jmace Posted March 15, 2005 Posted March 15, 2005 Climb: Foley Peak-NE Ridge Date of Climb: 3/13/2005 Trip Report: Don pretty much covered the reasons for heading in to the Cheam range this weekend, sun, cold overnight lows and a snow free road. All I had to do was add the little bit about the NE ridge being unclimbed, which I gleaned from Ponzini's post about the route. http://cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=400263 Saturday morning had us leaving quite early as we didnt have the prior knowledge of the time it would take us to reach camp. Slogging up the road and then the remarkably well-kept trail saw us at our camp in about 5 hours. What an amazing place and even still amazing snow conditions. We scoped the ridge and it looked steep and not at all that straightforward. We talked about various routes up the ridge and then Toby just said: " its the ridge we need to stay on it till the top." Ok well lets get to bed. Alarms were set for 4:30 am, 1:00 am arrived and so did hurricane marge, the tent wanted to make a beeline back to Wahaleach lake and I wanted to sleep. We emerged from the tent at 6 am in a full blown wind storm and it continued for most of the day making the climb that much more difficult, hard to hear, friggin cold, snow blowing up the chimneys, and snow blowing in to your face when kicking steps up steep slopes. Oh ya it's winter, sort of. I climbed a mellow snow slope to get us established on the ridge. Toby then led off in to a small chimney that was coated with ice and powder snow, he topped out and threw a belay in: a knife blade and a large friend between two loose blocks. I came up and set off on lead I needed to go over Toby so I made a grab for the knife blade to start me out, " Oh I wouldnt grab that dude" this seemed to be the theme of the day for our belay's. Climbing a pitch of really loose rock, stopping, putting in the belay and then cinching down the equalization sling I ripped the whole thing out," ok bud I think I will go higher." Toby led out off the slung choss pile I found higher into an amazing pitch: a slanting ice filled groove traversed this steep rock pitch which put him on the snow slope a few pitches below the summit pyramid. We simul soloed the snow until the ice chimney I mentioned in my email to Don, actually Toby kept going up this thing which turned out to be amazing ice in an even more amazing position. By the time I made it on to the ice he had set up a belay and began bringing me up, I was hootin and hollerin about how good it was. On top I found Toby with his axes smashed in the ice as our belay, oh well, as Don said you really cant be falling around on these things. We were only about 20 m from the summit and I told Toby to do it since I had not had a rest since we started simul climbing. I came up grabbed the last hold and it was loose, so I moved it over to the side, on top right on!! Hey wheres the summit cairn, you just moved it, haha, right on the last move is the summit cairn. 3pm Then it was just motoring down the SE ridge, easy some snow down climbing and one rap into a couloir that led us down to the lucky four glacier and a cell phone : hi work ya, um Im not going to be in till after 12 tomorrow. Back at camp by 6pm 10 hours from camp to camp Good times in the hills Toby Froschauer: DR Hook Jesse Mason Gear Notes: 2 screws, small rock rack to 3.5, 3 Lost arrows, 2 knife blades coulda used more, 2 ropes 1 would be adequate. Approach Notes: Fine trail, almost too nice Quote
Dru Posted March 15, 2005 Posted March 15, 2005 But is Toby going to live down being mistaken for a girl Quote
Dr.Hook Posted March 15, 2005 Posted March 15, 2005 Put it back in your pants Dru, there's a first time for everything. Quote
Ponzini Posted March 15, 2005 Posted March 15, 2005 Two good climbs using some of my approach beta on the same weekend!! Only too happy to help out the cause. Quote
jmace Posted March 16, 2005 Author Posted March 16, 2005 thanks Todd, any time I can return the favour Quote
Don_Serl Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 fuckyah with the two screws again didn't Twight write something a ways back describing a rack with which you should be able to climb any alpine route in the world - and wasn't it something like 6 pegs, 6 nuts, 6 cams, and 2 screws? anybody got that lying around? dru? anyway, point is winter alpine climbing in the Coast/Cascades seldom features very long sections of "steep" ice (by which I mean WI3 or steeper). and considering all the other extra stuff you gotta carry in winter to stay warm and energized, the rack is the prime place to trim. besides, you're generally looking for rock pro/belays. and, like I said, you just can't be falling off on this stuff anyway... and, never mind screws, now that i'm warmed up, here's my rant about pickets. i suggest all you folk who carry these things around take the time on your next trip to an alpine location or a ski area (one with snow, if that exists...) to pound one in, clip in a rope, tie yourself to the other end, and slide off down the hill to see what happens. i don't think you'll be very inspired by the results. fact is, pickets work just fine in consistent firm snow, but they are remarkably weak in typical winter snow (crusty, sugary, powdery) unless they're T-slotted, and if you're going to go to the trouble of T-slotting something, why go to the effort of carrying an extra chunk of otherwise purely decorative metal for the job, when one of your tools does an equally good job. did I mention weight is the enemy? ya, i know i did - i mean, did I mention that TODAY? cheers, Quote
Dru Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 At the first VIMFF Voytek stood up to give the slideshow about the Gash IV west face climb... "So, the face is 2500 meters tall... we take three screw, three pitons, two nuts" Quote
Don_Serl Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 Good work Jess and Toby! i'll second that. sorry about the mistaken identity Toby - i was emailing back and forth with Jesse right up until friday, and it was him and Fern... and too bad u didn't have time to stop by on the way out. there was whiskey left... cheers, Quote
Don_Serl Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 At the first VIMFF Voytek stood up to give the slideshow about the Gash IV west face climb... "So, the face is 2500 meters tall... we take three screw, three pitons, two nuts" shit, I gotta cut down on all that rack that i carry! cheers, Quote
jordop Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 . . . and, never mind screws, now that i'm warmed up, here's my rant about pickets. i suggest all you folk who carry these things around take the time on your next trip to an alpine location or a ski area (one with snow, if that exists...) to pound one in, clip in a rope, tie yourself to the other end, and slide off down the hill to see what happens. i don't think you'll be very inspired by the results. While I'm familiar with your avowed hatred towards pickets Don, I continue to take one for two reasons: 1. placed before rock steps where there is no pro they give some confidence, and 2. granted in winter snow you have to T-stake them, which is loads of fun and time, but T-staking ice tools has always left me uninspired because you can't really equalize a tool like you can a picket with a hole halfway down it. Small beer, yes, and besides, you just can't be falling off on this stuff anyway for it to matter . . . and considering all the other extra stuff you gotta carry in winter to stay warm and energized, the rack is the prime place to trim. besides, you're generally looking for rock pro/belays. and, like I said, you just can't be falling off on this stuff anyway... This reminds me of an old mountain bike-riding friend of mine who was "not a few" pounds overweight, but insisted on shaving every gram off his bike with titanium spokes, hubs, etc. in complete ignorance of the other bits of mass about his midriff that he was taking along on rides. No, I'm not saying you're paunchy , what I'm getting at is the way I like to take a few bits extra gear in exchange for having wire gate 'biners, dyneema slings, and 7.5mil twins, cutting grams off the other stuff. (Yes, I failed on a comparatively easy climb this weekend because of thirty feet of Cptn Highliner freezer shavings while you knocked off the plum -- while humming along to that old war tune, "you just can't be falling off on this stuff anyway..." -- and so my comments are somewhat moot at the moment.) But cutting the pounds off your oval biners and 1" webbing slings in exchange for more gear is another big Twightism Quote
jmace Posted March 16, 2005 Author Posted March 16, 2005 But what happens when you pound your axe in as a picket and it does this: hard to tell but the crack is deep and large, warranty? suggestions? Crack goes through the two rivets. a large one is in the gallery Quote
jmace Posted March 16, 2005 Author Posted March 16, 2005 A larger shot exits in the gallery, we started from the lucky four mine, you could maybe sart closer to the N face and add a bit more climbing to the route. In the large picture you can see the blue rock, I suppose that was what they were mining for, copper ? Quote
dberdinka Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 they are remarkably weak in typical winter snow (crusty, sugary, powdery) unless they're T-slotted, Maybe I've just gotten lucky but I've encountered very little "typical" winter snow in my last couple trips. Pounding them in with my hammer while simuling long stretches of steep neve has felt pretty darn secure to me. Nice work by the way. Pretty cool how two big unclimbed features got done on the same day. Quote
Stemalot Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 I can't remeber who said that it's lighter to carry memorized map than an actual map...but the same thing could apply. it's lighter to carry good climbing skill and nerve than to carry a bunch of metal. Quote
jordop Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 I can't remeber who said that it's lighter to carry memorized map than an actual map...but the same thing could apply. it's lighter to carry good climbing skill and nerve than to carry a bunch of metal. Also helps when you weigh 120 lbs Quote
Dru Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 and if you don't mind eating out of your helmet you can leave the pots at home too! Quote
Stemalot Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 I can't remeber who said that it's lighter to carry memorized map than an actual map...but the same thing could apply. it's lighter to carry good climbing skill and nerve than to carry a bunch of metal. Also helps when you weigh 120 lbs it's not my fault that someone is a little chubby! Quote
Don_Serl Posted March 18, 2005 Posted March 18, 2005 what I'm getting at is the way I like to take a few bits extra gear in exchange for having wire gate 'biners, dyneema slings, and 7.5mil twins, cutting grams off the other stuff... ...cutting the pounds off your oval biners and 1" webbing slings in exchange for more gear is another big Twightism jordan, your point is absolutely correct, and i AM guilty of selectivity in the weight cutting game. i'll carry a 500ml Parmesan cheese container instead of a 4-cup cup to save 75gm, but i still pack around a dozen old ovals at 65gms each when i could be investing in ultra light wiregates at less than 40gms. etc... part of it is just habit; part is expense. you can save 500gms on carabiners, but it'll cost you $200. saving 150gm on the helmet will cost $60-$100, plus i've never found anything that fits me better than my Edelrid. you can't do much better than the Sarkens, but that was $200 to go 150gms lighter. you suggest 7.5 mil ropes, and a pair of 60's will come out 1.2kg (!) lighter than 8.5's, but that's a $300 investment, and there is the serious disadvantage of having to clip both strands to get adequate strength. the other way to go is to shorten the ropes: 50m 8.5's are 250gms each lighter than 60m's. it's all food for thought. speaking of which, judging from most of my recent outings, taking less food onto the route would be an easy way to save a 100gms or 200gms - BUT, if you don't get up the thing, and have to spend the nite out, the extra chocolate/ sausage/ whatever is gonna be well appreciated. and in some cases, you simply HAVE to carry extra wt: trying to find the start of our route with a Tikka would have been a joke - even my Zenix was inadequate - Andrew's Myo did the job. OK, that's 100gms extra, but it's "weight well spent", contributing to success. anyway, your comments have got me thinking - it's always good to re-examine your practises and prejudices - i suspect i'll pop for a dozen or 20 light biners, for instance... tks, cheers, Quote
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