Alex

I was casually reading a climbing rag from 10 years ago and was struck by how much climbing, or certain aspects of climbing, has changed in just 10 years! Consider: * David Graham was big news!? * Someone repeated some Sharma Buttermilks boulder problem. ZOMG! * The Rambo Comp crampon came out, and was reviewed with other crampons like.....(the Trango Harpoon, and some Footfang thing, and ..) it doesnt matter, they all sucked and quickly disappeared except the Rambo Comp! * DMM released yet another useless ice tool design. DMM Fly maybe? * Mark Twight had not yet released Extreme Alpinism, however was doing the photo shoots for it in Chamonix as evidenced by a piece on Cham where all the same pics were published... * The Black Diamond bent-shaft Black Prophet was still the standard climbing tool of most climbers. * Leashless was not yet in vogue Then I thought back to what the heck *I* was doing 10 years ago? * I had climbed Drury for the first time, with scott and Dan E. And with my Prophets! * I was researching and about to publish the Ice Climbing Guide to Washington! The back cover shot is from our Drury climb. * I think I climbed N Ridge of Stuart for the first time with my now-wife, to whom I was not yet married, but I can't actually remember?! * I had just climbed Quien Sabe glacier in Sept, car-to-car, that was a fun trip! * Christmas Banff ice trip, spent New Years Eve in the Canmore hostel. * Sailing alot preparing for Vic-Maui 2002!

Looks like a great day out

It depends of if you include "climbing trad" as also building trad anchors? Then no. If not, first section, which is aobut the first 5 pitches of low-angled slab: run-out but probably not too difficult to protect occaisionally with trad gear. The second section, which is where the route steepens through an overlap, then up the first headwall, to where the well-protected climbing ends and you have to do a mandatory 220 ft 4th class solo. No. The 4th class 220 - foot runout thing: there just isnt any pro or else the beta would be all over for how to use it. It's lower angle but really really unprotected, and (IMO) a hideous feature of the route. The top section, which is the final steep headwall, very doubtful.

I was in this situation once. I wanted to continue up, and my partner at the time got very scared and irritated at the current situation/conditions and shouting match ensued. Only when he threatened to untie and go down (which would have been very dangerous as well!) did I realize how serious/scared he really was, and I immediately woke up and we went down together. I think it's ok to climb as a party when there are differing abilities, but all the folks have to be able to recognize and diffuse those situations where disagreements leads to (hopefully temporary) impasse.

The sailing schedule after Round the County (second week of Nov) is very thin until March though. When I was younger I had several years where I didnt have a job for several months at a time on the shoulder seasons. It wasnt hard to figure out what to do: skiing, fly tying, fly fishing, climbing at Smith all months of the year... The hardest thing was actually finding midweek partners for any of that stuff.

I get the single point of failure argument. No dispute that it's a poor practice. What I was getting at was if people were actually questioning the quality of the pro, or its ability to hold a fall or multiple falls, the route should be removed or re-engineered. Which it sounds like flashclimber just did,...

If the route developer was worth anything, and the bolt is designed to hold a leader fall, then there should be no problem setting a belay or lowering from it, wouldnt you agree? Part of climbing is actually making one's own decisions and hopefully avoiding the crag police.

No harness works well with a pack on. But by the time you are climbing routes where you really need to worry about harness weight or how ergo it is with a pack on, you will own a quiver of specialized harnesses and will be able to answer the question for yourself through trial and error Then, just as you enter your prime, the kidz arrive...

I found the Bandit Cab to be actually pretty good!

I am not sure they'll ever get that much traffic, but are worth at least a go. The hangers were just what MEC had at the time, I think.

But someone has to ask...what about poor Lassen??

Those views of Fisher Basin are mint!

Looks about the same line that Rad and I took. Actually a real fun time! Good on you, that face deserves more traffic.

Great TR, great photos, nice creativity, nice to see something very different!

Seems more like a guidebook than a TR.

When TimL and I climbed it, we belayed literally just a few feet above the exit to the Pressure Chamber, which is a fine belay with small cams and nuts. What it allows you to do is then have a decent protected start to the last pitch, which really has only 1 10a move on it maybe but otherwise is quite cruiser though that traverse is interesting, and get the rope to the top without shenanigans. It was nice to do that traverse at the beginning of a pitch after a rest, rather than after the feeling of being blown out after Pressure Chamber. The route works you for sure.

Is there any step like that first step down? That's good, that captures something essential there.

Nice pics and trip. Good shot of Goode and NF Booker

When we went we went first or second week in Sept. Shorter days and colder, but no bugs at all.

"In June, she kicked off her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, calling it the home of American actor John Wayne. The town was actually home for a time to serial killer John Wayne Gacy." That's kind of a scary mistake...can't wait to see what kind of cultural faux pas happen when she visits over countries.

Nice report. I did this route with Dan Smith and my (now) wife Summer back in...2000? when we were trying Torment Forbidden (who can remember?) and it went down pretty much as you describe, however we also took quite a long time on the route and ended up bivying on the face before rapping off in the morning. It was a fun adventure. I'd recommend anyone doing this route to get a real early start as the thing is bigger and more complicated than anyone makes it sound, and while the climbing is never hard, it's a full day. PS: there is a really good established rap station on top of the very large block you can see to the right of Josh in the picture of Josh rapping to the moat.

That's freakin' rad that you are doing this stuff with your dad!

It's a somewhat scary thought that I've been climbing at Index ~17 years now too! :0 Just means we're old. The rusty 1/4 bolt that protected those moves was crap. The moves are also directly above the belay ledge, where if you skate and you're nutz don't hold you you're going to have a nice ankle injury or worse. Also, it seems from all parties that the person who did the work was thoughtful about it, and tried to gather enough support for it rather than just do it without consultation. This should be commended, not beaten down, we need more of this. Thanks for the bolt replacement, and the method you used.

Nice go. I've attempted this once, and completed it twice now. My first experience was similar to yours, but the second I've linked here to encourage you to go back this Fall....(http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=505607) It's a bit easier to follow the other direction, from Leroy Basin to Maude then towards Carne Mnt, because at every high point you are looking down at the next portion of the "trail" - or terrain anyway. Its also super fun as a lightweight overnight including tagging summit of Maude: day 1 - Leroy Basin to Maude summit, bivy at Maude, day 2 hike out the high route to Carne Mnt and down.

Great photos!