Kposaune

Hello! This is crossposted to MP. I am entertaining a short run of ledge beds, as I found the process enjoyable. Shown here is a retro bed made for a 8-segment A5 ledge with Challenge Sailcloth UHMWPE ripstop, Ultragrid. Very neat to make and hop in! The problem with ledge beds is, it's over half the work of making a new portaledge. I'd like to make a few more to see what parts of the manufacturing process could be streamlined, but I don't want to just "make stuff". Let me know if there is some interest and what you expect from the transaction, and I will see if there is time in the schedule to make some beds. I have hot pink and neon green in packcloth at the moment, and I anticipate the cost would be $350-400 shipped. Kyle High Mountain Gear

I led all of The Nose off the couch this spring (a point of pride, but not particularly sure what that means) and Sam just ate this F---ing climb for breakfast. At this point in my life I am balancing on the knife-edge between adult responsibilities and still finding Ramen delicious. The mirror is reserved for mornings where I have not eaten too many carbs, and think that I may finally be ready to onsight Godzilla. What younger people need to understand is you can ADD stuff to Ramen, but not mashed potatoes. And not in a Nalgene bottle. These are beginnings of a story that are never meant to be written, but find their way into the lexicon of a few and create legends.

Not sure Sam mentioned it, but this was likely the first line Sam ever looked at that had not been already climbed. He seemed very eager to send it grabbing the rack at the base, so I facilitated in carrying all I could handle to make it easier. The route is definitely one of those “good that we did it, so no one else has to wonder” routes. The line follows an obvious drainage for 90% of the route. Per usual I ripped off what Sam didn’t. On the pitch I released the 1/2 ton pile on accident, Sam debated climbing that corner and chose not to. I was getting into position to release the choss and stood on an obvious loose block to the side when pretty much the whole pile slid out from under me. I was aware it might happen and was not really surprised by it. 90% chance would have died if he led through there. I find it interesting that we talk a lot about choss and the possibility of dying, but the route is infinitely safer now. There is an art and skill to navigating new routes like this, and following some of those leads was probably just as dangerous pre/post cleaning. I’m not sure what is wrong with us. I followed the route in worn out approach shoes with the pack on and all the extraneous metal/shoes. Leader/follower need to be confident/competent, gumbies are gonna have a really bad time. Probably should have put climbing shoes on. There is actually a decent amount of nifty and wild climbing on this route to reward you for your patience. Awesome incut perfectly spaced holds, and one section with a full-on 5.9 horizontal layback off a big horn. Tacos were necessary for the FA, I suppose you could blast from the top of the tree-cone to the top in a day of 10 pitches, bivying on heather then continuing to the summit the next day.

Hello! I have been working on developing an aid practice circuit at Wayne’s World/Darkside at Exit 38 for those interested in working on bigwalling skills. I retrofitted three drytooling routes yesterday which we personally developed. The three routes go at C1 with a set of hooks. You could also get a little practice with cam hooks and thin cams in a few places but both of those are unnecessary. All three routes have clean falls and are slightly overhanging. I also added a bolt to the anchor 8 ft off the ground for sport route cleaning practice or bigwall anchor rope management practice/hauling setup/portaledge building (Swanson Pyramid of Greatness). Highstepping For Jesus-C1 bolts with hooks. Cam hooks and a couple thin cams optional. A long enough route and overhanging enough to practice jugging ropes and cleaning. Dingleberries of Eden-C1 mandatory hook move between bolt 4-5. Vader Built My Hotrod C1 hooks optional, couple pods accept cam hooks for practice. I am working on other routes with fixed gear/more interesting aid climbing, but you ought to be able to get up straightforward routes like Liberty Crack after some practice on these in an area with few visitors in the summer season. Kyle

Lincoln Park has about 6 routes from M4 to M7. The crags I am aware of in Oregon do not have readily available route information (or secretive), poor hardware issues, close proximity to free climbing areas and people complaining about that, or Illumination Rock. All searches for Rocky Butte DT yield broken Cc.com links and mentions of it existing, but that is all.

Hello! The season has come where the rock is wet, skis are worthless, and ice has yet to grow, if it ever does. Behold, the best collection of dry tooling in the Pacific Northwest! Mik Metzler leading Chewbaccerotica D7 Over the past 10 months we have trundled, scrubbed, and fully bolted 25 routes from D4-D8. We are also working on an advanced crag holding 8 or so routes from D8-D12. These routes are nothing like the slab, mud, and road cuts you have tried. Tom Beirne on a repeat ascent of Piña Coladas With Palpatine D7 This is the beginning of bringing the PNW into the future, and if you haven’t been here yet you are in for a treat. All routes are accessible to TR access with bolted stainless anchors with stainless wire gates. We expect that some may not be able to complete routes, so you can TR through these wire gates. We want you to try anything without concern for having to leave your gear behind as popularity and skill for the sport grows. They are your anchors! All of the thousands of dollars of hardware was generously donated through hundreds of donations from the community. When the anchor biners need replacing, we will all be overjoyed to replace them. Jen climbing during the second Ladypolooza women’s event Currently as the season is picking up, there are about 2-3 groups out at Wayne’s World/Darkside every weekend, and a few groups during the week and development continues. We monitor and fix issues usually in a few days. 7 routes on the main wall have had new dry-static ropes installed (generously donated!) for fast access to route anchors. Joanne enjoys the new extension of Party Time! Excellent! D6 If you have questions or concerns, or looking for a partner you may contact me directly. We also have a community FB page SeattleMixed Climbing to see FA’s, condition reports, and developing updates and new routes are available. Kyle Willis https://www.mountainproject.com/area/118307806/dark-side https://www.mountainproject.com/area/118307059/waynes-world Tom Beirne during development (and sent!) of Boaty McBoatface D9-10 IMG_9652.MOV

It’s a little hard to tell sometimes, like making food for yourself you’ll eat whatever and not think too much of it. It needs some product testing by normal people. One of my positive attributes is being able to make do with whatever i have. I am the only person who has used it, and I didn’t have it adjusted correctly at the time. I slept well enough, but I also could sleep on a bed of talus. There are a few design modifications that we believe can make it successful and way more comfortable and adjustable. The effort at which it takes to setup in general is quite simple.

I beat the ever living fuck out of that route to get it clean. I have never bled from so many places, nor inhaled so much dirt, or heaved that many blocks in such a short period of time. I don’t think Sam mentioned that all of the bolts, hangers, and rivets are 3/8” STAINLESS STEEL. We did this climb with the intention that others should and will repeat it. There are nicely placed portaledge bolts at camps, and there is in fact genuine Unobtainium around pitch 13, if you are looking for it. You’ll find an SDS bit sticking out of the rock. Most memorable was ripping car engine sized blocks off and watching them hit the moat. The moat would explode and drop pieces the size of a house. Also memorable was riding the pigs 1000 ft down the face. Would not have trusted any other climbers to do that for me. River was also very cool about helping, and has cool dogs! He is interested in dry tooling and ice climbing if you’re looking for a partner! picture 1 Sam leading crux A3+ pitch picture 2 Rainy day on first push at DT’s Golden Shower Room Picture 3 Me drilling a rivet after digging out sticky mud and rocks to find a shattered crack. Dry, the section probably goes at 5.9ish but the gear mostly iron.

Sewing things together for strength isn’t as complicated as you would think, in addition to stitches not needing to be perfectly formed to fall within the 1.5X strength per stitch calculation. Bar tacks aren’t even the strongest format for stitches, but they are the fastest and cleanest. If I sew something I don’t want to drop, I use a big zig zag on a straight stitch machine. Anyways, I have my hands in too many cookie jars as it is, I don’t need a bartacker. A patching machine would be more convenient.

I can’t realistically afford a bartacker to do the job right. I have a lot of work in different areas, and eventually a bartacker would make things easier. But at this time I would like to focus on other areas of expertise. Kyle

Hello! I started my business High Mountain Gear And Repair in Seattle last year repairing textiles and outdoor equipment. I have since expanded to creating my own outdoor equipment, crag development products, and Ice Equipment Sharpening Service! I have a studio in Ballard, and currently the turn around for Sharpening Services are 1-4 days turn around. If you have equipment that needs repaired, or custom ideas needing made, I work at a reasonable $30/hr. I work on lightweight and heavy duty fabrics including leather, and have a lot of fabric available for sale by the yard for your own usage. Please check out my website at High Mountain Gear And Repair or my instagram page at @highmtngearnrepair to see my current offerings of products and services. Sharpening Prices Set Of Crampons $40 Crampon Front Point $5 Ice Pick $7 Standard Steel Screw $9 Cut Throat Steel and Aluminum Screws $17 Lettering $1 per letter Kyle Willis High Mountain Gear And Repair 1425 Broadway #475 Seattle, WA 98122 6147470500 POSEIDON.mp4

I had the idea after soloing Forbidden a month earlier before the first attempt. We had too many projects at the time, and we both partially destroyed our vehicles setting up the car shuttles. (Must remember: Warped Rotors and bent rim/flat tire...) The first time we were just burnt out from onsighting the Triad Traverse, rapping off root balls, downsoloing 5.7 on virgin rock and knocking off refrigerator sized blocks. The final attempt a little earlier season allowed us to spend more time on snow and not be so baked by the sun. We left only a single red tricam rappelling the TFT. we almost gave up on the rest of the Traverse once we saw the garbage pile that was west Sharkfin, it looks so good from far away! After a dry ramen block I reckoned we wern’t Coming back out here again. Thus, the endless, super dangerous and humorous Traverse to the summit of Boston was awesome. I was nearly passed out belaying in the shade when I saw Sam unprotected 80ft out on a au cheval on rock that looked more like petrified horse shit. I immediately came to attention, this was crazy. A few pitches of extremely memorable choss traverse with a mank fixed Metolius cam had us in scramble town. Also, do not forget your breakfast burrito in the van.the traverse around to Sharkfin up a hot wet snow couloir. endless choss soloing to the knife edge pitches of Boston the tricky unprotectable downclimb on the Triad Traverse. THIS F**king rappel looking back at Eldo, a few hours later that storm hit us as we reached the notch below the West Ridge of Forbidden.

Trip: Red Rock - FA Jedi Mind Tricks 5.10 A2 V Trip Date: 11/09/2018 Trip Report: Hello! I wrote up Sam and I's first ascent on my blog. I figure I would copy the link here so others could check it out. I'm also working through Training for the New Alpinism in my blog, if you're interested in seeing how that is going. https://wp.me/p2nZJM-6v Cheers! Kyle Gear Notes: double rack to 4, heavy on micros and #5 and #6 cams. a few LA's, #1 KB's and #1 beak Approach Notes: Same as for Dream of Wild Cheeseburgers or Original route with approach pitch of 5.9

Hello, looking for a partner for either one or both days. I was thinking a jaunt up Liberty Crack, I’m thinking it would be a little interesting and fun. Trying to find a new set of 4 season boots, if I do by then... W Ridge of Stuart or something else where ever! kyle

Hello! I’m interested in setting some drytooling routes up at a wall that currently only has one route on it, and there’s space for more. Problem is, I don’t have a drill(yet) so I would buy the anchors if you can supply ze drill. Hypothetically, you could put up a multipitch drytooling route with enough effort, but I’m just trying to make something I can tr solo and get pumped, lead some and have some bad ass steinpull lock offs and big movements to bomber pockets. The rock does not generally lend itself to drytooling, but I was interested in drilling and/or manufacturing holds like what is apparently done in Europe. Before you get hot and bothered about it, check out the route to the right. https://www.mountainproject.com/route/114778289/the-ascentionist Now the rock just to the left of this route and for about 40ft. Wide and 100+ ft tall is good. At the bottom it’s overhanging, and eases up towards the top. The bad is the top of this particular ledge system is a fair amount of work with a matic. I am no stranger to the digging and choss trundling, but I would hope to find someone who may have some ideas about what constitutes a good drytooling route, knows how to make the pockets/edges when holds are not present, or has a drill and wants to swing stuff around. Shuksan Crag is entirely too far to drive all the time! Kyle

Another local had suggested I post on the Index FB page, but I’m not cool enough to join and am awaiting approval. What is with the two fixed lines to the right of the Lower Town Wall? The lighter rope was there last season, and now there’s another one over by Thin fingers. I figured I would ask before they mysteriously end up at the summit of Mt. Index. Kyle

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Liberty Ridge Trip Date: 05/14/2018 Trip Report: Hello! The climbing rangers on Rainier wanted to know about conditions on LR, and since we did the route the long way we did a lot of movement on the mountain and the Carbon River Trail/Wonderland on the way. I had to work last night after pushing the last 14 miles out in the morning, and have to work again today so I am trying to crush this and I’ll addend it later to get all the pictures as I get them. Here we go! Valerie and I met on Monday early and discussed more in depth our gear selection, ended up being 4 pickets and 5 screws. Fortunately the 1000 ft of hero ice and my trips to the Canadian Rockies worked well as two screw belays and one screw for pro saved time, and the extra picket helped set up the tent quickly! Be aware that if you start from the Carbon River, you cannot purchase your Rainier Climbing Pass there, it must be done somewhere else or online first! I swear I’ll send in my money on Monday, thank you to the Park Service for accommodating us. We left the Carbon River TH at 11am, and made it to 6800 ft at Curtis Ridge camp. We camped on dirt and used rocks as anchors to set up the Betamid, which it the first time I have used one and it was AWESOME. This seemed to be fine for accessing the Carbon Glacier. There is a crossing on the trail to which we had to on the way up take our shoes off and wade a little as several of the log walks are washed out. It is kind of an adventurous approach as you can imagine this time of year, but as someone mentioned to us on the way out “They probably didn’t find the trail too difficult if they climbed LR” Haha! On the way back, we chose to leave our boots on at a crossing because the water was even higher. If this happens, I’d suggest one person using shoes to wade across and attach a rope and ferry dry packs across, there’s a hand line across the way. Day 2 we found the Carbon to only have a couple of bridges to navigate, and Valerie deftly led us safely across to the right side of the Ridge. At this point Valerie had reservations about leading the route, and I assured her I would lead all of it if I needed to. This is in no way a detriment to her contribution to completing the climb, I needed her to help in all the glacier travel and navigation, positivity, and her extra pizza. The woman brought in 2.5 fully cooked pizzas. She knows her stuff. It took us 3 or so hours to move across the Carbon to the right side base, probably because of the long approach and our increasing lack of sleep and long days. At 1030 or so I started up the third snow band and over a very easy covered shrund, and the snow to Thumb Rock was pretty shitty ranging from ok to plunge step to wallowing in crotch deep sugar. Our anticipation was that it was supposed to get colder the next evening and we would have good conditions to the summit. It took us a whopping 9-10 hours to get to thumb rock, as we had to pitch out some sections because of the warm snow and I started taking the rock bands to save energy. Occasionally I could protect the rock bits with a deadman picket, but all other anchors were quite marginal and I ended up using seated hip belays or terrain belays off of boulders. I assume if the snow is good this time could be halved and soloed. Start very early or when the snow freezes. We sat in the sun and tried to dry out as best we could at thumb rock and hydrate. We dug a platform with a shovel, it would likely fit a 2-3 person tent well and just out of way of the rock falling off Thumb Rock. There’s enough dry rock to sit on and relax up there. Day 3 The Business. We awoke to still and excellent conditions. I started up at 330am to the left as it looked more direct, the WI3 straight up is completely non-existent. We simuled in 800-900ft blocks with a picket every 190-230 ft, I have never mid-daggered so much in my life. Occasionally whenever we needed to simul solo to get to a good picket or resting spot, I would end up in a sugary 10 ft band of garbage. Vertical pickets were pretty good today. Somewhere after the second block to pass over to the left, we came over a lip of snow and built a belay with an axe while standing on dirt and rock. From this belay I did a traverse of rock for 30 ft or so with a marginal picket to get to the left. I believe we did a rising traverse lower than usual to the left to access a wide long gully with some rockfall when the sun came out. Miraculously, as I had to chose my path the clouds covered it just until we were both out of harm’s way and then the sun came out and the rocks started falling again. My suggestion is if you go this way that you go up and right a bit around a few small rock outcroppings then cut immediately left to avoid rockfall if the sun is out. Either way move fast. We pushed this simul up to the ice face, and I belayed off of two screws in the bottom of the ice. At this point Valerie had some issue with her toe, and she may have stubbed it hard somewhere, and was feeling a bit rough. Valerie is pretty dang tough, so it might have even been broken. We had not stopped and ate or hydrated much, as we kept having some serious routefinding and objective hazards and that distracted us. The ice looks shorter than it is! I led 3 200 ft pitches, at the first belay I hammered her adze in to the hilt and connected it to the anchor and left her with a one screw anchor. I didn’t know what the next pitch of ice would feel like, she trusted me but expressed some concern with this. My standard mountaineering crampons were great and single swing half or to the hilt swings had me moving very efficiently up the pitches, placing a screw half way and two for the anchor. After 3.5 full pitches of ice, I belayed Valerie up to a flattish area and she was doing poorly. Albeit she rallied each time with courage since we were in a very committing position. The hanging belays sucked and her toe was hurting. At this point this got a bit colder, and the clouds would come in and out and obscure our view. We discussed bivying early around 13100, but she expressed from her experience is better to camp near Liberty Cap and I thought having the difficulties behind us would be better. I led up through the clouds as we spied at a moments clearing the correct way, traversing far right for a bit and up a very easy filled in bergshrund, travered up 45 degree snow ocassionally protecting with pickets while simulclimbing. I was out of pickets but started finding ice to place screws in every 150-200 feet up the last headwall to Liberty Cap. This was technically the crux, but it was hilariously fun for me and should not concern anyone really in it current state. Two hero ice tool placements above shrund, cut feet heel hook left foot and swing tools higher up 150 ft of mixed snow and ice to ice screw belay. Just before this belay Valerie got the screaming barfies on the overhang, and as she arrived to the anchor most of me was covered in rime and snow. 300 feet up more ice/snow to low angle terrain and Liberty Cap. At this point if we had stopped for longer than 20 minutes we may have been hypothermic with 30-40 mph winds. We were moving too slowly at this point to reach anywhere else, we quickly set up the Megamid pickets and tools, and I set to work digging in the sides. We slowly recovered and feet and hands warmed up, and the mood became a bit less serious and the awesomeness set in we were doing fine at 14k and howling winds, and we had made it up a very proud objective. As it turns out the Zip Jet boil is a bit finicky about being warm, but we passed out until midnight until we got the thing working or even cared about it. Imporant points before I leave you hanging... Descent of Emmons, boot path done to Shurman. When crossing Winthrop if doing LR, be careful of following our tracks, we were in a complete fog and were trying to go down not over. Might be looking to do the Kautz May 28-30 if someone is down, or whatever route is fun. TBC... Need to go climb some granite. Be Back out Wednesday night. Gear Notes: 5x screws, 4x 24" pickets, slings. 3 pickets and 6 screws might be better since theres more ice than i anticipated. Approach Notes: Carbon River is fine if you're in shape and want better conditions on route VS shorter approach if that is the current time of the season. Coming back down from Dick Creek. Valerie showed me how to wade, I was a little unsure of how to do it. Valerie's skillful untracked descent of the Emmons Above the 800 ft. ice face, still a pitch of ice above this. First full pitch of ice. Day 2 headed up to Thumb rock, conditions not the best. Entrance to the ridge from the Carbon Glacier

I’m not sure why I didn’t start here with trying to find a partner, so I copy pasted my MP post. Let me start with my days off, which are Monday-Wednesday, and possible Sunday or Thursday depending on when my boss hires more people. I plan of taking vacations this summer to possibly Chamonix, the Sierras, Tetons, or maybe just tick off a lot of my goal climbs around here and Canada. I am a competent skier of Cascadian concrete, infamous tree skiing with or without proper snow coverage, and always being super pumped to get after big objectives. I like to do a lot of planning and logistics. I started leading WI3 this winter with several trips to Canada, and I would like, no I NEED to climb ice. No drive is too far. I have been known to get pink eye very quickly that aligns to positive weather forecasts, and have to call out of work. It's incredible. I am looking for partners of any age, gender, color who are: 1.Know what they are doing, or at least very humble and acknowledge their shortcomings and willing to learn. 2. Have an excellent attitude, as well as an entertaining array of music to listen to while driving to who knows where. 3. When you say you're climbing, you actually go and are reasonably punctual. That should about do it. Here's the Spring/Summer climb to do list not already planned: Rainier- Kautz Glacier, Ptarmigan Ridge, Curtis Ridge, N. Mowich, DC Olympus- Blue Glacier Glacier Peak Mt. Robson- Kain Face Ptarmigan Traverse Had in mind to swing Adams and Helens on the same trip, S. Ridge and Worm Flows. Mt. Hood Lethold Couloir, cooper spur, or whatever ski descent is good. Bugaboos- N E Thing 5.4-5.10 Mt. Baker-N Ridge or other. Anything Icy in the Enchantments. Would repeat N Ridge Stuart because it was awesome!!! Ski traverse of enchantments. Mt Fay Centre Ice Bulge Direct Nooksack Tower Sierras- U Notch and V Notch Couloir, Dark Star, Harding Route Keeler Needle its all good there. Tetons-Grand Traverse Also need a belay partner at Vertical World Redmond, and if anyone wants to carpool to Snoqualmie Summit the next few weeks I am up there 2-3 days a week. I will wear my Lulu Lemon if you wear yours. Be safe, Kyle