dberdinka

I attest to the fact that you need to give Red Rocks some time to dry out after it rains. I experienced the pleasure of climbing on damp rock there a few weeks back. Holds get wet, holds get brittle, holds break off. Climber collects bad karma for ruining routes. Once it stops raining, wait until the next day before you start climbing. Just for added incentive one of the desert guidebooks states that sandstone looses up to 75% of it's strength once wet. Scary!

to hell with cracks in j tree. Lets go down big cracks in sand stone called canyons!!!! don't make me tell you again jason.

Not sure what the weathers doing up there anymore but Rainman is one of the finest climbs in Darrington. It has 4 well protected 5.10 pitches in a row featuring a lazer-cut corner, a steep hand crack, cool underclings around a roof, sustained slabs (of course) and some fun overlaps. An approach pitch about 150 yards north of the west buttress leads to an obvious, very angular left facing dihedral. It goes at about 10b. Followed by pitches of 10b, 10a, 10c then 2 easier pitches to the big tree ledge. Sweet!!

Climbed Springbok in mid-August this year. Now that I've forgotten about the lower half of the route I remember it being pretty damn awesome. The approach sucks (but better than Ibex). The pitch descriptions in the Becky guide seemed more accurate than those in the new Mclane Guide. Personally I though rock quality was horrendous on the lower half of the route and perfect above. The right hand variation to Pitch 7 (??) has some scary stacked blocks as does the next pitch. The 5.10 fist crack is burly, but begins the good rock. Above there every pitch is quality particularly the 5.9 slab pitch. Getting off is way more mellow the rumor has it. The cheval descent is spectacular and fun. The rappells and downclimbing are no worse than plenty of other alpine routes. So in general a worthy climb, though somewhat stained by super lame rock down low.

In early August unstable weather, general lethargy and the Squamish vortex turned a planned trip to Waddington into two weeks of cragging. Driven from Squamish and Joffre by rain then snow we found ourselves camped out in Marble Canyon. I'm of the impression that while many people have ice climbed here relatively few have rock climbed. A night followed by a morning of rain kept us in our tent until about noon on the first day. The sun eventually broke out and we went cragging on the lower walls. Theres a number of good pitches here in the 5.8 to 5.10 range, generally low angle face climbing. The obvious attraction in the area is the main wall. 1700' of slabby to overhanging limestone perched high above the canyon. The wall is breached by one route called the Yellow Brick Road, climbed between 1973 and 1994 (or something like that). It looked very intimidating, however careful reading of the guidebook indicates that there was a judicous use of bolts on the first ascent. Leaving the road at 6:30 AM we spent an hour and a half scrambling to the base through a lot of ball-bearing scree. A bit of sporadic rockfall adding to the character of the wall. First two pitches were excellent, well-protected face and crack climbing followed by four easier pitches the led to the base of the steep center portion of the cliff. Three steep pitches of very well protected but occasionally loose rock led up through the headwall. The postion was incredible and the climbing generally excellent. The bolt ladder is pretty damn long (20 bolts ??). I was glad to have aiders and my partner was glad to have jumars. Bring lots of slings and biners. The 5.10 free pitches have lots of bolt protection and the cruxs could easily be aided. From here 4 more pitches of fun climbing followed by a long stretch of 4th/low 5th led to the top of the wall. Total climbing time was 7 hours plus another 1.5 hours for the descent. All belays were 2 fat bolts, route finding was obvious, climbing was fun and everything was well protected. There is certainly enough loose rock that I wouldn't climb behind another party on this route, but it didn't seem to detract from the climb at all. Descent down the North Gully was fast, obvious and beautiful. Good on the knees too! as most of it is through squishy forest. All in all an awesome route that is far better, safer and straight forward than you would think. Highly recommended for a fall adventure. One last note. Though Marble Canyon supposedly scorches in the summer we wore long underwear, wind breakers and wool hats the entire day and were still cold. Strange, strange weather in early August this year.

Back in the day when I was but a wee lass, some fools were always talking about going to the Van Zandt Dyke. Me thinks it's a chossy outcropping you can see from both Highway 9 and 542. Have fun. If the rock won't hold a drill hole I swear I've seen ice there in the winter as well. Whatcom County -- The second best soft sandstone climbing in the world [ 07-19-2002, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

Once melted out, the easiest route is a sloppy scree pile. NE ridge is lots of fun, Plexus has description spot on. Reminds me of slightly humorous insight.... What is a mountaineer? Someone who climbs the descent routes.

Last year we bushwacked in, got lost in thick clouds, climbed the prominent gendarme on the west ridge in the photo above, rappelled of in the pouring rain and bushwacked/slid back down in a torrential downpour. The Mclane book certainly underestimates the time it would take to get in and out of there. I think our biggest mistake was underestimating the distances you have to cover in the alpine area. That face is a long way from the ridge you cross! All in all a beautiful area. I don't remember the bushwacking being that bad! Oh. And the rock was pretty nice.... [ 07-15-2002, 10:06 AM: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

Other great routes include SW Ridge of S Early 7-8 pitch 5.8 on great rock W Face of N Early 4 pitch 5.10+ with a short crux E Face of Lexington great rock, bring a big cam!

The chimney pitch on Prusik is harder, or at least more awkward, than chimney pitches on Epenephrine. It's also much, much shorter and, as previously pointed out, it protects very well. Have fun!

After crossing creek low in valley we headed upstream through slide alder then talus to below fairly large gully/waterfall. Climbed up rib and slabs on the west side of this. Looked imposing but was mostly scrambling with 10' of low 5th. More slide alder and some lower-angle slabs led into steep open terrain above. That was late September of last year, in early season I imagine it could be very different (wetter).

With the forecast looking less than wonderful (the weather forecast) I'm thinking of adventuring off to the hopefully warm and dry side of the coast range. Any first hand experience in Marble Canyon? Worthy of a roadtrip or scary choss pile? Thanks for the beta. Darin [ 07-01-2002, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

Of the four times I went up there last summer I always managed to get a permit. If your going for the weekend, head up Friday afternoon and get a permit before the ranger station closes at 7 (??) PM. Midweek probably won't be a problem. Also if you call before leaving they'll tell you how many permits they have left. And if you choose to sneak in, nice hidden camp sites can be found above the high camp or towards the Quien Sabe

Alex Lowe in kindergarten?

Get some sleep!

The infamous Peak 7259'. Coveted by many, climbed by few. Located at the head of Nesakwatch Creek. Central buttress climbed in 1948 by Helmy Beckey while Fred took the entire cheerleading squad to prom. In the late 80's Peter Doorish established 27 other routes with names loosely based on Dante's Inferno.

Peak in the background is Blum Peak, which puts this somewhere to the NE in the Chilliwack area...maybe....Nodoubt Peak?

I've used twin ropes for about 5 years now primarily on alpine rock climbs. My personal opinion is that they work great! I've got a set of Mammut 8mm and don't think I'd want to go any skinnier. They belay fine, I've caught a handful of whippers no problem. The rappel really fast. Maybe a little too fast, but everythings a trade off. I clip them both directly into the same 'biner which in theory is a bad thing. But I'm still alive and I haven't seen any damage to the sheath from doing this. Rope management isn't a whole lot worse but you can end up with quite a pile if you're not careful. One trick that keeps the ropes from getting twisted is, when first roping up have the second tie into only one strand. Once all the rope is fed out, then tie into the second. This keeps the two strands nice and seperate. Have fun!

quote: Originally posted by jkrueger: ...but it seems that there is no longer a consensus of an established ethic and it is simply turning into a free for all? That appears to be the case. I'm still curious as to everyones opinion on this.

quote: Originally posted by erik: is there ever a consensous??? Never on cascadeclimbers.com But if more and more super-bolted (or should I just call them sport?)routes are put up and stay up then consensus by a combination of action/in-action develops. No?

Ok, I know I’m kicking a dead horse here but I’ve got to ask. What did I miss? Has the general consensus in the Icicle become that it is reasonable to place bolts next to natural gear placements? Case in point are the new sport routes that have been developed along the base of Icicle Buttress. While I did not climb any of them, one appears to have 3 bolts spaced out along a 10’ crack and a bolt every 4’ beyond that. This route was mentioned recently on this site but I was surprised to see that it still existed. A lot of common TRs also seem to be sprouting a web of bolts. Everyone likes new routes, particularly ones of quality. Furthermore I think most of us enjoy clipping a nice fat bolt. But I would like to think that over-bolted squeeze jobs, particularly bolted cracks, have no place in the Icicle. Everyone knows where Retrosaurus stands on this issue, how about other active climbers in the Leavenworth area? Crack Bolter you seem to have some opinions here. How about Victor , you obviously have an interest in route development here and have put up some fine bolted routes, even fine retro-bolted routes, over the years ( i.e. Bale-Kramer Route, Mr Tremendous, etc.) I’m not trying to start some heinous flame war. But these new routes are obviously a huge shift from past route development. Is this the future? Is there a new consensus on what is reasonable?

quote: Originally posted by michael_layton: I'm drinkin' some Jim Beam to take the edge of my shitty failed attempt off a route I've wanted to solo for a while that I'd rather not name, and for reasons I won't bother to divulge (because I suck) before I pass out. Mike, you are the Mark Twight of CC.com. Take it easy on yourself brother.

So Dave Page is the old standby, but I can't say I've ever been overwhelmed by their consistency. Anyone out there have any recommendations for a great (mailorder) resoler? Thanks.

Just to add my $0.02. All the 5.10 pitches are very nice, unfortunately the quality of the rest of the route leaves something to be desired. The final pitch "wild crack" is all of 20' long. It's a great climb but definitely not the ***** classic is been made out to be. In the same area Rebel Yell is more exciting/quality route, though obviously not as long.

What good is a juggy dyke?!