Beacon

[ivan]

1/10/16 - 4th year of setting down the shit that does down in beatardia, where men are women and women are never around

 

was a rude late fall/early winter season - the big blow of early november annihilated the hiking trail and i woulda been pissed about it if'n never-ending rains hadn't set in and made soloing laps insane anyway

 

a late december trip out w/ geoff at the start of winter break - we ended up just drinking beers n' smoking shit n' commenting on the awful, awful slickery nature of everything - the wall closed at ground zero and so nothing aidable particularly of interest

 

christmas ensued and all was well - didn't have the cash or the clock-time to go for a long off trade to red rocks or whatever, so the only local option was heading up to the puget sound and make a water-man of meself again - last year was great, a 3 day back-pack on the olympic coast n' a 2 day ocean kayak

 

this time around it was a 6-day sea window

 

beat up north in the early hours of 12/27, bent out of my mind it seemed, water streaming along the side of the automovat - seattle shortly after dawn, proud pat all pat-like

 

made our way to the marina n' nattered in the cold light waiting to meet up w/ our captain, a true comedy of errors - soon enough we were on board and casting off

 

sweet simple sailing southward in light airs, past bouys bestowed with sealions - seals - dolphins - eagles both american and candadian i bet - the pleasant site of a 'lion bolting down a full-growth salmon by tail

 

the last bit into port orchard by motor, the night come round so soon - carriers at bremerton

 

ashore we 'sup n' carouse n' enjoy ourselves capitally - meet a sheila-acquaintance of denali dave's round the fireplace n' philsophize over the weight of smoke before rambling off to a sea-berth

 

sail oughta town the next day and all was well - got meself nearly kilt by a swinging boom just shy of brian island or somethign like that - spent much of the night dazed as could be but enjoyed a grand time nonetheless binging on burgundy, n' noble reds n' flowing bowls of what-have-you until 2 in the morning

 

awoke feeling near as death as i've felt in awhile - the hard-knock the day before was certainly one of my fabled 9 lives n' i felt the truth of it - grayed out - feeling the cold i'd inherited from the silverton clan plus the concusssion plus the cold above deck plus the deep, deep fucking booze funk

 

they all thought i was dead the day before and grew doubly grim when i was drawing breath the day after but groaning - turned into me laying in agony on the cabin bench n' holding me head together as we steamed back to seattle against a solid breeze

 

the rest of the day was a healing thing - pat flung himself into the sound in his wetsuit as i laid around his joint, showering and trying to sleep off my fucking concussion - that night we did some super-stoned shopping n' headed over to his girlfriend's for a sumptous dinner set against a most scorchign cold outside - i cackled n' thumbed through 1960's civil defense brochures while pat snored n' i made small talk w/ his missus and her very alien animal

 

3 days of ocean kayaking ensued - launched out from an indian reservation near bellingham, stocked up on cheap injun smokes - the rudder was rudely impaired n' pat didn't know but had me in the back anyhow, so after hours of bitching n' cussing we finally fetched up on clark island

 

soaked rather wet we came straight ashore n' made camp in what proved to be a damned cold place - made a roaring fire n' had a bit of a good night - italian fare i recollect - olives n' red sauce n' sausage tortellinis n' mozeralla n' red wine - a sputtering fire, a bit of a dissapointment but soon enough the tent beside a snoring pat n' i slept soundly, the head cold resonating through me

 

day 2 of the ocean kayak we resolve to shift our camp southwards on the island but no further - find a sweet cove filled w/ firewood n' a sweltering sun, relative to our recent camp - we souse along the shore for a bit n' later launch for a trip to a nearby island where pat is molested by sheep

 

great night, this one - we were promised the northern lights but they never appeared but fuck it - it was new years eve - we sat by a roaring fire n' enjoyed bacon n' chili n' what-have-you, me sucking down pionot noir n' smokes n' enjoying the simpleness of being stranded at sea

 

new year's eve we returned to civilization n' after a bit of agony i made it home in time for winter weather and a nice delayed start to the school year

 

 

but this a beacon thread, n' so all this stuff before is simple bullshit n' i apologize for it

 

today was day 1! corner lap #1, but not solo n' gladly not

 

geoff at the bk a bit past 10 - we saunter eastwards by strong light n' stronger winds

 

the parking lot in a simple gale - we pack and wander down, bound n' determined to reach the top of the uprising and to suss out the damage from there

 

cold n' icy but delightfully dry - i take pitch 1 n' we alternate from there - snow patches here and there, but dry where it needs to be - some beers along the way n' we get time to poke our head over the railing n' take in the carnage on the touron-trail - much work to be done it's obvious - big blown out trees n' blowdown n' battered stones - we take it in and scoot down the raps in the big blow n' enjoy some beers and ramboling aroudn and reach back for home

 

here's to 2016

 

1/31 - day 2 - closing day, and not a very promising one - 39 degrees n' pouring rain in the parking lot - a drive out through mental desperation, the moss on this here rolling rock of meself growing thick n' fucking shaggy

 

beers n' bullshitting w/ steve n' waiting for the weather to give up a little - there were no illusions of how thorough soggy it was gonna be

 

no wind to speak of though, so there was that at least and it got warmer on the south side after the mist melted away - soon enough i cast off, pulling on gear here and there to remind meself not to be a dipshit on a point of pride climbing the slime-cone

 

the sun shone out halfway up and the mood improved noticeably - fresh snow, as innocent as a downy laotian-lamb along the far gorge walls -steve was exuberant to lead the second pitch and i salute him for it as it wouldn't have taken much to talk me out of it

 

a real slippy-slidey one is that - our boy did it w/o flying off but, following, i found meself doing the cartoon-character spinning me feet in the air thang at one point and only narrowly avoiding a pretty cosmic pirouette around the first crux

 

found meself holding forth somethign fierce on tree ledge, swilling pbr n' pounding upon our poor fellow about his own cosmic hangups -those rightly disposed, and a few butts thrown in to boot, i bolted on up the slippery ramps to grassy ledges - since i had a 70 and the jill's anchor was running wet, i went past it and anchored to a tree - a flippant shoulder belay ensued n' steve quite soon went n' fell big time onto it but i proved them old-boys knew what they were doing and ended up smiling on the ground for it

 

the trail closed sign even as we slipped away - stone soup next month now i suppose, though i suspect it's gonna take a civil action and yet another juicy skamania judge session before it gets sorted out - how good is it i have no other hobbies?

 

2/27 - day 3 - stone soup in the sopping wet - sausage n' eggs n' a leisurely breakfast - 'nastia at tad past 10 - streaming water on the sides of the machine on the way out - the k-19 in classic form, fresh off a cardiac arrest for christ's sake?

[stevetimetravlr]

Edited February 28, 2016 by stevetimetravlr

[Moof]

gonna be hanging in the drizzle most of tomorrow w/ the k-19 on stone soup - would dig on some company - where better to learn to jug, aid-climb or follow an aid-pitch - bring a lawn chair, a golf umbrella n' some mulled wine or other stimulating beverage, eh?

 

Next time you want to run up Stone Soup on a weekend let me know. I've been wanting to do another lap in. Should be a good warmup for Excalibur.

[kevbone]

 

That's because you guys ALWAYS start with the end premise and belief that there is no legal or legitimate basis for the closure

 

Please tell me the legal basis for this particular closure.

[ivan]

1/10/16 - 4th year of setting down the shit that does down in beatardia, where men are women and women are never around

 

was a rude late fall/early winter season - the big blow of early november annihilated the hiking trail and i woulda been pissed about it if'n never-ending rains hadn't set in and made soloing laps insane anyway

 

a late december trip out w/ geoff at the start of winter break - we ended up just drinking beers n' smoking shit n' commenting on the awful, awful slickery nature of everything - the wall closed at ground zero and so nothing aidable particularly of interest

 

christmas ensued and all was well - didn't have the cash or the clock-time to go for a long off trade to red rocks or whatever, so the only local option was heading up to the puget sound and make a water-man of meself again - last year was great, a 3 day back-pack on the olympic coast n' a 2 day ocean kayak

 

this time around it was a 6-day sea window

 

beat up north in the early hours of 12/27, bent out of my mind it seemed, water streaming along the side of the automovat - seattle shortly after dawn, proud pat all pat-like

 

made our way to the marina n' nattered in the cold light waiting to meet up w/ our captain, a true comedy of errors - soon enough we were on board and casting off

 

sweet simple sailing southward in light airs, past bouys bestowed with sealions - seals - dolphins - eagles both american and candadian i bet - the pleasant site of a 'lion bolting down a full-growth salmon by tail

 

the last bit into port orchard by motor, the night come round so soon - carriers at bremerton

 

ashore we 'sup n' carouse n' enjoy ourselves capitally - meet a sheila-acquaintance of denali dave's round the fireplace n' philsophize over the weight of smoke before rambling off to a sea-berth

 

sail oughta town the next day and all was well - got meself nearly kilt by a swinging boom just shy of brian island or somethign like that - spent much of the night dazed as could be but enjoyed a grand time nonetheless binging on burgundy, n' noble reds n' flowing bowls of what-have-you until 2 in the morning

 

awoke feeling near as death as i've felt in awhile - the hard-knock the day before was certainly one of my fabled 9 lives n' i felt the truth of it - grayed out - feeling the cold i'd inherited from the silverton clan plus the concusssion plus the cold above deck plus the deep, deep fucking booze funk

 

they all thought i was dead the day before and grew doubly grim when i was drawing breath the day after but groaning - turned into me laying in agony on the cabin bench n' holding me head together as we steamed back to seattle against a solid breeze

 

the rest of the day was a healing thing - pat flung himself into the sound in his wetsuit as i laid around his joint, showering and trying to sleep off my fucking concussion - that night we did some super-stoned shopping n' headed over to his girlfriend's for a sumptous dinner set against a most scorchign cold outside - i cackled n' thumbed through 1960's civil defense brochures while pat snored n' i made small talk w/ his missus and her very alien animal

 

3 days of ocean kayaking ensued - launched out from an indian reservation near bellingham, stocked up on cheap injun smokes - the rudder was rudely impaired n' pat didn't know but had me in the back anyhow, so after hours of bitching n' cussing we finally fetched up on clark island

 

soaked rather wet we came straight ashore n' made camp in what proved to be a damned cold place - made a roaring fire n' had a bit of a good night - italian fare i recollect - olives n' red sauce n' sausage tortellinis n' mozeralla n' red wine - a sputtering fire, a bit of a dissapointment but soon enough the tent beside a snoring pat n' i slept soundly, the head cold resonating through me

 

day 2 of the ocean kayak we resolve to shift our camp southwards on the island but no further - find a sweet cove filled w/ firewood n' a sweltering sun, relative to our recent camp - we souse along the shore for a bit n' later launch for a trip to a nearby island where pat is molested by sheep

 

great night, this one - we were promised the northern lights but they never appeared but fuck it - it was new years eve - we sat by a roaring fire n' enjoyed bacon n' chili n' what-have-you, me sucking down pionot noir n' smokes n' enjoying the simpleness of being stranded at sea

 

new year's eve we returned to civilization n' after a bit of agony i made it home in time for winter weather and a nice delayed start to the school year

 

 

but this a beacon thread, n' so all this stuff before is simple bullshit n' i apologize for it

 

today was day 1! corner lap #1, but not solo n' gladly not

 

geoff at the bk a bit past 10 - we saunter eastwards by strong light n' stronger winds

 

the parking lot in a simple gale - we pack and wander down, bound n' determined to reach the top of the uprising and to suss out the damage from there

 

cold n' icy but delightfully dry - i take pitch 1 n' we alternate from there - snow patches here and there, but dry where it needs to be - some beers along the way n' we get time to poke our head over the railing n' take in the carnage on the touron-trail - much work to be done it's obvious - big blown out trees n' blowdown n' battered stones - we take it in and scoot down the raps in the big blow n' enjoy some beers and ramboling aroudn and reach back for home

 

here's to 2016

 

1/31 - day 2 - closing day, and not a very promising one - 39 degrees n' pouring rain in the parking lot - a drive out through mental desperation, the moss on this here rolling rock of meself growing thick n' fucking shaggy

 

beers n' bullshitting w/ steve n' waiting for the weather to give up a little - there were no illusions of how thorough soggy it was gonna be

 

no wind to speak of though, so there was that at least and it got warmer on the south side after the mist melted away - soon enough i cast off, pulling on gear here and there to remind meself not to be a dipshit on a point of pride climbing the slime-cone

 

the sun shone out halfway up and the mood improved noticeably - fresh snow, as innocent as a downy laotian-lamb along the far gorge walls -steve was exuberant to lead the second pitch and i salute him for it as it wouldn't have taken much to talk me out of it

 

a real slippy-slidey one is that - our boy did it w/o flying off but, following, i found meself doing the cartoon-character spinning me feet in the air thang at one point and only narrowly avoiding a pretty cosmic pirouette around the first crux

 

found meself holding forth somethign fierce on tree ledge, swilling pbr n' pounding upon our poor fellow about his own cosmic hangups -those rightly disposed, and a few butts thrown in to boot, i bolted on up the slippery ramps to grassy ledges - since i had a 70 and the jill's anchor was running wet, i went past it and anchored to a tree - a flippant shoulder belay ensued n' steve quite soon went n' fell big time onto it but i proved them old-boys knew what they were doing and ended up smiling on the ground for it

 

the trail closed sign even as we slipped away - stone soup next month now i suppose, though i suspect it's gonna take a civil action and yet another juicy skamania judge session before it gets sorted out - how good is it i have no other hobbies?

 

 

2/27 - day 3 - stone soup in the sopping wet - sausage n' eggs n' a leisurely breakfast - 'nastia at tad past 10 - streaming water on the sides of the machine on the way out - the k-19 in classic form, fresh off a cardiac arrest for christ's sake?

3/2 - day 4 - the k-19 konked out saturday just at the parking lot ledge n' we ran out of day and had to leave all the gear hanging on the wall - ya'll bitches lost out on a treasure trove of scary worn-out trash

 

we raced out amid squalls n' rain-storms, me simultaneously sucking down beer n' butts n' changing clothes - was an easy romp up the route w/ the gear all pre-placed - strong winds n' steady rain at times but all went well

 

prime time for putting up some more routes on this small patch of available wall...

[JosephH]

In case folks hadn't heard, Eric Klimt has passed in a fall from Moonlight Buttress. Shot of him on Stone Rodeo from the day it got rebolted in Oct. 2010.

 

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2780251/Fatality-on-Moonlight-Buttress

 

[MrGecko]

Kenny thanks so much for posting this, what a great article.

 

Joseph you rock!

 

Thank you so much for risking your freedom and well being for a cause that you believe in and which many other people believe in. It makes me proud to know that you took to protesting in a peaceful manner that brought attention to the harm and destruction that is happening to our environment. I think of all those folks who recently hung from the St.John's bridge in protest of Arctic drilling and like you they too were willing to hang it all out there for the benefit of us all.

 

Bravo man!

 

 

 

Just in case anyone needs a little light reading this evening.. And in case your chums in WA State Parks were curious about your previous conservation strategies, here's a non-slanderous update for them, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune archives, May 2nd, 1978!

[stevetimetravlr]

I believe it was PT Barnum who said there is one born every minute..

[JBC]

I believe it was PT Barnum who said there is one born every minute..

 

Close, the quote most likely comes from David Hannum who said of P.T. Barnum and his customers "There's a sucker born every minute"

 

 

[Dennis H]

PT has nothing on us, well still believe that Beacon well open some day with out a full closure !!!

[ivan]

1/10/16 - 4th year of setting down the shit that does down in beatardia, where men are women and women are never around

 

was a rude late fall/early winter season - the big blow of early november annihilated the hiking trail and i woulda been pissed about it if'n never-ending rains hadn't set in and made soloing laps insane anyway

 

a late december trip out w/ geoff at the start of winter break - we ended up just drinking beers n' smoking shit n' commenting on the awful, awful slickery nature of everything - the wall closed at ground zero and so nothing aidable particularly of interest

 

christmas ensued and all was well - didn't have the cash or the clock-time to go for a long off trade to red rocks or whatever, so the only local option was heading up to the puget sound and make a water-man of meself again - last year was great, a 3 day back-pack on the olympic coast n' a 2 day ocean kayak

 

this time around it was a 6-day sea window

 

beat up north in the early hours of 12/27, bent out of my mind it seemed, water streaming along the side of the automovat - seattle shortly after dawn, proud pat all pat-like

 

made our way to the marina n' nattered in the cold light waiting to meet up w/ our captain, a true comedy of errors - soon enough we were on board and casting off

 

sweet simple sailing southward in light airs, past bouys bestowed with sealions - seals - dolphins - eagles both american and candadian i bet - the pleasant site of a 'lion bolting down a full-growth salmon by tail

 

the last bit into port orchard by motor, the night come round so soon - carriers at bremerton

 

ashore we 'sup n' carouse n' enjoy ourselves capitally - meet a sheila-acquaintance of denali dave's round the fireplace n' philsophize over the weight of smoke before rambling off to a sea-berth

 

sail oughta town the next day and all was well - got meself nearly kilt by a swinging boom just shy of brian island or somethign like that - spent much of the night dazed as could be but enjoyed a grand time nonetheless binging on burgundy, n' noble reds n' flowing bowls of what-have-you until 2 in the morning

 

awoke feeling near as death as i've felt in awhile - the hard-knock the day before was certainly one of my fabled 9 lives n' i felt the truth of it - grayed out - feeling the cold i'd inherited from the silverton clan plus the concusssion plus the cold above deck plus the deep, deep fucking booze funk

 

they all thought i was dead the day before and grew doubly grim when i was drawing breath the day after but groaning - turned into me laying in agony on the cabin bench n' holding me head together as we steamed back to seattle against a solid breeze

 

the rest of the day was a healing thing - pat flung himself into the sound in his wetsuit as i laid around his joint, showering and trying to sleep off my fucking concussion - that night we did some super-stoned shopping n' headed over to his girlfriend's for a sumptous dinner set against a most scorchign cold outside - i cackled n' thumbed through 1960's civil defense brochures while pat snored n' i made small talk w/ his missus and her very alien animal

 

3 days of ocean kayaking ensued - launched out from an indian reservation near bellingham, stocked up on cheap injun smokes - the rudder was rudely impaired n' pat didn't know but had me in the back anyhow, so after hours of bitching n' cussing we finally fetched up on clark island

 

soaked rather wet we came straight ashore n' made camp in what proved to be a damned cold place - made a roaring fire n' had a bit of a good night - italian fare i recollect - olives n' red sauce n' sausage tortellinis n' mozeralla n' red wine - a sputtering fire, a bit of a dissapointment but soon enough the tent beside a snoring pat n' i slept soundly, the head cold resonating through me

 

day 2 of the ocean kayak we resolve to shift our camp southwards on the island but no further - find a sweet cove filled w/ firewood n' a sweltering sun, relative to our recent camp - we souse along the shore for a bit n' later launch for a trip to a nearby island where pat is molested by sheep

 

great night, this one - we were promised the northern lights but they never appeared but fuck it - it was new years eve - we sat by a roaring fire n' enjoyed bacon n' chili n' what-have-you, me sucking down pionot noir n' smokes n' enjoying the simpleness of being stranded at sea

 

new year's eve we returned to civilization n' after a bit of agony i made it home in time for winter weather and a nice delayed start to the school year

 

 

but this a beacon thread, n' so all this stuff before is simple bullshit n' i apologize for it

 

today was day 1! corner lap #1, but not solo n' gladly not

 

geoff at the bk a bit past 10 - we saunter eastwards by strong light n' stronger winds

 

the parking lot in a simple gale - we pack and wander down, bound n' determined to reach the top of the uprising and to suss out the damage from there

 

cold n' icy but delightfully dry - i take pitch 1 n' we alternate from there - snow patches here and there, but dry where it needs to be - some beers along the way n' we get time to poke our head over the railing n' take in the carnage on the touron-trail - much work to be done it's obvious - big blown out trees n' blowdown n' battered stones - we take it in and scoot down the raps in the big blow n' enjoy some beers and ramboling aroudn and reach back for home

 

here's to 2016

 

1/31 - day 2 - closing day, and not a very promising one - 39 degrees n' pouring rain in the parking lot - a drive out through mental desperation, the moss on this here rolling rock of meself growing thick n' fucking shaggy

 

beers n' bullshitting w/ steve n' waiting for the weather to give up a little - there were no illusions of how thorough soggy it was gonna be

 

no wind to speak of though, so there was that at least and it got warmer on the south side after the mist melted away - soon enough i cast off, pulling on gear here and there to remind meself not to be a dipshit on a point of pride climbing the slime-cone

 

the sun shone out halfway up and the mood improved noticeably - fresh snow, as innocent as a downy laotian-lamb along the far gorge walls -steve was exuberant to lead the second pitch and i salute him for it as it wouldn't have taken much to talk me out of it

 

a real slippy-slidey one is that - our boy did it w/o flying off but, following, i found meself doing the cartoon-character spinning me feet in the air thang at one point and only narrowly avoiding a pretty cosmic pirouette around the first crux

 

found meself holding forth somethign fierce on tree ledge, swilling pbr n' pounding upon our poor fellow about his own cosmic hangups -those rightly disposed, and a few butts thrown in to boot, i bolted on up the slippery ramps to grassy ledges - since i had a 70 and the jill's anchor was running wet, i went past it and anchored to a tree - a flippant shoulder belay ensued n' steve quite soon went n' fell big time onto it but i proved them old-boys knew what they were doing and ended up smiling on the ground for it

 

the trail closed sign even as we slipped away - stone soup next month now i suppose, though i suspect it's gonna take a civil action and yet another juicy skamania judge session before it gets sorted out - how good is it i have no other hobbies?

 

 

2/27 - day 3 - stone soup in the sopping wet - sausage n' eggs n' a leisurely breakfast - 'nastia at tad past 10 - streaming water on the sides of the machine on the way out - the k-19 in classic form, fresh off a cardiac arrest for christ's sake?

 

3/2 - day 4 - the k-19 konked out saturday just at the parking lot ledge n' we ran out of day and had to leave all the gear hanging on the wall - ya'll bitches lost out on a treasure trove of scary worn-out trash

 

we raced out amid squalls n' rain-storms, me simultaneously sucking down beer n' butts n' changing clothes - was an easy romp up the route w/ the gear all pre-placed - strong winds n' steady rain at times but all went well

 

prime time for putting up some more routes on this small patch of available wall...

3/26 - day 6 - spring breaks big upon the land - breezy clouds n' bright sun - a right sound sleep-in - wine n' pizza for breakfast, than a side-saddle into the gorge under glorious skies - crisp n' cold - spent some time scrambling 'round the ozone n' enjoying da wedder, then busted eastwards more to beacon - aid-soloed stone soup n' had a prime time of it, binging on, of all things, katy perry

[MrGecko]

All this talk of soup and not much about the routes to the left or right of it.

 

Left of Stone Soup is a route called Smoke Signals, 10c from what I can gather. Bill Coe made reference to it having 13 bolts and being called Crossdressing Fool but I think that was his April 1st post.

 

Right of Soup is what, anything?

[MrGecko]

Big Wall Tips & Tricks with Mark Hudon

 

 

Friday, June 3rd, 2016 ..... 5:00PM - 9:00PM

 

Mazama Mountaineering Center

527 SE 43rd Avenue

Portland, OR 97215

 

This clinic was previously held with great attendance through the Mazamas Clinics & Special Presentations. It was a full house, packed with great information and very well received. Mark will be back from another season of winter & spring climbing fresh to tell tales and share tips about his latest sessions on the big stone climbing some serious El Cap routes in Yosemite.

 

Please spread the word.

Thanks

 

SIGN UP: http://mazamas.org/education-classes/clinics-and-special-presentations/

 

CLINIC DESCRIPTION, $45

-----------------------------------------

 

If you have already embarked on your path to big wall climbing, have a few or many ascents or are just about to open that door but have a good idea of the logistics involved then you might want to join big wall master Mark Hudon for an evening of big wall tribal knowledge.

 

Topics to be discussed and/or demonstrated include:

 

Advanced hauling and docking

Solo bag movement

Packing a haul bag

Nice to have extras and specialized tools

Unique/uncommon gear placements

Cheaters

Efficient leading and following

Fast belay setups

Communication or lack of

Preferred aiders and ascender setup

Big wall racking

Fast ascending/following

Portaledge setup

Faster transitions

 

 

About Mark Hudon

Mark Hudon first climbed El Capitan in 1974 when he was 18 years old. Over the next 6 years Mark would climb El Cap 8 more times by a number of different routes such as the Mescalito, Magic Mushroom, New Dawn and the Zodiac, not to mention nearly free ascents of the Salalthe Wall and The Nose. In 2009 Mark was bitten by the big wall bug again and lead The Nose route in a 15.5 hr push. The next spring he soloed Grape Race to Tribal Rite in 11 days and has done 15 routes since, including two more solos. With various partners Mark knocked out six El Cap routes last year including Tempest, A4+ and Genesis A4+

 

Mark was recently featured in Accidental Production's El Cap Bridge Web Series

 

[video:vimeo]158762502

 

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by MrGecko

[ivan]

All this talk of soup and not much about the routes to the left or right of it.

 

Left of Stone Soup is a route called Smoke Signals, 10c from what I can gather. Bill Coe made reference to it having 13 bolts and being called Crossdressing Fool but I think that was his April 1st post.

 

Right of Soup is what, anything?

no bolts to the left of stone soup and nothing to right for about 30 yards until you hit pink's route (starts in a small cave - has 2-3 bolts than thin n' skittery gear to the big tree)

 

plenty of room to put in some ground up routes between those 2 climbs - gotta get me a drill and go rescue my hammer off the side of tower rock

[MrGecko]

Ivan,

 

do you have any pics that you can show where those lines go? Maybe super impose a rough guess?

 

Thanks! Would like to hit the Soup line with you sometime.

[ivan]

do you have tim olson's 4th edition of portland rock climbs? he's got good hand-drawn topos on pg 194-5 - i'm basically a knuckle-dragging luddite so i can't really improve on what's there - i could scan and email them if you like (it seems a bit rude for me to post publicly a book he gave me for just being me)

 

are you still in seattle? stone soup's great this spring time of year - holy fucking jeebus, i think we broke 70 today and the late afternoon in particular is the magic time of day to cruise up this thing...

[pink]

The route in the "cave" that Ivan is talking about with the two bolts is called "Cry Baby" 5.10+, there is a route to the left of that around the corner called "The Forbidden Slab" 5.10, both of those routes meet at the top to the big tree. The route to the left of Stone Soup is "Smoke Signals" 5.10, it has one pin in it that i retro fitted for direction and so nobody came along later and bolted it I'd say there are three routes (maybe two) in between "Stone Soup" and the "Forbidden Slab". Oh, and "Smoke Signals" has a second pitch that it shares with "Stone Soup", it cuts left at some point, we attracted quite the crowd that day including a few of Skamanias finest, a bunch of stupid tourist and the assistant ranger who we referred to as Barney Fife. Jim and I dubbed the pitch "Barneys Bullet", if you don't get this reference, you might have been having ur ass wiped for you at that time

 

It would be cool to see those routes in between developed with minimal fixed gear...

 

It would also be cool to see the first pitch of "Stone Soup" free climbed, there was a few of us the top roped it 16 years ago and it's proly 11+...

[stevetimetravlr]

Ivan and the Norseman

 

[billcoe]

Nice shot Steve.

 

Bill Coe made reference to it having 13 bolts and being called Crossdressing Fool but I think that was his April 1st post.

Yeah, I was just teasing Pink cause he was so prickly on the 2nd ascent/renaming of his Barney rabble route by Ivan and everyone. It's good you are outing your lines Andrew, otherwise these kids will bolt them, get the FA, and name them again for you:-) I have a lot of shots of Ivan on the (second) FA:-) Here's one sorting our shitshow. Somehwere up there the lines diverge for sure. But who knows. That's why folks need to document it.

 

 

 

 

BTW, at Jim's birthday party, Jay Kerr, Jeff Thomas and I wandered over to the N side and Jay pointed out a line he and someone else did back in the day. Micah, THERE IS NO WAY I would have seen that line if Jay hadn't pointed it out. In fact, Jeff and I were staring at it and barely able to see the potential. Anyway, Jeff remembers names and dates if folks tell him (prod prod) so have him point that out and give you the details if you are interested. Theres some lines on the west side that have been done and disappeared from history. I was standing there with JO years back and pointed out a possible line, "Oh, Avery did that one." At that point Avery had been gone for many years....sigh. We'll never know a lot of that history with folks like Avery and Jeff Walker passing away. Folks like Wayne Wallace moving out to bigger and better things etc etc. That big ass 5.11 multi-pitch line that Tim Olsen use to have in his book he called the "Mystery Trail", was a Beacon route starts just right of Lost Warriors. Sounds like Josephs Lost Warriors route may climb part of the upper part of it from the description I got.

 

So speak up and share Andrew.

 

[MrGecko]

Thanks y'all, nice to hear the history and not lose totally the exploration that was done. Micah is putting together a guide(s) for the region and it would be nice to capture all this goodness including the folks who scratched away at those lines.

 

I'll go take a look and see what I can piece together from what you shared.

[pink]

Nice shot Steve.

 

Bill Coe made reference to it having 13 bolts and being called Crossdressing Fool but I think that was his April 1st post.

Yeah, I was just teasing Pink cause he was so prickly on the 2nd ascent/renaming of his Barney rabble route by Ivan and everyone. It's good you are outing your lines Andrew, otherwise these kids will bolt them, get the FA, and name them again for you:-) I have a lot of shots of Ivan on the (second) FA:-) Here's one sorting our shitshow. Somehwere up there the lines diverge for sure. But who knows. That's why folks need to document it.

 

 

 

 

BTW, at Jim's birthday party, Jay Kerr, Jeff Thomas and I wandered over to the N side and Jay pointed out a line he and someone else did back in the day. Micah, THERE IS NO WAY I would have seen that line if Jay hadn't pointed it out. In fact, Jeff and I were staring at it and barely able to see the potential. Anyway, Jeff remembers names and dates if folks tell him (prod prod) so have him point that out and give you the details if you are interested. Theres some lines on the west side that have been done and disappeared from history. I was standing there with JO years back and pointed out a possible line, "Oh, Avery did that one." At that point Avery had been gone for many years....sigh. We'll never know a lot of that history with folks like Avery and Jeff Walker passing away. Folks like Wayne Wallace moving out to bigger and better things etc etc. That big ass 5.11 multi-pitch line that Tim Olsen use to have in his book he called the "Mystery Trail", was a Beacon route starts just right of Lost Warriors. Sounds like Josephs Lost Warriors route may climb part of the upper part of it from the description I got.

 

So speak up and share Andrew.

 

 

I was to busy taking blotter and climbing to document jack back then....

[pink]

Ivan and the Norseman

 

 

I've only met IVAN once but i've heard a lot about him... silence was never a word used to describe the pale shreck...

 

I see the "moment of silence" thing was removed bwhahahahahahah

Edited April 5, 2016 by pink

[ivan]

all routes follow the whims of the Great Magnet

[MrGecko]

A couple days of climbing at Beacon on the NW side. The rock sure isn't like the south side.

 

Saturday we freed the first pitch of Stone Soup. It really doesn't climb that great as far as a line goes. Awkward, easier climbing to a pin, then a few harder moves until in a pod just below the bolts. Thin uninspiring climbing into exfoliating rock. Hard 11 or easy 12 thru this section but if the intention was to aid, the bolts are more set up for free climbing.

 

Then searching thru the carpet of moss next door we find holds, edges and nice movement. A bit of cleaning and unearthing and we spot an old pin. We carry on and the climbing gets harder but is just as fun. Another uninspiring pin is found higher up, rusting and in need of some seating, I'm not sure this one just shouldn't be fixed up. This route really is the better half of the ugly twin beside it. It finally exits out left before heading up some slab to the same top anchors. Why isn't this the hailed route of this section of rock I don't know but it sure has potential.

 

The following day we return with a brush, a bag full of gear and a desire to get the first two pitches of what we believe is SMOKE SIGNALS knocked out. The Portland Rock Guide doesn't name the route but suggests difficult gear placements and a 10c rating. The first 2/3's of the pitch eats gear really well after the crap was cleaned out of the cracks. The preferred diet seemed to be DMM offset nuts and a few cams. Not sure why the first pin was even necessary as there are good placements on either side of it. The second pin is a welcome fixed piece but beyond that the gear is a real challenge. Pretty much everything placed was wonked, tipped out lobes, uneven cams, a funky torqued nut all while working through the crux sequences. Just to see if anything better could be had I rapped back down to the crux section and took time while hanging to fiddle with gear and see what I could come up with. There really isn't much that is good and if this route wants to get climbed more often (and it should because it really is a quality line) it could do with another fixed piece or two.

 

Later on in the day we started up the second pitch of the route. This would be the second pitch of Stone Soup. Since this rock is exposed to direct afternoon sun it was quite clean and free of moss. This line climbed very nice and reminded me more of a something you would find on granite. Big cracks, long reaches, fat flakes and pretty good gear with the exception of a Pecker and a swagged short piton that isn't fully seated. We passed a small tree with a sling ladder attached to it. Not sure why, there are some excellent free moves right there and then to a final head wall with 3 poorly implemented bolts. Two of them are loose, one has the hanger fixed sideways resting on a thin horizontal edge. They all had the studs sticking too far out such that a fall past one could skewer the leg or worse, snag and damage the rope. They are all placed too far to the right of the natural free climbing line. I think they should all be replaced and done correctly.

 

With a good clean-up and a few additions for protection these two pitches would make for a solid free line on the NW side of high quality climbing that goes at about 10c/d. Jim O was out watching the upper pitch go down and said it was about time that thing gets freed more often.

 

It was a little disappointing to see PBR trash stuffed into the crack at the first belay. I can only imagine this would be climbers as it isn't accessible otherwise.

 

P1 Stoned Soup - this line sucks in our collective opinion

 

P1 Smoke Signals - look at all that gear and up to about the last 1/3 it was darn solid too!

 

Piton #1 with perfect taper nut placements on either side

 

P2 - Smoke Signals or P2 Stoned Soup, same line but I suppose it is called Smoke Signals if you free it. We were thinking about 10d for this pitch.

 

At least leave 'em full next time

Edited April 18, 2016 by MrGecko

[pink]

The first pitch of smoke signals originally starts to the left of where you did ... i put the fist pin in for direction and so nobody thought they discovered a route and bolted it it was retro fitted. The second pitch of smoke signals has always been that, i think IVAN went right with a bolt ladder up towards the top and i went left up to a tree. Typically free climbs aren't renamed to aid lines but whatever What sort of fixed gear were you thinking on smoke signals?