Colin

Trip: Mt. Robson - Emperor Face, House-Haley (FA) Date: 5/25/2007 Trip Report: Excited by a good forecast, Steve House drove north from Bend on Wednesday afternoon for his 7th attempt on Robson's Emperor Face. Fortunately all of the more talented climbers he approached could not go, so we met up in Seattle and hit the road up to Robson on Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon we flew with Yellowhead Helicopters to the Helmet-Robson col, and left the col at 4:30am on Friday to approach the Emperor Face by descending the ramped ice-fall above the Mist Glacier. We climbed the face in two long lead blocks, both seven pitches long. My block had longer pitches (about 80m on average) and moderate climbing, then Steve's block had normal-length pitches (about 55m on average) and much more difficult climbing. Our route roughly followed the gully system immediately left of the Stump-Logan, but on the last pitch we suddenly encountered 3 fixed pitons. Presumably Stump and Logan finished a little bit to the left of the arete that is shown in most photos. Our route shared at least the last pitch with theirs, and perhaps the last two pitches. I reached Steve's belay at the top of the headwall at 11:30pm, and we spent the short night sitting on a small ledge chopped from the ice. In the morning Steve led two easy mixed pitches up to the crest of the Emperor Ridge, which we then crossed onto the upper SW Face. We traversed across the South Face, me now feeling very sick for some reason (I think a bug that I have had ever since Patagonia), and joined the Wishbone Arete in deteriorating weather. The upper Wishbone Arete included some funky gargoyle climbing, and we topped out in a whiteout at 1:00pm. We descended the Kain Route and then Steve hiked up to retrieve our camp at the Helmet-Robson col while I sat and contemplated vomiting. Our camp-to-camp time was approximately 36 hours. On Sunday we descended the Robson Glacier (sometimes stressfully off route due to the whiteout), and then hiked down to Kinney Lake, leaving the last 7km of walking for Monday morning. I probably won't have time to post pictures until July, unfortunately.

I climbed the route a few years ago, and we did it in a push, which is very reasonable. Even if you were planning to bivy you absolutely would not want to bring a ledge or a haulbag - there are plenty of bivy ledges and the hauling would be horrendous. We free climbed most of the route, and fully aided the 5-6 pitches in the big dihedral. If I were to do it again, now that I'm a slightly better rock climber, I think I would french-free most of the dihedral pitches, and only bust out the aiders for the A2/5.12- pitch. We placed one pin, but you can probably get by with none. We approached down the gully from the col to the N of N Howser, which was a lot of loose 3rd class, but went pretty well. We brought no crampons on route, but one ice tool each. The approach from the opposite direction (rap in from near the base of the Beckey-Chouinard) is supposedly much better now, because I heard that the rappel stations were fixed with bolts, which would probably make it the way to go. Might want to verify that info from another source though. You can certainly fly into East Creek, but I don't think it'd really be worth your money, since the approach is pretty short by BC/WA standards. Also, since the descent is down the east side of the towers, it doesn't really save you that much to be based on the west side. We took 28 hours on route, including getting off route in the dark. For a comparison, I climbed the NW Face of Half Dome in 9 hours (but, I was definitely climbing faster at that time). I think you should expect Watchtower to take about twice as long as Half Dome. If it were in Yosemite, it would get climbed way, way, faster, but having no established belays, route-finding difficulties, and carrying a bit of snow/ice gear will definitely make things slower.

Yeah, Ross, when we were on those snowfields I was thinking about your idea of skiing the NE Face. If it were skied for real (hucking the cliff bands), I think it would be the most extreme ski descent ever accomplished. If it were semi-skied (rapping the cliff bands), it would still be really scary!

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Lara Kellogg Memorial Route (FA) Date: 4/29/2007 Trip Report: Yesterday Dylan Johnson and I climbed a route on the NE Face of Stuart that I believe is a new variation. We had made an attempt last Saturday but bailed up the Ice Cliff Couloir after realizing we weren't prepared for the difficulties. The succesful ascent yesterday took about 19.5 hours car-to-car, using bikes for Mountaineers Creek Road. The route we took ascended various bits of previous routes, with what I believe were two new ice pitches. The lower portion of the face is comprised of horizontal bands of vertical to overhanging rock seperated by snow ledges. The first rock band we climbed via a short pitch of WI4. The second rock band had a spectacular free-standing ice pillar, but it looked very difficult (probably WI6) and at risk of collapsing, so we traversed right to join the original route (Mahre-Prater, August 1959) for one pitch. This had a move of aid, and there were 3 old pitons. From the top of the aid pitch we traversed back left to the ice line, and climbed the last rock band by a difficult waterfall pitch that I felt was WI6. It was not very long, but steep, narrow, and very chandeliered. Perhaps in some years it is nonexistant, and perhaps in some years it is WI4. Above the rock bands we joined the Nelson-Klewin May 1978 route for the middle snowfield and a short step of ice. We diverged from the 1978 route to the right for several hundred feet, and then joined back up with it for the finishing bowls and gullies to the ridge crest (this finish also established by Mahre-Prater, 1958). Although I think our route is only a new variation and not an independent route, it is an aesthetic line with challenging ice climbing on Stuart's cleanest face. We wanted to name it in honor of a wonderful friend and excellent climber who Dylan and I both were fortunate enough to know. Following the tradition from Mt. Index, we would like to call this route the Lara Kellogg Memorial Route in the hope that the name will help carry Lara's memory to future climbers in the Cascades.

Here's another trip report, courtesy of gizoogle.com: http://sites.gizoogle.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cascadeclimbers.com%2Ftrip-reports%2Falpine%2Fdragontail-triple-couloir-4-19-2007-2573%2F

Nice job on a fun climb! Yes, it sounds like you guys basically climbed the August '71 line. I've done it a couple times, and I think it is one of the highest quality ice climbs in the Cascades. Rarely more technically difficult than TC, but with 8 times more technical terrain. Also, it seems to come into condition almost every year, about equally consistent as TC. If you look at a topo map, the entire "north" face of Dragontail definitely faces to the northwest. However, what is commonly referred to as the "Northwest Face", as per Beckey, is either the terrain between Backbone and Serpentine or the terrain to the right of Serpentine. I think maybe Dylan and I ran into you guys while you were hiking in and us hiking out, at the Colchuck-Lake/Stuart-Lake junction? I was in the middle of fucking reptile zoo, and someone was giving booze to these goddamn animals! It won't be long now 'till they tear us to shreds...

Nice job Eric! I believe he also climbed it with a partner a couple weeks earlier. I don't know of anyone specifically, but I would imagine it has seen other Yankee solo ascents. Nope, I never got on Supercouloir last year. In fact, I didn't get nearly as much climbing done in Chamonix last year as I would've hoped; partly due to poor climbing conditions (but good skiing conditions), partly due to not finding a good partner, and mostly due to spending too much time getting drunk with Scandinavian girls... Ah, c'est la vie. As for Wayne's question about difficulty, I think that it is usually something like M5, WI4, although there are a lot of factors that affect how hard an ascent is. Last year there was a fixed rope on the first pitch, and so even though no ice was formed people would jug the fixed rope to start their "climb" of Supercouloir. More significant is the question of whether you finished the route, or simply rapped off from part way up. It might be surprising that the vast, vast majority of "ascents" of the Supercouloir end in an arbitrary place where people decide they've had enough and rap off (in fact, this is the case for many of the ice climbs around Chamonix). Finishing the original route to the summit of Mt. Blanc du Tacul is a much greater challenge that few climbers actually attempt these days.

Anyone know how close one can drive to the Heliotrope Ridge Trailhead right now? Thanks.

Trip: Mt. Huntington - Nettle-Quirk Date: 3/12/2007 Trip Report: On March 10th, Jed Brown (Fairbanks, Alaska) and I flew from Talkeetna to the Tokositna Glacier below Mt. Huntington. On March 12th we climbed to the summit of Mt. Huntington via the West Face Couloir (Nettle-Quirk), and descended via the same route, in just under 15 hours roundtrip. We believe this might have been the first ascent of Huntington during the winter season. Although many teams descend from the top of the ice ramp, we found it to only be half-way to the summit, in terms of time and effort. Conditions and weather were excellent, although the temperatures were quite cold; we both frostnipped a few digits. After a few days contemplating other objectives, we gave in to the cold nights and flew out of the range on March 16th. A few lessons learned: -bring two pee bottles instead of one -bring mittens that you can actually do technical climbing in -bring a face mask that covers your nose -bring a sleeping bag rated to -30F instead of -10F -bring a larger than 2-person tent to basecamp -bring a thermarest to basecamp -muffins are very difficult to bite at -20F -bring basecamp down booties -don't go to Alaska before April!

Thanks for clearing that up, Jason! Also, for those that haven't hear yet, the AAJ is finally online and searchable: http://climbing.com/news/press/aajo/ I think this is an amazing resource, and I think it is very generous of the AAC to make it free to everyone, not just members. Go AAC! Oh, and the ACC is cool too, Dru!

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...

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Unfortunately, Pete, FISH doesn't actually make the important part, they only make the daisy with rings, which is pretty useless without the stirrups. Ordering them from Russia might work, but it sounds like a convoluted affair unless you can direct me to a contact of the supplier or retailer. Any other ideas or leads out there?

Perhaps you bought a pair when Trango was making them and then decided that you prefer normal aiders? In any event, I'm looking to buy some. Otherwise, if anyone knows of a place to buy them new, please let me know. colinhaley1 gmail.com 206-334-3512

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!