ivan Posted June 24, 2009 Posted June 24, 2009 Trip: Der Dread BeaconWand - Old Skewl North Face "Railroader's D-light" Route Date: 6/22/2009 Trip Report: the first rosy tinges of the dawn of the summer of 2009 - child in my bed at 2 am - complaints of taking up "his room" ensue - pestered w/ personal dreams of glory before 6, sleepless, i'm raging off the cot early - formalities at school observed - freedom!!!!! the irascible kenny at the washougal burger king - chicken biscuit bitch! the fun drive in too slimy for the n side after days of rain? time will tell. chilling at the base in the muck - ghetto blasting w/ the new stereophonic funkytown setup, a sweet inspiration from corvallisclimber (nothing like leading w/ a boombox blowing on your hip!) i don't think the original oldtimers from the railroads in the wild n' heady days of the cleveland administration (first or second, who fucking keeps track of such things?) did the same first 2 pitches as us, but they likely were more sedate and staid about the affair - we had similar compunctions about frenching, foot-fucked in the moss i have zero doubt kenny at the anchor atop pitch 1, from the view looking down at the top of 2 - would be beacon rock boulderers, there's your bullshit down there! kenny at the top of pitch 3, finger on the 3rd to the last of the 19th century via ferrata rods the fa'ers put in back in covered-wagon-fuck-your-mama-in-the-futtock-shroud days the top of the pitch above the rancho relaxo (a fine place to call a fire mission in on the ranger station, fwiw) - this pitch starts in poison oak and pushes through surprisingly terrifying mud slathered blocks and dirt steps - this image shot from the mega-comfy, designed by the baby-jesus sweet ledge above and beside the rap tree, perfect for shoulder-belaying your 17-stone companion any day (my favorite anchor - a biner through an 8-on-a-bight on the fixed line above & a daisy chain round a sapling - SERENE approved!) is it me or does kenny look like a fawking flesh-swilling zombie here? the last pitch to the summit makes me want to lobotomize meself each time i think of it - wandering right then left over stacks of gaint overhanging shitty blocks - poison oak everywhere - poison oak in my eye ball - on the rope - harshing on my fucking mellow! on the summit ridge i tooled by the trail, smoking and taking in the lovely ambiance of a weed-wacker and a snowblower rainign filth upon the tourists - rod serling slumbered serenely to the north prior to scaring hte tourons, we marched down the top of the north buttress to inspect ole'larry's tomfoolish first rap anchor - jesus fuck - filthy latinos! didn't seem to faze kenny... hard to complain about any day you rock-clamber to the zenith of the bacon-wand! Gear Notes: a late 19th century combination of sport and via ferrate - a dozen slings, a yellow alien to 3 inch cam rack and a couple nuts Approach Notes: through the spooky forest Quote
denalidave Posted June 24, 2009 Posted June 24, 2009 What happened to Kenny's hair? You have to make a rope out of it? Quote
ivan Posted June 24, 2009 Author Posted June 24, 2009 you're not forgetting seattle ken AKA wallawalla ken AKA 112 w/ lostcamkenny wouldtca there dave? Quote
denalidave Posted June 24, 2009 Posted June 24, 2009 you're not forgetting seattle ken AKA wallawalla ken AKA 112 w/ lostcamkenny wouldtca there dave? ???? I know my Kenny's, I just remember LCK having a bit more hair. WWK and I may go do Prussik this weekend. Quote
ivan Posted June 24, 2009 Author Posted June 24, 2009 they do actually have quite a few simliarities, all in good ways tear it up on prusik dude - i did it as a c2c a lng time ago - don't know if i coudl justify all the walking for a quick climb these days, but if ya'll can, you should fold in something else - the west ridge is over real quick - at least traverse the ridge tothe boxtop or rap and run over and do a lap on serpentine arete on dragontail! Quote
billcoe Posted June 24, 2009 Posted June 24, 2009 Probably off route. Not enough moss and poison oak. Quote
miker Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 Wish I coulda done it, except for the poison oak and zombies it sounds great. Quote
LostCamKenny Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 Probably off route. Not enough moss and poison oak. There was a good bit of choss in places... does that matter? Quote
billcoe Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 Probably off route. Not enough moss and poison oak. There was a good bit of choss in places... does that matter? ALL IS EXPLAINED CLICK THIS LINK Quote
ivan Posted June 11, 2011 Author Posted June 11, 2011 june trip report, my summer flowers - used to do it for the Love of the Spray - now it's all about weed money - sigh... so updates count, right? 2 years after taking on the original line up beacon w/ kenny (holy shit, only 2 years? that was our first climb and it seems i've known him longer...), on a tired thursday, miker n' meself wandered out to the bacon-wand - jimmy o had to show up 5 minutes after us of course - took a lap on his climb beside the spike route, as olson's named it aptly - nice reckon you can link the 1st 2 pitches, but why? here's mike near the anchor atop pitch 1 - jesus, NOT easy, if for no other reason it seems always to be coated in the powdered residue of a winters worth of seep n' slime - unimaginable when wet, fun when dry let mike have the 2nd short pitch to the big anchor by the tree - great views of our new adventure, though could stand some improving - here's mike well near the top of 3, hands on spikes, near the beginning of the poison oak endless scramble following on the spikes - jim found a new one not too far off the ground while we were climbing just below the anchor - that goddamn bush on the left sucks - genuinely curious to know how those old timers managed to wang these bitches in w/o pitching off - gnarly cunts they were! the project - sure, looks casual, but the lower tree hides the fact the whole giant clean slab is really a massive block that, like everything round there, will be down there in the forest soon enough Quote
miker Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 I can't believe I had never climbed that. Fun stuff even when I wandered the wrong way on the crusty rock and scared myself. Feels sorta like raping the rock when you monkey up those spikes. Via Ferratta!! Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Holy mother of George Walker, those spikes look like they are old enough to be made by Chouinard. and I agree with you Ivan, lots of scary enormous blocks on that side that don't look like they will be in residence long, kind of freaks me out overthere. Plus all the poison oak is a real plus. Quote
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