankle had come to a point of hindrance, rather then just a minor annoyance. So we decided to descend and head back to the car. Our first plan was to try to climb most, if not all of the remaining peaks through the night, and into the next day. But, we just had to much against us to realize this dream this time. We headed back down the way we came, down climbing the rock steps and thrashing through the tree guarded ridge. We then dropped over the col between Chutla and Wahpenayo back into the basin on the west side of the ridge. We tromped back to the car and headed for home. "You always bring a rope, no matter what, just in case!" Gear Notes: Ice Ax, Crampons, and a ROPE! Approach Notes: Eagle Creek Trail is mostly snow free until just before the saddle.

Trip: Frenchman Coulee - Fastest Frenchman Date: 11/1/2014 Trip Report: At 5:30, Cam and I hustled into the car. We had one goal in mind on that chilly fall morning. Climb 50 pitches at the Coulee. We arrived at the lower parking lot at 6:15. We slapped on our packs and quickly scooted to the first objective of the day, Sunset Park. Just as we jumped on the rock the sun climbed over the ridge. We dispatched the first 5 pitches by 7:30. We took up our bags and ran to the next wall. We arrived at the West Alcove a split second later. We threw down our packs and I scampered up Magster from the Bus. I clipped the chains and Cam promptly dropped me to the deck. I pulled the rope and Cam took off. As he reached the top he rapidly clipped in and cleaned the anchor. Right when he reached the ground he took off and led the next pitch. We did this for the next 12 climbs in the West/East Alcove. It was 10:00 and we had finished our 18th climb. We each took a sip of water, gathered our gear and took off running to Clearview Crag. 5 pitches later we were done with the wall. Again, we charged to the next wall, Riverview Park. We cleaned up 12 pitches at the park. We were 35 climbs in and it was 13:20. At this point we were dogging it. We contemplated for a second that 35 was enough. But after we had a quick lunch and a gulp or two of water we decided we had to stick to our goal. We schlepped the gear over to Corn Wall. We hopped on what the book calls a 5.7. But after 35 pitches we were really feeling it. Our hands were raw, our muscles tense and doubt was building if we would have enough strength to get up the remaining climbs. We climbed the 2 open climbs on the wall and then ditched our gear and took off for Millennium Wall. There we ran into a bunch of our friends. However, we didn't have much time to talk. We had to stay focused in order to get our goal and most importantly stay safe. We both had tied a figure eight knot so many times today. But it only takes one bad knot, a bad anchor setup or anchor cleaning to ruin your day. We climbed 6 routes on the wall and hurried back to Corn Wall. We guzzled our remaining water and started up the rock. We reached the top of 3 other routes on the Corn Wall. We were now at 46 climbs. The end was so close! There was not better place to end this journey then at the crown jewel of the Coulee. The pillars that inspired it all. Many have dreamed of making the journey to the Frenchman to climb them. The Feathers ARE rock climbing. Features like these were the reason that man decided to stand on two legs and go after their dreams. All kidding aside, we ran back to the car and drove up to the parking lot. It was 16:45. The sun was tired and was dipping below the horizon. We too wouldn't mind a nap at this point. We climbed the remaining 4 climbs in just under an hour. Finishing on my personal favorite Don Coyote. 50 climbs, our dream had been realized. We high fived and rejoiced that it was over. The official time was 6:30 to 17:40. 50 pitches in 11hours and 10 minutes. For the last time we packed up our gear, and this time walked instead of ran. We drove home satisfied and relieved that we were able to achieve our goal. Definitely something we will both remember for a long time to come. Below are the 2 mediocre pictures we were able to take during our rush to complete the goal. Now this brings me to what I truly posted this for. We want this to become a community thing out at the Frenchman. A friendly competition between friends. We want this to become a tool to improve or challenge one another. So I suppose we need some rules for this event. First off the time frame is limited to 24hrs. Secondly as long as you and your partner get to the top of each climb it counts as one pitch. Aiding, French freeing, or whatever it takes to haul your butt to the those shiny chains. That's about it. You get a thumbs up if you decide to tackle the taller walls. (Maybe you should get 2 pitches for a Sunshine Wall or Middle East pitch). We have concluded that's something for the community to decide. One last thing. Cam and I have decided to deem this gauntlet as the Fastest Frenchman. Cheers all, have fun, and most importantly stay safe out there!

Thanks Kyle

Trip: Hyalite Canyon - G2 and the Amphitheatre Date: 2/14/2014 Trip Report: We started out at the obscenely early hour of 11am. Chris, Eric, and I jigsawed our gear into the back of the Subaru and we were off. But first we had to swing by the bank for a loan and to get our 4th crew member Cameron. With the papers and legal mumbo jumbo out of the way we headed east towards the more frigid mountains of Montana. What we sought from this trip is what we had found very little of this season in Washington. We were after blue gold. And we were sure we would find plenty of it chandeliering off the mountains and cliff faces of Hyalite Canyon. After 9 hours on the road and plenty of mountain passes later we finally arrived at Belgrade where we set up shop at a friend's house. Stories, laughter, and liquor were shared for some time before we decided to get into our bags and get some rest for tomorrows activities. This day we got a much better start, at 6am we were packed and cruising to the canyon. We arrived at the parking lot shortly after and decided to head for G2. After a 15 minute approach we arrived at the beautifully fat flow. We slapped on our crampons unsheathed our tools and got the rest of our gear ready. I decided to lead the ominous and steep right side which the book calls WI 4. Having only climbed water ice a few times I threw caution to the wind, and thought hey, why not, its just ice right? Correct, it is only ice, but 15 feet off the ground I regretted being so bold as I struggled to get the squirrely screw started in the dense blue ice. I fumbled for what felt like forever, and then finally the teeth bit and started to tunnel into the frozen water. My biceps felt like fire as I got the screw clipped and the rope through the biner. I had Chris take in the slack as I hung out and rested. I wondered what I was doing trying to lead WI 4 when I had only followed WI 3 once in my short ice climbing career. My biceps felt good enough to get going again and I knew if I was going to make it I would have to move efficiently and get the screws in fast and only where I truly needed them. I set off and climbed over the short crux and thankfully it was smooth swinging to the top. I set up a belay around a tree and brought my partners up. We then decided to set up two top ropes and get as many pitches in as we could. We spent all day at G2, surprising enough we didn't see another party on the route. We packed up at 4pm headed out for a quick snack at Buffalo Wild Wings and then enjoyed a trip to the local hot spring. We washed up, relaxed, and became recharged as the waters soothed our aching muscles. Then we were off to eat again at a local brewery in Belgrade. We arrived back at our base house and started making plans for tomorrows outing. We decided on Dribbles, and then promptly bundled up in our bags and passed out. 6am came around and our team suffered quite the debacle. Argument erupted, tempers flared, and sour words were said. After everything calmed down Chris decided that he would stay and keep our host company for the day. Cameron, Eric, and I set out for the Canyon. The mood was somber and you could feel the tension fogging up the car. Determined to not let this ruin our day I bought us coffee so we could chipper up and get some energy for the big climb. We arrived at the canyon at 7am just as a light snow started. We thought little of it as we set out on the main trail and headed for Dribbles. After an hour we arrived at the snow field below Dribbles. Oddly enough our trail that we had followed had disappeared and the snow pack changed from light and fluffy to hard and stiff. The furry white stuff had really started to come down as well. We gawked at the tantalizing five hundred feet of frozen cascading ice. Not to be distracted though we took into consideration the conditions. Very recently there had been an avalanche on the snow field that separated us from the start of the climb. We could see the Crown at the top of the steep hillside and the snow was really barreling into us now. I set my pack down for just ten minutes and there was already three inches of fresh rounds on it. After we took it all in we decided the risk was just to great, and we could come back another day. So we bailed and headed back down the trail and decided to climb at the Amphitheater. We got on a nice flow of WI 3 ice which satisfied us for the remainder of the day. We then packed up and drove out of the canyon. We all regretted not getting on Dribbles to some degree, even if we didn't verbally suggest that we did. After we were out of the canyon we met back up with Chris who had a great day going around town with our host. The five of us went out to eat and gorged ourselves on two immense meat platters and beer. When we could stuff no more food into our engorged bellies we drove back to the house. Sorted and dried our gear. Then it was off to bed to get some rest. For the drive back to Washington in the morning would be a long one. The next morning we awoke and set off at 6am. Bad road conditions and slow Montana drivers stood in our way. So naturally I blazed by them through the driving rain and slushy roads. The worse the conditions on the road the more the challenge, and the more fun the drive seems to become. We made it back in Ellensburg around 2pm. Unpacked Cameron's stuff and loaded our gear back into Chris' Subaru. Another hour of driving brought us home to a well deserved respite in our own homes. We made it but we have much to finish back at that canyon. I know that we will get back there someday, someday soon. The Approach to G2 The G2 Flow itself The short crux Belay Tree / Cave Dribbles Gear Notes: Ice Screws Crampons Ice Tools Boots Plenty of Layers