Colin

Well, I had a feeling I'd be catching some crap for this one! It seems my professors in the Geology Department weren't aware of my reason for switching majors... In general I am skeptical about the ability of non-climbers to do reporting on climbing stories because usually they get everything horribly wrong. That being said, I thought this article was very well done for a non-climber, although certainly overly flattering. Several quotes are a bit inaccurate, although I suppose that is simply the nature of media, where everything must be compressed to simplified format. A few clarifications: I have not claimed to climb a new route on Cerro Torre. We climbed a new link-up, but NO NEW TERRAIN, which is pretty important distinction from a first ascent. I'm really curious to find out what the "Brown & Haley Almond Roca fortune" is? I'm guessing that was a joke of my mom's that was taken seriously. My great grandfather was one of the founders of Brown & Haley candy, but our "fortune" consists of a gift candy basket once a year. Without a doubt, my parents' support has been essential for me - without it I would basically have to decide between getting a college degree or climbing, and with their help I am somewhat able to do both (just barely...). The quote about sitting in an office was out of context - I was basically trying to say that I need something else in life besides just the standard routine (something that I think everyone on this board agrees with). It amazes me that most of my college peers don't really do anything except the same routine over and over: Go to class, do homework, get drunk and hit on chicks... REPEAT one thousand times... I have no hesitation about becoming a sponsored athlete, and in fact I am a sponsored athlete. What I meant to convey is that I never want my sponsorship commitments to influence my personal relationship to climbing. Rob has no plans to work for RMI. He recently got a job with Alpine Ascents. Anyways, I don't mean to be nit-picking on the article because I think the reporter did a very good job understanding climbing. I just thought I should clarify things for those of you who have more insight into the climbing world. OK, when the groupies and sports-cars arrive!?

Pictures:

Trip: Mt. Index - Index Peak Traverse Date: 2/2/2007 Trip Report: Mark Bunker and I climbed the Index Peak Traverse yesterday, leaving the car at 4:30am, and returning very worn out at 3:30am this morning. Conditions were generally excellent, and we worth both amazed by how much ice there was all along the traverse. The first pitch on the North Face of the North Peak was almost bare rock, but conditions got consistently more wintery as we went, with the North Face of the Main Peak holding the most snow and rime. On the North Face of the North Peak, we climbed one ice pitch above the bowl, and then traversed right to climb the upper North Rib. There was a second ice pitch above the bowl that looked like very nice WI3, but we didn't take it because we weren't sure where it went. In retrospect, I think it would have been a much better route - more direct and faster climbing. On the North Face of the Middle Peak we climbed a gully system about 50m to the left of the standard summer rib, which had a nice section of WI3 and was I think a much better option for winter. On the North Face of the Main Peak we roughly followed the summer route until the traverse across the gully on the NW Face. Once in the gully we decided to climb directly up it to the summit ridge rather than traverse to the W Ridge as in summer. The descent was straightforward but long and tedious. The chockstone in the gully is completely covered, so no rappels are necessary.

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Ice Cliff Glacier Date: 1/28/2007 Trip Report: My brother, Booth, and I climbed the Ice Cliff Glacier today after skiing in to the base of Stuart on Saturday. There was a tiny bit of ice climbing necessary over the ice cliff, but it was otherwise just step kicking and the cornice was non-existent. Conditions for travel are generally excellent, with a fairly consolidated snowpack (the crust supports footsteps in some places). The trail up to the Colchuck Lake junction is beaten in to the point that skis or snowshoes are not necessary, but they were nice beyond there. The NE Face did not look to be in condition, but the conditions for doing winter rock climbs, like the N Ridge or Girth Pillar are about as good as they ever get. The temperatures varied widely throughout the trip. The water bottles that we left in the car (in Icicle Canyon) were frozen solid, the valley bottoms in the shade were covered in hoar-frost, but we climbed the summit ridge shirtless in the sunny, balmy, weather!

Thanks, Doctor. I was amused to see that the other day, although it's a shame that Climbing Magazine got Jed's name so horribly mixed up. How does it go from Jed Brown to "Jeb Hoffman???" Bunch o' Colo-not-so-rad-o, tossers!

I'd like to reiterate Mark's question. Tanner, are you talking about the road to access the N side of Slesse or the S side of Slesse?

Good point, Dru. Perhaps that is a better way, up Little Beaver Creek. Dealing with getting a boat is definitely a pain in ass though, especially in winter. Hmmm...

So, anyone know how far you can drive these days? All the way to the end? Dru? Jordop?

Thanks again, guys. Answers to a few technical questions: For rack we brought 9 screws, 1 set of nuts, 6 cams, 5 pins, and 4 pickets. It was pretty much right on, although more screws wouldn't have hurt sometimes and we could've taken only 4 cams. We had considered it, but decided not to bring a shovel. It's hard to say how cold it was during our bivy, but it was certainly below freezing. In addition to our 70m 9.2mm, we brought a 60m 5mm. We used it to haul our packs on the headwall pitch, and we also used it for a few rappels on the compressor route, although the 70m by itself would've been fine. We brought the 5mm rope mostly in case we needed to bail or descend via the West Face, in which case making full-length rappels would've been much better.

Thanks for all the compliments, guys. We used two ropeman ascenders (the newer ones - MK-2), which I think made simul-climbing all of the Marsigny-Parkin more reasonable. I'm sure this is not a "safe" technique, but I think the ropeman II is better for this purpose than the tibloc (although significantly heavier). OK, here's a few teaser shots, if I can successfully figure out how to include them in a post. All four photos are by Kelly. Please be respectful of his photographic work and don't copy-paste them elsewhere.

Trip: Cerro Torre - Marsigny-Parkin-West-Face Date: 1/5/2007 Trip Report: I'm just recently back in Seattle from a three-week trip to Argentine Patagonia. Kelly Cordes and I based out of Campo Bridwell, and quickly established a gear cache up at the Niponino bivouac below El Mochito. For most the trip the weather was very bad, and we passed the time eating, drinking, bouldering, sport climbing, hiking, and sleeping. Finally, when our return flight was approaching, an excellent weather window arrived at the last moment. There were four days of almost perfect weather. The best weather window I had seen in two previous trips was about 48 hours of good weather. On the first day of the window, Jan. 4, we hiked up to the Niponino bivouac and tried to go to sleep early. We left Niponino at 2:30 am on Jan. 5 and hiked up the glacier below Cerro Torre's South Face to the base of the Marsigny-Parkin route (aka "A la Recherche Des Temps Perdues"). We started up the route at about 5:30 am, and climbed it in 8 hours, with 5 really long simul-leads, using ropeman ascenders to make the simul-climbing safer. The crux of the Marsigny-Parkin was moderate at perhaps M5, but the route was very sustained: consistently WI3-4, with almost no snow-patches on which to rest calves. We divided the climb into two massive lead blocks: Kelly led all 800m of the Marsigny-Parkin to the Col of Hope, and I led all 600m of the West Face from the Col of Hope to the summit. Just above the Col of Hope we stopped to melt snow, rest, eat, and drink. Soon above the col we reached The Helmet, which provided some tricky routefinding and steep unconsolidated snow, but we were able to surmount it on the right side. The mixed pitches beyond, in the dihedral, were moderate and went quickly. I started up the headwall pitch at 9:30pm, and finished just before dark. It was difficult considering how tired I was by then, and because of the angle (sustained vertical ice. Other parties have claimed overhanging, but I don't think it was quite that steep.), but the ice was actually very good. Above the headwall we decided that routefinding in the dark would be too tricky, so we dug/chopped ourselves a little ice-hole to get out of the wind. We spent about six hours melting snow, eating, and "homo-huddling" (we hadn't brought sleeping bags). The first pitch on Jan. 6 climbed up a natural tunnel in the ice to above the first mushroom of the summit ridge. The second pitch wormed into another tunnel to climb the second mushroom. The third pitch of the day was the crux of the route, and involved vertical and then overhanging snow climbing, followed by two aid moves off of pickets. The best peice of pro was a gigantic V-thread that I made by tunneling through the ice for about 3 meters. The final pitch climbed the summit ice mushroom (same as the Compressor Route finish), and was quite easy. We were surprised on top to not see any sign of ascents via the Compressor Route, given the beautiful weather. The view was spectacular, and it was surreal to stand on top of a mountain that I'd been dreaming of for 10 years. We descended by the Compressor Route, using a single 70m rope most of the time (for anyone attempting the Compressor Route, I would reccomend taking just one 70m rope for both the climbing and rappeling), and eventually stumbled back into Niponino at 2:30am on Jan. 7, exactly 2 days after leaving. We believe that we were the first party to succesfully link these two routes together. Also, I believe that our link-up is one of three routes on Cerro Torre that have been finished to the summit without using Maestri's headwall boltladder (the other two being the standard West Face route and Arca de los Vientos).

Hey Eric. I dunno if that was humorous or not? Yes, I did it leashless, although I don't think that makes it any more difficult. In my limited experience waterfall climbing leashless, it doesn't seem any more pumpy than using leashes. I'll use whichever system I think is easier actually, which really comes down to a discussion of whether wrist leashes are more of a pain in the ass, or tethers to your harness are more of a pain in the ass. I've been experimenting with leashless tools and tethers recently, and I think it worked quite well for this climb, although I can't decide yet which is overall a better system for alpine climbing.

Hey, thanks for all the good vibes, guys! I'm sitting in the library at the moment - just printed out my schedule and about to start classes again (1.5 weeks late...). Ugh. Glad to hear there's interest in a slideshow. It's pretty hard not to take awesome pictures in such a spectacular range, so hopefully I'll have some good ones. What Mike neglects to tell you guys is that I didn't send the New Year's party because I was sick and wanted to get healthy. The New-Years-Party-Marsigny-Parkin-Ferrari linkup is what I really wanted to do, but I wasn't strong enough. I guess I need to train more, like Freddie does. He's headed to Scotland soon, so he's practicing getting shitfaced every night and climbing hard every day - impressive stuff. Have fun the rest of your time down there, Mike! Hope you and Kate and Jim and Tom both get the window you need!

Although I have never found all that much interest in sport climbing, I think it is very important training for more advanced forms of the sport. I think it is funny that Europeans seem to understand this, yet so many Americans still don't get it. We're not talking about bolted cracks (Eternal Flame, Royal Flush, etc, are a different arguement), we're talking about proper sport climbs at the training crags. I know 5.13 trad climbers who train by going sport climbing. Jim Donini once said to me something along the lines of "rock climbing is the basic skill-set of the super-alpinist," and this is absolutely the truth, especially as alpinism evolves towards ever-increasing difficulty, even on the highest mountains. This is the reason why most of the world's best alpinists sport climb regularly - people like Rolando Garibotti, Ueli Steck, Steve House, Silvo Karo, etc. You can bet that Rolo was appreciative of his face-climbing skills while onsighting runout, 5.11+ face climbing on Cerro Torre's North Face. Sport climbing isn't for everyone, and if you find it boring you don't have to do it. But it is a valuable addition to the sport of climbing, and if done in a sensible manner is not a violation to trad climbing.

If you guys are gonna race, don't tell Andreas Schmidt, because you can count on one hand the number of routes in Selected 1 that he hasn't climbed.

Drove over the Coquihalla Hwy last night on the way back from Canmore. It was pretty full on, and we saw AT LEAST 20 cars on the side of the road, many of them pretty mangled. There were still plenty of idiots in pickups and SUV's trying to pull sketchy manuveurs around slow vehicles, because they think they are invincible in their truck... But surely someone has checked out the climbs around Lillooet?

How about: 1. 2nd winter ascent of NE Buttress of Slesse 2. First winter ascent of N Buttress of Bear 3. Winter ascent of Willis Wall (not that ski run, "Thermogenesis" to the right) 4. First winter ascent of N Face of Triumph 5. Repeat "Intravenous" on Chiwawa Mtn 6. 3rd winter ascent NE Butt J-Berg. If I were to do it again, I think descending the route actually would be a pretty good idea. 7. First winter ascent of the N Face of either E McMillan, W McMillan, or Mt. Terror

Boris! Good to see you dirty bulgarian climbers popping up every now and then. How are you liking school? I think school is destroying my soul. When are you coming out to the good side of the continent again? Nobody seems to understand the bulgarian jokes I tell them, especially the ones about Spazka-Mother-Dragon. Mike, it'd be fun to finally meet ya!

Any Seattlites heading down to Smith this weekend? I'm looking to head down Friday afternoon/evening and drive back Sunday afternoon/evening. I'll pay my share of gas, and tell pirate jokes! 206-334-3512

Maybe the best of them all? http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/69182153/large

Thanks for those suggestions, guys. Those Bugz are about what I was thinking. Anyone know a place to check them out in person around Seattle?

For many alpine climbs I have debated whether to bring sunglasses or goggles, and on many routes I have even brought both. This seems unnecessary however, and I think the solution is somewhat of a glasses/goggles hybrid. In almost all of the old alpine-climbing photos, the climbers are wearing just such goggles (one lens per eye, elastic around the head), but they have almost completely disappeared. I have seen them a couple times in ski-shops in Europe, but never in the US. Anyone use them? Anyone know a place around Seattle that sells them?

Hey Homeys, I didn't make the flier, and until you guys pointed it out, I hadn't realized that it was misleading in that respect. We definitely only went one night without sleep. On a side note, I think it is funny these days how much the media hypes going without sleep along with the whole single-push thing. If we were climbing for 4 days without stopping, wouldn't that just mean that we were actually climbing more slowly than if we had bivied twice? In my mind, if you are looking at times the only thing significant is roundtrip basecamp-summit-basecamp (and that means the tippy-top, not "we turned around at the end of the difficulties..."). Anyways, what's so hard about staying up for four days? All that takes is some cheap pharmies. Anyways, hope to see you guys there. Still trying to figure out what music to use... That's the real hard part. Daniel, I don't have any plans to do a show in PDX, although I could probably be persuaded since I'm driving down to CA in mid September anyways.

Alrighty, found a couple days of work! Thanks for the help and suggestions, guys.

Between climbing trips and other commitments, and I'm looking for a few days of tedious labor to make some cash! It has to be before Sunday afternoon. Do you have a day or two or three of carpentry work or yard work to be done? Or, preferrably, do you have an outdoors-related job, such as portering your heavy packs up to Camp Muir? Or perhaps you'd like me to take your kid rock climbing, or up the Tooth? I would charge $10 an hour, or perhaps $12 depending on the job. If so, let me know ASAP! 206-232-1798 colinhaley1@gmail.com