Nick Sweeney

Such a great read - sounds like an adventure of a lifetime.

This route is a bit off the beaten path, but undeniably classic and honestly pretty mellow for a 7 pitch 5.10a (guidebook grade). The perfect way to wrap up alpine rock season! Full TR with photos here: Spokalpine

God damn! I was so scared on the first pitch that I didn’t even notice the second one being badly protected, though it totally was in retrospect.

This is awesome. Nice moves!

Lion Tamer is the Acid Baby of the Idaho Selkirks. Do it! Bring a strong partner and all of your lichenous choss wrangling skills. Full report/photos here: Lion’s Head – Lion Tamer (III 5.10c) – SPOKALPINE

The crowds were heinous, as to be expected on a "50 Classics" climb, but it was a wonderful day out. I already want to go back to the Tetons... Full TR here: Grand Teton – Complete Exum (III 5.7) – SPOKALPINE

That's some amazing terrain up there! Nice effort.

No snow gear needed currently. Do this climb!! Full TR with photos: https://spokalpine.com/2023/08/04/slesse-northeast-buttress-v-5-10a/

NW Ridge/Face/Buttress/Arete is as good as it gets. Truly one of the best all-around adventures you can have as a climber in the Cascades. Do it!

This might be my least favorite route on Forbidden, but paradoxically the 5.8 crux might be the best pitch on any of the classic ridge routes on the peak. Unquestionably worth doing! No snow gear is currently needed if descending the East Ledges. Full TR and photos here: https://spokalpine.com/2023/08/01/forbidden-peak-east-ridge-direct-iii-5-8/

I thought this route was about as legit as a grade II 5.7 gets. Full TR here: https://spokalpine.com/2023/07/25/kangaroo-temple-northwest-face-ii-5-7-r/

Damn!!! I realized I never shared this here. Hopefully someone reads it and gets stoked on the adventure of a lifetime. Full TR and photos here: https://spokalpine.com/2022/07/08/denali-cassin-ridge-vi-5-8-ai4/

I had an incredible backpacking trip in the Selkirks earlier this month. Among other things, we climbed Twin Flakes on Harrison Peak. The South Face Standard and Keystone routes get all the attention on this peak, but the locals agree that Twin Flakes is the best route up there. Check it out! Full trip report with photos: https://spokalpine.com/2023/07/25/harrison-peak-twin-flakes-ii-5-8/ TR text: I had my first “vacation alpinism” trip of the season recently when Larissa and I backpacked up to Harrison Lake to climb some of that delicious Selkirks granite. Our first day was spent swimming, eating bread rolls, and questing up a few routes just above the lake. On July 2nd, we trekked over to Harrison Peak for Larissa’s first mountain climb: Twin Flakes! After a quick approach, I racked up and quested off onto the first pitch of Twin Flakes. Among hardcore Selkirks aficionados, this route has a reputation as the best route on Harrison Peak and I was excited to try it out! The typical Selkirks first pitch experience was in full effect: somewhat run out, ambiguous climbing is often required here to gain significant features. I found a comfortable belay and brought Larissa up. The second pitch is among the better alpine rock pitches that I’ve climbed in Idaho. Full commitment laybacking and stemming brought me up a perfect corner to a stance, before another interlude of attention-grabbing climbing. Excellent protection allowed me to enjoy the climbing and sunshine, despite some lichen-covered rock. This ain’t the Cascades… this route might only get climbed a time or two per year. The final pitch had some sweet face climbing before I found myself below the “rock cornice” mentioned in the Laird guidebook. Feeling the exposure, I traversed slightly right, placed two good cams under the overhang (safety first), and made a committing throw out right that allowed me to snag a secret hold and mantle onto a ledge. A few more meters of climbing brought me to the summit ridge. The walk off descent went quickly and brought us back to camp at the lake in time for a big dinner on the lake shore. The next day, we returned to Harrison Peak to repeat the South Face standard route [ Harrison Peak – South Face (II 5.7+) ]. The final pitch of the South Face is just as good as I remembered! Gear Notes: We brought doubles of .3-3, a single .2, and a set of nuts along with a single rope. Strategy Notes Harrison Peak is easily climbed car-to-car, but camping in this area is worth seeking out. The Beehive Five Traverse [ Beehive Five Traverse (III 5.4) ] is right in the neighborhood as well! We climbed one route per day on Harrison, but experienced teams could easily climb two or three in a day on this wall, stashing gear at the base of the Standard Route.

The guidebook is by Thaddeus Laird. Can’t recall the name right now but it’s worth picking up.

No reference, I just love calling people nerds ironically. Nerd.

This is really really cool!

Trip: Cabinets Mountains/Ojibway Peak - SW Face Standard Route (III 5.7) Trip Date: 09/04/2021 Trip Report: Listen up nerds, climbing in the Cascades is just too easy. Good trails, tons of beta, and the routefinding decisions typically come down to "follow the clean rock" or "ascend the obvious gully." Western Montana has some REAL adventure climbing. Alright, I'm being somewhat facetious, but the Cabinets are RAD. It's incredibly rugged up there and the vertical relief is impressive. Even a scramble route in this area is going to feel like a massive adventure. Not that these peaks are super tall (the giants of the range are around 8000 feet) but the valleys are so deep that the scale is similar to that of larger, higher ranges. I finally made the trip and in case you haven't noticed, I'm PSYCHED and the trailheads for this range are only three hours from my front door. Anyone want to get back there for a big adventure in the next couple of weeks before the season closes? I have my eyes on a few things. Check out my TR for Ojibway on my site: SPOKALPINE Gear Notes: A single rack .2-3 works great for the standard route. 70m rope recommended but a 60m will do you just fine. Approach Notes: Easy, until it's not. But still easy...

Trip: Dragtontail Peak - Backbone Ridge Trip Date: 08/28/2021 Trip Report: Had a great time on Backbone last weekend! Quality aventure route. We did the rappel descent - not much beta out there for this, but they are easy to find following Blake's beta in Cascades Rock. Full report with photos: SPOKALPINE Gear Notes: Doubles to 2, single 3, 4, 6 Approach Notes: Pooper at the South shore of the lake!!

That makes sense. Good job sticking it out and getting down safely.

Oooooof. I’ve been there…. Shiver bivies aren’t fun, but you know you’re trying hard when they happen! What do you think went wrong for you on this one? Hard to imagine that upper face taking more than a couple of hours.

Right on Marlin, that’s some fantastic beta about that approach.

Trip: Chimney Rock - Free Friends Trip Date: 07/06/2021 Trip Report: God damn! This route is incredibly high quality and STOUT at the supposed pitch ratings of 5.9+, 5.10c, and 5.8+. It was a real pleasure getting up to Chimney again... better than I remembered. Full report with photos: SPOKALPINE Gear Notes: Doubles .2-4, triples .75-2. We used it all. Approach Notes: Sounds like the Western approach is the fastest option, and I've heard tales of being able to cross over to the East Face on the south of chimney rather than hiking around the North side. For this trip, we took the Eastern (Pack River) approach to enjoy the scenic hiking and try something new,

Trip: Lion's Head - East Buttress Trip Date: 07/17/2021 Trip Report: Idaho is amazing! You can have legit mountain adventures in the Selkirks on impeccable stone. I recently returned to Lion's Head and thought I'd share my trip report here: SPOKALPINE Gear Notes: Singles .3-3, doubles .5-1 Approach Notes: Bushwhack for your life!!!!

Trip: Mt Drum (Wrangell Mountains) - Southwest / Hurricane Ridge Trip Date: 05/03/2021 Trip Report: Benny Lieber and I attempted Mt Drum from May 3-8, 2021. While we didn't summit, this was still an amazing trip. It was really memorable to be visiting the Wrangells on my first trip to Alaska - a range which is pretty far off the beaten path to say the least. TR with photos: SPOKALPINE Gear Notes: Screws, pickets Approach Notes: It's hard to get flights in here. Finding a friendly private pilot is your best bet.

For those interested, I posted up a trip report with lots of photos here: Spokalpine