first ascent [TR] Castle Peak- FA: Sod-On-Me III 5.10+ A2 M4 9/29/2005

[layton]

Climb: Castle Peak-FA: Sod-On-Me III 5.10+ A2 M4

 

Date of Climb: 9/29/2005

 

Trip Report:

Well Darin was supposed to write the TR, but i guess he is too busy with the homelife. I'll just add my photos and let him tell the tale. The larches are turning and it was just gorgeous outside just before the storm. Darin is cool, it was very cold, we missed the storm by a hair, and it was the worst route i've ever done up top, one of the best down low. Quote of the trip from Darin, "Oh God what have I done!" after a particularly serious and irreversible moss mantle to a wet blank steep slab runout into drippy moss mushroom land. Very funny in a not so funny kinda way.

 

Do tell the tale of stormin' the castle oh Darin, won't you!?!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

rack up to 3"

 

ice tool for moss mushroom manteling

 

Approach Notes:

prettiest damn trail in the world

Edited October 2, 2005 by michael_layton

[bigwalling]

Cool, a blank wet slab... how fun...

 

 

 

not

[rat]

"m" stands for moss in the cascades.

 

referring to the topo in the gallery, what's with the buttress between the cod and beckey routes?

[jordop]

sod on is certainly confusing and I've spent some time now trying to decipher it. "Sod" as abbreviation of "sodomoize" carries with it the operative case which negates the need for the preposition on, unless it was others who were comitting the act on top of you, which might be construed by some as even more disturbing

 

but I think the real suggestion here is one of coprophilia, of that Hitler-esque fondness for the wet and brown slowly spreading down all over you like chocolate ice cream all over your head on a hot day in Brooklyn. Oh, so sticky! But the daring, illicit connotation suggested by "sod" invokes far more violence and unwilling participation than "Shit-on-Me" ever could

 

Well done, I think you should get in touch with the OED folks and get credit for a new definition

[layton]

Rat, that other middle unclimbed buttress is still up for grabs. We chose ours b/c it looked way better...so the middle one could possible suck some serious ass. The kearney and cod routes are the good lines on that mtn. The middle buttress looks the biggest, but actually they are all about the same legnth give or take about 100 feet (about 1300 feet elevation gain while climbing)...steep down low, easy climbing up high. go get it, but don't expect a classic on your hands.

 

approach times. In: 6 hours Up: 6 hours Descent to Camp:1.5 hours Out: 4.5 hours. Not spraying 'bout times, just trying to show folks it's not as far in or as big a climb as it looks from the books and topos. Easy two days including the drive from B'ham or Seattle.

Edited October 3, 2005 by michael_layton

[layton]

darin put these in the gallery

 

sodonme-nw butt

 

me on 1st pitch ****5.10+ super sweet but hard!

 

Me on sod pitch two M4. note the climbing in full belay jacket and sod-cicles. don't stand on the mosshrooms too long, and bring yer tool. there is one possible way to advoid this, but it looked scary hard so i pussed out this way...and we got punished for it. other way looked like steep aid seam land, or offwidth overhang land. whatever, it's all climbing brah!

 

darin's nice topo

[billcoe]

Great stuff Mike!

[Dru]

Man, Beckey told me there were 6 routes on this face... I bet it was a scam cause he wanted to go to the Bugs. Oh well, see what the new guidebook says I guess.

[tlinn]

It`s funny how when looking up on a route from below it looks great because you have the "sod goggles" on and can`t see all the yucky vegetation. It`s not until you look down on the route that you realize it`s not so hot. It`s kind of like how the beer goggles can turn any woman into Anna Kournikova, or Maria Sharapova for that matter. And then you wake up the next morning...well, that`s another story.

 

I had a similar experience on the Northeast Face of Mt. Grant on the weekend of Sept. 27/28. Had a good time but the lower pitches had lots of vegetation. I will post a TR once I get my computer fixed and can download my photos.

[jordop]

It`s funny how when looking up on a route from below it looks great because you have the "sod goggles" on and can`t see all the yucky vegetation. It`s not until you look down on the route that you realize it`s not so hot. It`s kind of like how the beer goggles can turn any woman into Anna Kournikova, or Maria Sharapova for that matter. And then you wake up the next morning...well, that`s another story.

 

I had a similar experience on the Northeast Face of Mt. Grant on the weekend of Sept. 27/28. Had a good time but the lower pitches had lots of vegetation. I will post a TR once I get my computer fixed and can download my photos.

Post photos of the climb and all the chichas who will be crawling over you now

[layton]

i can attest to that!

[jmace]

And then you wake up the next morning...well, that`s another story.

 

Ah yes thats coyote arm, I've caught that a couple of times

[EWolfe]

Could you say, then, that you Sod-On Eyesed?

[tlinn]

Could you say, then, that you Sod-On Eyesed?

 

I think you`re onto something. Maybe a new route name?

[mattp]

It`s funny how when looking up on a route from below it looks great because you have the "sod goggles" on and can`t see all the yucky vegetation. It`s not until you look down on the route that you realize it`s not so hot.

 

I've observed the opposite phenomenon on lower elevation routes.

 

When you look up at a rock route in western Washington, you often see all the bushes that grow underneath every overhang and the rock looks like pure black death. Get up a pitch or two and look down, and it often looks like clean rock.

 

In Darrington, we call this the "Darrington effect." Every tiny ripple in the rock has lichen and filth on the downhill side, but not on the top surface where it gets straffed by avalanches during the winter. Fortunately for the climber, we tend to grab and stand on the uphill surfaces.