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Whats up with all the slander about Cathedral Peak? Practically every pitch of the SE buttress is a **** classic on solid rock. Sounds like you were on a different mountain!

Nice work Sol and Tyree. Glad you found it likeable and I wasn't just smoking crack. Maybe I should have said something about the undercut snow fin, but ignorance is bliss! Glad you're alive. The full linkup to the summit of Shuksan would be a hell of a climb and a really big day. Can't wait to hear about it.

I got some more photos from Matt so I thought I'd post one more Even the 4th class pitch was great

Trip: Mount Shuksan - Northwest Arayete III 5.9 Date: 8/6/2007 Trip Report: On August 6th Matt Alford and I climbed an enjoyable rock route on the northwest side of Mount Shuksan. The route follows the crest of a fine arete on good rock for nine pitches to the summit of a prominent horn above the White Salmon Glacier. Though dirty at times, the position is incredible, the rock is solid and every pitch is sustained for it's grade. I had first seen this arete at least twelve years ago while descending the glacier and thought it both beautiful and improbable due to a lack of features. Ever since the idea of climbing it has been knocking about in my head. I'm not sure what took so long but it was great to turn that idea into a reality! As it worked out the rock here (Green Schist) is horizontally banded and the rock is just littered with positive jugs and pockets that allow moderate climbing up imposing walls. We left the car at first light and reached the base of Winnies Slide four hours later. From here a short descent led to the base of the arete. There was significant shrund that made accessing the rock a bit problematic. We end up rappelling off a bollard to reach a ramp on the left side of the arete. A good ledge system on the right side could probably have been used as well. Matt takes the first pitch. Fun, juggy face climbing was followed by a 100' of 5.8 friction right up the crest of the low angle arete. The gear grew increasingly sparse until he had to run it out maybe 40' to the belay. A second short easy pitch led to a much steeper wall. P1 Frictioning up the crest of the Arete The third pitch exemplified what makes establishing new routes such an amazing experience. We're at the base of a steep blank wall. On the left is a filthy corner system full of grass. Out right a few weaknesses lead towards a steep arete and the possibility of good climbing around it's edge. The grassy corner will go, but the climbing will suck. The traverse out right is a total mystery. Will it go? Is there any gear? Whats on the other side? What if I can't make it? P3 Working things out on the crux traverse Intending to head up the corner I find myself heading out right instead. Focusing on protection I find that the apparently blank wall has a few narrow seams obscured by lichen that allow me to place several solid pins. Soon I'm at an obvious crux move. Cleaning some loose blocks off a small ledge I watch them freefall to the glacier. Hesitating I close my eyes, focus on my breathing, feel the chill in the cool shade, listen to the ice creaking and groaning below. Eventually I just run out of reasons to stand still so I commit, stemming wide, finding a small uncling, shifting over and reaching for the crest of the arete. Grabbing solid jugs I pull over the corner and find myself on a beautiful wall of clean, orange rock. IT GOES! P3 Matt pulling around onto the beautiful orange wall So many intense experiences tend to just slide away. Things no longer "stick" like they once did. But this one is different, this one set deep. I'm going to remember exactly how wonderful it felt to pull around that corner for a long time. The fourth pitch was the best of the climb, awesome juggy 5.7 climbing on near vertical rock with great gear. Soon we're at the base of the imposing upper arete. The climbing looks improbable but once again the rock turned out to be covered in positive holds. Staying about 40 feet left of the arete Matt is able to climb more or less straight up the wall on 5.7 rock to a belay in an alcove. P4 More Arete P6 Starting up the steep upper wall Climbing through a grungy 5.8 roof I find super featured 5.6 rock on the crest of the steep arete for a full ropelength. Matt quickly leads another long pitch of fun corners to a fixed pin belay at a small roof. A final short pitch up clean slabs ending with an easy arete brings us directly to the summit. Unreal, the route unfolded far better than we could have imagined! P7 Stellar climbing on the crest of the Arete P9 It Ends like it Begins…. It's late in the day so we snap a quick summit shot and get moving. An easy scramble down the backside gets us to the Upper Curtis Glacier. After following some mountain goat tracks we picked up the boot track leading back down the mountain. In my exhausted state the entire descent seemed somehow timeless as if it took no more than half-an-hour. Yet many hours and a beautiful sunset later we reached the car with the last of the dieing light. Well there's already a Northwest Arete and a Northwest Rib on the mountain so Matt (grudgingly) agreed to name our route the Northwest Arayete after someone I know. Gear Notes: Rack to 3.5" with a double set of very small to medium nuts and small to 1” cams. A few short knifeblades and bugaboos recommended. Approach Notes: Follow Fisher Chimneys Rt to edge of White Salmon Glacier (bivi sites) then descend a few minutes on steep snow or ice to the base of the arete. Potential Shrund problems getting on the rock.

So that's why the "10b" start completely kicked our ass!

This was pretty cool....maybe I'll post a TR soon...

Jacobs Ladder is as good as it gets. All those 5.10 (& 5.11) routes up there deserve way more traffic than they see.

After climbing the west face Matt A and I did two double rap rappells down the North Ridge to a notch then two more down the west side. This brought us right back to the big ledge at the base of the route. Excellent descent with solid anchors, easy pulls and no loose stuff to mess with your ropes. Also ment we could leave our boots etc at the base of the climb.

Wow. Lots of Schwanky (as in good) beta floating around these days. Brings back great memories, what an awesome climb.

Awesome! I was happy to just dangle my way up the thing. That trailcrew is going to be up there until the snow starts flying at the rate they're working.

I have no clue why she doesn't tear them off. She seems to enjoy them! Maybe she knows that her sunglasses are fancier than her mommy's or her daddy's.

My daughter, Araya, is now 14 months old. She was 11 and 12 months in those photos. To begin with with we've carried her everywhere, everyday since she was born including a lot of dayhikes so she's use to and enjoys being in a pack. She's just starting to walk so that might all change but we've been doing well with up to 8 mile hikes. As for how we do it, which mind you we've only done it twice so far, was to essentially pack as light as possible. Mom carried the baby and diaper stuff, I carried everything else..maybe 35 lbs worth. A backpacking load is ridiculously light compared to a climbing load so you throw in the baby and you're back to "normal". Well you've got piles of diapers, wipes, baby clothe, etc to carry so that means BD Lighthouse and a sleeping bag system that unzips into a comforter. Orginally I built her, her own little sleeping pad/blanket system for the head of the tent. Unfortunately that only lasted about 30 minutes before you crawled out of it. So we all slept together and not that well (if your wife is into the cosleeping thing you might have a real advantage here). Now she's off the boob but still pounds whole milk like crazy, so I'll get to carry another liter of milk a day. I think a better approach would be a 3 person tent with a seperate sleeping space for the baby, there is a BabyPod or PeaPod thing that's like a little enclosed mesh tent for them to sleep in. If you could condition them to that pretrip it could work out great. This weekend we're leaving the baby with Grandma and going kayaking overnight. Now this might be the way to go! She can still gain an appreciation of wilderness from dayhikes. But don't mind my bitchin. Going backpacking was logistically complicated and frequently stressful, but so worth it as witness by the photo of...... Sunset Over The Great West Canyon

More cute baby photos from backpacking in Zion

Hi Jason. We took our daughter car camping around 3 months and backpacking at 11 months. It's fun but you gotta be on it 100% of the time. The backpacking is tough, no one sleeps that well, car camping better...because they can sleep in a porta-crib. Honestly day hikes seem to keep everyone the happiest. Are you joining the crowd?

The great thing is if someone actually follows Tom's red line THEY ARE GOING TO SUFFER IN AN ENORMOUS HELLHOLE OF SLIDE ALDER !!!

Matt actually ripped an apple size chunk off in his hands on P4. But then again he's a buff dude! Both routes were excellent but Sol's route really has the best rockclimbing I ever done in the alpine. It is freaking rad. Nice photos Matt. Good times, good times....

Before Mike sprays to the world that Salish is "contrived" or doesn't follow "natural crack lines" maybe he could instead lead by example and establish a route that does. I think the reality of doing so may be a bit more difficult than he imagines while wanking at his keyboard. The granite on Salish is very compact and crack lines are generally tight seams or discontinuous flakes. The line of Flight of the Falcon is pretty damn ingenious in that it pieces together fun!, relatively moderate climbing up a very steep wall that lacks any sort of continuous, natural, climbable systems. As for bolting, yes there are plenty of bolts (drilled by hand) and through the cruxes there are certainly a few more than some/most people might find necessary. However I certainly don't recall any bolts next to reasonably good gear placements. That is simply bullshit. I think most people would find it to be an amazing climb, on great rock in a beautiful area. It certainly won't satiate the ego of a "hardman", perhaps resulting in the need to bash it online. Mike you do a disservice to everyone but casually throwing out comments like "some bolts NEED to be chopped". Thats not constructive thats just dumb. If well protected, moderate climbing on slabby granite is too dull for you two, maybe you should just stick to putting up chossy routes on the kitty litter granite of WA Pass. I’m sure no one will mind.

I sohuld point out that there is a class2/3 walkoff from the top of the climb. Follow the crest west to a deep rock notch. Scramble or rap down the south side of this notch (I haven't done it don't know how tough it is) then scramble down along the base of the Roan Wall.

Hello Friends!! The N Slesse Glaicer is definitely a bit mellower to cross than the Bypass Glacier of the std route. Tyree's crazy ass direct aspproach would be pretty nutty in early summer. Gene and I had to crawl up some steep forest but crossing the glacier was chill. It's not particularly crevassed or partcularly steep. We had little bitty instep crampons (Gene's were made by prisoners at the Monroe State Pen!) and sharp sticks. Oh and Off-White it is one of the best Alpine rock route in the Cascades.

A friend and I repated this climb on 7/1/2007. The first 3 pitches are incredible with great crack climbing on sound rock. The upper chimney section starts out fun as well. Unfortunately the 6th pitch as marked on the topo is loose and chossy through the crux and just generally kind of suck. Once on the ridge crest you join the Original Route which is again just stellar. The climbing felt very similar to the meag-classic East Ridge of Wolfs Head in the Winds. The topo is missing an 8th pitch to reach the actual summit. Pitch 8 is a short downclimb on the west side followed by a friction traverse under a roof then wide cracks to the top. All and all a good climb if you can forget about that 6th pitch. Highly recommend the original finish for anyone climbing the North Face as well!

Maybe you've got all the information you need by now, but..... it's a pretty easy bike ride from the Slesse Creek side over to where you would park your car in Nesakwatch Creek. Maybe 10-12 miles total, first downhill on Slesse Creek Raod, then 5 or so miles along the Chilliwack River Road (slightly uphill) then a flat mile or so back to your car. Takes an hour-and-a-half. You'll end up walking down a mile or so of the Slesse Creek Road to reach your bike, but you'll have to do that anyway if you park your Prius there. Have fun.

They're not in any guidebook, no topos either. Between Blakes photos and the approach description I posted you've got all the information you need to climb them.

Blake was a great partner, efficent and fast. Both climbs are amazingly high quality on some of the best rock I've ever climbed on. Having done "Flight of the Falcon" twice now my estimate of pitch ratings would be 10b/9/10c/8/9/10b/8. As pointed out the three 5.10 cruxes are all short, well-protected face climbing that can easily be A0'd on bolts, making the route a 5.9 A0. Bring a small rack to a #2 Camalot. Go get some! Getting there is probably the crux but well worth it. Here are some detailed approach notes I wrote up, note this is the same approach to use if you wanted to get the NE Ice Route on Three Fingers next winter Getting to Roan Wall Follow the Squire Creek Road to a parking lot where the road is now blocked. Start hiking the road, reaching the landslide in about 5 minutes. Cross low (look for flagging) then climb back up to the road. Reach the original road end in about 30-40 minutes from the car. Follow the old trail about 20-30 minutes until you reach a large dry streambed (it's obvious, 50' wide and full of white boulders). If you were to pass this, the switchbacks on the Squire Creek trail begin shortly after this creek. Hike down the creek bed about 200' trending left into open! alders. A path exists here that may be a bit hard to pick up. At first it stays just uphill of a swampy area. Follow the path for about 30 minutes upvalley until it pops out at Squire Creek which must be forded. Follow gravel bank on the west side of the creek until just before it ends (~100' ) then find a path going back into the woods. Soon after you must cross a small channel of the creek then the trail fades out in open forest and eventually you’ll end up in the now dry creek bed of Squire Creek (the creek is underground). Shortly after entering the creek bed you'll break out into the open (~2hrs from car). The Roan Wall is a big red slab located on the right side of the basin. Follow the creek bed until it feels like you've almost gone past the wall. At this point a thin boulder filled watercourse coming directly down from the wall should be obvious. Unfortunately it ends in brush about 200' away from the drainage you're in. You might be able to find a faint path leading through some large boulders into slide alder and soon after the watercourse. If you don't find it the bushwhack will be mercifully short. Scramble up this watercourse until you reach slabs at it's end. There are two approach pitches to get to the base of the actual Roan Wall. The first is an obvious 80' bolted 5.8 slab. From it’s top scramble up the gully a bit and climb a low-5th class 150’ groove on the right side of a brushy wall. Continuing on to Salish It’s a bit hard to give specific directions on the next part of the approach because you can’t really see where you’re going. Regardless a broken ramp and ledge system leads up along the base of the Roan Wall. This is mostly 2nd and 3rd class scrambling, generally fun, sometimes not so fun. After about 20-30 minutes you’ll end up below a notch in the rocks above. You still need to move further up valley. So I believe we dropped down here a bit then resumed a steep uphill climb through forest, then open meadows and finally a gentle ridge crest. A long traverse on heather and talus led to the base of the Salish Peak. Total time from the car was just under 5 hrs. You might get there faster.

The reason it's not on that particular list boils down to a rather contrived set of rules, basically one rule claims any named peak can be included regardless of prominence (hence things like Horseshoe Tower, a completely obscure chossy tower) and another rule stating that subsummits of volcanoes with less than 800' prominence cannot be included. Supposedly this second rule was included to specifically exclude Lincoln because it's harder and scarier that certain peak baggers wanted to try. (Lincoln has something like 780' of prominence) I think John Roper has a pretty good description of why it is and isn't on top 100 lists over at rhinoclimbs If you take a good look at Lincoln from Grouse Ridge or the Twin Sisters it would be pretty hard to claim that it doesn't qualify as it's own seperate peak! And who here has climbed it!?

That be a lot of shit-talking Sol, better get on it Beotch! I can't wait to see the TR.