JasonG

I thought there was still a fire burning up in Thunder Creek? Where's the Teton's TR?

Tell me about it. This was my worst experience with giardia. I'm going to be more consistent with treating water, at least for a few years. Glad you guys liked the photo, it was a pretty amazing sunset- i.e., not hard to take a nice picture of.

Heard thru the upriver grapevine about a party inflicted rockfall fatality yesterday on Fisher. Anyone have more details? Sounds terrible, condolences to all parties involved.

One of the best TRs of the summer! Well done boys.

Trip: Mount Stuart - Complete North Ridge Date: 7/19/2015 Trip Report: Ten years after I climbed the upper north ridge and gendarme I returned to give the whole shebang a go with Trent, my usual rope gun. There is plenty of beta for the CNR aspirant so I won't bore you with the excruciating detail. Since we aren't young or particularly fast, we opted for the slow and steady plan from the Esmeralda road end- TH bivy, approach and climb lower NR to notch on day 1, up over and out on day 2. This meant that both days were around 11-12 hours, providing ample time to rest and enjoy the surroundings (or pant and grunt up the 5.9 pitches in my case). If you have the Kearney guide, we opted for the death pitch option on the lower ridge and found it to be clean, well-protected, strenuous lie-backing. We climbed Sunday-Monday and had the whole mountain to ourselves, which was a pleasant change of pace from the usual Stuart weekend gong show. The only thing I would add is that you might want to treat your water near the base of the NR or when you are melting snow at the notch. I didn't and came down with Giardia a couple weeks later when I was in the Bugaboos (though iron gut Trent did not). Not recommended. Really though, the trip was an excuse to try out my new Canon S120. It is nice to finally be able to shoot RAW with a small camera that fits on my pack strap. Trent Photo: Trent Photo: Cascadian Couloir Dirt Lines Gear Notes: No crampons or axe needed. Treat your water. Approach Notes: Goat pass. There was snow about a rope length below the notch for melting.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, unfortunately. The NPS is a knockout in their own estimation. They're not my type though.

I didn't mean that it took you too long, just that I am impressed that you didn't bail and stayed in there for TEN DAYS. Stout!

Brings back memories that is for sure, thanks! 10 days??!!

Disappointing, but not surprising. NOCA's zealotry continues. Having just come back from the Bugs, with their thoughtfully placed bolted rap routes (and minimal tat), I've realized just how ridiculous bolting bans are. Why not just ban climbing? Or how about banning all those hikers and their trails? Maybe we should all just stay out of the hills so we don't "damage" the mountains.

I think those pitches were on the south side of the west ridge, but then again I can make 5.6 look like 5.9!

I love the visual of the can arcing into space behind Jim, Eldorado in the background. I should have remembered that the name had Sharp written all over it.

Beta overload! There is no excuse to miss it now.

Ivan's right, the key is to not do any scrambling until you cross to the other side of the ridge. It is just meadow hiking to that point. I made this for my brother in law awhile ago:

Sounds like it. When I get some time I will post up a jpg of the best line.

Was it over class 3? You basically traverse southeast until you can roll over the ridge north of mix-up at about 7300'. Easy scrambling takes you down a ramp to the toe of the Cache glacier and the climber's path back to Cascade Pass. Works really well I thought, if a bit long.

Ha! Mr. Walker would laugh pretty hard if he heard you thought he was being serious about the directness of the route. It certainly is better than rolling the dice on the C-J though. Way to gut it out, some great images in there!

Oh man, now you're going to make them feel bad. Darin speaks the truth for next time!

You often have to get really aggressive, like hitting them with a good amount of force in the head. They're quite good at dodging rocks, naturally. And they've got hard heads. But maybe a gun is the only way with those particular bastards. Impressive effort!

Did you try throwing rocks at the goats? I've noticed that goats have become more brazen over the past several decades as goat hunting has declined. I try and practice negative conditioning whenever possible.

Very cool blog, love the step by step transformation of the van. Be sure to bump this as a reminder every now and again!

I sent that around the office, amazing!

Exactly, we named it the "Succ Hell" traverse as in lots of succulent Hellebore to traverse. Crampons! Surprisingly rugged in there, thanks for the report!

And ladies, these aren't your average choss dawgs, they're more alpha Chippendawgs. Get ready for the calendar later this year.

Thanks for the timely report! Any snow at the notch itself? Or, do you think the snow in the approach gully will still be there this weekend?

Nice work boys, and a great write up Jason! That is an impressive couple weekends you pulled off, especially considering that approach up to the head of Crescent Creek. Not Bear mountain bad maybe, but pretty brutal.