Darrington this weekend

[miker]

Anybody interested in checking out Darrington this weekend? Saturday and/or Sunday. I have never been there, but it looks like some fun long routes. I am thinking of a 6 to 10 pitch 5.8 or 5.9. Dreamer, Safe Sex etc etc.

I live up in Everett, but can potentially provide a ride to someone who is not to far out of the way. Someone who has been there before would be even better for ease of rock finding.

Matt P did say he would be out there this weekend too, so hopefully he can point us in the right direction if we are not sure what to do.

Anyhoo, rpely here or drop me an email at reddig@yahoo.com or just send up some smoke signals and I will answer with the drums...

Climb On

mike

[mattp]

Mike -

The forecast is for wetness this weekend, so Darrington may not be a good destination. I haven't ruled it out yet, however, because you can go there on a foggy day and still have an OK time and in fact, Dreamer faces Southeast and is more comfortable on a cloudy day. Realize, however, that it is a challenging climb that stymies many climbers who climb 5.10.

Depending on what happens with my buddy, I'd be glad to climb with you or you would most likely be welcome to come with us.

[Yossarian]

mattp,

Got a question about Dreamer...I'm assuming you've been up it from your post.

Tried it last year but w/o topo got off route. After first few pitches we went up a bolt protected slab (felt like 5.10). I think we were too far left as we were close to the big gully. Does Dreamer go up the obvious, large crack that is filled with bushes?

 

[Bob_Clarke]

Did the route last weekend in perfect foggy conditions. The route finding can be confusing because it does not generally follow a crack system or a direct line. Wonderful moderate!

[mattp]

Yossarian -

If you started over near the big gully that is the old Avoidance Route, and after a few pitches you found some new bolts leading off the top of a flake to a belay station with new bolts and maybe an old one on a ledge about 6" wide, you were on "Take the Runout" and climbed the pitch that rejoins Dreamer (actually, it could be Runout or another climb that intertwines with it whose name I cannot remember right now). Those climbs were established twenty years ago. Dreamer does not go up the bushy dihedral up the center of the face - that is the old Botany 101 route. Safe Sex mostly follows the rib just left of this dihedral (though two pitches largely follow in that dihedral and even right of it), and Dreamer is on the face left of that rib. As indicated in the prior post, route finding can be tricky on Dreamer because the route does wander a bit.

Ropegun -

Was that you, headed out relatively early (about 6:00 pm?). Did you complete the route?

[Bob_Clarke]

Absolutely completed it. All the pitches and rapped the route. I've been on the only a few times and we cruised in great time. Email me anytime directly for beta.

[EV]

Ropegun: We, too, recently tried Dreamer and got off route. I don't think we went far enough left.

Any beta you could provide would be helpful.

Funny thing, we had Smoot's topo and Nelson's topo and it didn't help. I guess words are better than pictures for us!

TIA

[mattp]

EV -

Try the topo on my web page at

www.seanet.com/~mattp/Darr

Where were you when you determined you were not on route? Many parties will see the anchors for Safe Sex where it diverts from the fourth pitch of Dreamer (the pitch count will vary depending on how you start the climb) and will then inadvertently get on that route by mistake.

[dr._jay]

and an easy mistake it is. aiming for the crack pitches higher up and then working backwards may make it a bit easier. doing the urban bypass also helps keep you left, which by the way is a great variation. it definitely adds a little excitement to the day. hope you have comfortable shoes, though. i'm still feeling my blisters.

[Mr._Blister]

Is this you Jay? I can't believe your feet still hurt. I returned my too-small shoes after that little outing. Your rap slippers were a good idea.

John

[Cpt.Caveman]

Valente swears that Hofflingers are good for approach climb and descent I have yet to confirm this..

[dr._jay]

well actually i just keep re-visiting the old ones. i guess i can't blame it on the climb, though, just my own fucked-up feet. and by the way, i noticed the name change--have you been suffering the same? blisters kind of get in the way of a good time, eh? i'm going shoe shopping this week.

[jblakley]

Hey Dr. Jay

I bought a pair of 5.10 ascents earlier this year specifially for long trad stuff. Very comfy. I recommend sizing one or two notches above medieval for best results.

[EV]

Mattp: I think we started on Botony 101 and then went left to Safe Sex. We bailed about one pitch below a huge roof. I'm not sure if we were on Safe Sex or not. We didn't read the description in Smoot's book very well. It looks like a route finding chore.

Have you seen the photo in Smoot's book? If so, is it accurate as far as the upper pitches?

Also, checked out your web site - excellent. As a matter of fact, I've added it to my favorite places.

Thanks again.

[mattp]

EV -

I don't own a copy of Smoot's guide, but I believe the photo is NOT accurately annotated. If you made it up to a belay station on a large ledge with two fat bolts, a rope length below the obvious largest roof on Botany, you were at that point on Safe Sex and from there it follows Botany for a 1/2 pitch to exit rightward on a steep face(this pitch, while rather unappealing in appearance from below, is in fact a great pitch). If, on the way to that point, you had 3/8" bolts for pro and at belays, you were on Safe Sex the whole way (the original Botany route had no bolts and stayed in the dihedral system the whole way).

Dreamer deserves it's reputation so I would suggest it would be worth a repeat visit. I think (hope) my topo would be sufficient to guide you adequately. Suggestions?

Mattp

[Drederek]

Matt, Your topo is way better than the others. Both times I've been on Dreamer I've been unsure of where I was but now I think I could do the whole route. Thanks. The first time we started up SS and missed the low traverse. We did the beauty crack leading to the steep slab with hangerless bolts (they had hangers then). didn't traverse over till under the roof below the "blue"(?) crack. This was a little scary on thin semirotten flakes, mostly because there was a party below us (they were on route but in line for rockfall). The next time we made the low traverse from SS and stayed on solid rock. If we had passed the fixed pin at the start and kept going left would we be onroute? Or would we cross lower? Is the direct start worthy? We ran out of time and didn't do the top pitch so as long as I'm going back I would like to do it all. I would also recommend rapping the SS anchors as our rope got stuck underneath a slab near the bottom of Dreamer.

 

[mattp]

Drederek-

Thanks for the compliment on my topo. I hope it helps.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "low traverse." Safe Sex starts with a fixed pin about twenty feet off the ground, left of the Botany 101 dihedral. The route generally follows that rib left of Botany, and the first two pitches climb directly up past that pin on bolted knobby slab, with pro at intervals that were shockingly timid ten years ago but now seem somewhat run-out for some leaders. The climbing is good, and I would highly recommend this start over the original Dreamer start, which traversed leftward below that first fixed pin, to reach an old bolt next to a lieback flake about 75 feet left of the Botany dihedral.

You talk of some beautiful crack leading to a steep slab with hangerless bolts. Would this be the fourth pitch, and has someone removed the hangers on a leftward traverse and climb that reaches the flake system on the left hand variant of this pitch? The bolts on the rib to the right have always been hangerless, though if one has a couple of wired stoppers they accept those as a substitute hanger.

On the fifth pitch, the left-hand variant is harder and more convoluted, so I generally recommend the right hand line even though it looks grassy from below (it could use some cleaning). If you climbed some face moves to finger-then-hand cracks on the left variant, the hand crack runs out in a pile of pine needles below the large roof that is actually right next to the belay at the top of the "Blue Crack" on Dreamer. There should have been a bolt to protect the slab traverse rightward to a steep face with sharp quartzite edges on Safe Sex.

The Sixth Pitch of Safe Sex is short and slightly loose.

I would like to put some more effort into pitches seven and eight. There is an independent line, on the same rib left of Botany that the route starts with, which would be better than rejoining Dreamer at that point. Wanna go?

I agree that Safe Sex is slightly better as a rappel route than Dreamer. However, there is supposed to be a better descent, involving a lot of down-climbing that is "not too bad" and four rappels on the rib to the north of The Fast Lane. I certainly wouldn't recommend descending the gully on the back, but this rib might be worth trying.

P.S. - I climbed Blueberry Hill yesterday and, with some mist falling, it was doable but on the Cascade Slug scale, an SPF (slime problem factor) 6.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Mattp,

Maybe you should show Viktor how to make topos....

[Dru]

Viktors topos are usually pretty good especially the humorous comments like "SIX BOLTS!!!???" at some dinky little belay stance.

Smoot is the one who needs topo support IMHO. Those computer drawn topos always suck especially when they are just lines of x's with dots between them and a number off to the side. x.....x....x....x...x....xx

11-

 

[mattp]

I've always thought Viktor's drawings were quite good. He covers a lot of rock in his book, and there are bound to be some errors because he can't readily field-check everything, but I find his drawing generally clear, mostly pretty accurate, and always attractive. I think Viktor tries to do a good job.

[This message has been edited by mattp (edited 07-30-2001).]

[Cpt.Caveman]

I saw an old Beckey guide this weekend that included a lot more rock than he does. Also climbed one of these routes that got lost in obscurity.. Lots of moss removal and scrubbing. But after our cleaning session the rock is climbable.

Perhaps you guide people should say that cleaning routes and climbing obscure routes is a good adventure instead of attracting people to all the trade routes.... How do those dirty routes get cleaned ==> people climbing them. Not that you are doing that Matt but I tend to think some others do.

[Dru]

Capt. Did you receive "Official Permission" from an ace biological ranger cop for vegetation modification and/or removal? What obscure line did you retro-scrub and do you think the Kaskasde Moss Klan will become angry and refill it with moss and dirt?

[Cpt.Caveman]

We scrubbed it on lead. Since we have not lead it in free climbin mode I am keeping it a secret until Danimal and I get back on it. Perhaps later this week...

Fuck the biologists. And no there will be no bolts mutha.

[Lambone]

I'm on my way Dru!

Grab your shovel! No, grab two shovels, we may break one!

[Dru]

I left my shovel temporarily fixed in a dirt filled chimney near Harrison Lake, along with my rake, chainsaw and John Deere ride-on mower. Another 2 weeks of vertical clearcutting may produce evidence of climbable rock...