CascadeClimber

Okay, you sprayers, here is the location for Pub Club next week: http://skyscraper.paregos.com/swf/index.htm The "Lovemates" level. No one has to drive...

It was a rough drive home, all three blocks, but Pub Club was worth it. Thanks all who showed up out here in the boonies, especially Victoria for being the only climber-chick to brave the long drive. It sure is nice to put a face to some of the avatars. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard, "That is Captain Caveman???" Per the completely unofficial and undocumented rules, we voted and it is the Owl and the something or the other (Thistle?) next week. Right. So now I'm done, but still buzzed. Peace out.

Two hints: Drive time from Seattle: About two hours. Approach time: 30-60 minutes, depending on conditions. I'm working on a TR which will have more pics and tell all.

It has a real name, cool. I was afraid the naming scheme would be as inventive as "Alpental 1", "Alpental 2", etc. Got FA info on any of that stuff, Jason?

Maybe we need Judge Judy to straighten this all out. Or perhaps we could pull Wapner out of retirement... What time for the Issaquah Brewhouse crew? Off that subject, is anyone else on a cable modem having problems today?? Damn AT&T.

The Issaquah Brewhouse is cool for beer, though the food isn't the best. They have the Rogue beer on tap and have recently started brewing some of their own again. It is non-smoking, which I like (further qualifying me as a 'robot'), though others clearly won't. I'd be game for Pub Club there tomorrow, provided I can get 'clearance from the tower'. I think I could cajole my trusty alpine buddy into it, too.

Shit. Oh, yeah. I was wrong. It sucked. Don't go there. Those pics are actually of, uh, Drury Falls. Yeah, Drury. Go there, it's in.

Ding ding! Erik got it. As a prize he has gets to reveal the other stashes in the area. TR and some additional pics here, for those who are interested. Local Ice

We managed to find some local, uncrowded ice on Sunday. 55 meters. WI3+ at the bottom on decent ice. WI2 at the top on slurpee-like material. Estimate 55 meters. WI5. Looked fun for a TR, but not much pro for leading (unless your name is Dale). We looked at it, then went back and TR'd the other one again. The area is well known. Can anyone name it?

"Canada Warship Seizes Tanker in Arabian Sea" -- Reuters, Feb. 8, 2002 CANADIAN WARSHIP SEIZES TANKER IN... WAIT...CANADA HAS A WARSHIP?Oh Right, and Switzerland Has Nuclear Weapons Arabian Sea (SatireWire.com) — Canadian television reported Friday that a Canadian warship in the Arabian Sea had seized a tanker suspected of smuggling oil from Iraq, leading many to suspect that the report was a hoax. The Halifax Class frigate Vancouver.Honest. "You're kidding, right? Canada has a warship?" asked U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Like for war? "Does Canada know?" he added. "Nobody was more stunned than we were," said Kali Omari, first mate of the seized vessel. "We saw this frigate steaming toward us, and we were worried, but then we saw the maple leaf on the flag, and we thought, 'Oh, Canadians. What the hell do they want?'" When an officer of the HMCS Vancouver announced that the tanker was about to be boarded, the crew of the detained ship was confused, said Omari, but their confusion quickly turned to anger when they saw what the Canadians sailors were carrying. "They were armed. With guns," said Omari. "Canadians. With guns. And a warship. What is this world coming to?" "They were pretty rude, too," Omari added. "They started asking us all sorts of questions, like 'Where did that oil come from?' But first we wanted to know who gave them the damn warship." According to Canadian defense officials, the Vancouver is one of four frigates deployed in the region to assist in the U.S.-led Afghanistan conflict. The tanker was stopped, officials said, because its cargo of crude oil violated United Nations sanctions, which prohibit Iraq from selling oil unless in exchange for food and medicine. The U.N. said the incident is already under investigation, and promised swift action against those found responsible for giving the Canadians guns. Initial findings indicate that the Vancouver crew may have been watching too many American television shows. Copyright © 2002, SatireWire. From SatireWire.com. Original here: http://satirewire.com/news/feb02/warship.shtml

What about Oregon Mountain Community? Other that being a pain to find amidst the one-way streets and no-turn intersections of downtown Portland, I found the shop to be well-stocked and staffed with knowedgable people who use the gear they sell.

The parking lot is a winter snow-park, it is open year-round. I climbed Casaval a few years ago in two days. It is doable in a day, though I'd take skis for a speedy, fun descent down the Avalanche Gulch route. March is springtime for real down there. When I skied it two years ago in March we had delicious corn most of the way. Casaval is pretty mellow. About like the Coleman-Deming on Baker without the crevasses. The Fifth Season is the local gear shop. Nice folks. Call them for conditions. (916) 926-5555. The area code may have changed to 530...

Those of you who know Jim- Is there something that we could do for him, collectively? I'd be willing to pony up a few bucks. Something to encourage him to get better, like a new piece of gear, or something that he needs while he is recovering?

Completely off topic, but I just couldn't help but notice the resemblance. Dan and Squatch: One and the same? [ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: CascadeClimber ]

Dru, this is your opportunity to catch up! You're less than 300 posts behind.

My thoughts and energy go out to Jim and all those affected by this incident. I sincerely hope that he wakes up and is back to climbing soon. It is all speculation until we hear something more about the cause, but this certainly reinforced a ritual that Jens and I go through: When possible, we visually inspect each other's knot and harness before every pitch. Even if it is the second pitch of a multipitch route or the gym. "Lemme see your knot.""Okay, my knot looks good, my biner is locked, my harness is doubled back.""Right. Strap on the nitro." We've had people look at us funny for doing it, but I'd rather endure funny looks than a ground fall. Let's all climb safe out there CCers. And send some energy Jim's way.

Hey! I know that CascadeClimber poseur. He's been up the ledges three times and doesn't have a single picture to show for it. The other URL should be http://www-u.life.uiuc.edu/~c-favret/Mt.Rainier.2001/Rainier8.html If you stay climber's right the crest of the ridge near the Beehive you won't have to monkey around with any raps. The big eyebolt is still in place, but you don't need to rap there either.

Wednesday... The Dihedral for Spring: Jens led up the bottom of The Dihedral, then crossed over and finished on Waite. Fun. Icy BC first pitch: Picked out, somewhat funky, but plastic ice. Good feet. Getting hit by the morning sun now. Second pitch: Melting from the inside out. There was a hole in the back that revealed a hollow tube, perhaps eight feet in diameter, with loads of running water. Surely leadable, but we walked around. Third pitch: Jens led nicely. Chandeliered on the right, plastic and blobby just left. He TR'd No Deductible and made it look easy. I skipped it and nursed my flu instead. The lake was making cracking and groaning sounds all day. There are some cracks forming on it. We were a little nervous walking back across, then felt silly when, as we passed the lower lake, we noticed a pickup parked on it next to some fishermen. Thursday...We did a lot of hiking but didn't climb any ice. It was snowing hard up the Bridge. Wanted to try Capricorn, but couldn't see it at all in the clouds and snow. We slogged up to Shriek then, when the snow didn't let up, bailed. Then we went hunting for Botanie Falls and did a lot of hiking, slogging, and postholing amidst more hard snow, but didn't find any climbable ice. Lots of precip. Lots of standing water on the roads. Lots of snow in the Bridge. Beware the avy danger this weekend. I'll have a TR up on my site later today.

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about that rap station. That's why I write TRs. It was at the point that we regained the crest of the ridge, not of the best quality, and led down into the depths of the north face. There is also a rap station in the saddle at the top of the west gully (near the summit). Though downclimbing is possible, I opted to rap and left a double-length spectra runner to augment what was already there. We found the same short bit of moderate water ice. The one screw we used was placed in the schrund to protect it.

You can certainly descend the JPG. And if it is well within your abilites and the conditions are good (particularly on the rock) it would be much faster than any other option. I climbed the JPG last spring and descended the Whitewater Glacier. The descent was technically easy, but very long. Had there been less snow on the rock, I would have voted for reversing the route. Some pics here (looking back I never did write a TR): Jefferson Park Glacier Special considerations: In early season the easiest route up the summit pyramid is not as described in Oregon High. Use the west gully instead. I'd call the knife-edge ridge 4th class. Pro was mostly slung blocks. If you have a 60m rope you can do it in one long traversing pitch. We used one screw for a belay pitch up the final headwall of the JPG. If you do a lot of belaying, expect a long day. We were 18 hours RT from camp at 6500' and made it back to the car around Midnight. It is a great route, IMHO. [ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: CascadeClimber ]

Almost forgot: Thanks to whomever put up the yellow handline at the Cayoosh crossing on Saturday. It made climbing off the rock onto the 'bridge' much easier!

Climbed Synchronicity on Saturday. Nice. No rock climbing necessary. A little wet and slushy on the last long pitch. The finishing "Ice Hose" is in. We also climbed the short pitch up in the woods. Discovered that a plow has been on the Phair Creek road, but only as far as where the gate used to be (if I remember correctly). Looks like the climbs in there will only be accessible to those willing to ski/snowshoe or by snowmobile Climbed the top two pitches of Icy BC early Sunday before the crowds. Found them both very brittle. Led the second, started to lead the third and backed off. Lots more ice on the third that two weeks ago, making it steeper and more sustained. Tried to take the shortcut from Marble to Oregon Jack. No way. Stopped 10k short by an unplowed road. Drove around just in time to miss the crowds. What gives with the path that crosses the fence? Is it cool to use? Very nice route in good condition. I thought it was harder than anything on Synchronicity, despite the 3+ rating. A TR and some pics are up on my site.

I can't seem to get through my head which couloir is which, but we climbed Lover's Lane and skied from the top of Lane down the 'main' one that Lover's Lane meets in March 2000. At the time I wrote the TR, I thought it was the Zipper. Some info and a few pics here: http://cascadeclimber.com/lane_peak.htm

Kam's descent was exactly a week after mine. I don't remember the weather, but there must have been a lot of snow to allow them to ski from the top. Here is another picture stolen from Kam. The right-hand sunspot shows the exit notch from the basin. The other one shows what I thought was Enigma, and the line I think Kam and Co. skied is mostly hidden and ends in the stunted trees to the left. Bob and Jon are right, though, this is all much ado about nothing. It is a fun line to ski with reasonable access. Go do it. [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: CascadeClimber ]

That is supposed to be ice at the top? The whole thing looks like the last pint of Canadian I had at Mugs N Jugs, complete with a couple floaties that look a lot like climbers.