dberdinka

That looks fuggin terrifying. Nice work!

My art project for the day

What Great (or infamous) routes recently saw Second Ascents other than Gay-ton's climb of Inspiration? Who the heck climbed the Soviet Route on Bonanza and what did they experience?

There seems to a be a group of industrious and anonymous Canucks that keep the Depot Creek Trail nice and brush free, any clue if similar work goes on in the Chilliwack Valley?

I've been doing my research on getting into Bear Mountain in the Chilliwack. Evidently the approach along the Chilliwack River has been complete ass for a number of years now. I'm curious what effect the torrential flooding of last fall has had on the area. Anyone been into Bear Mountain from the Chilliwack River this year? How was it? Thanks! Darin

I don't know if I've ever read a news story as horrific as this one.....ENJOY!

Clears out all the nasty brush yo!

Garuda Kusala for sale. $200 OBO. Excellent two-person single-wall tent for backpacking and backcountry skiing and basecamping. Sturdy Three-pole tunnel design with great ventilation system and built-in vestibule. Weight approx 5.5 lbs. Tent is essentially brand new, seam-sealed, guy-lined and ready to go. PM or e-mail if you have any questions. Long footprint means it ain't so great for your big-mountain alpine assualts.

Looking for a partner for a day trip to Squamish. Interested in doing Borderline-to-Angels Crest. Maybe even High Plains Drifter? I'm in B'ham would be great to carpool with another hamster. Wash Pass an option as well. Darin

A far more apt comparison would be to the South Face of Ingalls Peak. Similar climbing at a similar grade. Except it's like four of them stacked on top of one another and you are the only surviving climber after a nuclear holocaust. Looking forward to the road reopening in hopefully good condition. Mars Western looks like a sweet! climb. Awesome beach for camping down at Harrison Lake as well.

No. Can scramble off end of West Ridge bypassing short-steep snow gully. Road is washed out 1+ mile from Chilliwack River Road. Be prepared for extra 3+ miles and 1000' vert on logging road.

That sounds like the best friggin N Cascades trip imaginable. 1 Classic, 2 Classic, 3 Classics! God damn, I'm jealous. Congrats!

Honestly, if you have done much of your scrambling and climbing solo I think being part of a mountaineers group would make you freaking crazy! If you're looking for a social experience and a way to meet typically middle-aged individuals it might be worth the effort.

So what's up with the rockfall? There is mention of it in the Mclain Guide as well. Climate change? resulting in the melting of ice or expansion of rock or something? Any particular routes get decimated?

Nice work Bill! Thats one of the more sublime summits in the Baker Lake area. Worth checking out by any route.

Schweet! Kearney mentions the route as a runner-up in his classics guide. Looks great!

I have never tried this but I have heard several people doing this to save weight. I think a vast majority of climbers would find that their life is worth more than the extra weight of a very light pull line. w00t! w00t! to folks crazy enough to put all their faith into one skyhook.

Hey Ray! Good to see you posting again, it's unfortunate the anger-management therapy isn't working. Dru, James....and Ray no offense was intended. Good job!

Sweet!

Congratulations! Some real great looking along with some really scary looking rock! What's up with flashing all the gang signs yo?

OK, a poor choice of words. How about runout, marginally protected slabs. If I came across a good crack I stopped and belayed as that was probably all I would be getting...

Climb: Slesse-North Rib Date of Climb: 8/9/2004 Trip Report: About six years ago I climbed the Northeast Buttress of Slesse. Like many other climbers, my dreams of Squamish quality crack climbing were quickly replaced by the reality of mossy, metamorphic funk. A lot of belay time was spent looking down on what appeared to be the high-quality granite of the North Rib, another moderate grade V climb established by Jeff Lowe about 30 years ago. I put it on the list of things to do, were it has patiently been waiting. My friend Monkey is a mountain guide. Unlike many mountain guides he actually climbs for himself on his days off! Unfortunately his free time rarely coincides with my own. About a month ago we put plans together to climb the North Rib on Sunday and Monday, August 8th and 9th. After a wet beginning to the weekend we were fortunate to have great weather for the climb. The Approach The approach to the north side of Slesse has gone to hell, plain and simple. We parked just before the first waterbar, only a 5 minute walk from the major washout at 2 miles. The once benign Nesakwatch Creek has ripped out an enormous new channel, crossed on a skinny alder. Beyond here the trail, while still navigatable, is full on thwackage for the first couple miles. With time this approach will only continue to get more suck. At the official Slesse Memorial Site we dropped down into the basin below the Northeast Buttress via more thwackage then crossed the avi’d remains of the pocket glacier to steep forest on the other side. A lot of aircraft debris is still in evidence in the basin, unfortunately we did not find the Chinaman’s Gold as we had hoped. The forest is STEEP! Monkey busted out his little north wall hammer, and I considered putting my crampons on. We nailed the approach and soon broken out into happy marmot-infested meadows where we got our first good look at the North Rib. AAackkk!! We reached the edge of the pocket glacier in about four hours from the car and quickly crossed this to the toe of the rib. A table-size rock went crashing down the glacier behind us, and scattered rock fall could be heard coming down either side of the rib. Not a good place to loiter! The North Rib The route started with 40’ of unprotected 5.8 slab on clean compact granite. This was followed by another 1200’ of unprotected 5.8 slab on somewhat dirty compact granite. A total of 8 pitches got us to the edge of the large snowpatch midway up the rib. We spent about an hour tiling a rough ledge with flat boulders until we had created a rather deluxe bivi site. Water was easily collected from the base of the snowpatch. As night fell we watched a party get lost and eventually bivi on the bypass variation of the northeast buttress. They seemed quite calm about the whole affair. Monkey following the granite slabs low on the route Monkey at the bivi site While the lower part of the rib was more of a broad, rounded face, above the bivi it became a very aesthetic arête. While we were occasionally forced onto its right side, for the most part we followed the rib crest all the way to the notch. In total the North Rib itself took us 20 long pitches of continuously difficult climbing. This is serious business with hard route finding, oftentimes-sparse protection and some scary loose rock. On the other hand the granite is generally solid, there is a ton of great crack and slab climbing and the position is outrageous. I can’t emphasize how sustained the climbing was, almost every pitch was 5.7-5.8 with a 5.9 crux and only a pitch or two of 5.6. Looking up the rib Looking down the rib The Summit Arete It was 1:30 PM by the time we reached the notch, both feeling pretty damn cooked. It would be real easy both mentally and physically to bail down the southside from this point. Yet somehow we managed to suck it up and continue to the summit. The camera batteries were cooked as well so I got no more shots. The arête is steep, sustained, clean and for the most part solid. The exposure down the north face is gut clenching. Three pitches of 5.8 and a pitch of solid 5.9 got us to low angle terrain a pitch below the summit. We topped out around 5:30 PM on Monday after twenty-five roped pitches. I estimate at least 3500’ of sustained rock climbing, making it what must be one of the longest rock routes around these parts. Incredible! Just Freaking Incredible! Getting back to the Car We had originally planned doing the Cross Overpass descent. After coming up the lower part of it on our approach, I’ve decided I’ll go down that way just as soon as I dip myself in pig shit. Instead we took the knee-destroying south side trail. We reached the trailhead and our bikes around 10:30 PM. A long, not as horrible as anticipated, bike ride back to the car commenced which was reached at 12:30 PM. We made it back to Bellingham by 2:30 AM, fuel tanks fully emptied. Gear Notes: A complete set of brass nuts and a nut tool will be your best friend. Medium rack to 3.5”. Pins not necessary.

Awesome! Pics?

That's a little too late and a little too early in the game to be bailing!