brad

Drove back to the slide by 8 mile and surprisingly, no one is there except a couple of people making the walk home. Looks like it might be awhile with the DOT's priority being hwy 2 right now. Which is still closed as of 15 minutes ago. More debris than the tumwater slide... and less funding. I think iv'e seen it like this after memorial day weekend!

I saw it yesterday right after it happened. Right past the entrance to 8 mile CG i would say almost a quarter mile section of road is under 3 or 4 feet of debris. The one on 2 happened right near the trailhead to dildome/bear cave. I was changing my shoes to head up to bear cave and could actually hear the thing coming! sounded like thunder, for real. i jumped in my truck, tailgate and canopy still open wearing one shoe and floored it. drove maybe 300 feet, got out of my truck and not 2 seconds later WHAM!! It was like the canyon took a giant shit on the road. If i hadn't been fucking around at home and got there an hour earlier like i had planned i'm pretty sure i would have got the chop. Sadly, i have been putting in tons of work on the trail over the past week and i'm afraid to see what it looks like. i'll post as soon as i can drive there. i had slide film in my camera so photos might be awhile. Heading back up icicle right now

Hi Shane, Having done this route, i would say mid June is really pushing it for safe(er) conditions on the NE fork. My opinion is that late May would be a better time to start this route. But, of course, conditions will vary from season to season and this is only MY opinion. I would also consider adopting a nighttime schedule until you reach the couloir proper. A warm sunny afternoon is NOT the time to pass through unavoidable objective hazards. Doing this route alpine style will minimize your time in there. We certainly saw some rippers come down while on the rib itself. It's a great route, i hope you have as good a time as i did! There's really nothing more i can tell you that isn't already extensively covered in more than one guide book. Good luck! A little stoke for ya, i tried to post photos mostly involving the NE fork. ORRR... you can go to the Wrangell/St Elias ranges and tag a few of a gazillion unclimbed peaks at the same grade!

Heartbreaking. Danny had such awesome energy, you are missed my friend.

On a very random note, were you guys at the gas station in cle elum yesterday around 4pm? I was on my way home from climbing in leavenworth, and looking at the pic in your tr i could swear you guys were gassing up at the pump behind me. wish i would have known, would have liked to chat with you about your trip! Way to get after it, i still can't believe i have yet to climb there. Thanks for the stoke!

Right on VK! Thanks for all your hard work!

Gordon is a goat!!!!

yup

you may have a hard time finding a name for that particular formation as it is so much smaller than the actual "rat creek group". from the south side its a climb of like 25 feet, i'm assuming this is what you did seeing as it the most natural line of travel from the camp. i don't think it was ever given much thought, just something that was done as an aside from camp, much as you did yourself. Call it something original, like"plan b tower". the madrock hanger was placed in 04 as was one on the shrew during the same trip. thats all i know and that's too bad because i was really looking forward to getting involved in the pointless ego driven banter over which pitches pete climbed and which pitches ron and tony climbed on the east face. try and remember to have a good time when your out there! By the way, i hope your fire was warm, comfortable and very large!

BWHAHAHA! myself and two others climbed a full, fat pitch of ice up doctor creek drainage on sunday. it's there, you just have to work for it. hubba is indeed done.

So when you finished taking this pic did you whip shitties in the beautiful meadow to the right? Let's go place some pins and take some whippers on them!!! Yeeeeehaaaaaa!!!! And then get ripped and ride motorcycles near horses and hikers!!!

outstanding job and a great tick! guess i can go remove my cache now.

what kind of safety meeting? come on, you know! the fun kind! although the specific safety topics can get a bit "hazy" at times if you know what i mean.

well then you clearly hadn't completed the crux of your day yet!

sody pop was more fun than i thought, thanks for the grey webbing if you left it! should have took some pics, it was a great finish to a great day. looked like you guys were in a hurry, next time we will have to have a safety meeting. that is, if you are a "safe" climber. cheers.

danielle and i walked in to climb the emerald onsaturday after getting scooped on the cable. after seeing the hosefest decided to tr instead. weekend climbers- a poncho wouldn't have helped, we almost drowned ! almost as fun as trying to run a coat hanger through your belay device! top of the emerald we climbed the first pitch of champagne on sunday. i'm not sure what some of you mean when you say upper pitches, it's a two pitch climb no? the first twenty five feet were a little scary but after the first little bulge it was fat ice the whole way. the upper half was fat, blue, and a bit wet(really wet on the left side). had to burrow a bit to get a placement on the final curtain. the second pitch looked enticing and is definitely leadable but we opted to tr the first pitch again instead. we were only able to go once though because the ropes started to ice over god dammit. good times on a great climb that i have wanted to do for some time second pitch of champagne first pitch danielle getting her tr on! i'm surprised we didn't run into you guys, we were there until one. finished it off with a trip to the beer bottles where we climbed a fun little thing north of bavarian dak (name?) looks like a pair had just climbed it(guys in a white vw?)

here are some pics of the usual suspects from monday(jan 1). considering the recent temps this may be a bit late but hey, iv'e seen them last through worse and they are better than last week. probably wishful thinking on my part. i'll try and add additional climbing pics later. frenchman falls- ouch! emerald one of the beer bottle climbs- good shorter screw placements more banks ice - h2o2-a bit harder than it looks imo salt and pepper zenith- backed off the first pitch, tr'd p2(sunday), perfec ice as someone else recently noted cable- WAY better than last week clockwork orange p1- fun pitch in fat. p2 is trying to reform but for now its a shower children of the sun devils punchbowl is in as are(were) the huge icicles above it-yikes!

one more, just for stokes sake. if you look closely you can see the entire route from the summit of crossen to where i am standing

the crux is the seven day storm you didn't anticipate. nothing technical. gorgeous route a personal fave of mine for sure.

there's really cool air force fighter wreckage from the late 50's between salish and buckeye peaks, you can still see the nose art, instrument panels etc. really interesting. nice to see someone else enjoying the goods up there, thanks for the post.

i am truly sorry that i got bogged down in this and like i said in the PM i just sent you. the death of the elk was the worst thing that has happenned to me emotionally in awhile, it stll bothers me, i felt awful and i wasn't even driving. look, not that this isn't a great time or anything but if you would like to insult me, put words in my mouth, etc. please leave me the dignity of doing it in private or better, in person because i'm done with this. thanks again to harlin!

fucking lame You guys mamed and probably killed a large buck because you urbanite shitheads don't know how to watch where you're driving and now you're crying about your climbing gear? I hope that buck did some serious damage to your friend's gay-ass SUV. Assholes. oh, no maiming involved, we definitely killed him, you know how we urbanite shitheads like to control the minds of wild animals so we can destroy them. and i assure you we were both watching very, very closely as we impacted him. as far as crying about my gear... i was crying about my gear BEFORE we hit him, so hah! you will be happy to know that he did indeed do some serious damage to the "gay ass SUV"(i'm guessing that your politically correct vehicle runs on air). and finally, i have been an asshole for longer than i can remember and am quite comfortable with it. ARE YOU? by the way, do think the SUV was born gay? or do you have a rural, right wing evangelistic cure?

HOORAY FOR HARLIN!!!!!! i just heard through the grapevine that he picked my pack up on his way home from work. you are awesome! it's good to know that there are some stand up people still around. next time anyone's at gustavs please be extra nice to the bartender!!! and thanks zonk!