[TR] Mt, Washington - North Ridge 6/27/2009

[rocky_joe]

Trip: Mt, Washington - North Ridge

 

Date: 6/25/2009

 

Trip Report:

So apparently under all that white wet stuff we call snow there's this thing called rock. I had heard of it before but I never really believed. As it turns out my disbelief was not entirely alleviated by the STELLAR rock quality on this route. Seriously the stuff was great, holds so obvious (and mobile) that one never had to tell your partner where the next foot was, because all to often he had already seen it as it whizzed past his head. And like the old cascade adage goes "the best thing about climbing in the cascades is that when you aren't fond of a handhold, it's okay, just put it back."

 

Leaving Eugene at the ungodly late hour of 6am, my body still hadn't adjusted to the idea of waking up late to climb. Oh the pains of summer, sunshine, warmth, bare rock...just terrible. We got to the TH and quickly realized that the crux of the day's activity would be avoiding something we heard the locals calling a "mosskeeto." Never heard of 'em before but the little tikes sure enjoy sucking (blood). Bug spray may have been an oversight.

 

 

To the climbing. A quick 4 mile jaunt took us to the ridge, which now bare was only modestly more strenuous than a City Center Mall escalator. Being paced at this point by Tom, Mike and I were unaware of the second crux of today's climb...withstanding the horrid stench coming from just a few metres ahead. Seriously I think Tom took a bit of Devil's Kitchen home with him the last time up Der Hoodie.

 

The Summit Block: a nearly inspiring hunk of choss with the possibility of some rock well below the facade. We roped up, but I'm not sure why, the gear was not much beyond psychological. In fact, Tom only place one piece, a sling. Mike soloed and I was left to prove my guts by toproping the whole affair...yay. Oh well, still up. One super exciting pitch of climbing no harder than 5.4 and the scramble began. The views from the summit were sublime and the weather pristine. We soaked up some rays and even scrawled our names on the register. This was the nicest day I'd been up a peak in quite some time, and the first time I was keen to hang out for more than 5 minutes.

 

 

 

 

A few more minutes of bullshitting and such and we were back on our way down. The scramble to the first pitch was straight forward and from there we set up the lone rappel.

 

 

Back on the trail and making time. God, scree skiing is just about the 4th best thing ever (right after sex, drunk biking, and exploitation of southeast asian labour forces). Once to tree line we remembered the original crux of the climb. Them damn PI Lawyers (oops I meant bloodsuckers) were everywhere. I think I may have actually spent more energy keeping them at bay than I did walking.

 

 

All in all, a fun climb and decent workout...too bad my knee is now fucked beyond comfortable. Hope it recovers, cuz I have a few more plans for the summer.

 

Gear Notes:

Small rack

60 m rope

Dome Protection

 

Approach Notes:

Forget Bug Spray.

Harbicks for jerky and Trail Mix

 

Edited June 29, 2009 by rocky_joe

[The Cascade Kid]

funny tr, looks like good weather and a good time. there's something to be said for not hucking rocks downhill for fun though.

[rocky_joe]

you're right, and normally I wouldn't be caught tossing rocks...but the whole runout was visible and there wasn't a soul to be seen.

[gslater]

Just because a soul wasn't seen by you, it doesn't mean there wasn't one there.

 

I have a real issue with rock trundlers, having been very nearly hit by such a rock in the past, and having had the chance to express my thoughts directly to the person who did the trundling. The asshole insisted over and over that there "wasn't anyone there", although we most certainly were.

[steepconcrete]

Dude not cool at all. you cold kill someone. i frequent that area, and i know some crazy fuckers who also frequent that area. if they would have seen you trundling your crew would have found yourself having a little "accident" while the hippys see what its like to trundle humans.

 

id erase this TR. eugene is a small place...im sure someone knows you.

Edited June 29, 2009 by steepconcrete

[rocky_joe]

So bad judgment on my part. We made a bad choice. I felt at the time that it wasn't such a bad thing and we were doing it "safely" by watching the entire slide and yelling rock, but now I really feel like shit about it. I don't want to be that guy, who everyone thinks is some douchebag and makes exceptions to universal rules for his own purposes. So, I'm sorry I tossed rocks. It was dumb, irresponsible and dangerous. I won't be caught doing it again, and most assuredly won't climb with people looking to toss rocks either. I can't imagine how shitty I'd feel had someone been hurt, or worse.

 

 

[steepconcrete]

good on ya for admiting fault.

 

oh and sorry for my aggro post. i just recall reading this a bit ago....

 

http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2007/08/31/the-trouble-with-trundling/

[cemmes]

Man, you probably missed out on the best part of the climb, the meat sticks and chicken sticks are a must at harbicks. mmmmmmmmm. Fun scramble though, what else do you have planned for the summer budday?

[rocky_joe]

hoping to climb thieslen this weekend again, then Jeff via JPG, Dragontail (hopefully Serpertine arete, and the sisters thing again. but that's if my knee gets better. interest?

[sneaky_steve]

Nice TR. I was up there solo about a week prior, but turned around before starting the scramble up to the summit because of the blowing snow and ice... alpine conditions at the end of June? Just my luck! However it IS handy to work at Big Lake youth camp at the base and have a warm bed only miles away...

[111]

A comment from the trundling incident in CO:

It is a very sad state of affairs. Sad because Luke did look before he threw, not expecting a climber. Sad because Pete’s wife can’t seem to accept that there is no “punishment” for this accident. I have read a suggestion on another site that the climbing community should have what diver’s have – some kind of buoy/flag/balloon to let people know there is a climber.

Helium balloons are aid