markwebster Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Trip: tieton royal columns and the bend - 5.4 to 5.11b Date: 5/24/2008 Trip Report: Fletch, Christine and I had a great Memorial day trip to Tieton. We climbed nothing but cracks for 3 days in great weather, though we did have rain one night, and a short shower one day that dried immediately. Christine wanted to put some dents in her shiny new rack. I loved climbing on new gear instead of my antique stuff, gotta' get me some of that. Fletch and Christine are both professionals in the medical field, wow, so much integrity...and Fletch brought his guitar. I had my blues harp...fun times around the campfire! This is me starting up inca roads, a 5.9 crack at royal columns. The crack starts out with a 5 inch offwidth which narrows down to 5.9 finger locks at the top. Now that I know where the rests are I'd like to try it again without the hand dogging. This is Christine starting up a 5.6 called twin cracks. When I cleaned it for her I was amazed at the run outs between some of the pieces up in the fist jam section at the top. When I asked her about it, she said she'd run out of large stuff and decided to go for it. At the very top exit move, her protection was a tied off baseball sized chockstone...nice work Christine! This gal was from Seattle. Despite being short, she cruised the roof move. This is a 5.8 route called render us weightless. Fletch calls this the "move of the future". Fletch leading the roof. I think this is a self portrait. Fletch leading Orange Sunshine, 10b. It was a desperate series of vertical fingerlocks, with very thin feet. We couldn't believe he led it without hanging. After this climb we started calling him our ropegun. Me cleaning Orange Sunshine. Those were razor sharp fingerlocks. That's a grimace of pain...sweet route! This is Fletch cleaning Ed's Jam, 5.8, a beautiful 200 foot handjam crack. It's similar to Karate in the quality of the jams, but much easier...a stellar cruiser. This is ropegun Fletch leading an eleven something at the Bend. It was another desperate fingerlock fest. I have no idea how he can lead these things while placing pro. It was desperately hard to hang on while toproping...fun stuff! Christine found that her smaller fingers gave her a distinct advantage in the thin fingerlocks. She cruised up it in excellent style while pulling gear. Can't wait to go back again! Gear Notes: one quarter inch stoppers up to a 6 inch cam, including a number 2 big bro if you like the offwidths (inca roads) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Excellent report. Love the pics, especially Christine's "permasmile", as Bug put it in an earlier thread (Peshastin Pinnacles). So does Fletch alternate between wearing a helmet and not wearing a helmet while on lead? For a medical professional, I'd like to know his reasoning on that score. And speakling of helmets, love your old Joe Brown there, mark. I gots me a yellow one just like that, and an insulated orange "Fritz" for ice/winter climbing. Heavy as a battleship! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fgw Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 That looks like a great pitch. Nice TR & great photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwebster Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 Christine does love to climb, great partner. As far as Fletches helmet, or lack thereof...I have no idea. I gave up questioning why people do or do not wear helmets a couple decades ago. He also had on a minnie mouse scarf, perhaps the lack of a helmet on that climb was a personal statement? I always wear mine, but there were many times back in the eighties where I would have the only helmet on a cliff of twenty climbers. Go figure. Why do people ride motorcycles when it is so obviously dangerous? Maybe we all have to find our own level of acceptable danger to get the adrenaline payoff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 Yah, I remember those days. I didn't start wearing a helmet until about 10 years ago. I watched a guy take a decking at Peshashtin Pinnacles in 1999 from the top of Orchard Rock (his write-up is in ANAM 2000, pages 71-72), and our group assisted them before medics arrived (one of our group is an MD). I didn't bring a brain bucket with me that day, since I hadn't started wearing one yet, but after seeing that broken guy and his broken GF/fiance' get hauled out of there, I started wearing me old Joe Brown ever after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderfour Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 That looks like a good trip. I really like Tieton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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