gyselinck Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 Climb: Toppling Tower-North Face Date of Climb: 8/20/2005 Trip Report: I had planned on climbing the East Buttress of Big Snow, but sketchy partners bailed. At last minute I phoned Cook. Toppling Tower came to mind…We ended up working a line up the north face. Made plans to meet at Snoqualmie Pass at 6:00am, both not realizing that meant waking up at 4:30 until the following morning. Crap! We reached the katwalk, and then the lakes, then bumblebee pass all in good time. I told cook not to worry about filling up water, fore we could fill up at Edds Lake. Nobody ever goes there and I didn’t mind drinking straight from the lake. As soon as we rounded Bumblebee Pass I was astonished to see 4 hikers decked out in fishing gear heading toward Edd's. As we approached them one man yelled out. “Are you guys going to be quite at the lakes?” I found this odd and asked why; where he went on to explain that the fish were native. (Like that would matter!) I quickly challenged this remark and asked him where he thought they came. “Nature,” he said. Huh, I guess fish have wings. The only known route ascends the S. face, and then traverses onto the W. Ridge. Being lazy and not wanting to walk through brush, we instead went to the N. Face. The whole climb was like a delicate dance. At one point we even had to climb a tree. Loose rock, dirt, moss, and vegetables describe the character of this route. Grade II, 5.7. On the summit we found a register which had one entry dated nearly 30 years earlier; October 17, 1976. We descended the “standard” route up, rappelling down the s. face. 4 scary raps with a single 60m rope did the trick. We then returned to our (my) gear stash at the outlet of the lake to find nothing remaining but candy rappers. WTF…Here we were a mile from the furthest trail at a lake rarely visited and my car keys, drivers license, headlamp, sunscreen, and phone were all missing. It turned out those dumb shit fisherman thought that we accidentally left our gear and taken it. They took all the goods, but left my food (hanging in a tree) and trash rappers. I was extremely pissed, tracked them down on the trail only to learn they had handed all my stuff to a ranger. I then had to run around Ridge Lake and find the ranger, who gave me my stuff and basically said it was my fault for leaving it in the open. Who would have thought… Some pics. Cook may have some better ones. Toppling Tower from Edds Lake: Cook bravely leading the scarry first pitch, shows route characteristics: Summit register: Gear Notes: good selection of different size pieces Approach Notes: lot of miles, little climb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 nice adventure, I don't know what one could do differently to ensure that gear caches aren't taken, short of leaving a note sayinng "don't touch". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 when you talked w/ the fishermen, did they know you were climbing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyselinck Posted August 21, 2005 Author Share Posted August 21, 2005 yeah, they asked where we were headed and I specifically pointed to the tower. (they thought toppling tower was chimney rock ) They said they were going to watch us climb it. They were just a bunch of old idiots. I pretty much left my stuff right below the tower too. And we were up there the hole time knocking big rocks off, yelling on belay, off belay, and crap like that making lots of sound. So it was pretty obvious that we were still up there. But they just thought that my stuff fell out of my pack. It was kind of funny, they took all things like headlamp, car keys, sunscreen, etc, but left the pile of candy rapers and empty water bottles, plus my food which was in a tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 well then, i hope you called 'em fuck-nuts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I once saw a group of native fish. They wore headbands and rode small horses. Not sure where they came in. Sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Thanks for a good climb Gyselinck. You forgot to mention how I let you lead the super loose crux pitch. I'll put some more photos up today or tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 This photo was taken looking straight down at Gyselinck at the top of the first pitch. From here, climb class 4 trees and heather to the belay. Gyselinck leading the crux third pitch Toppling tower. The descent is via the obvious gully in the center. The route Becky describes traverses left along the tree band and then ascends the ridge that is blocked by the tall tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 amusing tr. glad you got your stuff back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyger Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 huckleberry mountain, bumblebee pass, burnt boot creek, toppling tower... Sounds kinda funny, are you sure you didn't just go into the woods and smoke weed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyger Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 I see Gyselinck, your hot date that you were going camping with at the lake was Cook. Nice! I like your taste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 (edited) No drugs on this trip Lyger, but it does sound like we went climbing in fairy tale land. Note: Gyselinck's hot date was not Cook, it was his mom, but she bailed. Also: we did not go climbing in fairy tale land, it was actually tough guy land. Those landmarks were mislabled in the Beckey guide. It is actually, hell mountain, flaming feces creek, stinging of death pass, and the tower of infinite pain and moss. Edited August 24, 2005 by cook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadbeatchrist Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 So they were all typos? Is that it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knotzen Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Did the candy rapers attack the candy rappers? Where were the candy wrappers in all this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knotzen Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Or maybe the candy rappers would not have been attacked by the candy rapers if they had been wearing candy wrappers. Ya think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Yes deadbeat, those were all spelling errors in the guide, anyone could have mad that mistake. Knotzen, the candy wrappers were left by the fishermen, you see they raped gyselinck's stuff, but not my wrappers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knotzen Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Yes deadbeat, those were all spelling errors in the guide, anyone could have mad that mistake. Knotzen, the candy wrappers were left by the fishermen, you see they raped gyselinck's stuff, but not my wrappers. Deadbeat?! No, I'm just an editor with a keen eye and a sharp, incisive, inexhaustible wit. OTOH, I could in fact be a self-deluded deadbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Sorry Knotzen, I meant no offense, the deadbeat message was directed to the previous post by the one who calls himself deadbeatchrist. You, I believe, are not a deadbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadbeatchrist Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 a "keen eye and a sharp, incisive, inexhaustilbe wit." ?? I believe the part about the wits... but am having doubts about the keen eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyselinck Posted August 24, 2005 Author Share Posted August 24, 2005 all you guys are freaks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knotzen Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Well, what do you know? You're just a deadbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyger Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 I don't know if you should call us all freaks Gyselinck, we know what you really call the bathroom! No sense even pretnding you are tough after that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadbeatchrist Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 I take offense to being called a deadbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 calling deadbeatchrist a deadbeat is also calling him the savior of mankind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knotzen Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 I take offense to being called a deadbeat. Dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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