geordie

I'm glad this provided folks with some fun. So far it's brought two peaks into question for me.. Have Bear or Dome received winter ascents, if so by whom and when? I'll admit I haven't been through the CAJ yet, but I think I've been through all the AAJs. There's lots of FWAs to be had - the race starts anew 12/21.

not if Lowell's right about Dome...

Bill- nope. Here's a clue. In recent years Colin has moved some peaks from one column to the other. Once by himself.

His pimp in Bellingham always makes me pay to go climbing with him!! (hi jason!)

Sorry Bill.. And Sarah is with an H, (but that's CHS trivia which belongs elsewhere I'm sure.)

Colonial, not Phantom.. Phil, I'm sure you're close.

Ah good, Lowell is in the game. (His look right and I'd guess this is a popular game at the Skoog dinner table.) Once Colin and PMS join in, the gig will be up.

Nooksack Tower AND Shuksan, sorry Dru. "Amy Carver, not Sarah Trimble" - that's the funniest shit I've ever read. And Phil is right...

All the peaks on the left have something in common, that the ones on the right do NOT... get it?

Add to the lists (or correct others), but don't give it away.. Challenger, not Maude Inspiration, not Swiss Peak Chopping Block, not Fury Davis, not Fernow Slesse, not Cathedral this game may help me with a research project I'm working on..

Yeah Spokane, ID, Cranbrook is the way to go. I've done this drive too many times (even when I was a westsider). Hwy 1 is the scenic drive, but I-90 is the easy way. I think the first Tim Horton's is in Cranbrook. The only car problems I've had are with frozen door locks and (worse) frozen locks on the canopy. The rice burnin' truck with Michelin Arctic Alpines loves winter!

Thanks to all who made this happen, especially Kurt, Ken, and TG. It's always good to hang out with this crowd and catch up with old friends.

Snowking's not that hard to get to. Actually it's really easy. Skeeziz- ORGINAL POST EDITED.. Welcome to the fray..

some pictures here ... http://www.geordieromer.com/index.php?page_id=38

I always loved the "T" in Shuksan... what a bunch of geoducks! At work we talk about the pronunciation of Entiat. Westsiders pronounce two Ts, Wenatchee folk only the last, and locals neither.. Good thing they don't live in Sequim!

-eathquake at Mt. Rainier -mudslide on SR 20 -fires at Leavenworth/ Peshastin A rough day in the PNW... Is there a tsunami in our future?

My vote is for Dallas Kloke. He's put up all sorts of routes in the North Cascades and continues to climb hard in his 60s. Every time I see him he's dragging along some 20 something whippersnapper who's trying to keep up. He's also been the driving force behind the development of Mt. Erie. Dallas is also the author of a winter climbing guide and the Mount Erie guide.

Climb: Pica Peak-Blue Buttress Date of Climb: 7/29/2004 Trip Report: BabyZ Rat helped me sneak out of the office after two months of all work and no play. He suggested Pica Peak aka Poster Peak that has been written up both here and in the NWMJ. We had a casual start from Marbles and after a short wait in the Diablo construction zone, found ourselves meandering through the woods at the hairpin. As we climbed up the scree and schwacked towards the climb I confirmed my office bound fitness. Luckily we reread the approach directions before hiking all the way to Kangaroo pass. The climb was a great casual day out, though much too smokey for my tastes and a few too many choppers (despite my affection for Skycranes). We soloed much of the route, simuled a little and roped up for a pitch or two. It was a nice climb, but not a classic. There are too many loose blocks for me to reccommend it to beginners, but it would be a good first simul-climb for folks gaining experience. There wasn't lots of mid 5th, perhaps a dozen moves. PS- I left BabyZ's waterbottle near the top when I changed shoes, he'd like it back if you get up there. Gear Notes: Helmets rope shoes for walking off (BabyZ climbed it in approach shoes) a couple cams,nuts, hexs, more slings than anything else

I climbed the CB in 2001 and wrote some notes on the approach. Follow Beckey's description (p397) about traversing at 2000' at the road end. I found a decent log crossing of Terror Creek. However, I went left to find a good climber's trail up the ridge. It was flagged and even had some saw work. Fred said go right and trend right, but the trail I found did the opposite. I do have some GPS readings if you really need them..

Bolivia Part II – The Long Version When we last left our heroes (?) they had been trounced by altitude, high wind, and poor diet in the Cord. Occidental. Back in La Paz we were determined to rest up and stock up on better food for the next section of our trip. We arranged transport to the Condoriri region of the Cord. Real and after a few hours found ourselves haggling over the number of mules needed for our massive kit. We had stocked up on canned veggies and sweetened condensed milk and brought along a considerable library and the ever present Scrabble board. Finally it was agreed that we needed 7 mules. However there weren't 7 mules in town, so we ended up with 9 llamas and 4 mules. It was quite a parade. Most of the other parties we saw coming in only had a few mules, but they weren't staying two weeks. Looking at the guidebook there were some obvious objectives. Pequeno Alpamayo, Piramide Blanca, and Gully #3 on Ala Derecha. There had been discussion earlier in the trip about how best to travel – as groups of 2 or a group of 4. We were split on this issue and I definitely was strongly in favor of 2 person teams. Our first climb was the classic ridge climb of Peq. Alpamayo. (17,600', AD 50 degrees) The guidebook said 4 hours from camp so we got a leisurely start at around 8am. We found ourselves behind 3 other parties in what looked like it might be a classic cluster. Yet we soon saw two of the parties turning around due to acclimatization issues. Soon it was only us and two Andorrans. I figured we were sharing the route with a large percentage of the Andorran climbing community. The climbing was on good snow with some great exposure. Eldorado on roids. The climb took us 6 hrs, but the 5th class rock on the approach was really class 3, so that was a gift. After a rest day of eating, Scrabble, eat, read, repeat we split up into two teams. Sean and I tackled Piramide Blanca (17,159) via the SW face/ west ridge (AD/ AD+). The route is really a variation of the route in the Brain guidebook. The direct route wasn't in, but we took a more direct route than the SWF/WR route shown. We found 4 pitches of moderate ice up to 70 degrees. At lower elevation we probably would have simuled it, but the exertion at altitude was causing us to climb pitches in 1.5 hours per lead. We weren't hiking fast, so why did we expect to climb fast? The ridge was easy, with awesome exposure. It took us 10 hrs RT and was one of my favorite routes ever. (Dan and Dave climbed it later in the week.) Dan and Dave picked the Direct route on Illusion (17,487) (AD+). They found the rock to be loose and nasty. They had hoped to descend the Normal route, but couldn't find it, though wasted lots of time looking. Finally, they sucked it up and went back the way the came. It was dark when their 14 hour day ended. Our success ratio was finally starting to become respectable again, so Sean and I scouted out gully #3 on Ala Derecha. (17,985) It was rated “D” and would certainly be our hardest climb. At the base we saw a party of 3, starting the TD gully #4. I guess we weren't THAT hard. We started the climb simuling, with me in the lead. Steep snow was interspersed with 10-20 foot steps of ice. I placed one useless screw, but mostly just clipped rap anchors or fixed pins as we passed them. There was a little rockfall, but pretty tame by alpine standards. Tired of rope drag I brought Sean up for a conference. We decided the rope was causing a bit of rockfall on his end so we decided to solo. The ice steps seemed to get a little harder, and we questioned the lack of rope. The climbing might have been AI 4, but the steps were so short. Ice bouldering really. After 4 hours we had to deal with a nasty exit from the gully. I rate the section as 5.4 R, loose, 25 feet. It sucked. Sean soloed it, while I hung from a piton and dodged missiles. He then threw down the rope. We wondered why anyone would rap instead of traversing to the summit and down the glacier. We soon found out. Mostly the traverse was class 3 / 4 on the loosest blocks on earth. Climbing one tower we decided to belay and I actually placed a decent nut. Soon I was sketching 20 feet above it on loose 5.4. I tested a hold and dislodged and dodged a tv sized block. It was heading down gully #4 and the party of 3. I turned white as I heard their screams. I had hit them with rockfall. My thoughts were racing. How bad were they hurt? Did I kill someone? The only way was up. I screamed at Sean that I was freaking out and then finished the pitch. He followed cleanly without rockfall. We couldn't help them. It was too dangerous. Our best bet was to descend and send up our partners who were resting to meet them with medical supplies. I was terrified, but we continued on. What had been a great climb turned nightmarish. 4 hours later we looked towards the summit and saw climbers' silhouettes. 1....2....3....4. They were all traveling under their own power. Any injuries must be minor. I began to breath again. Later they caught up to us, a French guide teaching Bolivian and Chilean guides. The Frenchman was upset, but understanding. “You missed us. Twenty feet and we would be dead. But we're not” The Bolivians only had a select English vocabulary which sounded like it was learned from Dick Cheney. No amount of apologies in Spanish or English could convey our regrets. Back at camp I was glad to be done. I had aged 5-10 years and wondered if this climbing thing is worth it. It's certainly not worth dying or killing for. I've had some rough days in the mountains. This was the worse. Dan and Dave tried the D- South Face route on Ala Izquierda. After seeing it closer up, it's certainly on my list. They tried simuling as much as possible, but found themselves running out of time and scared of a night descent down an unknown rocky ridge. Short of the summit, they bailed down the way they came. They built v-threads until the threader got dropped and then left screws. 7 double rope raps and they were back at high camp after a 13 hour day (from high camp.) Sean and I scouted out the west ridge route on Ala Izquierda, but couldn't see anything worth the trouble. Maybe it was the lack of snow. We finished the trip as a group of 4 on Cabeza de Condor (18,530') AD+, 55 degrees. It was a fun snow and ice climb with some amazing exposure. The top was a long icy traverse to a corniced summit. We stopped a little short, knowing the record books would only notice if we died riding the cornice down. Near the summit , Sean said “hey look” and a condor was flying nearby. That huge bird was a treat especially from the summit named after him. The group had summited 5 peaks and attempted some more. No one got hurt and we all pushed ourselves on technical terrain at altitude. The second half was a real success. ....... Pictures to follow at some point. (Dave has the CD and is off NOLSing around..) Though if a slide scanner appeared in L-town I could get some slides on here.

There's plenty of property for sale nearby, so if anyone else is interested give me a shout. Some nice cabins at Lk. Wenatchee too. (Might as well use a cc.com realtor)

boot axe belay - thanks Keith and usually - a tight belay, from a bold partner who actually led the damn thing.

Swiss Peak in Winter. Get it before Colin does..

Well, you threw out the 3R, but here are my comments anyway. If you're camping on snow and or have a large tentpad, the 3R is great. I used mine for innumerous days in the N. Cascades over the years and took it on my recent trip to Bolivia. Me, and all my climbing partners, are 6'+ and love the space of the 3R. 2 climbers and all their gear no problem. for short trips 3 people fit. As for the middlepole - I just bought one and like how it tensions the tent. I went years without it, but it does cut down on the flapping. Windproof and stormproof, you bet. It's big so setting it up in a crosswind will be noisy, but it's bomber. As far as a general alpine tent (summers in the cascades), I might look into a 2X as a future purchase. my 2 cents

April 19,2004 Sean, Geordie, Dan, and Dave Four of us headed to Bolivia for 6 weeks of climbing. The plan was to start off with some acclimitazation, then do trips in the Cord. Occidental and the Condoriri area of the Cord. Real. I noticed the altitude as soon as we landed. El Alto aka JFK in La Paz is about 13,000 and I was feeling the pounding of my heart. I was a little happier when we drove down to La Paz and lost 1000 feet. Sean didn't fare so well. He was fine at the airport, but soon after began to take a plunge. While we explored La Paz, he explored variations in vomiting technique and spent the day commuting between his bed and the toilet bowl. (Sorry dear readers, no actual vomiting photos, but I think we might have one of him laying in bed feeling like crap.) That night the healthy three had a conference in the hall. We decided he didn't need to hit the hospital that night, but that we would drive to a lower elevation the next day to see if he improved. He was healed over night... magic. We headed to Lake Titicaca and Isla del Sol for a week of acclimitization. The island is at 13,000 and since there are no cars, you can spend hours trekking from one village to another. Dave took his turn being the sick one and stayed in bed for a day. Back to La Paz, then our first summit. Chacaltaya. It's almost 18,000 and was our trip up high. Of course it's a ski resort and you can drive nearly to the top. It was a nice walk and we saw a condor. A 3-4 hour bus ride (nice bus $10) took us to Sajama national park where we were greeted by Abel Murro, who other Cc folks have used. He took us by 4x4 to the base camp for the twins- a dry, gritty, sandy, dirty place. We skipped out on the 7 hour hike with mules, and had plenty of extra water. I wasn't quite ready for 14,000 feet and took my turn being sick. The next day we carried loads to 17,000 and moved up the next day. I was useless. The first climb was Parinacota which I skipped in favor of resting, recovering and acclimitizing. Sean managed his first 6000m peak, while Dan and David turned back shy of the summit. After a rest day we headed for Pomerata. Turns out our climb really was in Chile. Oops, illegal border crossing. We decided to follow the ridge, even though we spied easier lines from camp. Between the altitude and routefinding we ran out of time. I spent the evening being sick again. Back to Sajama Village to get our fill of alpaca and papas fritas and then to Sajama itself. This is Bolivia's tallest mountain and certainly taller than anything any of us had attempted before. Having performed so poorly so far, and having carried light loads, I decided to skip the summit attempt. Just as well, high winds scared the team down from high camp as soon as they got there. three mountains, four climbers, one measly summit. The cord. occidental had kicked our butts. So much for warming up on the "easy" routes. Pt. II- Condoriri as well as pics, coming soon