sobo

CBS gave you the beta for driving. Others addressed the ratings. All the campgrounds are still closed, but if you head up the White Pass highway a little ways past Moon Rocks, and cross the first (decked) bridge (brown one) over the river, take the next (dirt) road to the left (south). If you cross the second (truss) bridge (tan or green, I don't remember now), yuo've gone too far. Just drive that dirt road a ways and it will put you on the river shore across from the highway and there's a bazillion pull-out spots along the road with fire pits and stuff. Besides that area, anyplace off the main highway will have places to throw down tents, bags, etc. and start a fire. Larry the Tool won't bug you. Weather in Yakima is a pretty good barometer, but in the spring there can be showers/T-storms that come down the canyon that Yakima will never see. The weather systems are much more similar once we're into summer and fall. All in all, wetter than Vantage, drier than Leavenworth. The routes: OMFG, your questions have answers unbounded! There are so many different areas that cater to so many different types and grades of climbs, the list would almost never end. If you haven't already done so, get a hold of a copy of the new Y/F guide. They did a great job with that guide, and rated the quality of routes really well. Anything in there with 3 stars or more is a must-do. Lastly, check out this recent thread.

CBS, I'm a little unclear on this part. Isn't the (originally) slack line still anchored at the bottom at this point, with only about a foot of slack in it? How do you "...pull it through top anchor and rethread through locking biner on new secure anchor..." if it's still tied up below with only about a foot of working length? Wouldn't you need to descend to untie it, or is that an omitted, obvious step, or am I really missing something here?

Oh Christ, that's rich! A story from a few years back sorta along the vein of the thread... Me and a buddy had been ice climbing around Moses Coulee one day, when we met up with a couple of "really rural" guys with rifles, sidearms, camo gear, and all that. We still had all our tools, screws, and shit with us. Conversation goes something like this: Us: So, what are you two guys doing out here? Them: Oh, we're hunting coyotes! Us: Hmmm, why would you do that? Them: There's a bounty on 'em. We gets $5 for each one we kills! Us: Really? Wow. Them: What are you guys doing up here? Us: We're ice climbing. Them: Ice climbin'? What's that? Us: Well, we climb up these frozen waterfalls and stuff. Them: Really? In the freezin' cold? The snow? And with them spikey thangs? Who makes you do that? Us: (looking quizzically at each other) Uhhhhhhhh... good question. I almost quit that day!

Only info I have is from AlpineK's post on the first page of the "What Did You Do This Weekend" thread in Spray, and some info I picked up locally that indicated three different Fire Departments showed up to the fracus.

Damn it, lummox, you beat me to the punch by about 2 minutes!

Actually worse than where I am right now, but there are some bright spots. Vantage is about the same distance from Yakivegas as it is from the Dry-Shitties, but add about 10 minutes longer for the drive because there won't be interstate highway access. Spring Mountain is across the border in Oregon. Lightning Dome will be 1.5 hours closer for the weekend car camp/climb outing (my favorite spot in the PNW). And I'll be 1.5 hours closer to the Selkirks, Chimney Rock, and ice climbing in BC and Alberta. All in all, not bad, but nothing will be in my own back yard quite like it is in Crackima. And I keep all my transportation options in top operating order at all times. It is critical to my livelihood.

Climb: Tieton River Update Date of Climb: 4/2/2005 Trip Report: Not really a trip report per se, but hey, WTF! After being shut down on locating a partner for Saturday, I decided to leave my gear and just grab my shoes and tour the canyon to see what was up. The good news: The raptor closure has been lifted at all areas throughout the Tieton. The bad news: No eaglets this year. And all the campgrounds are still closed. Saw the folks at Royal Columns, about two hours before the accident there. Saw a few more small groups at The Bend. Moon Rocks: empty. Windy Point, The Cave, and The Oasis: No evidence of climbers. Couldn’t tell about Rainbow Rocks, but no cars were at the typical parking spot. Goose Egg: Still a little snow on top, but all routes were dry except Gangsta Rap. Started to snow and hail while I was there. Quit pretty quickly, tho. Wildcat Creek Road is easily passable to all but the dopest low-riders, but mushy the higher you get. Watch out for winter’s “trundle” debris. I kicked off everything smaller than a basketball on the road up, but stuff is still actively calving off. Wildcat Wall is dry, Beehive is, too. Honeycomb Buttress is wet on the road side of the slab from snowmelt dripping through the munge up top. Headed over to The Caldera and finally broke out the shoes. It was my first time there, and I found Nakedness, Broken Glass, The Cube, and Balance of Power, and what I think was Dead Deer Boulder. The “map” in the guide is horribly out of scale, but general enough in nature to find the biggest stones. I lucked onto Balance of Power on the way back to the truck. It actually is probably the closest rock to the parking area, but it is hidden by some brush and pines. Head straight off the road end about 100 yards and you’ll fall right over it. Since I don’t boulder much (at all), I can’t confirm any of the ratings, but they seem to fall in line in a “relative difficulty” way (Nakedness Boulder easy, Broken Glass Boulder harder). Lastly, touched on Lava Point. Road’s clear, a little mushy up top. Couldn’t find the descent for Dream Wall, but scoped a few lines on Deadheads and Lava Wall. Crikey! That place looks pumpy! It was getting right dark by then, so I headed for the barn. The mess at Royal Columns had been cleaned up long before I drove back through. Ice Climbers: Believe it or not, the recent dump at White Pass looks to have brought new life to Strobach! At least three (maybe four) climbs to the right of Separation Gully are still touching down, and appear to go all the way up to the brush anchors. However, I would suspect that the ice is probably quite aerated. And I was looking at this from three miles away with a 12X spotting scope, so YMMV if you go in. Snow level was about 4k this past weekend. Lastly, your Finger on the Pulse of the Tieton will be leaving town soon. We bought a spread in the Dry-Shitties and will be out of the Palm Springs of Washington in about two months. Why I ever let myself go for this I’ll never know. I guess I still want to be married to her and see my boy. Get on over here and get some while there’s still snow in the hills and the temps are cool. It’s really neat climbing on the dry rock and looking around at all the snow-capped moun-tains! Gear Notes: Y/F guide, shoes coulda used a partner Approach Notes: Everything's open

Hi Tony, Good on you guys for practicing that stuff. Our rescue unit recently held a "field day" at the barn and specifically trained on a single-man pick-off (retrieve a fallen leader, not on your rope - you arrive, descend to unconscious leader, secure him, transfer him to your line, release him from his rope, and descend with him to ground). While that sounds easy, it is easy to get trapped as well in this scenario. It is by far easier than what you guys were working on. Good job! I believe a lot of climbers are not thinking about these situations...

December 8, 1980: Outside, playing tennis on my condo courts, in Houston TX. That was a sad day. On a lighter note, I remember exactly where I was when Reagan was shot (March 30, 1981)... Bert, a co-worker buddy of mine, and I had polished off most of Juanita's killer pot roast for Sunday dinner, and finished the evening off with desert, (more) wine, and a game of chess. We had decided to both skip work the next day to finish their new deck that Bert and I had been working on all weekend, and since I was too drunk to drive my motorcycle back to the condo, I crashed at their house. Convenient enough, right? We woke up Monday morning, a little bit hung over, and Bert called in "sick" first. I gave it a few minutes, then called the (same) supervisor. While I was on the phone to Arno, Bert's 4-year-old daughter Katie walks into the kitchen, and in a voice as loud as a foghorn, says, "Mommy and Daddy, why is "Uncle" Paul on the phone?" While I remember that moment as if it were yesterday, I can't for the life of me remember the lies I told on Tuesday morning... When we went to work on Tuesday, we both had to play dumb, like we hadn't heard the news about Reagan, because we were both supposed to have been sick on Monday. Truth was, we said, "To hell with it!" about the deck and watched the news all day.

minx asked: AlpineK replied: Minx, et al: Tim Pond Wall, Royal Columns, Tieton Wall, and The Bendwere closed until April 1. They are all now open. The bad news is that we didn't get any "takers" on the eaglets. So, climb on!

Good job! Your story is frighteningly similar to my first trip up Stuart. However, I ended up spending the night somewhere up there at the top of a cliff and froze my ass off in shorts and a space blanket.

NOT A CHESTBEAT!!! I on-sighted all three of those climbs about ten years ago or so. I probably could not/would not want to do them now, given my family situation and the shape I'm (not) in. However, were I ever to climb them again, I would want to climb them in the form that I first experienced them. => Leave them alone, except to replace old hardware.

O_W, Ab-so-fuggin'-lutely! It almost takes all the venom out of the stinger. I just hope sped does better in court than in this court of public opinion. Ohhhhh, the irony...

You're welcome. Here, try this: You dismissed minx's post as her opinion and somehow worthless by your standards (see first quoted box in my first post, and the inferred tone), then maxthegap politely stated he was just looking for an adventure (second quoted box), which you pooh-pooh'ed as somehow less than deserving (your statement in the third quote box), at which point I called you on it. You effectively are talking out of both sides of your mouth. The crux of the matter: You can't shit on someone's opinion (minx's) and then expect that everyone is going to honor yours as somehow being better than theirs (your calling maxthegap's climb an exercise in following bolt ladders). That's just plain disingenuous. Just standing on the sidelines calling them like I see them...

Try going back and rereading the referenced posts in full. It should become clear.

sped said to minx: then maxthegap replied to sped: and lastly, sped quipped: Hmmmmm, two sides of the same mouth?

Defintiely snow free as of last weekend. Go for it.

"...ORDER YOURS TODAY! Only $179.95 + S&H..." WTF??? Yeah, right! What a POS. Hell, three or four biners would be a better deal. Just go get a Reverso or an ATC-XP.

"...Step Two: Thread the 1/2 " static rope through the mechanism..." "...without the bulky and complicated equipment of the past...", yet it weighs 1.2 pounds? Why is static rope specifically stated? Is it not rated for dynamic rope applications? It appears that other rope size versions are available, but what good would this thing be to most climbers, other than wall-haulers? Seems very, very heavy and extremely limited in its application for climbers.

At last, there is now a reason for me to actually want to go see a Broadway play... Click me.

One word... "frooooooot-caaaaaaake" This woman has some serious issues that should be dealt with professionally. Delete the "FlyingDutchman.htm" string to see just how messed up this woman really is. And Bill Gates should be on the lookout for a female stalker.

You're quite welcome.

Don't rub it in, Martin. You're just braggin' cuz I already made you a copy.

Yes, the Tieton river trail is closed to all access due to Golden Eagle nesting "until further notice." I checked it out this past Tuesday night on my way back from South Bend. There are signs clearly visible on the far side of the bridge at Royal Columns and The Bend. Note that the aforementioned river trail accesses Tim Pond Wall, Royal Columns, The Bend, and Moon Rocks. To my knowledge, there has been no mention of closures at The Cave (Windy Point), The Oasis, or Goose Egg. HTH. minx, I still owe you a copy of Idaho Rock. Lemme know when you'll be needin' it.

You might find what you’re looking for at this website, or they might point you elsewhere: PMI