JasonG

Trip: Vesper Peak - The Ragged Edge Date: 6/5/2015 Trip Report: If you haven't climbed Darin and Gene's excellent new route on the north face of Vesper, you really should. Good rock, varied climbing, excellent views, and a dramatic position make this feel like a lot more than a 6 pitch 5.7. Right now there is a bit of steep snow guarding the traverse (we did a running belay), and the first half of the first variation pitch is running with water (which Curt led with style), but the rest of the route has weathered the winter in fine shape. In situ bolts and pins are all solid, and there is minimal loose rock to contend with. Steve, Curt, and myself had quite a fun day out- highly recommended! Gear Notes: Follow Darin's beta. I think it took us around 10 hours car to car with a party of three, lots of breaks, and dealing withe steep snow on the approach ledge. Approach Notes: Headless Pass trail. Start hiking up the climber's path to Vesper and veer off to intersect the higher of the two notches, closer to the summit of Vesper.

Sweet, thanks for the reminder that I need to do this route. Love the photo of the Willis Wall, one of my favorite views in the state!

Peter, get your knife. What? Just do as I say. Get it! You don't have much time here. You have to do something for me. Cut me loose. One cam can't hold us all. You have to cut me loose... ...or else I'll pull everybody down. Everybody will die!

Thanks. Yeah, that was weird. We even got rained on for about a half hour. Thankfully it wasn't a soaking rain.

Trip: Mount Constance - West Arete Date: 5/31/2015 Trip Report: The Olympics aren't known for their alpine rock routes, and the south corner on Cruiser and the west arete of Constance invariably come up on the (very) short list of "good" rock routes. Like the route on Cruiser, the west arete is described as worth doing by most TRs, and so I put it on my list many years ago. Convincing others that it was a worthy objective, however, wasn't completely easy, and I didn't end up making an attempt until last weekend. If you ask enough people, eventually you'll get a taker and Kit bit. Maybe it was my offer to drive the Civic with his bike strapped to the roof, sans rack. Or, maybe it was the chance to spend some quality time listening to Diamond Dave. Whatever the reason, we found ourselves pedaling up the Dose road sweating under overnight climbing packs last Saturday en route to Constance lake. The lake, and its hungry Brookies was reached in due time, with plenty of daylight left to soak the feet, savor the whiskey, and chat with Jefferson County SAR folks who were heading up the South Chute the next day. One of the guys had climbed the west arete the year prior and warned of loose rock and the need to place the belays in protected alcoves. Hmmmmmmmmm. We awoke the next morning to the sound of the SAR folks walking by and decided we better get up and on with it. I think it took us about 2 hours to reach Crystal pass, where we geared up and scrambled upwards until faced with the first steep wall of the route. We then belayed 2-3 fifth class wandering pitches on mostly solid rock, feeling that simul-climbing would be too risky for the second. After these initial pitches, the ridge backed off a bit and we unroped and scrambled until a short tricky bit around some gendarmes had us break the rope out again. This was shortly before the final steep wall, that looked a lot harder than 5.4 from afar. Thankfully, the way upwards was somewhat obvious once you started up, with pitons here and there to let you know you were on the right track. Again, while not terribly hard, the loose rock and run out nature of the climbing meant that we did fixed belays in this section- about three 30-40m pitches. At the top of the final steep bit, the ridge backs off for good, and a bit of snow and scrambling intersects with the finger traverse route on the ridge crest. The summit looked close, but we found out that the route to it isn't very fast. Lots of loose, exposed third class, traversing gullies and ribs until a final easy meander around the summit block that leads to an exposed and trickier than expected finish. High clouds marred the light for photos, but the views were expansive- Baker to St. Helens, the Puget Sound, and all in between. A great day to have a prominent summit all to ourselves! But wait a second, where were the SAR folks? We had been expecting to use their tracks to get us across the still snow covered "terrible traverse", and now we realized that we were going to have to feel it out on our own. I had been up Constance before, but it was in winter conditions and I had gone up and down the North chute, the south chute would be new. Kit had never been on the mountain before, and was depending on me to get us back to camp and the cars in good time. Though it was early afternoon I had a feeling that we were in for a long descent and we both texted our wives that we would be out late. This was a good thing, since I made several errors on the way down to the south chute, getting us into camp at 6:45pm and the cars at 10:30pm! I even managed to fully crash my bike on the dark ride out the road, though I didn't hurt myself or the bike too badly. Unfortunately, we had missed the last ferry from Kingston and had to drive around through Olympia, not getting home until after 2am. Getting up for work the next day may have been the crux. Constance is an impressively rugged peak, I think I underestimated her! Gear Notes: Bike for the road. Medium rack to 2", ice axe, helmet. Approach Notes: Lake Constance trail.

Really enjoying these! Thanks, and stay safe out there on all that choss.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/elbow-saving-belays/ This what you were thinking of?

Ah, I guess you have more info than I do. Carry on...

Calm down Bob, nobody said anything about National Parks, nor filming without the proper permits. I do appreciate your enthusiasm though.

You should get in touch with Luke. I think he would be a good fit.

Great work John, and kudos for putting up with the horrific suffering that comes from caffeine withdrawal. And I feel your pain (in a mortal way). I one time forgot the lighter on a Rainier trip on a cold spring weekend. We had to turn around at high camp with no other parties around to bum from, no way to melt snow, and no liquid water in sight. Safe to say, my partner wasn't happy, and neither was I. I won't make that mistake again!

Love it!

I think KKK said he makes more than 218K, so his taxes may have gone up. I think high income earners are still paying a lot less than under Reagan though.

I'd missed this the first time around! Nice work, that is a classic, and a bold solo (as you well know). We found a much easier way out of the middle/north notch by walking left from the notch to a depression that was followed up and right to the ridge. No more than 5.6-5.7 and felt fine in boots.

"Real debate" and 21st century American politics? You may as well be debating Kang v. Kodos.

I think many (most?) are drawn to climbing by the general lack of rules.

So Buckaroo, non-arbitrary = a gray area? Interesting definition.

I'm pretty sure ancient Romans hassled gladiators for not setting a good example either. When it comes to human nature, there is definitely nothing new under the sun.

And don't forget to give the planet her 1%

I like pictures, especially good ones. Keep those TRs coming everyone! Wicked sporto routes too (sorry Dawg). You guys should check out Leclerc's Insta feed, he's been climbing some cool limestone over in Europe. There is a big difference between posting/sharing, and chest beating.... at least in my opinion. And J4, don't feed the beast!

I thought so too, well written! Keep the TRs coming, please.

What lengths you crazy Brits will go to, to climb!

Katie Ives penned a beautiful piece about him and their friendship: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15s/newswire-memories-of-dean-potter I always admired his ability to stay true to what was important to him, despite of what everyone else was doing. Not many around like that, and now one less.

Awwwwwww man...... I thought you guys were discussing the brilliance of Dana Lyons. [video:youtube]FQMbXvn2RNI

Edit- just re-read the serac part. Yikes! So this came off near where you cross the bergshrund and go up Liberty Cap? I wonder if that ice cliff is becoming more active after the large snowfalls we had a decade ago or so. When I climbed it in 2002, I don't remember any seracs in this area, just an ice step that was solidly attached to the mountain (like NR of Baker).