dberdinka

Hey Dru, and anyone else who's been there, I imagine you took a good look at this face on your way off Rexford. You know if anyone has climbed it, route details? Thanks. Darin

It's a long way down no matter how you do it. Dru, maybe we could hook up sometime for some other climbs in the Chilliwack? Give me an e-mail at dberdinka@yahoo.com. What do you know about the free attempt on Pillar of PI? Looks like an incredible line. Darin

I climbed Labour Day Buttress about 2 years ago. We climbed the obvious buttress on the southern of the 2 6800+ foot peaks. Started out great with a 70' pitch of 5.7-5.8 hands (Thanks for making me not feel so bad about the rating Dru). After that it was lots of moss and lichen covered granite. Not so fun. We descended to the notch with the other 6800' peak (1 short rappel, optional) then did a traverse on the ridgeline heading south (beautiful granite slabs). Much sooner than expected a hidden ledge led down into the next basin, where a steep scramble led over an intervening ridgeline back under Labour Day Buttress. All in all the descent was relatively easy and beautiful. Be warned lots of icefall danger approaching the route. Also the east buttress on the other 6800+ looks pretty cool, probably better than what we did. Have fun. If you have any questions give me an e-mail.

But of course....

After looking through the new KM guidebook I got excited about trying some of the alpine rock climbs around Squamish. Headed up Thursday morning 7/26 to climb Life on Earth, a 5 pitch arete climb on Mount Habrich that KM raves about in the new Squamish Guide. The roads getting in there were rough and I'd hate to try it in anything but a 4wd-HC vehicle. With a heavy foot I was able to get around the road blockade and drive the last 5 sttep km before the trailhead. This made a what would have been a long day into something short and pleasant. The overgrown logging road/trail is well marked and after about 20 minutes a cairn marks a path that leads up to Habrich. This is one of the steepest trails I've ever been on, but it's easy to follow. It took about another hour to get to the base of the route. The climb was 5 pitches almost all of which are rated 10c. Even by Squamish standards I'd say it was pretty soft. Most pitches felt more like 10a maybe 10b in spots. The climb, while good, is not as stupendous as the guide book makes it out to be. After a steep start, it's generally low angle friction/face climbing on a broad arete, a bit contrived in places. At the top a short scramble leads to the summit. Views throughout are excellent. After fooling around at the Malamute and the Brew Pub in the evening we headed for Ashlu, an 11 pitch 10a on an 8500' peak described as excellent. The road mileage in Alpine Select was wrong so we made a number of mistakes and only arrived at short cut creek at 1 AM. Get a recreational road map if you haven't been there before. Basically from the Squamish River Valley, cross the Squamish river on whats signed Bridge #1. Now your on the Ashlu Main follow your nose to avoid spur roads. Way back in there, maybe 13-14 miles from the bridge, the road forks. The left fork leads down and cross the river then up to an abandoned crane (wrong fork!) the right fork is steep and waterbarred. Follow it for 4 miles to a partially washed out bridge. Serious 4w driving. This is Shortcut creek. The description in Alpine Select for the approach is accurate, however 2 hours is ridiculous more like 3.5 to 4 hours from car to route. The country is beautiful, open forest, lots of glaciers, a beautiful lake, heather meadows. We ended up wandering around and getting lost in thick clouds once we got to the high ridgeline. After climbing a couple pitches of excellent rock on what we later figured out was a steep tower on the lower SW ridge, we bailed in the pouring rain. A long wet bushwack led back to the car, another visit to the brew pub and a long wait at the border, the rain never letting up. Definitely a route to go back to, now if I could just get someone else to take their truck....

Hey Dru (or anyone else) what do you know about these peaks? The rock looks excellent (from a distance) but I'm of the impression the approaches now suck. Have I heard something of a grade VI on Urquart? Fill me in...routes? beta? I'm bored. Thanks

Kyle, I've done it, it's fun! Good solid rock for the most part with occasional bits of 5.8 and a great section of "razorback" ridge climbing about half way up. Check out a photo in the gallery section at www.wwu.edu/~berdind. As for beta, get on the buttress near the Stuart Glacier Coulior where ever possible. A bit of scrambling leads to 1-2 pitches of 5.8 then a few more to an obvious a' cheval section. Above that easy climbing on the west side of the buttress leads almost to the crest and a few bivi sites. It's a quick climb to the west ridge, maybe 3 to 5 hours total. We bailed down the back side due to bad weather. Bring a small to medium rack up to 3.5" and expect a little difficulty crossing the moat. Not as classic as the N ridge but definitely a lot of fun!!

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The descent from the col to the base of the route starts with steep scree and snow/ice before ending up on mellower snow fields. A lot of people seem to bivi at the col and check out the descent the day before. Probably a good idea. The climb itself seemed very sustained at the 5.8 to 5.9 level. The pitches were long and I don't remember very many easy ones. The route itself is obvious to follow but all and all I'd say the topo doesn't really do the difficulty of it justice. Lots of hand cracks but nothing bigger than 3.5". I probably bring a couple extra 2" pieces. The descent is a series of 5 or 6 rappels straight off the summit. The last is over the shrund and wasn't as bad as expected.

Matt, Capt. Haven't climbed it in several years, but whats with bolts on Cocaine Crack? Thanks.

I agree with Dru, Gimli rules. 2 hour approach, 6-8 pitches of 5.7 to 5.9 on a stellar arete and no one around. Nelson is a pretty cool place to spend some time as well. Stay at the Dancing Bear Hostel if you're there. If you're in Idaho the Sawtooths definitely deserve a visit, more beautiful alpine rock. Elphants Perch and Finger of Fate are the standard classics with routes in the grade III-IV 5.8 to 5.10 range. Approaches are short day backpacks to beautiful alpine lakes. Enjoy!

I also did this a ways back. I approached from Boston Basin by crossing the obvious col into Torment Basin well below the route itself then following snow slopes to the notch at the base of the ridge. Getting to this notch from the Taboo (???) glacier could be really difficult if melted out. As for the rock quality I remember the rock being exceedingly shitty. Not something I'd go back to do again. Have fun!

That final 10a crack is about 12 feet long, maybe 15 if I get optimistic. Not quite what the guide book makes it look like. You didn't miss much.

It looks exactly like Artisonraju from the NE, a peak in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. The south side (left skyline on screen) is a popular snow and ice climb thats been skied by Patrick Vallecant(sp?) and more recently by a north face sponsored team. I haven't been in the valley to the north, from which you'd get the Paramount look, but there was a photo of it some years back in Climbing.

Here was the avi report from Wednesday morning "Considerable avalanche danger above 4000 feet and moderate below Wednesday, except for a locally high danger on steep sun exposed slopes late morning and afternoon hours Wednesday, especially in areas that have accumulated significant recent snowfall." Hmmm, lets see; High-marking requires steep-slopes 10:30 is late morning Squak/Easton area is south facing and sunny Baker accumulates significant snowfall Considering how easy it is to check the avi report by phone or web, I say these people exercised really poor judgement

Ok, while I'm still not sure exactly what we're talking about I'd like to think that a majority of climbers who are active in the Cascades would agree that a rap bolted multi pitch sport climb off a summit is really, really poor style. Trying to compare it to the East Buttress of S Early is apples and oranges. There 2 bolt ladders were constructed by hand, on lead to connect crack systems on a super classic line. I'm not sure how the new bolts were installed on the East Buttress, but I think a distinction between upgrading old, dangerous hardware and rapping your new greatest route exists. The bolting in the mountains is a slippery slope for sure but actions like those seem to form a point where the slope ends and a cliff begins. Considering how many good, boltless climbs exist in the area, much less all the other areas we could go visit (Enchantments,Chehalis,Anderson River) on a weekend, that route will do little to enhance the climbing experiences of anyone but the first ascentionists.

For those of us not as fully informed, can you give us more information? What was done? how many bolts? in what style were they placed? have bolts been placed where gear could be used? is it a classic, otherwise unprotectable line? While I like clipping big fat bolts as much as the next, the idea of Washington Pass as a sport climbing area makes me start digging around in the garage for a crowbar.

Telemark gear for sale. 190 cm Excaliburs with Superloop bindings on G3 shims for $125. E-mail me at dberdinka@yahoo.com if interested [This message has been edited by dberdinka (edited 02-27-2001).]

There has been a lot of discussion on this same issue regarding telemark equipment, imparticular Scarpa Tele Boots. Prices in the US are well over double of that in Europe. The only importer, Black Diamond, claims that that the higher prices are a result of additional "marketing" costs. In fact several mail-order outfits were shipping to the US at Euro prices without any duty costs, which sort of blows that theory away. However BD aggresively acted to shut these suppliers down by having Scarpa threaten to cut off there supply. So as far as tele gear goes, my impression is they're charging more simply because they can.

I'm not claiming it's there now, but a couple times, while skiing down the Nisqually Glacier/valley towards the bridge I've seen a very impressive, fairly well formed and apparently moderate (???) line maybe 300-400' tall on the east side of the valley maybe a third of a mile up from the bridge. It's in a shady nook and is invisible from the highway, but it is just downvalley from some impressive looking but never completely formed up lines that should be obviously. Happy hunting.

Detailed information on some great climbs in the North Cascades and SW British Columbia, includes photos, maps and descriptions. Soon to be updated. http://www.wwu.edu/~berdind

Couple more photos at /www.wwu.edu/~berdind/alpine/frame.html Phew! Guess I need a better domain name

Alex, I was just kidding. I notice we posted very similar replies at almost the same time to the shocking and controversial "Routes I Like" post. Maybe great minds just think alike. [This message has been edited by dberdinka (edited 12-05-2000).]

It would appear that many people in this forum are taking offense to the idea that someones favorite routes are technically harder than their favorites, or their ability to climb. It also appears that these same people are unwilling to share with the rest of us routes they've found enjoyable. If your ego can't hack that other people might be climbing and enjoying routes you haven't/can't/don't want to do, is it really neccesary to degrade those who can? For whats its worth, some of my favorite trips in the Cascades/Olympics have been: Alpine: Klawatti Peak NE Face of Redoubt Frostbite Ridge, Glacier Peak Challenger Mount Olympus (beautiful) Alpine Rock: East Ridge of Rexford SW Ridge of S Early W Face of N Early N Ridge w/ Gendarme of Stuart W Buttress of Old Settler Rock: Sunblessed in Squamish Anything at Seal Cove, Squamish Careno Corners (and variations) Spaghetti Sauce As far as difficulty verses classic status goes, I believe that challenging oneself can be a very rewarding experience that makes a hard climb much more memorable than an easier climb, hence more "classic". On top of that harder rock climbs generally follow more sustained, ascetic feature on better stone.

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