Jump to content

Winter

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2362

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Winter

    [TR] Mt Hood - Pearly Gates Left 1/3/2013

    in Oregon Cascades

    Posted

    Hey, nice to meet you guys at the Hogsback. What a great day on the mountain.

     

    After y'all left, I wallowed to the summit ridge and topped out to 30-40 mph winds with weather moving in. The turns down the old chute were pretty darn nice - mostly consolidated and carvable wind affected snow with limited penetration. Depending on the weather, the upper mountain might be in pretty good ski condition this weekend. Nice photos, btw.

     

     

    [TR] Mt. Stuart - Gorillas in the Mist 8/4/2012

    in Alpine Lakes

    Posted

    Trip: Mt. Stuart - Gorillas in the Mist

     

    Date: 8/4/2012

     

    Trip Report:

    Jaime Bohle and I climbed Gorillas a few weeks ago, and I've been on the road since then but wanted to chime in with my two cents and a little bit of beta. First things first, major props to the FA team on a stout route that was put up under less then ideal conditions. I'm sure that a lot of the climbing involved difficult route finding, tedious pro placements and somewhat sketchy rock in a wild setting - an impressive effort.

     

    I also have to add that I got my ass handed to me. Apart from generally being soft and weak, I just felt off after having come back from a 10+ day binge of eating, drinking and hanging with family back on the east coast. The spanking that I took initially colored my opinion of the route, but, as typically happens, I tend to see things through rose colored glasses after a week or two of time to reflect on the climb.

     

    Having said all that, my initial take was that the route is far more adventurous, with more loose rock, and generally less aesthetic than some of the other newer routes in the range. Having just climbed Acid Baby a few weeks earlier, I thought Gorillas had a more difficult crux but generally less appealing climbing on a less aesthetic line. But, the West Stuart Wall is wild and adventurous, and the direct finish, which we did not do, looks like an excellent line. Now, with a few weeks of distance from the climb, I kind of want to go back - maybe.

     

    Pitch 1

     

    Gorillas_P1.jpg

     

    Good morning! Tough 11- lead off the deck with a stout crux.

     

     

    Pitch 2 - The start of the two hanging corners.

     

    Gorillas_P2.jpg

     

    This pitch was pretty cool with a bit of loose rock in the corners. The end of the pitch is a bit messed up with potential for major drag, so think about managing the rope. The last few moves to the anchor are insecure and heads up but not especially difficult.

     

    Pitch 3 - The Jungle Traverse

     

    Gorillas_P3.jpg

     

    This thing must have been a beast to clean on the FA, because the rock that is left is still surrounded by a lot of lichen and blocks that look loose but are generally pretty sound after a few ascents. With the pitch cleaned up, it really climbs more like 5.10 than 5.10+ and protects fairly well - a fun and airy traverse on some funky rock.

     

    Pitch 4 - The "Yosemite" V-Slot.

     

    Gorillas_P4.jpg

     

    This is where things went bad for me. I started left off the belay instead of heading straight up and then blew a foot backing down and took a fall onto a yellow alien. From there, I eventually made my way up to and through the VSlot on ok but not great rock and then had some awful rope drag for the arete/inverted v that finishes the pitch. But I managed to build an anchor on a small ledge just above and to the right of the arete, which was above and to the climber's left of a two-bolt anchor and larger ledge. (Note - this rock will not remind you of Yosemite.)

     

    That's pretty much the last of the photos we got (all photos by Bohle - I busted my camera on pitch 1). I remember thinking pitch 5 was pretty cool until I pulled off a loose block. The move onto the ledge is really weird on rock with a serious lichen problem. The traverse was interesting - not sure we went far enough but we managed to find our way to the top from there. I don't think we ended up in the nice right facing corner, but we did catch the short 20 ft. hand crack right before the ridge crest.

     

    We walked down the West Ridge, which neither of us had climbed before, so we had to poke around a bit to find the notch that led into the correct gully. But once we found it, we were back at the packs in no time. I can't imagine rapping the route would be worth it, because it's a long and potentially complicated descent that will deposit you below your gear when you could walk right back to the packs at the pass.

     

    On the positive side, the West Stuart Wall is pretty big and the route offers some challenging climbing and route finding in a wild setting. On the down side, some of the rock is suspect, the route wanders a lot and doesn't take a really natural line, and the top out is kind of ho hum unless you switch gears into the West Ridge and summit. I'm sure the direct finish adds a lot of value, so maybe I'll have to go back and check it out.

     

    Gear Notes:

    1 set of nuts, 1 set of c3s/aliens, 2 sets of cams to #3, 1 #4

     

    10-12 slings with 2-3 double length runners

     

    Approach Notes:

    Simple

    cry for help

    in Spray

    Posted

    Not to be a downer, but if your boy is trying to move on from his past, posting his name, details of his personal history and his letter on the internet for the world to see may not be the best move. But I wish him the all the best and hope some of these suggestion pan out for him.

    passive pro at Smith

    in Newbies

    Posted

    If you're only going to buy a couple of cams, check out the Link cams, because they have a much larger range then anything else on the market. They're popular for covering a larger range with fewer units on alpine routes. Otherwise, I'd go with the BD #1 and 2. A .75 is a good option as well but FWIW I think you're more likely to be able to find passive pro at a .75 size than a #2.

    Cabin Location?

    in Climber's Board

    Posted · Edited by Winter

    I've looked at both Leaveanworth and Mazama. Both would be great locations. Leavenworth more accessible in the winter. I decided that for the cost of a cabin, I could take an awful lot of vacatons all over the world staying in nice hotels.

     

    This. Owning a cabin is something for old age - along with aid climbing, fly fishing, backpacking, owning a dog, and staying put. Flame away . . .

     

    But ... if you have cash (i.e. can't get financing) and don't mind living in a place that's on Forest Service land, Rimrock Lake is close to Tieton, LWorth, Vantage and has excellent access to B-C skiing, ice climbing, mountaineering, etc.

×
×
  • Create New...