pms

Buckaroo, Your information is right on for the most part. I looked at my slides the other night, and Fred has the date correct for the climb I made with Mark Bebie in Feb. 89. The gully that Eve and Phil White were on was located between the North & Middle Peaks I believe. It is a spectacular and not real technical looking line. It seems like the Index Peaks have quite a few un-repeated routes. Probably because the Mt. is full of green things, and the rock is hard and brittle for the most part. That’s why I like it in the winter mostly, though I would like to do the classic north face-North Peak climb in summer some time. I hear it’s fun. Some likely un-repeated lines that come to mind are the Klewin/McNerthney, Sumner/Dunham, Doorish/Farnham, and probably some of the summer west face routes, and maybe some others too. Last winter I was on the north face of the North Peak with John Cooper. I like that climb a lot. We had to turn back partly due to ice fall from a party of 4 (I think) above. Actually kind of a close call, as we were just about to commit to the crux pitches at the top of the bowl when the ice falls started. Thing is, we would have been ok if they had been rappelling down the ascent route rather that the upper north face. It would have been easier for them too, as the rappels are real straight forward there. I would have thought they would have been aware that they were endangering the other parties below, when they decided to take their short-cut. Surely they new there were two other parties on the climb below them. I guess that’s what I get for popularizing the climb. Conditions were exceptional when we were there (I think it was early March but not sure). I had a good look at the Klewin/McNerthney and thought it looked to be in great condition, as I expect the Supercouloir/EDM was also.

should be some good walking when the sun comes back out.

They are the same climb. Fred has the year correct, Feb. 89. Any snow left up there?

tonight, are you serious?

It sounds like a difficult mountain to summit in the winter by any route. Conditions are probably a big x factor. Remind me to tell you a funny big-4 story I heard from Mike Swayne at the next pub club

I have also heard that depending on conditions the the route Alpine Tom suggests (Dry Gulch on the Mtn's NE side) can be a very good descent route. Of course if you're not going to the summit (ok by me) then Matt's suggestion makes good sense. Fun to speculate.

Dale, Good idea with your Grade post. Nice to hear what everyone thinks. Dale and MattP, does your Grade III plus rating include the summit, or is it to the summit ridge? I mention this because the Folsom/Carlstad-Spindrift Couloir hits the ridge several summits from the highest. Maybe a grade range for this type of winter climb makes sense. Grade III-IV, or maybe Grade IV-V?

Great looking mountain. Thanks for the tr with pics Michael. Even though I haven't made the climb, I tend to agree more with Jason's assessment of the difficulty grade. Perhaps the snow/ice conditions could even effect the rating as much as a whole grade for a climb like this. When the Nose is climbed in a couple of hours, does the rating change to grade I from VI? I think the climbers are getting better, with more information, etc. Maybe they've even done the climb a few times. I think it's great to see all the fast climbs being done, in the Cascades and elswhere. Sean, Andreas, Colin, Mark, Dale, Kristi, Tim and many others are setting new standards for us all, but maybe the grades should stay the same? What do others think?

I also liked Forest's suggestion of Grady's in Montlake. Sounded like a central location. Good to keep'em movin around. Maybe another time? I want to hear about Kurt's recent ski trip.

I'll guess April 5th, and hope for sooner.

I'm with Colin, Granite near Tuck n Robbin Lakes.

It was nice to meet with some of the cc people. Really good to hear some of Wayne's ideas for ice climbing places. Maybe we can get him to post a picture of the Colonial Cr. Cirque stuff. Of course you need to move the location around for pub club, but I loved the music and low smoke. Maybe in a month or two.

is it Winter Solstice? and Colchuck? see you at the New Orleans......

and the china dragon, and the mandrin gate....

should be fun. The speech, music, beer and a chance to meet Mr. Parker. Who knows, maybe the caveman will show. I'm bringing Skian. If anyone needs a ride from Madrona area send me a pm.

6th place in mens pure ice, is that guy related to Trask?

I never loved the a, b, c, d, distinction. I think it got started in the Valley when they were reluctant to rate above 5.10 With an open ended system you just need to add on .11, .12, .13, etc. I think they needed it between 5.10 and 5.11, because it took so long to go beyond 5.10, which was thougt to be the end of the scale at the time. Which ever method gives the necessay information, without confusing folks.

Another vote for the New Orleans!

Another vote for the New Orleans. What time does the music start?

Stefan, Waterproof contact cement, many brands.

Colin and Forrest, I think we agree about the location of Ruch and Liddell's Washington Dihedrals route. All sound good, especially the NY what you guys did. Sounds like you had fun. I would like you to see the aerial pics that Cauthorn took on Wed., as they showed the various route options well. How did some of the lines on the lower western sub-peak look?

Colin, I'm thinking what Dan is calling Enigma Gully (where he and Tim started) is what Ruch describes to me as the gully leading to his "Washington Dihedrals" route. What do you think? It sounds like a good moderate alternate to NY Gully? I figure any way you get to the summit of Noquality Mt. is a good way.

"do you know if this route has seen a seconded accent?" I'm not saying there hasn't been some, but I don't know of any.

"I know with global warming conditions are in fact going up. " oops, I meant temperatures are going up, not conditions. Does the gear help with conditions?

Interesting for me to hear what you think about this climb. Both Mark Bebie and I thought it was super classic. Mark even compared it to the North Face Direct on Les Droites. Maybe Peter and I shouldn’t have included it in our book, but we wanted others to know about it. Matt is right that we wanted climbers to remember Eve Dearborn also. Now that many climbers know about the route, we will probably take it out of future editions. Try and present climbs that are in more folks range, not to mention the condition factor. Another climb that I didn’t expect to see much interest in was the NW (Cauthorn-Pilling) route on Eldorado in Vol. II. Also conditional, but then conditions were good this Dec. and crowds arrived and confirmed that it was a worthy find. The more I climb, the more I realize how unpredictable and variable conditions around here are. I know with global warming conditions are in fact going up. However, I also know when I was on the North Face of Index, North Peak last winter; conditions were outstanding as I expect they were on the Eve Dearborn route as well. I hope everyone gets out this weekend, and as always be safe and have fun.