Alex

they wanted to ride that classic 500cc two seater of hot tracked Arctic loooove Snaffle!!

beam me up scotty!

snaffle!!

Sad thing is, that there HC didnt last even 2 days with Matt, Dan, and myself sharing judiciously. Need a 2 yard size.

quote: Originally posted by telemarker: ...or you'll find a big hole chewed through it from the rather large Pikas hanging around there. Small cat sized. Biggest ones I've seen. Snafflehunden!

erik, Ryland, dont you approach the ice fall from ice lakes? I have approached n face via Leroy basin, which is what I think erik is referring to, but I dont know if thats a real good approach for ice fall....? good luck, alex

With a seemingly good weather forecast and a weekend off, some friends and I set out to try the fabled Torment-Forbidden Traverse, armed with secret beta from a reliable source who had ticked it the summer before. We set off at dawn from Cascade Pass and motored up into Boston Basin. While there were a number of cars in the parking lot, we didnt see anyone else anywhere in Boston Basin, pretty wierd. We made steady progress to the edge of the Taboo Glacier, where we took a break and tanked up on glacial meltwater. The day was already heating up, but a nice breeze came off the glacier and made things pleasant. Reading the beta, we traversed over to the col into Torment Basin and then up a long and strenuous snowslope to the notch on the S Ridge of Torment, where the route would begin. So far so good. I lead the first pitch, which stated off with hard moves off the belay, to some more moves with no pro 100 ft up, to some final loose blocks before a belay. The second pitch was hard moves off the belay, to 4th and low 5th to a nice belay at a grey wall with quartz intrusions. Awesome exposure here, with the climb traversing up above the sheer SW face of Torment. The third pitch traverses a little, and climbs up a short gully to a steep wall with airy moves (mid 5th) to another belay. The afternoon was dragging on, and it was brutally hot, but huge thunderheads were building to the South. I lead another pitch of 4th to yet another rap/belay station slung with old slings. Thunder rolled in the distance as I set up the anchor and the two seconds came up. As the next pitch was getting worked out, the skies opened and it started to drizzle, at first. Huge fat raindrops. Then some thunder in the distance. As the leader retraced back to the belay, rain turned to hard hail. I hadnt put on a jacket yet, but did now. The air temperature plummetted 30 degrees. Looking towards Joburg and Spider, it was a nice solid black cloud, with lighting arcing through the sky and hitting Joburg. The steady hail only got harder, and we huddled on our packs, with a bivy bag draped over us for protection. We were getting soaked...not everyone had brought rainproof jackets, or bivy bags for the night. We sat for 2+ hours in the hail and rain and lighting, while the storm rolled over Cascade Pass. The closest strike was 1/4 mile, but we watched Joburg repeatedly get struck over and over. When the storms passed, we were all too cold and wet to want to immediately get moving. But we tried. The rock dried quickly, since it had been baked all day in the sun. We got up, and in less than a minute were all shivering uncontrollably. So we got back under the bivy and brewed hot drinks. A while later, it was 7 oclock and we really needed to get the show in the road. We made it to the next notch on the ridge in 2 leads of 4th, which we could have easily soloed but just didnt know. We were hoping to find a nice bivy at the notch, and expected easy low angle climbing on the SE Face over to the start of the Traverse, but neither of these things were true. No big bivy, no easy climbing. A short downclimb led to the grassy dike that traverses the face to the start of Torment Forbidden Traverse, and in the waning light we went down and hoped for the best: nice bivy ledge somewhere. Instead, we found sloping ledges and terrain, with not only no bivy ledges, but no place to put an anchor. So we left a rope on a rappel horn 80 ft up, and tied into that. We hung out on butt ledges in our bivy bags, enjoying the cloudless, full-moon night. Despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, we were all having alot of fun, and we all got some sleep. During the night, the mysterious Snaffelhunden visited us! Dawn, and we all decided to bail down the SE Face of Torment. Beckey says "A good route down" . We rappelled into the large central gully, and continued down for a total of 4 full double rope raps to the glacier. The rock on the lower SE Face is similar to Vesper: clean, solid, awesome stuff. The terrain is 4th and low 5th, similar to the S Ridge, but perhaps a little more solid? Getting to the glacier was easy, and we found fresh tracks...someone had been on the SE face or S Ridge that weekend (we had heard shouts earlier on Sat - did they bail during the storm?) Hanging from one one the established rap anchors on the face was a 10.5 mil rope. The cloud cover was now complete, and the Traverse was engulfed. I was glad we retreated! We descended down the Taboo easily unroped, and took a long break before traversing Boston Basin again and down. SE Face of Torment looks like a great route, a bit more than the 3rd and 4th than Beckey suggests maybe, but I will be back!

clearly

Greg W who asked you ass fuck? fuck off? Thanks Alex

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: I think it is arguable that Mike's site has way more beta and good photos than your own Alex Hmmm, that may be. quote: Anyway have fun in your silly clique. I'll be the one tokin in the Muir Hut with Alpinek and Dru.yeah, next thing you know we might even name ourselves and award prizes to other people who beat their chests!

Wait, are those the only two choices? Probably both!

anyone done this in 2 days? Leconte Pass day 1, all the way out day 2? If not, how about 3 days? Alex

The Quien Sabe is in fine shape right now, almost completely filled in. It wont present much of a navigational challenge at all. I prefer the Quien Sabe to Sahale Arm - both are day trips to the summit, but with Quien Sabe you are motoring on snow within 3 hours of leaving the car, while the Arm just keeps going and going and going, and then you have to deal with a big boulder hopping slope. It takes closer to 5 hours to finally get on "motoring" terrain, and then the rest of the route is very short. I'd rather climb more and traverse that nice ridge from Boston Sahale col to Sahale summit than plod up the Arm anyday... Alex

bummer, thats a long way in there. But that tends to happen to people alot: bring in lots of stuff, end up not using half of it because of navigation/weather/etc . FWIW, I didnt think Crooked Thumb was that inspiring...I didnt summit, but I got close enough to be happy to turn around. Much more interesting were the massive untouched walls on either side of the West-Middle Challenger Col.

-Smith Teddy Bears Picnic Sunset Slab on Cod Rock BBQ the Pope 5 Gallon Buckets -32/38 those nice 10c 10ds up at Bobs -Mazama Methow Inspiration Route -Red Rocks Trophy Wall

Caveman has some good ideas. Here are some links you can use to come up with more inspiration, ideas, and beta: Mike Stanton (mvs): http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/ me: http://www.mountainwerks.org/alexk/ Philfort: http://www.mtnphil.com/AllTrips.asp Eric: http://ericsbasecamp.net/ Dave Burdick, who sometimes climbs with those damn BoeAlpers http://www.alpinedave.com/ Bob Meshew (yet another damn Softie!) http://members.tripod.com/rmeshew/Chronology.htm and Loren: http://www.cascadeclimber.com/ All these sites strive to present professionally, and discuss an amazing range of options in the Cascades. You can spend days reading and getting ideas for the next trip. Cheers, Alex [ 08-27-2002, 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]

allison, that sounds vaguely familiar....hmmm, you better check your NDA... Alex

the AA col descent has been characterized as one of the better sandbags in the Rockies, so "sickening" is probably apt! Alex

quote: Originally posted by Lambone: Erik is the real stud...he only takes four cams. [/QB] Why, I do believe I-am-a-bone is coming on to you erik!

As John mentioned, I climbed on/near it in 1999 and could probably offer you some general info at least

erik is JERRY SANCHEZ!!

quote: Originally posted by sk: I read somewhere that lead climbs have rights and if some one is top roping or planning to top rope a climb, and someone willing to lead comes along said top roper is SUPPOSED to excuse themselves and let the lead climb go. Reality is, this really doesnt work in most cases. While it might be polite to let someone lead through if you are "projecting" (shudder) a route, I and just about all of my friends will be the last people to look down from halfway up and say..."oh, sorry, you wanted this?", lower off, clean all the gear, make it all purty, just so some clod with a lead rack can flail on the route? Who is to say that Mr Leader will actually only take 5 min? Or only take an hour and a half? Especially with a route like Godzilla, where people routinely wet their pants, you might be suddenly placed in a situation where Mr Leader now has to lower off, clean, retreat, walk around the top, give up the sharp end to his ropegun buddy, etc, all wasting your time. Just 'cause you thought to be polite. If you would like to test my assertion that this is indeed reality, please go visit the Gunks on a summer weekend, and walk up to the nearest topropers and say, "sorry, chum, gonna lead through". They will give you a blank stare, draw their concealed weapon (they are all New Yorkers after all) and you will run! I am with Dywaner on this one, totally. However, that said, it is COMMON COURTESY to get off a route as soon as you are done with it, not hog it Mountaineers style for the whole afternoon. Thats straight bullshit. Alex

(The register on Red is indeed gone.)

quote: Originally posted by RedMonk: ...two ropes tied together....haha what a bunch of asses... not real sure why thats funny...have you tried TRing it with a single? Now THATS funny!

quote: Originally posted by iain: Some other products suffering from BD takeover so far: Scarpa Inverno ("new fit", extended wear will lead to removal of skin and possible tib/fib Fx) BD just distributes them, Scarpa is an independent Italian bootmaker