Marko

Met these guys in the AK Range a few times: Look up Jeff Benowitz. He's a cool out there kinda guy and a very solid climber. Also, try Rick Studley when he's sober. Mark

Timcb, I've got a 14 oz. up-to-the-neck Vireo with drawstring that I pretty much like. With a sweater, balaclava, and a light shell the bag works good enough for a high pressure summer trip. If I expect heavy dew or fog/mist I'll bring the Endurance bivy sack also. While I'm satisfied with the bag, I'm always jonesin' for a hooded bag when I'm in the thing. I do sleep colder than most of my partners though, so the hoodless thing might not be too bad for you. And the thing packs down to zilcho! Cheers, Mark

Man that looks like a great trip. Thanks for the pics, and WELL DONE!

BP hammer or adze?

Ditto. It's a great little tool.

Rad, From Inspiration's summit there's downclimbing and a few single-rope raps (a 60m is nice), then some really fun and solid climbing up to maybe 5.8 on Pyramid. Easy scrambing gets you up and down Degenhardt. I don't remember what it looked like getting down to the Barrier from there, but it sounds like it's been done. Re: descending the Barrier, scope the descent ramp from the upper Terror Basin. The place to descend the east side of the Barrier is maybe 200 vertical feet below the highest trees. Follow the crest down until you find a rather indistinct, treed ramp leading skier's left. We left a small cairn at this point. There's one sketchy dirt traverse (I put on crampons), and ~5.6 downclimbing (possible to rap off trees). That's a pretty cool traverse right there, have a blast! Cheers, Mark

So Wayne, there WAS that one bunny you pasted on the way to Newhalem a few weeks ago... By the way, I mailed that ckeck for the poster yesterday. Cheers

What's funny is that by 11:47 last night Colin probably just scored himself two cams and a nut!

Here's a link to an updated Southern Pickets enchainment topo: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=1635 Yup, still smilin', Mark

That E. Ridge of the Blob (Rake) was a hoot.

Nice frickin' job!

A few more Pickets shots: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showgallery.php?cat=504&thumb=1

The Mighty Tooth over to Hemlock, Bryant, then Chair is pretty fun. A rappel on the way to Bryant is handy, then also for descending Chair.

Thanks y'all! Photos en route... Still smiling.

Other stuff???? You lost me. (Just kidding Cathi!)

Like totally!

JB, The first pitch of the Blob (I think that's the earlier name, ask Silas Wild) was pretty loose except for the crux. Right after that it was bad but then the rock got surprisingly good. Most of the remaining Blob was incredibly fun, solid, exposed ridge climbing. I think all of that was either running belay or soloing. Alot of the climb went with Wayne soloing with Colin and me doing running belays. (I was <the word "almost" deleted> always the first to call for the rope.) Right on the West Summit of the Blob we found a perfect bivy with a convenient snow patch. Where it was 5.whatever, the rock in general was some of the best I've ever seen attached to a mountain. The East Needle had a short section on the SE Arete of easy vertical where the wall cut away under you for some wicked exposure. I've never crapped myself on 5.4 before! The east side of the Himmelhorn was exceptional. There was some looseness immediately after the crux. Colin, please correct me where I've erred since you're the one who brought the memory.

For what it's worth this is my definition of Wayne: STOKED! The guy is fucking stoked. He's stoked about what you're doing, he's stoked about what I'm doing, and yes, he's stoked about what he's doing. So what the hell. After we got back to the car we were sitting in the dirt barefoot eating Pringles, drinking beer, and giggling like idiots. It was a damn splabdoobie adventure that I won't forget anytime soon. Still smiling, Mark (Oh, when I say we were drinking beer, I mean like not Colin, right.)

I know of one way to avoid most of the bushwacking: Winter!

Very cool secret project. Congratulations! Inspiring photos, too.

So enough chestbeating. I would totally recommend the climb. Although totally dwarfed by Temple Ridge proper, it's a cool outing. Beautiful, adventurous approach and ~3 ropelengths of perfect cracks on a solid knife edge ridge. Mid 5th, could use one rope to rap the normal east route. Clothing optional.

Right Forrest, that made the adventure all that more satisfying. It was fantastic to be climbing with those two guys on all that terrain. The climb was way more than we'd hoped it would be, like 10 quality full-value trips in one. Wildman Wayne's lead on Himmelhorn was freakin' awesome! I mean the actual definition of awesome, that which inspires awe. The fucker even placed a pin at the crux just so Colin and I could yard on it! Colin's pitch after that was spectacular as hell. We followed au cheval with an abyss on both sides. Holy crap, every peak was incredible. Only problem is I can't get this damn smile off my face. It's starting to freak out everyone in the office.

Congratulations Robert. That thing is one bigass chunk of geology. Cheers!

Ah, nekid ascent w/ pack, knife in shorts pocket for descent. Maybe a purest would say a climb doesn't count as nekid if you've got boots and a pack on. Better amend this to FRNSAWBAAPOBPERD.

Howdy Wayne! Could be a first, but I'm usually wary of claiming any rock route first ascents in the backcountry. I am sticking to this specific claim though! I'll just add more qualifiers if anyone gives me any crap! Unfortunately no one saw my footprints and I didn't bring a GPS. Figger, it was kinda wierd: The slabs on the Nada Cr approach had several rappel stations (1st biner), the slabs getting to the route start had several more (2nd biner), and the descent down the normal E. ridge route had a shitload more (more biners, one a nice keylock). On the way down I cut off and brought back ~5 Lbs of old tat. There was a helluva lot more evidence of humans on the normal route than there was on the approach I thought.