Lowell_Skoog
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Posts posted by Lowell_Skoog
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I was looking for an account of the Traverse by Croft on the web and can't find it.
It's written up in the CAJ but the CAJ archives aren't online (yet)
Ah, that's where I read it way back when. I have a CD-ROM copy of "Ever Upward", a compilation of all CAJ's from 1907-2007 (very much worth buying from the ACC). Here is Croft's account:
Traverse Of The Stuart Range
CAJ, 1986, p. 35
The heavy insect drone of a car...there it was again. Striding up in the steel cool black and still half in dreamland, reason seemed absent and living nightmares quite likely; I scrabbled off into the bushes like a crab. Engine hum and bright beams swung round a bend and a moving picture of forest was freakishly illuminated in deep black and white. The vision passed and I moved on, safely nocturnal, a mantra of gravel sending me.... Lights coming back down the road! Reason clasped me firmly on the shoulder like a parent and I stood my ground as the driver pulled up beside me. His dome light cracked on as the door opened and I watched a Hawaiian print pudgy arm reel in a mighty revolver and step slowly out. Warnings from recent tabloids screamed through my skull as my skin prickled with dread and I realized that this lunatic was going to scatter my brains with that howitzer of a handgun. But the maniac spoke to me in a voice full of logic and clear thinking bureaucracy, asking me my name and address and so forth. . .”A cop! Oh shit! Oh yey!” my mind yelled. This wonderful undercover officer was checking for car break-ins at the Lake Stuart trailhead. Suspicious government slit eyes wondered at this hyperventilating freak who claimed to have walked up from the campground and was on his way to go climbing at one o’clock in the morning. Satisfied that the tool posed no threat he got into his Chevette and drove off into the dark, leaving me by the roadside, out of adrenalin.
I was on the trail and more than awake now, in fact every pore was keenly receptive to the icy winds surging down the valley and the black needles that gnashed from the shadow trees. Night rustles and squeaks sent my high strung headlamp whirling and darting. Passing Lake Stuart campsite I panicked a squat porcupine who was using the cover of night to go and nibble the salt out of the out house seat. The first traces of daylight oozed out as I left the forest and entered the gully that leads through to the high bench beneath Mt Stuart. Its upper throat was coated in filmy ice but I bounced knuckles and chopped steps across it with a blade of granite. Racing up over a moraine I was faced with another icy slope five times as vast. This chipping took most of an hour. Half-way across I noticed my knee was leaving a trail of blood blotches and then, as I watched, the entire snowfield turned glowing pink. I looked up and out across sleep misted valleys as the bloody sun slowly erupted.
Once changed into climbing shoes, I released myself up the north ridge of Mt Stuart. No need to prime muscles for effort, there was none. I just followed the way, up corners, chimneys, offwidths, and blocky spine climbing along the crest to the Great Gendarme and the steep rock and deep air that live in that place. That and the scramble that followed passed and the summit was warm and good. A skoosh of water and a fig bar — and the way led down towards Sherpa Peak with the sphinx presence of Rainier on my right. Sherpa came and went with another fig bar. As I moved on I left the fine Stuart rock and entered a zone of garbled earth vomit. Spiky pines grew up on the easy sections and the next peaks of the chain receded in time as the sub-alpine scrub closed in and deep, dusty ravines with sharp rotting cliffs revealed themselves. Water bottle drum-dry and limbs pink with lashings, I took a short cut down a dangerous gully, armed with decaying fangs, to open screes a couple of thousand feet below. Absence of bushwhackery, welcome shade, and much needed snow melt shot me back up to the crest at the base of the first tower of Argonaut’s west ridge. Popping corn lichen, many backtracks, and more difficult climbing than I anticipated took me through the many granite thorns to the summit fig bar. (I had enough for three more peaks.) I poked around and peered down big cliffs till I found a route down some wet rock on the east side. I wallowed and skated all squinty eyed across sunshot shards of frost blasted white scree, setting off rock slides and marmot sirens.
On to the Enchantment Lakes where I weaved among white bulging rock, screes, and alpine pools patched together by snow sheets. I hadn’t room in my fanny sac for sun-glasses and now I paid for it with a thick headache rising up behind my eyes. I stripped to the waist and swaddled my throbbing head in my dank T-shirt as I entered this blazing tanning studio. People started popping up with increasing frequency. I waved greetings to some but my flowering headache had put the blinders on and I still wasn’t sure where my path lay. I drank the last of my water and traced one of the vein-like trails up to Prussik Peak. Here I felt the high pressure urge overcome the storm cloud in my forehead. I reached the summit, swinging brown arms and scuffed white hands up the west ridge, and ate my last fig bar. I then laybacked and jammed cracks back down the col where I realized I was at the end of the chain. Though I vaguely wished for more climbing I found, as I eased off my climbing shoes, that I had a simple desire to just amble through this high area. A rich wave flooded my nose. I hastily stowed my footgear and moved off.
Miles to walk and hours it took, but they were changing miles and I wouldn’t have traded them. The giardia infested creek was my reason to stay thirsty and when I reached the road and met my friends it was still hot. About a quart of water drunk that day and the last of it smacked up 15 miles ago. I felt I had been sanded by a gravel coated tarp. Sweat salted eyelids, lips gummed up thirsty, and legs made giddy. But I am making this sound like an epic journey and I shouldn’t do that, because it wasn’t. It was just movement.
Peter Croft
Traverse of the Stuart Range, Wenatchee Mtns, North-Central Cascades, Washington State, USA.
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I bet you can get water a lot more easily in July than September, especially this year. Snow in a dromedary bag strapped outside your pack would melt pretty quickly. Also, 9/12/09 was a very warm day. (Seattle broke a record with a high of 87F.) So don't feel too bad.
Still, there's no denying how amazing Croft's climb was.
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Reply to me by PM or email to lowell.skoog SPLAT alpenglow.org
Thanks for any help!
Email sent. Thanks Donn.
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Hey all...does anyone know how to contact ckouba, the originator of this thread? I sent him a PM, but no reply yet. I'm pasting up the 2009 NWMJ and I'd like his permission to use the following photo:
Reply to me by PM or email to lowell.skoog SPLAT alpenglow.org
Thanks for any help!
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Lowell, those figl's look almost ideal, especially the bindings. Are you able to adjust the length on those Salewa bindings to accomodate different size boots?
Yes, the toe wire has two positions. The heel lever has three different positions (where it can be screwed into the base plate). The heel lever also has a fine adjustment screw the tightens the cable a little.
Yeah, I know that Hagan's aren't especially light for their length, but as you say, short is important. Anything longer than 100cm is a serious nuisance on your backpack when climbing hard pitches. These short skis are all over the place in the Alps, but hard to come by over here.Yeah, my shorty skis were acquired on trips to Europe several years ago.
By the way, Lowell, why have you marked these skis right and left? Did you mount the bindings a bit to the side to make edging in your climbing boots easier (on the inside edge of your outside ski)?Historical. The first mountain boots that I used with Ramer bindings had a very minimal toe notch. (This was when step-in crampons were just beginning to appear and plastic boot manufacturers hadn't fully designed for them yet.) I had to make homemade toe wires to fit precisely on my boots. Because of this, I had right and left skis. As the boots evolved, I didn't have to do this anymore. But some toe wires are a bit asymmetrical, so I've always marked my skis to indicate the best fit.
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It sounds like you know about snow blades. Searching for "ski blade" or "snow blade" on the web should get you some hits. Also search for Kneissel Big Foot skis. These little skis have simple non-hinged and non-releasable bindings, which I think would be fine if you're looking for shorty skis for descents only. But as you mentioned, some of these bindings aren't light. You have to look around.
I have a pair of figls with some really light step-in bindings made by Salewa. They're nearly 20 years old, so I don't know if you could find anything like them today. I'm reluctant to part with them, so I'm not offering them for sale. Here's a picture:
As for skis, be aware that short does not equal light. Trabs are incredibly light skis even though they're not as short as you may want. I don't know how heavy a short pair of Hagen's would be, but they may be heavier than Trabs. But then again, if you're thinking of non-releasable bindings, short is important, so you're less likely to generate leg-breaking forces in a crash.
Here's a picture of some 130cm Kastle firn skis mounted with Ramer bindings. Unfortunately these skis are so heavy that they weigh as much as my standard 175cm touring skis. They are nice and compact though. I skied the SW route on Mt Buckner on these skis in 1999.
I seem to remember some interesting looking non-releasable bindings at Marmot Mountain Works in Bellevue. They weren't super sturdy as I recall, but they might be worth a look.
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A few others might have been before the NWMJ got started, but I think the NWMJ people have done an amazing job since it got going.
That's good to hear. In the past we have tried to make the NWMJ website stand alone. We've modeled our short reports section after the AAJ, and we haven't included links from the NWMJ website to trip reports (as you did in your list). This was mainly an aesthetic decision, I would say.
But our editorial team wiki (which is accessible only to our volunteer editors) has links to all the original trip reports which you included in your list. I collect these links by monitoring CC.com and other forums throughout the year. When we swing into editing mode we refer to this list to contact people and compile our short reports.
I wonder if we should start including links to TRs on our short report pages? The links may eventually go bad (an aesthetic bummer) but in the short run they would probably be useful. I welcome your thoughts.
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Thanks for the list, Blake.
Do you know off-hand which of these climbs have not been reported in the NWMJ? Do you have any suggestions on how the NWMJ editors can do a better job of learning about and documenting these climbs?
(Keep in mind that the 2009 NWMJ is still under development and climbs done this year won't be documented until next year.)
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So, the question is, do any of these features still have ice underneath them, or are they dry fossils of previous glaciation?
See "Hunting for Eacas Glacier" in the following NWMJ article:
http://www.mountaineers.org/NWMJ/07/071_Post3.html
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I don't know the details but I believe Otto was heavily involved in the early history of the Mount Baker Ski Area and died at a pretty old age (in his 90's?).
Yes, Dr. Otto Trott was an early member of the Mt Baker ski patrol. The "Otto Bahn" run is named for him. In 1941, Otto Trott and Hank Reasoner made the first ski ascent of Mt Shuksan via the White Salmon Glacier. It was one of the finest ski mountaineering achievements in the Northwest before World War II. On the Hanging Glacier climb, Otto led all the ice pitches, according to his memoirs. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the Mountain Rescue Council (with Wolf Bauer and Ome Daiber).
I wonder how often the direct North Face of the summit pyramid gets climbed these days?
I climbed the north face of the summit pyramid with my wife, brother Carl, and another friend in 1986. We thought it was an okay climb, but I recall that one of our ropes was chopped by rockfall. I have not done the lower, Hanging Glacier part of the Trott-Hennig route.
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Congratulations on a great climb!
I think the 1939 Hennig-Trott route on Mt Shuksan was the most advanced all-around alpine climb done in the Cascades before World War II. (Note that their climb also made the first ascent of the north face of the summit pyramid.) I haven't been able to think of another pre-war climb that combined technical ice climbing, a bivouac, and multi-pitch belayed rock climbing the way their climb did. Ptarmigan Ridge on Mt Rainier is a contender, bit it lacks the rock climbing component.
I wonder if anybody can think of a more impressive all-around alpine climb done before the war in the Cascades. This is just an arm-chair interest of mine.
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Edited to add: Here is the text of a Seattle Times article about the climb published on September 10, 1939, page 19:
Up Forbidding Walls, Two Young Climbers Go to Top of Shuksan
Shuksan Climbed the "Hard Way"
This piece is about the latest and without doubt the most frightening ascent of Mount Shuksan, but it needs to deal with two young European climbers who think that climbing a vertical rock face is much more pleasant than living in war-torn Europe.
Andy Hennig of Vienna and Dr. Otto Trott, formerly of Berlin but now on the staff of Harborview County Hospital, climbed Shuksan the hard way last Sunday and Monday.
(Shuksan is the 9,038-foot peak which so many folk mistake for Mount Baker when they visit Mount Baker Lodge. It is a precipitous ice-and-rock peak, and the simplest route to the top is one not easy for the average climber.)
Hennig and Trott chose the northwest wall, which is the face of Shuksan most immediate to Mount Baker Lodge. No one ever climbed it before - presumably because no one would want to.
"It was a very nice climb," said Hennig, disclaiming this premise, "Except for the fog and the snow."
(He could have added, EXCEPT for the 60-degree ice fall over which they had to climb; and EXCEPT for the 1,000-foot, nearly vertical ascent of a solid rock wall which closed their journey to the summit.)
The ice fall greeted them at a bad time. They had started from Lake Anne on a fairly steep traverse at 7 o'clock Sunday morning. Late Sunday afternoon found them perched precariously, half-way up a 600-foot fall of ice. It was very hard ice, and crampons (needled nonskid supplements to climbing boots) didn't bite very well.
"So we employed a new technique," said Hennig. "We do not have the time to cut steps. It was getting too late. So...very carefully...we insert the leading spikes of our crampons into the so steep ice. We lift the weight on them. They brace into the ice, you understand? We walk straight up."
(A fly does the same, climbing the wall.)
So at 7:30 o'clock Sunday evening, with the shadows falling, they came to a thin plateau on the side of a rock wall, at about 7,500-feet elevation. This was a good place to spend the night. They did.
At 8 o'clock Monday morning having left their blankets and packs, they started on.
"Then it began to rain," said Hennig, "And snow. The climbing is bad. But finally, we are at the top. It is a very nice climb. Much better than living in Europe, and being shot at."
I like Hennig's attempt to patiently explain front-point cramponing technique to the reporter. The article includes a rather poor photo that suggests that they may really have climbed some 60-degree ice to surmount the ice fall.
Note that the Hanging Glacier climb took place just three days after Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II.
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I sent an email to Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Avalanche Center. I asked if he climbed the north ridge of Buck Mtn. He said, no, it was a different Mark Moore. FYI.
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When I climbed the Torment-Forbidden traverse we traversed into Torment Basin from Boston Basin then followed a gently glacial remnant up to the base of the south ridge. No sketchiness and a nice start to the route. In part we went this way due to getting screwed on the Taboo Glacier many years prior. I just looked in "50 Favorite Climbs" and it describes starting via the Taboo Glacier, presumably the current version of PMS' Select guide has the same info.
Might be nice to get the word out, particularly to visiting climbers, that there is a better, or at least safer, start to the route than that commonly described.
Agreed. I've climbed Mt Torment five times and four of those times were via the south ridge. I climbed the SE face with my wife on the 4th of July many years ago but I've never gone that way again. (I think of the SE face as a descent route.) The original Cooper-Sellers climb of the Torment-Forbidden traverse climbed the south ridge of Torment (the first ascent of that route).
I've never climbed Mt Torment after July. Like a lot of North Cascades peaks, it is safer and easier when there is more snow on the glaciers and couloirs.
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A few years ago I decided to write down the names of friends who had died in recreational accidents before I forgot them. My definition of "friend" was anybody I had met in person, to distinguish them from the other fatalities I've heard about. Although I suspect that I've forgotten a few people, the list has 25 names on it. Here's a breakdown by sport:
1 - Avalanche (sport unknown)
1 - Bicycling
9 - Climbing
2 - Kayaking
6 - Para/hang-gliding
6 - Skiing
Of the climbing accidents, 5 were due to snow/ice or rock fall, 1 was due to a rappel anchor failure, and 3 were due to unknown causes. (All were alpine climbing.)
Of the skiing accidents, 3 were due to avalanche, 1 was due to a fall on steep terrain, and 1 was a tree-well suffocation.
I think paragliding is the most dangerous sport I've done, based on my own perceptions and on the number of people I know who have been killed or injured. The number of participants is much smaller than climbing and skiing, yet the accident rate is high.
I can't think of anybody I've known who has died in an auto accident, so the assertion that driving is the most dangerous thing we do is not borne out by my experience.
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Torment is a big fucking choss pile.
From CAG Vol 2, 3rd Ed., p. 318:
While Torment has diminutive status in comparison to neighboring Forbidden Peak, it has attracted continued climbing interest because of its alpine setting, solid rock (Eldorado Orthogneiss), and many feasible routes (eight done during the first 11 ascents).I think it's fair to say that the rock on Mt Torment is no worse than average for the North Cascades. Considering all the different routes done on it, you could make a case that the rock is better than average. The reports so far indicate that Craig Leubben was hit by ice, not rock.
My condolences to Craig's family and friends.
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What's wrong with having some walls and boulders for beginners and some that are more challenging?
Done. The Mounties have another wall inside the clubhouse that is oriented more toward bouldering. You can see Fred Beckey climbing on it near the beginning of the following video:
If that doesn't work, try this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/sports/othersports/16beckey.html?_r=1
Of course the indoor wall is not a city park. Both walls were designed primarily to meet the needs of the Mountaineers climbing courses. The club has limited funds, and renovating the Magnuson Park clubhouse went over budget already, as I understand it.
Sure, it would be great to have the ultimate facility that would please everybody in the world and where climbing would be absolutely free, but it's not realistic financially.
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What a waste of a good opportunity to build a good outdoor bouldering facility in this town.
The Mountaineers' wall was designed for teaching basic mountaineering rock climbing skills, not to compete with the climbing gyms. I've taken my 12-year-old son there several times. It's the only place I know in Seattle where I can teach him how to anchor himself, belay, clip protection, and rappel in a semi-realistic setting. I think it's a great resource. I'd change a few things if I was running the show, but overall I have few complaints.
I also think it's great that the wall is open to the public. The climbing plaza was donated by the Mountaineers to the city of Seattle, as I understand it. Good for them!
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I've heard the rockfall on Mixup is atrocious.
Interesting...I did the East Face of Mixup and it was great. Minimal loose rock rock for that type of route and fabulous views.
Otherwise Adam, the standard route of Kangaroo Temple and lots of climbs in the Twin Sisters Range might fit the bill.
The bad rock on Mixup is at the bottom (climbing out of Gunsight Notch) and at the top (reaching the summit crest). The middle section is very clean, easy, and solid. A friend of mine died in a rappelling/rockfall accident high on the peak in 1987. There was another serious accident a few years later when the rappel anchor above Gunsight Notch failed.
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I just got this in email...I thought it to be a touch odd...but whatever.Dear Fellow Climber,
On behalf of the climbing community I would like to ask that you go to the White House website and request a letter of condolence from President Obama to Tyrus, John Bachar's son. Please also send this message out to everyone you can think of. If enough of us ask, we might see the letter, which would be great.
Contacting the President is easy. Here is how:
Go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
For subject, click "other."
Then write in the request.
As an example, here is what I wrote:
"Mr. President,
I write to ask that you offer a letter of condolence to Tyrus Bachar, the 12-year-old son of John Bachar. John Bachar died in an unroped rock-climbing accident on Sunday, July 5, outside his home of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Bachar, 52, was the leading climber of his generation, and perhaps of all time. He was an inspiration and iconic figure. It is fair to say that he was the Muhammad Ali of rock climbing. Bacar’s iron-clad ethics and firm stance on the environment exemplified America’s core values. A note from you would mean a lot to his son, and to the climbing community."
Thank you for pitching in.
Duane Raleigh
Publisher
from Rock and Ice newsletter
Tyrus doesn't need more messages from distant grown-ups. He needs a loving adult to be right there with him. I've skimmed the threads over at supertopo and I keep wondering who he has right there. It's just weird for a 12-year-old kid to be engaging in a long distance relationship with hundreds of adults that he doesn't know. I pray that there is somebody close who is helping him.
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Kid's got the whole climbing community as his dad now.
It takes a village, sure. But a village is not the same as a real father.
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For what it's worth, I voted 100-250. If you count each person only once per year (not each time they do a climb) and if you count only climbers doing 5.9 and up in the alpine, I think the number is pretty low. But I'm just guessing.
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One idea you might not have considered - join the Mountaineers and get their monthly newsletter, then consult the newsletter before you head out to avoid the locations where they are having field trips. I used to do this when I was climbing more often in the places where they go.
I agree that climbing classes should be kept small and they should be responsive to other users in the area. But hey, climbing classes are a fact of life in the Northwest and they have been for decades. Smart climbers learn to work around them.
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Thanks. I took a scrubber to the rusty spots and there was some pitting underneath so I had a shop take that out. The few black (rust?) spots on the shaft probably go pretty deep so I'm going to leave those alone - maybe see if there's a wood cleaner than can pull it out.
Mineral spirits (paint thinner) is a pretty safe alternative for cleaning wood.
A few months ago I wrote up some preservation guidelines for use in the Mountaineer Archives, based on a couple of books that I read:
http://www.mountaineers.org/history/preservation.html
See the sections about wood and iron artifacts near the bottom of the page. My personal practices are less formal than what these guidelines suggest. (My previous post summarizes what I do with my own gear.)
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Lowell and Dane,
Have you maintained those in that condition - did you have any polishing done on them? I have one that that has a few spots of rust that I'd like to get removed. I'm sure there will be some pitting under them. Plus, it's left a small black spot on the bamboo, just below the head - not sure if that'll come off. I can leave the spot on the wood alone but I don't want the rust to get any worse so thinking about taking it in to get it polished. Any suggestions?
When I used my Chouinard axes regularly, I did maintenance on them after almost every use (typically every week). Just as I would scrub the dirt off my leather climbing boots and re-apply SnoSeal when they dried, I would apply a little TLC to my wooden tools.
To remove tarnish and rust from the head and ferrule, I'd use a steel-wool dish-washing pad then rinse it off. If the rust was stubborn, I'd use fine grit sand paper (something like 220 grit). Sand paper sounds harsh, but I've used it many times on my Chouinard tools and it just makes them shinier. The key is that you have to always rub along the same axis (NEVER in circles). Rub the head along the axis from the pick to the adze. Rub the ferrule perpendicular to the axis of the shaft.
I also applied linseed oil to the bamboo shaft after almost every use. Just a thin coat rubbed on with a rag but not rubbed off entirely. Over time the shaft acquired the shine you see in my photos. Nicks and scratches in the shaft accumulate a bit more oil than smooth areas, and eventually darken. The nicks from years of use give the axe a distinctive personality.
[TR] Bitch Slapped by Peter Croft - Stuart Range traverse attempt 9/12/2009
in Alpine Lakes
Posted
I suspect that "the tool posed no threat" is supposed to say "the fool posed no threat". It's amazing that the ACC folks digitized all these journals as well as they did...