Alex

I can't think of 5 completely terrible routes, but the ones I've considered least likely for repeats include.. N Ridge Adams. XXX-rated kitty litter. Luckily I was going down, not up. Still, it sucked. Sentinel, near Dome, the std route up the S W side. Just junk rock, and then junk scree higher up. Luckily its short enough to just be annoying, not redliculously dangerous. Crooked Thumb in the pickets, N ridge...gripping choss, no way to climb or really bail off safely without potentially taking half the mountain down with you. Sahale from Sahale Arm. My *GOD* what a long hike for 1 hour of climbing! Quien Sabe glacier is comparativley much much more interesting! Reading through some of the other posts, I def don't agree with some of the choices of others: Princely Ambitions? I mean, ok, the second pitch sucks, but the first pitch is really nice. Saber? Come on, that thing has "5.4 testpiece" written all over it, a great outing for a newb. Other mountain routes: Johannesburg IS root pulling, but its still a long, challenging, intimidating endevour! Condorphamine Addiction much maligned but the views are really nice from the top. Infinite Clipup does not live up to its name for sure, but is a nice long outing for a fast party....

there goes another 400,000,000 credit card numbers mysteriously missing

machine

your purple heather photos are especially awesome, but great pics in general!

sounds a lot like Maude .. or Sahale but thats not why you do Buckner

goatboy, this time of year? was reading the recent TR here and it looks a little involved on the gl for solo central alasdair, some good trips that come to mind are W Ridge Stuart, a "stuart range traverse" (not quite what Croft did but..) maybe W ridge Stuart, W ridge Sherpa, then just cross country over Argonaut to Colchuck and out? Ptarmigan would be great but there is so much high traversing in the Olympics and Cascades besides this one, Baily Range Traverse, or Challenger is a good solo. I nice 2 day trip would be just to head to Trapper Lake and go fishing.

I dont think you are past season, I did all three of these in August when I was working in Bly one summer, and they were nice trips

dang, in my day, skunks were mustelids, and we liked it! as an aside, when we were trapping marten, we used ground up skunk anus as an odor attractant! you gotta believe we were popular in town.....!

yeah I am not sure. looking at the larger pic now, it does look like a marten, but if there is a marten on the ridge on Triumph (that will survive the week, anyway) I'd be pretty impressed - they are typically forest dwelling and eat (alot of) small rodents. The marten in your pic might be a juvinile or a female, which tend to be alot smaller (700g or less) than the males (which weigh about 1 kg adult). when we were working with them, we would have to sedate them before we could handle them. A pissed off weasel is pure 110% viscous rage!

looks like a fine crag. now where the hell did i put my hilti?

Its not a pine marten, martens are larger and you'd not see one in the alpine. (If you must know, I worked with pine martens doing wildlife bio one year). I believe thats a long tailed weasel.

I think that trench must have been caused by an earlier avalanche then lots of meltwater coming down from that cliff band. When I crossed it a couple weeks ago I was totally gripped!

god you're old

SE buttress of cathedral is indeed a nice climb. its hard to get lost on the approach, its a fairly short and easy route, but the views from the top are noteworthy! Also its not so high or strenuous that the altitude will kick your ass, unlike Conness!!

The approach to the Cirque from Big Sandy is casual, except that most people go in with a weeks worth of food and full rack so packs tend to comparativley heavy. Its very scenic and not particularly strenuous, so just enjoy it. Wolfs Head crux is 2-3 pitches of very narrow ridge at the start of the climb, very enjoyable but very exposed. The rest of it is easy traversing in and out along the ridge, and one shorter section of harder face and crack climbing on the N side of the ridge about midway. The summit is basically at the far end, the descent is fairly casual mostly walk off. Its a fine route and you don't need a super high standard to climb it, but its grade III is very legit, its a full day's endevour from camp. S face Pingora is a really nice "rest-day" climb. The N side of Pingora has much longer routes. Overhanging Tower is also a nice "rest-day" climb, and involves only a pitch or two of roped climbing with a small rack. Some pics: http://www.mountainwerks.org/alexk/climb/windrvrs.htm

too far around the corner to the left.

I and a friend are meeting at Carnation skate park at 7. Anyone else who climbs to grind show up and we'll pwn the place.

I thought Psychopath was way easier than pitch 4. But whateva who cares, just send it.

right on, thats a good sustained route!

You wont need rock pro for the mixed section. Right below the rockband is nice ice, just get in a 22cm screw. On the right hand side of the band are some good fixed pins, just 2-3 feet apart, that you can clip (or hook with a tool, hehe). The band is fairly short, about 2 body lengths on the right hand side. After that it immediately transitions back to thick water ice. Just bring screws. After the rockband, about 30 feet up, is a belay on ROCK to the RIGHT of the exit gully. I missed it when i lead this pitch, and set up a belay in the gully off screws. However, take the time to get to the rock belay, as there is no shelter for your belayer if you set up in the gully. We ended up moving the belay, and it was good we did.

Once you turn the buttress below the triplets, just head on a rising traverse for the notch on Erick's map that he posted above. Everything is visible, you will be way above treeline, its really not that difficult to find.

Its really pretty simple: * hike to Cascade Pass * hike Mixup Arm until you get to Cache glacier * hang a sharp right and ascend the lobe of the Cache and walking rock slabs underneath the East and Northeast faces of mixup. This is not the same as going to Gunsight. You are heading towards the North ridge of Mixup, so go that direction. * The snow and ice ends at a short steep dirt gully that turns to steep heather scrambling after 50m. Steep heather ascends to the Mixup north ridge notch with a few short sections of 3rd and 4th. (Up until this point you've done the approach for the North ridge of Mixup.) * From the notch you have a great view of the Triplets and the E face of Joburg, descend down the backside of Mixup down steep slopes and 3rd class scrambling to more steep heather and alp medows, and a faint climbers trail to C-J col, below.

Where the fuck do you live? Out here we build fences and shit to keep the deer out though. where do you live? last i knew it was capitol hill, didnt know there were herds of deer running around there

Next Tues. Who is in?

speaking of which, we should have a Tues evening skate at Carnation and then hit up the North Bend Grill for PC afterwards