dberdinka

That explains why the Forest Service seems to have taken a great interest in installing fancy new pit toilets at every trailhead and parking lot.

Thanks for all the serious responses. I would like to believe that a vast majority of climbers agree with the the above statement, I included. Hence the reason closures seem near universally observed in places like Squamish and Yosemite. My interest in more quantifiable information is based on the long and extensive closures that Zion NP puts into effect every year. For example the entire East Temple, a 2+ mile wide enscarpment is closed to climbing. My google searching came up with plenty of articles regarding human disturbance of raptors. Here's a quote from an article entitled "Recommendations for protecting raptors from human disturbance: a review" regarding buffer zones for Peregrine Falcons. "The median distance recommended buffer zones are as follows...peregrine falcon = 800m (50m - 1600m)" When estimations of buffers differ by a factor of x32 I don't think it's unreasonable to presume the scientists are making wild ass guesses which is unfortunate considering their supposed profession. After 30 years of carefully documented climbing closures for Peregrine breeding all over North America I wonder if there aren't sufficent data points to correlate breeding success to the size of the closure. Just a thought.

.HYDROLOGY... THE FIRST MAJOR RAINSTORM OF AUTUMN WILL PROBABLY AFFECT WRN WA THE END OF NEXT WEEK. THIS PAC STORM WILL LIKELY TAP INTO MOISTURE FROM THE REMNANTS OF TYPHOON FANAPI...CURRENTLY SE OF TAIWAN. THE MEDIUM RANGE SOLUTIONS WERE IN IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT THE REGION WILL BE IMPACTED BY A POTENT PAC STORM...ARRIVING IN WAVES...NEXT FRI THRU NEXT SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 10 INCHES ON THE SW FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS AND IN EXCESS OF 4 INCHES ON THE SW FACING SLOPES OF THE N CASCADES. Yeah

Killing raptors in fact illegal under some law passed in 1918, see the access fund report I referneced at the top. Here is a response on the Taco written by a Yosemite climbing Ranger this year... "As it says in the notice I posted, peregrines were de-listed in 1999 under the Endangered Species Act, and now are in a 15 year monitoring program. Neither the NPS nor myself have claimed that the species is still listed. I appreciate your right to opinions that the peregrines are fine, and that although we only had 8 breeding pairs in the park last year (a record during our monitoring) it sounds like you are saying these birds are actually fully recovered and don't need any more protection. Fortunately the National Park Service doesn't agree. The NPS is charged with managing the park's resources not only for recreational values, but to protect all of the plants and animals within. ...... Some climbers ask me to close routes because swallows or other birds with really healthy populations are nesting in cracks. I just got back from J-tree, and they were closing routes with active nests of raptors that have never been listed. The superintendent of any park has the authority to close areas for resource protection regardless of whether or not a species has ESA status."

My bad, apparently they had not nested on El Cap since 1994 and this was the first closure since then.... From some NPS release I googled... "Peregrines have not nested on EI Capitan since 1994, when natural rockfall destroyed their historic nest site. Effective April 9, 2010: El Capitan, Southeast Face - Closure includes all routes between and including "South Seas/Pacific Ocean Wall," "North American Wall," and east to "Native Son." Routes four pitches or less at the base of the Southeast Face of El Capitan remain open."

Cover shot on the WA State Dept of Wildlife is some sort of raptor...

Hey. Happy Day! I was looking for the thread on falcon closures that I believe Aid Turner started awhile back and couldn't find it so I thought I'd start a new one. So Falcon closures are ubiquitous it seems across North America. This year Yosemite had it's first falcon closure ever, SCW got hit for the first time ever last year I believe, Zion has an incredibly broad set of closures that last from March through August. I'm interested in understanding the policy or cultural basis that have resulted in such wide ranging closures. Anyone feel like contributing? I know that Peregrines are no longer listed as an endangered or ever threatened species at the federal level. So I presume that closures are not the result of neccesary compliance with any federal laws. Is that correct? If so are the a result of meeting state or local laws? If no laws are involved what is the basis of instituting closures? I'm also of the impression that each area in each agency seems to come up with their own management plan that can vary widely. For example the Chief closure is relatively small. If the Chief were in Zion the entire cliff would be shut down. Also some areas close cliffs preemptively based on "historical" nesting sites other areas seem to close cliffs only once peregrines are nesting. Based on these wide differences is there any actual science behind the interaction of humans and peregrines that closures are developed off of? Finally does anyone know of online access to peregrine/climbing management plans? Thanks! D Access Fund Article on Raptor Closures

Hey. I've got anywhere from 3-6 brand new #5 Lost Arrow Pitons (long, thin) that I'm looking to trade (1-to-1) for HB/DMM offset brass nuts #3, #4, #5 or #6 in good - no split cables - condition. Will trade individually as well. Yes, thats sort of specific but if anyone's interested let me know. PM or e-mail dberdinka AT gmail DOT com

70m? Sounds like time for a highline.

Interestingly enough highly-localized historical precident seens to drive the "consensus" feeling towards new climbs. D-Town has a long history of bolted routes, new routes are accepted regardless of wilderness location or style. Mt Garfield did not. In that vein Mount Index has not either. Putting up a bolted face climb on a buttress that houses what might be the hardest rock climb in Washington seems sort of like an abortion but this being Washington I don't controversy ever gets to loud ore sustained.

LINKY

Went up Friday afternoon with Choada to climb a few pitches at the crag. Approach took an hour. Climbs are better than I remembered but still filthy with lichen. Will be working on that.... So much rock....

So whats wrong with the Lucky hanger?

"still, quality unclimb lines" in the Green Creek? Errr...maybe with a lot of work. I think Mike and I were real fortunate to find a relatively non-chossy route up the center of that wall. Looseness abounds up there. The Green Creek Needle might have a nice 2 pitch arete route to climb. Looonnngg approach to a small objective but it's a real gem. But who knows maybe I'm full of it. The area is definitely worth a visit regardless. Definintely more routes to be climbed up on Mamie, but I think the logistics of developing filthy rock into quality multipitch routes that you can't walk around to the top of is daunting for most people. I'll be real excited to see if how much development occurs up there in the future.

I'd like to take three days next year and climb The Mythic Wall, Ellation and The Arayete all as day trips. Seems like it would be a quality trip. Hard to believe it's going on 5 years since I set foot in the Green Creek Valley. I wonder if anyones going in there still? Someday I'm going get back up to that Labor Day Wall as well. I still have dreams of a 15 pitch rock climb on Mount Shuksan.

You just step down onto the snow. There are no chimneys in the Chimneys just gullies connected by ledges. I think it would be next to impossible to give a specific route description you just have to follow your nose and if it's harder than 3rd class and not obviously travelled you're off route.

Trip: Mamie Peak - Ellation Crags Date: 8/30/2010 Trip Report: So Mamie Peak is the large lump of granite that sits above the Hannegan Pass Trailhead. I'm sure every climber who passes through takes at least a moment to consider it but I'm only aware of at least two prolific route developers over the years who have wandered up there climbed a pitch or two then never returned. In July of '07 (the same day Sol got married) I was hiking to the pass with my wife and daughter Araya when I took the first photo below. While most of the rock has the appearance of choss I could make out a distinct, large smooth buttress of rock in the center of the face that appeared to be split by a single long crack system. Dissuaded by significant amounts of greenery as well as an unfounded reputation for friable crappy rock I managed to more or less dismiss it as a possibility. Mamie Peak from the Hannegan Pass Trail. Ellation climbs the center of the rounded buttress in 5 pitches just left of the central gully system starting off the obvious treed ledge. 3 pitch "approach" slab is somewhat out of view. The small, clean looking dihedral pretty much in the center of the photo is "Dave's Grand Dihedral" and is about 175' long. Another year, another daughter Ella. On a beautiful late fall day in September '08 I'm out alone reenacting the Sound of Music by traversing the superlative ridgeline from Hannegan Pass back over Hannegan Peak, Granite Peak, Peak 7020' and Mamie Peak. I'm surprised to find that Mamie Peak is composed of excellent, compact white granite when not covered in large mats of moss and krumholtz. The east ridge of Mamie Peak is a nice 4th class adventure. Several weeks later my first attempt to reach the base is stymied by steep dirt, wicked brush, and deep impassable gullies. Once again I almost dismiss it, but a week later I'm back this time nailing a more or less reasonable approach that reaches the rock at the base of a 100' long splitter finger crack. Right before Halloween I managed to spend a cold, wet day cleaning out the start of the crack. "Woodland Critter's Christmas" is a beautiful 100' 5.8-5.9 finger crack. This was the first pitch established. The 5.8 hand crack nearby is excellent as well. A winter, a spring, massive piles of avi debris close the road a mile before the trailhead. A ridiculously heavy load of ropes, brushes, saws, biners, bolts and other gear is hauled to the base. With the exception of a desert trip that spring every single day I "climbed" in '09 was spent scrubbing, scraping, trundling, drilling and generally thrashing around on ropes. Of course I didn't do this alone and am heavily indebted to the help and hard work of Gene, Justin, Matt, Tyree, Owen and Dave all of whom gave up a day of their lives they'll never get back to bring these climbs to fruition. As the summer turned to fall the possibility that creating "Ellation" might drag into another year became very real. With weekends consumed by other responsibilities there were mornings I'd get up at 3 am drive and hike-in in the dark, start jugging fixed lines at fist light and scrub for a couple hours before rushing back down the trail to get to work before my absence was noticed. Seeing the sunrise on Ruth and Sefrit from high up on the wall was always well worth the loss of sleep. The colors changed, the weather deteriorated yet somehow it got done and on what might have been the last climbable day of the year up there Matt Alford and I finally climbed the route with a glorious backdrop of fresh-snow covered peaks. At the end of the day Matt just says "cadillac Darin, cadillac". Another winter, another year and I'm off chasing new obsessions. I finally made it back up yesterday morning. Brushed out and flagged the path which had remained surprisingly intact and gave the first pitch another light scrub. So many good memories for me, a happy place. The bugs were absent, the smell of fall in the air, colors will be changing soon, a perfect time to climb. I hope somebody gets out there and enjoys it! Ellation is 8 pitches long and can be rappelled with a single 70m rope. The climbing is varied with everything from full-on friction to finger and hand cracks to insecure face climbing to slightly-overhung jug hauling. Cruxes are short and the protection is excellent. The few moves harder than 10bish? can easily be french-freed. FYI pitch 5 starts by climbing alongside a precarious looking flake. I jumped up and down on it, bounced tested cams behind it and pried at it with everything I had short of a 3' crowbar. It's still there and will remain so in all likelyhood just climb ..ah..mindfully. Matt A approaching "Ellation" in October '09. The first pitch ends just above the obvious roof at the bottom of the photo. P2 & P3 climb the slab above. P4 through P8 climb the buttress above with P8 going through and ending just above the highest visible point of rock. Pitch 3 of Ellation, exciting and sustained climbing on small chickheads. Mount Ruth in the background The ramp on Pitch 6. This was the feature that orignally caught my eye several years before hand. When it peters out, really fun face climbs leads to the only ledge on the main wall which is all of 6" deep. Pitch 7 offers sustained but well protected slab climbing in an awesome position. Starting the first rappel. Amazing views of Sefrit, Baker and Ruth. Looking up the valley from somewhere on the approach. Link to Topo, print at 200 dpi Gear Notes: 70m rope. nuts, double set of cams tiny to 1.75", single set to 3". 12 draw/slings. Approach Notes: There are some nice car camping spots at the trailhead. Follow the Hannegan Pass trail about 4 minutes to a large clearing full of slide alder. A large white granite boulder is visible several hundred feet above the trail. Follow the trail through the clearing then another 40' until you reach a very small dry watercourse crossing the trail. Immediately after this leave the trail and thrash left through brush then into forest picking up the much larger extension of the water course, which now appears as a dry streambed. If you do not pick up a dry streambed within 30' of the trail start over or you will be in for a world of hurt! Follow this about 10 minutes up to the aforementioned white boulder, a great place to hang out or maybe even bivi. Continue up the drainage past the boulder maybe 150' until you can bushwack straight left through a clearing in the slide alder to reach forest at a 30' tall snag. At this point a heavily flagged trail switchbacks up through very steep woods. The next 10 or 20 parties (is that presumptuous?) are going to determine if there will be one good or many poor trails. Please make an effort to follow the existing path, I promise it's the best possible route, and leave the ugly flagging up. I'll go clean it out before winter. It takes about an hour from the car to reach the base of the climbs.

There is no more discontented group of folks then the "professional photographer" in the digital age.

Trip: Sheriff's Badge - Cowboys & Indians V A3+ Date: 8/21/2010 Trip Report: "A man can be himself only so long as he is alone" - A Schopenhauer Apparently aiding climb is about as popular as Barack Obama these days. While considered a classic (I think) the Google did not turn up a single scrap of beta, photos or TR on Cowboys & Indians. Well here's to changing all that! So maybe standing in aiders isn't particularly fun but being alone on a 1000 feet of stone, laying in your portaledge making sandwiches, what could be grander? This was a fine line on great stone. The pitches are all really long and sustained, they just go on and on and on. A nice aspect is that the crux comes low and the route gets progressively easier the higher you go. Once you pull the roof it's almost all A1 to the top, pretty sweet considering how committed you've just become! The crux itself is tenuous for sure, be ready for lots of positive hooking way out from anything that's going to hold a fall. Finally don't underestimate the descent. Once you "top out" it's still a long way back to the ground. It took me six hours (without water) shuttling loads to get all my 100+ pounds of junk back to the car. That Sasquatch Ledge is a real treat I tell you. The Badge from the new Casino. C&I climbs just right of center topping out at the highest point of the white scar. Sasquatch Ledge cuts across top of wall. After doing lots of routes that I mentally chalked up as training it was nice to finally jump on something that felt like the real deal. Looking up from the base. Fixed lines on P1&2. P3 traverses left on obvious crack. P4 follows clean flake then rivets, hooks, pins and bolts through roof. Looking back across the "A1" traverse on P3. This is the underside of a huge, brittle, expanding flake. In my Squamish Guide (pub. 2000) there's a picture of Rich Prohaska half way through this. In retrospect I realize he now looks sad. For good reason, I though this was the scariest section of the climb. The beautiful A2 flake system that makes up the start of P4. Absolutely no perspective on the size of the roof. Pulling back into the anchor after rappelling p4. Notice the absolutely enormous shit stain on end of P3, lower right. It's not really big wall climbing until you have to climb through someone else's rectal explosion. WTF? After pulling into the anchor you could let go and take a 60' pendulum into space. Fun! Terrifying! Pigs in Space! Hah! Looking back from the edge of the roof. The roof is passed mostly on high quality rivets and bolts though there are some hard to place, but bomber, pins as well as some consecutive hooking. Save plenty of rivet hangers (8?) for above the roof or back clean madly like I had too. Morning over Howe Sound with a well timed moon set. Looking back at the top of pitch 4. An exposed but well configured anchor from which to bivi. Final pitch to Sasquatch. Easy aid in a low angle corner. Brings lots of this. Plenty of these as well. Don't be afraid to bust out the hammer. And make damn sure you've got a Hawk! As much as I enjoy being alone, if there's anyone out there with the skills and desire to get on lines like Humpty or the original Badge give me a shout, I think my wife would really appreciate it. No drug addictions or significant personality disorders please. If you're middle aged with a healthy pallet of responsibilities; career, family, mortgage we might even have something to talk about. Note on the bolting The route was established solo by Squamish legend Perry Beckham, the first 2 pitches in 1989 and the rest of the route in 1999. The difference in bolting technology (and security) is pretty astounding between the two eras. Pitch 2 consists of several short bolt ladders between long stretches of hooking, beaks and heads. While there are several relatively good 3/8" bolts most of them are terrifyingly rusted 1/4" buttonheads with Leeper hangers, there are even some 3/16" buttonheads. The holes are frequently cratered and they all look like they could have been placed 40 years prior. After pitch 2 Perry switched to using 1/4" SS Hilti wedge bolts. They look like they could have placed yesterday and feel totally bomber. If you go to do this climb you might consider bring the tools and skills to upgrade pitch 2. It would make sense to upgrade the buttonheads to the same hangerless Hilti rivets used higher on the climb and would probably knick the + off the rating. Just make sure you know what your doing with a drill. Gear Notes: Rack (I carried a lot more unnecessary iron than this) micronuts: 1-2 sets (offsets useful) nuts: 1-2 sets (offsets useful) cams: 2 ea .4" (offsets useful) 3 ea .5"-1.5" (offsets useful) 2 ea 2”–3” (double #3 for P3 only) 8 peckers: 4 #1, 2 ea #2, #3 5 KBs: 1 ea #2 - #6 5 LAs: 2 ea #5, 1 ea #4, #6, #7 4 angles: 2 ea ½”, 1 ea 5/8”, ¾” 10 heads: #1-#3 hooks: 1 Grappling hook 1 pointed Cliffhanger 1 Hawk (modified cliffhanger) 1 bathook rivet hangers: 15 (Moses keyhole) bring 6 or so 1/4 nuts & washers as well Many (20+?) slings and draws. The pitches are huge. Approach Notes: It's now the third trail off the road. About 30' in is a BC Parks sign that says Sheriffs Badge.

Bet that's some clean rock though! Nice work.

I'm glad you climbed that corner. I remember walking over there and looking up it and thinking how beautiful it looked (your pics don't do it justice). To bad about the munge, our route had some of that too. Nice work.

Back in the day when ropes were shorter everyone had to jump off. But they were a bit tougher back then too.

Hey. If that's at the top of the overhung crack/corner on ?p4 of Green Dragon it's mine. I recognize it. Thing is I left it up there in early April! Gorilla Tape is some good shit!

Nice TR. A friend and I did a very similar trip a couple years back spending I think three nights at the little tarn up there. Couple other greats routes up there include a west to east traverse of Razorback and Comet. Maybe 4-6 pitches of 5.6-5.8 on great rock with some exposed 4th class thrown in. We also climbed the East Face of Lighthouse Tower. While the first pitch is garbage the rest is excellent and includes several stretches of great hand cracks. Sort of a classic. Click for bigger

Hah. Ain't that the truth!