Four Days in Squamish 05.20-24.09

This long weekend was to be Julie's last climbing weekend with me until some possible return trips in June. Four days in Squamish to send her off on her bike trip proper. Julie had already rode to Vancouver, and I was to pick her up Thursday morning and we would head to Squamish and leave some time on Sunday.

Day 1:
I picked Julie up in Vancouver around 9am and we headed to Squamish. The goal was to climb Diedre (5.8), a four star route that sees lots of traffic. Hitting it on Thursday would hopefully mean less traffic. Once arriving in Squamish, due to the highway construction, we had some difficulty finding the Apron parking lot. Once there we adopted the Squamish climbing style. (Harness/gear up at car. Bring only what you will be climbing with. Leave nothing at the base.) This is partially due to the fact you do not return to the base of the climbs, but also because Squamish is known for having high theft rates. Which means you may lose whatever you left at the base of a climb. We had minor difficulty finding the trail. It is obvious, and leaves the parking lot uphill right at the outhouse. After a short trail hike, there is some 3rd class rock and tree scrambling to make it to the base. There was already one rope from a party of four on the route. Their second rope allowed us to start the route before them, and their first rope allowed us to start the second pitch before them. They were a nice group from Switzerland. Although their leader has been living in a log cabin in the Yukon for the last 15 years. I led the first pitch which had about 30' of slab before any protection (slinging a tree.) Then it followed grooves and seems over the rock. Some of which was seriously glacier polished and slick as glass. Other areas seemed to have slippery quartz in them as well, but the overall adhesiveness of the rock was great. Julie got to lead the second pitch which was a traverse with no protection. I arrived at her location, and it was time to tackle the dihedral that gives the route its name.

I got the lead and proceeded to make my way up. The pitch felt easier than 5.8, but did not offer the best opportunities for placing gear because the lack of really good rests and the difficult gear placement at times. The crux of the pitch is probably about a third of the way up where you must negotiate a small step in the slab. The rest of the pitch was pretty straightforward lie back technique. Once I belayed Julie to the top of the pitch, she offered the next pitch for me to lead. She said she could feel her legs had not fully recovered from the bike ride to Vancouver and would feel better if I led the pitch. I wasn't mentally prepared to, but I stepped up to the challenge. I was a little sketched with the opening moves because my shoes had gotten dirty/wet at the belay stance, and this set a tone of not fully trusting my feet for the pitch. This second pitch of the dihedral felt harder, but may not have been. I placed lots of gear, and finally made it to the next bolted belay. (All belays on Diedre are bolted.)

After I brought Julie up, she geared up for the last of the dihedral pitches. After some slabby moves to get back into it, she was on her way and soon bringing me up. This pitch had easier climbing and the angle reduced a bit. It did seem significantly more difficult to place gear on though. I led out on the last lower angle pitch which had very little for protection. This combined with the fact that there was wetness and conifer needles on it gave me little assurance. Once at the final moves (the crux of the climb) there was a piton to clip. I clipped it and gingerly tried to step on clean dry rock until I was stemming over a wet seep. I placed a cam and hesitated about the next moves. I told Julie to watch me as the moves were sketchy. Fortunately, I made a few moves and was able to grab the tree that you need to pull you into the trees and onto Broadway Ledge. I brought Julie up and we celebrated. We then led south to find the walk off. After taking a look at the slab walk off, we opted to go straight for the forest. There were a few bits of 3rd class down climbing to reach the woods, but not too bad. Then it is a trail to boulders near the highway.

Day 2:
We had the lofty goal of attempting to climb to the summit of the Chief using the Banana Peel, Boomstick Crack, Ultimate Everything link up.

We didn't leave the campground as early as we would have liked to due to some confusion on our parts. We walked from the campground to the base of Banana Peel, which is the same start as Deidre. There were already parties on Diedre, and we were the first to head toward Banana Peel. Julie led the same unprotected start to the tree and then belayed me across the long crack traverse to the base of Banana Peel. Our 60m rope didn't quite reach and I had to give Julie a short belay another 30' or so the the start. I then led the next short pitch which is a stem off of a tree to gain the slab, and then about 20' of unprotected 5.4 slab to a tree belay. I brought Julie up to this point and another party was catching us. I told her we should let them go by. When their first climber reached our belay we let him know that we would let them pass as them appeared to be moving faster. After chatting with him a bit we realized that it was Miles and Liz Smart. They proceeded to move on up and out of our sight in a few pitches.

Julie got to lead the next crux pitch which was like three cruxes in one. First there is some run out slab to a bolt at the initial bulge crux on the slab. After passing that, you make another cruxy move from the slab to a steeper flake. After topping the flake, there are some cruxy moves to gain a small crystal ledge that you traverse to the belay. I'm not sure which Julie found hardest (as she was leading) but I definitely felt the moves onto the traverse were the hardest for me. After that pitch, I had a short non memorable pitch to a gear belay. Then Julie led out on a wandering, lightly protected pitch up the slab. This ended at a tree belay and I got to lead the next pitch on an interesting water drainage feature on the slab. It ended a short ways up a flake. Julie led out the final pitch on the flake to lower angle slabs and then Broadway Ledge. We ate lunch and started to grasp the next leg which was Boomstick Crack.

Boomstick Crack is actually a thin, sharp, long, horizontal flake that starts getting more vertical about 30' into the climb. Most of the early gear is suspect as it may knock the flake off, or blow out the rock. And because your feet are only about 6-8' off Broadway, you will hit the ground even if the pro does hold. I got the first lead on this which was some interesting moves to gain the top of the flake. Once there I set about trying to place gear in the flake near my feet. (Even due to the ground fall potential, I still placed gear.) After two pieces at my feet, I was able to get a nut on an old 1/4" stud for protection. After a few more pieces near my feet, the flake angled up and I gained cracks on the face where I finally got in protection that would hold a fall and keep me off the ground. By this time, I was into a hand crack with little gear left to fit it. So I ran it out to a tree belay and brought Julie up. Julie continued on the second pitch into the trees.

We made a decision at that time that it was not feasible for us to continue on The Ultimate Everything. It was ten more pitches, and most of them were at 5.9. So we decided to rappel back to Broadway, and walk off.

After the walk off, we decide to drive over to the Smoke Bluffs crags and do some routes over there. After Julie led Burgers and Fries (a 5.7 crack), we top-roped Peaches and Cream (5.10a/b.) Then we found the Clean Starts cracks at the far end of the Neat and Clean wall. We top-roped a few cracks over there and then headed back to camp.

Day 3:
We set our sights on Calculus Crack (5.8). We figured it being Saturday that it would see less traffic than the routes we did earlier in the week. We were wrong. The first two pitches of the route are shared with numerous other routes on the north end of the Apron. The one guidebook describes these pitches as "vertical jungle." With the amazing growth rates in the area, and the typical Squamish "tree ladders" through steep forest, we did not know what to expect. We arrived at the base behind a party of three that was gearing up. They offered to let us pass, but we figured we did not want anyone behind us, so we gave them the route first. Shortly, our decision didn't matter as a party of two women showed up behind us.

We waited a while before one of the slow followers fell and struggled with the opening moves. Then I was hot on her trail following through the initial crack and then through the trees. The first pitch then goes up another short crack and more pulling on tree roots to gain the next belay. I brought Julie up and we did a short scramble through the woods to the start of the second pitch. Both of the earlier party's followers struggled with the crux (5.8) of this section which was moving leftward from a fist crack to some steeper thin finger cracks past a bulge. Once they were through, Julie led out and stopped. Her head wasn't in this lead, and she backed off and asked me if I would lead it. I wasn't enthusiastic about it, but I'd give it a go. I got up to the difficult part and realized how hard it was to place gear from a slightly awkward stance. I down climbed to the base and racked my green and yellow aliens for quick insertion. I then climbed back to the crux area and was able to place the yellow alien. I then made a move or two up, where I had an nice ledge hold for my hands. The crack above peters out and there are not very good holds as it is shallow. I placed another cam higher, eliminating any hope I had of using the higher crack for my hands. I then noticed an escape to a crack farther left. So with a long stretch left, I was able to gain easier ground and head up through the forest again. I brought Julie up to a belay at a tree, just shy of the bolted belay for the next pitch.

Julie led out on the next pitch which was a dirty twin crack system. One side was off width, while the other provided nice dirt steps and small trees to sling. She then had to wait for the earlier team to leave the belay ledge before proceeding. She didn't have enough big gear left for her to set up a proper anchor to bring me up, so we waited. During this time, the two women caught us as well as another party of a man and a woman. After a long wait the two women opted to climb St. Vitus, while the man and woman were joined by another rope of their friends. I finally left the belay and arrived at Julie's gear belay at the base of a steepish finger crack. (4th pitch.)

I took the lead and placed lots of gear in the initial section. The face was a bit slippery for feet, and being a finger crack, the crack too small for my feet. After about 20' or so, the angle eases and I continued up to where the two followers of the previous rope were just leaving the belay. This pitch felt like the hardest pitch I led all weekend. The initial section was sustained climbing which took precise foot placements on my part. The jams in the crack were great. And the crack took gear really well. From this pitch alone, I feel that Calculus Crack should be given another star.

After bringing Julie up she continued in the crack through another steep section before the angle really eased and she was able to belay me up. Turns out she stopped a bit short of a bolted belay, so I quickly made my way over there and she led off on the final pitch wandering around the slabs to the trees. We ate lunch, and proceeded to determine which way we would descend. There are supposed to be four single rope rappels into the South Gully from the top, but we found no suitable anchor, nor rap slings to mark where that would take place, so we opted to scramble up an off width (gully in the books) to gain Broadway Ledge and traverse off the Apron like we had the two previous days.

After returning to the car, we went over to the Upper Malamute crag and top-roped some difficult 5.9 routes on the Stooges Slab. After that, it was time for dinner and camp.

Day 4:
Neither of us were up to multi pitch climbing at this point and we found that Murrin Park would be a good destination for us with easily accessible top-roping and routes in ranges we wanted to climb. However, when we got there, there was a $3 charge for parking that could only be paid with coins. I had no Canadian currency on me, and Julie did not have enough Loonies. So we went back to Smoke Bluffs again. We made it there and then wandered around trying to find the Fatty Bolger slabs. Once there, I led "David's" which was a scary two bolt 5.6. Julie got up to lead on it and decided to lower after the first bolt. I then led the next climb Stepladder and we set up a top rope. Julie top-roped that climb and then we top-roped the other two routes there. (Moominland & Hamish's) We left that slab just as another larger party from Seattle showed up. We hiked around trying to find something to climb and eventually climbed Christa' Revenge (5.7) an interesting crack system on the Fern Gully wall. I led it and belayed Julie up from the top. After the walk off, it was time to head to Vancouver to drop Julie off and have dinner before driving back to Seattle.

This was by far my favorite and most productive cragging trip ever. Julie and I climbed about 35 pitches in four days. Many of which were quality routes. It was a great introduction to Squamish, and I already cannot wait to go back! I really feel like I am climbing well, and that made the trip even more enjoyable. I am slightly bummed we could not find some harder single pitch routes to climb, but being we were usually tired (mentally and physically) by the time we hit the single pitch routes, that is probably for the better. On another note, it was great spending a block of time with my good friend Julie before her bike trip is in full swing.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.
Julie's awesome helmet video from Banana Peel.

Leavenworth - 05.09-10.09

With a avalanche report that read like this:

We are urging potential backcountry travelers to avoid
traveling in or near avalanche terrain until the recent snow
has either slide or settled and stabilized over the coming
days. [NWAC]

Julie and I were not going to be going anywhere where snow was present. Which was a shame as it was her last weekend in Washington before leaving on her trip. So we scratched our plans for something big and snowy and resigned ourselves to heading to Leavenworth to do some rock climbing. Ken and Sammy had canceled their plans for North Twin Sister due to the same avalanche forecast, and we would be meeting them in Leavenworth Saturday morning.

We arrived in Leavenworth with no sign of Ken and Sammy. We started up Icicle Road to see if we could find them at eight mile campground. We found them walking the road just in front of Icicle Buttress and said we'd meet them in town to discuss plans for the day at Starbucks. In the Starbucks we decided to hike up to Givler's as Ken and Sammy had never done it. Julie and I had done it back in March, and we decided we would just lead the opposite pitches we led then. So after a brief stint in Starbucks we headed up the Icicle to climb Givler's Crack.

The hike up is a little longer than most approaches in the Icicle which keeps traffic down to Givler's given it is a four star route that mortals can climb. We had some difficulties in staying on route, but eventually wound up at the base where another party was on the first pitch. We sorted ourselves and gear and started off after the second of the previous party reached the top of the first pitch. Julie led the first pitch, and hung out at the bowl after the crux opening moves. Once the previous party started leaving the belay at the top of the first pitch, she headed off to finish the pitch. I quickly followed. Ken was about half way up the first pitch when I started off on the second. Now having climbed Givler's Crack three times, I can say that the second pitch is one of my favorite leads. I can also say that I enjoyed it much more on lead than following. It is super enjoyable, and long. I arrived at the top and started to bring Julie up. The wind at the top was pretty brisk and we huddled behind the anchor boulder to stay out of the wind.

After a short time Ken was in sight, and he finished the pitch with a tired smile on his face. He clipped into my anchor and brought Sammy up. Sammy was successful at removing the fixed nut at the bottom of the second pitch and came into site with a big smile on his face. I think they were both happy they didn't just go climb R&D. Once we were all on top, we basked a bit and then headed back to our packs at the base. We collected our gear and hiked a bit down before finding a suitable ledge to eat lunch.

After the hike down, we considered another multi pitch climb. We looked at R&D, with crowds on it and some clouds blowing in and decided if it started to rain, we didn't want to be on R&D. We chose to head to Barney's Rubble area which was by the roadside and had some climbs we could do.

Sammy wished to lead a 5.7 that he had led a few years earlier. Julie and I headed to a 5.6 crack to climb. I started up the 5.6 while Sammy climbed the 5.7. The opening moves of the 5.6 were weird as it had to be accessed through a cave like feature and then step up into the crack. After placing three pieces, I was having difficulty gaining the crack and finally asked Julie to lower me off. [I later realized that when she led the route that there were plenty of options for feet on the face. I was trying to put my foot in the crack which was painful and awkward. Sometimes I just have difficulty reading a route.] Sammy was undeterred, and was still making his way up the 5.7 as Julie took the lead on the 5.6. After getting about halfway up the route, Julie slipped and took her first lead fall on gear. It was a minor incident as she mostly ran down the wall backward about five feet or so. She bumped her knee, and had a small rope burn on her wrist. She got right back on and finished the route. I eventually followed (as Ken followed the 5.7) and we topped out. I found the rock on the route to be very greasy feeling and I am not surprised by Julie slipping on it. We later talked to Ian and he used the same adjective to describe the rock and stated that it was because it sees so many ascents being so close to the road.

After topping out, we headed into town to see if we could find Ian and his team who had climbed Yellowjacket Tower that day. We chatted at dinner, and then went our separate ways.

The next day our goal was Condorphamine Addiction(5.10b). It is loosely described as a seven pitch bolted alpine route. Ian had told me that it was within my reach technically. And if we couldn't do the .10b moves it was easy to aid past them. The hike in was long and steep (for cragging.) The trail was loose and sandy as well. We had a minor difficulty finding the correct trail when entering the woods. The book is fairly accurate with the turn left after the first boulder on the map description. Then it was fairly easy to stay on the path up to Condor Buttress.

Once at the buttress, it was easy to identify the start of the climb. Julie and I were apathetic about who climbed which pitch and she finally decided to lead the first (5.7) pitch. After a short distance, she was at the belay and brought me up. The first pitch was nothing remarkable, and a good warm up for the rest of the climb. I took the lead on the second pitch (5.9) which starts with a fun traverse, and then goes up around a corner on steepening terrain to the belay. I think there was 12 bolts on the pitch as I was nearly out of gear at the next belay station. I brought Julie up and she started off on the next (5.4) pitch. After nearly a full rope length, she brought me up. I commented that the latter part of the pitch seemed a bit thin for 5.4. We briefly studied the topo for the route and I was off on the next pitch.

Our fourth pitch started out with easy fun climbing with some horizontal crack features on the slab. It then got to a point where it was steep and there was a difficult move. I commented down that I thought Julie combined the 5.4 and 5.8 pitches and that this was the first .10b move. She didn't believe me as it looked easier from her stance. Not knowing for sure if it was .10b, and feeling like I would kick myself if it 5.8 and I aided the move, I set about trying to figure out how to gain a dish above a bulge with no discernible hand holds. (There were some very tiny edges etc. and an arete to my right that I could use.) After a few attempts at upward progress, I informed Julie I was grabbing the draw and heading up. While it made the move easier, it did not make it more secure, and after gaining the dish, I held on to the draw for a bit until I was able to grab a small hold above me. At that point I moved slightly right and clipped the next bolt. The next moves went left around/through a roof where the difficulties lessened to the next belay. The moves left from the clip felt more like 5.8 or 5.9 from the previous .10b moves. I quickly moved through them and was at the next belay.

I brought Julie up to the crux where she agreed with me that it was a .10b and she proceed to follow my lead by yarding on the draw to complete the move. When she arrived at the belay, we consulted the topo again and agreed that she must have joined the 5.4 and 5.8 pitches and that was indeed the first of the .10b pitches. She then led off on the next .10b pitch.

On the next pitch there was a point from the belay that did not look difficult, but Julie was hesitant below it. She said the moves were thin and committing. I asked her if she thought it was the crux of the pitch. She said she wasn't sure. After some pause, she successfully completed the moves and put me on belay. I arrived at the same spot and saw what she meant. While this portion wasn't as steep as the crux in the previous pitch, it had some thin feet and not a whole lot for hands. I gingerly transferred my weight up to my right foot, and made moves to quickly get through the crux. The difficulty eased after a few moves and I continued to the top of the pitch. When I arrived, we both agreed that the moves felt more like .10a moves than .10b.

Since I had most of the gear, I told Julie I wasn't stopping to transfer gear or the backpack, and I would continue on the final 5.4 pitch to the top. I arrived at the top chains in no time, and brought Julie up. We remained anchored in, and ate our lunches. We wanted to get started on our rappels as we could see another party coming up the route.

We made seven raps down bypassing a party of four on two ropes on the way down. The rappels were easy, and being only single rope, we had no issues with throwing or retrieving the ropes.

The whole climb and rap took about 4.5 hours and Julie and I decided we would check out Bathtub Dome to see if there were options we'd want to climb there.

With some navigational difficulties and some steep sandy trail, we finally arrived at Middle Tier of Bathtub Dome where we were looking to climb a 5.7 crack called New Fixtures. (A two star route.) After looking at it and remembering that Smoot has it rated R in his guidebook I talked to Julie about it. The first 15' or so is climbing between a detached pillar and flake, so I would say there are not safe gear placements during that segment. We then opted to climb Chumstick 2-Step which is a bolted 5.9 to the left of New Fixtures. As we started gearing up, the wind picked up tremendously and started blowing clouds over our heads. we went from shorts and t-shirts to pants and jackets. Then we decided we did not wish to get rained on and packed up and hiked out. Arriving back at the car around 3:30pm we decided to just head back to Seattle.

Overall, the climbing on Condorphamine Addiction was fun. I think my favorite pitch was the 5.9 pitch. The 5.10b moves are easily aided if need be, and I would like to go back and give another shot at freeing the first .10b moves. We witnessed the leader from one of the other parties climb it, and he made it look effortless stemming his hands out to both sides. It probably still wouldn't be easy, but I'd be happy if I could free it. It would also give me a chance to come back up to Bathtub Dome to climb Chumstick 2-Step which looked enjoyable. The hike in and out of the area was tedious, but worth it considering how enjoyable the climb was. I did not find this climb to be as classic as Lost Charms or Dreamer, but was definitely something I would go back to do again. It can also be done with combining pitches, but I think the way we did it was fairly enjoyable. The topo is fairly accurate, and should be easy to follow. You may be able to save time rapping with two 60m ropes, but since it is setup to be rapped with a single 50m rope, I like not bringing the second rope, and not having to deal with the mess that is associated with double rope rappels.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.

Tieton River Climbing - 04.25.09

Julie injured her foot in Montreal. So mountain excursions were out of the question as should could barely walk at times. So, she was interested in some rock climbing. Due to her injury, and the suspect weather forecast for Leavenworth, we decided to see what Tieton was all about. The forecast for Tieton was to be 60° and mostly sunny. Since it is a two and a half hour drive, we left Seattle at 5am to maximize our climbing. This was unfortunate, as when we first arrived in the parking lot around 7:40am, it was still quite chilly.

We figured we'd warm up on the hike (about a quarter mile of trail - the second half uphill.) When we got to the base of the climbs, it was windy and in the shade. It felt even colder than the parking lot. We sized up our first climb, and neither of us were willing to start climbing due to the cold. Since we were the only ones there, we left our packs, and headed back to the car where the sun was shining. As we got to the car, a few other climbers showed up. We chatted, and decided to drive down the road to check out "The Bend," another area of Tieton climbing. (We were at Royal Columns.) After our short drive and a stop at the toilet, we headed back up to the crag.

Once there, we put on all the clothes we had, and started slowly to do our first climb. The first choice was the three star Western Front (5.3). We started easy to gauge how tough the climbing would be. Tieton has a reputation for having stiff grading, but we didn't really think so. I will say, that the climbing is fairly steep for the grade in concern to Western Front. I led the route, and found it very heady, as many of my gear placements were not ideal. The climbing is crack climbing between the andesite columns and the moves were pretty straightforward. However, I found gear placement to be difficult, and some of my gear to be suspect. Julie followed the route and saw the difficult placements. One of the issues I had with gear was that I neglected to bring up a #4 Camalot, because the guide book said gear to 2.5". This was regrettable, as there were multiple good locations for it along the route.

First cold lead of day

After completing the route, I ran down near the car (and sun) to warm up a bit. I returned as the sun started lighting the tops of the columns where Julie had waited for me. It was somewhat warmer now, but still chilly. But the sun was starting to heat the columns, and it was around 11am.

Julie led out on the next route, The Rap Route (5.5). It was a short stem/chimney, that became a crack above a short column. The route did not feel any harder than Western Front, but seemed to have easier gear placements. After I followed, and we rapped from the top, we contemplated our next move.

Now that the sun was out we decided to eat lunch and relax on some rocks at the base of the columns to warm up a bit. We briefly sought out our next objective, but returned to the rock when we realized how windy it was just around the corner from our lounging spot. After more relaxing, we finally got up to do our next route.

It was my lead, and I chose Good Timer (5.4) because the small roof on Slacker (5.4) scared me off a bit. (That and Slacker was more in the shade and seemed to be windier.) Good Timer had some loose rock on it, and again was somewhat difficult to protect. The climbing was fine, but nothing remarkable. After I led it, Julie cleaned it and we contemplated our next move.

We found a route on the far left that looked interesting to us. Julie asked if I would lead it, and so I gave in. It wasn't in our guide book, so we weren't sure of the grade at the time I started up. The route seemed to be a lower angle than our previous routes, except for the last 6-8'. About a third of the way up it had a small crack which was too small for my fingers except at the very top of it. I worked my way around it to the right and made my way up the rest of the pitch. I found this route to be the most enjoyable climbing of the four we did. Perhaps it was because it took gear better and I felt better protected because of it? Perhaps it was just the route? After we climbed it, we borrowed another climber's guide book in the parking lot and found out the route was a 5.7. ("The finger crack" which I bypassed probably gave it that rating.)

After that, we left for home.

My take on Tieton is that the rock is slightly better than at Vantage, but still quite dubious. The climbing is fairly interesting and enjoyable if you can look past this issue. However, it is difficult, especially when leading to get over this. After Julie followed Good Timer, she told me she thought the whole column was going to fall. I found myself more concentrated at times on the pro and its ability to protect a fall, than on the climbing itself. The terrain is somewhat different than Vantage as well, as it is a greener part of Central Washington. I'll probably return to Tieton at some point, but not likely soon.

A few more pics located here.

Peshastin Pinnacles - 04.11.09

Julie and I set out for Leavenworth with the lofty goal of going to Castle Rock and climbing Canary (5.8). We did not want to warm up on anything that we had done before, and decided on Cat Burglar (5.6) as the warm up climb. When we arrived at Castle Rock, we were dismayed by the "boulder start" of Cat Burglar and the amount of run out at the start of Canary. (No wonder they call it "Scary Canary.") After some attempts to make sense of starts of both routes, Steve McKim showed up and recommended we not attempt Canary if we were not feeling up to it. Julie had been sick during the week, and I didn't feel great about getting on these routes. So Julie and I made the decision to head to Peshastin where we believed it would also be sunnier and warmer.

It turned out the weather was great at Peshastin. Clouds blew through most of the day, and temps were warm. My only complaint would be the wind. It made it chilly at times when it was really blowing, and added an extra element to the climbing.

We started the day with Martian Diagonal. I led out on the first pitch. While the opening moves are fairly easy, it is about 15' to the first bolt and a little heady because of it. I found protection opportunities sufficient on the first pitch with the rock being a little low in quality. I ended the pitch at the big anchor for the top of the first pitch of Martian Direct. There was another anchor a few feet higher, but I did not see it. It also did not have as comfortable a stance. When Julie arrived at the belay, she still wasn't feeling up to a lead, so I led off on the second pitch. From the dish the anchor was in there were a few steep moves, then the climbing got really easy. However, protection wasn't as abundant as on the first pitch, but then again, the climbing was easy and secure. I arrived at an alcove with three bolt hangers that I thought was the next belay. Two were old Leeper hangers, and the third was a modern stainless hanger. While I could see a large "truck hitch" anchor bolt about 30' above me, I did not see other options with it. (It turned out when Julie and I arrived there that there was in fact two modern bolts for an anchor. Oh well.) I belayed Julie up to the dubious anchor and then she set about leading the final pitch. This involved finishing the final bit of the ramp, and then some ridge climbing to another interesting homemade anchor. (A large 3/4" bolt with a piece of plate aluminum attached to it with a hole drilled in it. Not confidence inspiring.) I arrived at the final belay, and then we set up a rappel for the 15' so we could walk off the north end of the ridge.

On to our next target, the classic Potholes on Dinosaur Tower. We hiked up the rest of the hill, and mused about our attempt at the Skyline route the previous year. I then proceeded to lead the first pitch. The first pitch was steeper and had more bolts than I remember it from climbing it with Ian two years ago. Again, in typical Peshastin fashion, the anchors at the top of the first pitch were dubious. There was a two bolt anchor with rap slings. (One hanger was a spinner, and the bolt looked as if it could be pulled out of the rock.) The other anchor was another Peshastin truck hitch, combined with a homemade piece of plate steel, and an older SMC 1/4" bolt and hanger. I opted to use the second anchor and added a cam for a four point protection anchor. I belayed Julie up, and she headed off on the second pitch which she led in fine style. After rapping the route, we headed to our next destination: Grand Central Tower.

Our goal was to climb the West Face Route, but once in site of it, noticed a handful of people at the base. We opted to head to Sickle Slab and hit the classic Windward Direct (5.8). From the base of the slab, the route did not look intimidating, and followed a series of typical Peshastin grooves/cracks up the slab. It was bolted, but judging from the cracks, it could take extra protection. I led out on a particularly windy lead. (Must be where the name comes from.) I found the route steeper than it looked and very heady. The moves were all there, but it was a bit of a distance between bolts, especially near the top where additional pro could not be placed. The grooves and cracks were great for foot holds, but really hurt my feet most of the way up. I stopped for a period when my feet were in comfortable pockets a few bolts from the top to give my feet a rest from the pain. The route has a somewhat scary finish as it is not obvious where it heads, and appears to drop off the other side of the ridge after the last bolt. A few moves past the last bolt, and I saw the anchor over to my left. Surprisingly, this was a comfortable belay stance, once again using the Peshastin "truck hitch" anchors. There were a couple of museum bolts up there as well. The nice thing about the route, is that you can rappel about 30' down the back side of the ridge to the ground, instead of taking a second rope to rappel the 140' of the route.

After that excursion, Julie and I headed back to Grand Central Tower for another shot at the West Face. It was Julie's turn to lead and she started up. Maybe it was the stress from the previous route, or perhaps it was just late in the day, but Julie struggled on the pitch. I followed, and found it difficult, even falling at one move. After reaching the anchor, we agreed it was time to call it a day.

While it was not the day we had anticipated, we had a great time. We notched a few 4-star routes, and a couple 3-star routes. We each climbed seven pitches and generally had a good day. Oddly, I found Potholes significantly easier than when I climbed it in '07, but found the West Face to be harder than I remembered it from '07. This visit should probably sate my Peshastin cravings for the year. Plus, it seems the weather is improving, and I'll be able to climb in Leavenworth more reliably from here on out. (It won't be long before the alpine season is in full swing, and Peshastin will have to wait until next year.)

My pictures are here.
Julie's pics are here.

Smith Rock - 04.03-05.09

The stars aligned for the possibility of Ken traveling to Smith Rock with Julie and I to climb Monkey Face. Ken could do the Friday and Saturday, but couldn't do Sunday. That was alright with Julie and I as we had planned to ski Mt. Hood on Sunday on the way home. So we took two separate cars.

I rode with Ken on the way down Thursday afternoon. We met Julie in the climber's bivy parking around 10pm at night where we promptly went to bed. It was a cool and windy night. I had a bit of ice in my Nalgene bottle the next morning. (I left it on the ground outside my bivy sack.) The morning was windy and cold. We decided to let the day warm up a bit by driving into town and stopping at the Starbucks inside the Safeway. We got back to Smith Rock and proceeded to hike up Misery Ridge to Monkey Face. Hiking got us warmed up, and the day was not looking bad. There were some clouds, but the sun was shining through. When we arrived within view of Monkey Face there was a group who appeared to be setting up a Tyrolean Traverse. We asked them if they were going for the summit, and they replied "no."

So we went to the base of the Pioneer Route, and geared up. Julie was to lead the first two pitches, and in less than 25 minutes, we were all at the base of the second pitch. At this point the weather turned a bit more sour (snow flurries.) Julie headed out on the second pitch only to encounter high winds at the notch, and a bunch of men in various states of climbing. Ken and I could only watch as the other group's ropes blew in the wind with horizontal flurries. Julie got to the ledge and belayed Ken up. Ken belayed me, and after crossing the notch, my hands were so cold, they were practically useless. Once all three of us were on the ledge we started to gear up for the aid pitch. Only to realize that the other party had started and they were taking an horrendously long time. Ken was trying to give pointers to the guy on lead, but he did not seem to grasp even simple concepts of leading on rock. Ken predicted they would take 2+ hours to reach the cave mouth and that we should bail. We all agreed. As Ken set up our bail rappel from the end of the Bohn Street Ledge, Julie and I discovered that this other party was a bunch of army guys on their first rock climb. We were astounded. Monkey Face is not a good first rock climb.

After bailing we decided to head over to Superslab(5.6). The wind and snow seemed to fade out and I started up the first pitch. It was enjoyable climbing that followed a crack up a steep shallow corner. I brought Ken up and then he belayed Julie up. Then the graupel started. We decided to wait it out a bit, but then Ken got impatient and started off on the second pitch. The snow subsided as he crossed the traverse, but the cooler temps prevailed, and Julie and I climbed the second pitch with gloves on. At the belay, Ken offered the third pitch lead to me, but I let him have it. He started up and led the pitch to the top. Julie and I arrived at the top without incident. Two rappels later, and we were back at the packs heading for the car.

We decided to go for Monkey Face first thing in the morning on Saturday and went to bed after dinner. It turned out there was a record low(15°F) for the area Friday night and I awoke to a Nalgene completely frozen solid. It was time for another trip into town to let the sun warm things up. Getting back to the parking lot, and hiking misery ridge a second day seemed worse. To our delight, no one was on Monkey Face when we got there. We tried to experiment with the notion of connecting the first two pitches, but when Julie started the first pitch again, there was too much rope drag for that to be a possibility. Soon, we were all back on the Bohn Street Ledge with no one else there. Ken started up the aid pitch while I belayed. Once in the cave, he hauled the pack and fixed the lines. Julie got the easy jug of the free line in space. I had the more difficult task of cleaning the route. What seemed like an eternity later, I was finally in the cave. I had opted not to re-aid the final traverse into the cave, which didn't prove to be any faster, and involved a lot of grunting and struggling for me.

In the cave we organized gear and I got ready to lead the scary Panic Point pitch. The pitch is rated at 5.7, but felt much harder the first time I did it. The difficulty comes from leaving the relative safety of the cave and stepping out with 180' of air between you and your packs at the base of the climb. I hemmed and hawed and tried to offer the lead up to Julie. She didn't bite, so it was out of the cave on the sharp end for me. Fortunately, you can clip two draws from the cave before stepping out on a bit of top rope. Shortly after stepping out you are heading up a face (that I remembered to be steeper.) The crux for me was the not ideal hold you have to hold onto while placing the second draw and clipping. The rest of the pitch seemed to be a cruise after that. After Ken and Julie came up, I set off leading the final pitch. It is fairly easy climbing to the top, but not particularly easy to protect. We all reached the summit, lounged, had lunch and then proceeded to rap over to the rap station to get off Monkey Face.

Ken set up the rap and went first. This was the part Julie was waiting for. About 180' of rappelling free in space. I followed Ken so I could take a few pictures of Julie on her way down. The rappelling went smoothly except for a bit of confusion on which rope to pull at the end. After pulling the rope, the time was 3:30pm and we decided to just head for the car rather than climb anything else. We celebrated at the cars with Monkey Face Porter from the Cascade Lakes Brewing Company.

We had dinner and checked the avalanche conditions for our Mt. Hood attempt. Avy conditions were high above 5000', so Julie and I decided to stay another night in Smith. We said good night to Ken as he would leave for Ellensburg earlier than Julie and I were waking up.

On Sunday, we headed straight to the dihedrals to climb Cinnamon Slab. There was a group there, but they were only interested in the sport routes, so we were able to get on Cinnamon slab early and climb both pitches. From the guide we had, the second pitch is rarely climbed. Which is a shame, because it was fun easy climbing. Although I will admit, that the route gets its three star rating from the first pitch. After climbing Cinnamon Slab we waited a bit for some of the sport routes to open. Julie led Lichen It (5.7) and I led Easy Reader (5.6) before the sun got to hot and we started our 5 hour ride home.

Unfortunately due to the army (and some uncooperative weather) we didn't get as much done as we wanted to. It was fun for me to finally get on something other than Monkey Face. I really enjoyed Superslab and was jealous of Ken for having led the third pitch. I found that the second pitch on Monkey Face felt way harder than I remembered it as well. Overall, still a great trip.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics here.

Leavenworth Rock - 03.21-22.09

Took Julie to Leavenworth for a phase of her farewell tour this weekend. The big goal was to climb Givler's Crack. In my opinion, Givler's Crack is the best accessible crack in the state, A four star classic that I had climbed in October with Lori. I wanted to lead the first pitch, and give Julie the money pitch. We had some other climbing we wanted to do, as Givler's Crack would not take more than a few hours.

Julie and I took a leisurely drive out to Leavenworth by leaving Seattle at 8am. Some rain was forecast for the morning, so we figured we would miss it if we left later. When we arrived in Leavenworth, Julie wanted to hit Gilver's Crack first. The weather was great, and it made sense to get our main objective before the weather turned sour. We had planned for snow on the ground, but most of the south facing slopes were snow-free, with a patch here and there. The north facing slopes of Icicle Canyon were full of snow and crags on that side looked cold and wet. There was still a fair amount of ice on the Pearly Gates.

We hiked in the general direction of Givler's Dome, but wanted to do a warm up on Freewheelin' (5.7) which is another crack route Lori and I did in October. Due to the snow patches, and general water erosion from the winter, we had some difficulty finding the trails. We eventually wound up at Freewheelin', which Julie led and I followed. No issues there, we headed up to Givler's Dome.

After a short walk, we were roping up. I let Julie know that I struggled with the crux when I followed Lori, so I wanted her to know I may need to take rope, or worst case fall. Funny as it was, just getting on the rock proved a little difficult for me. Once on the rock, I placed four pieces in the first ten feet of climbing to get through the crux. It was not as much as a struggle as I remembered it, but it was definitely a work out. The rest of the pitch went quickly and smoothly (I placed only three pieces the rest of the pitch.) and soon I was ready to bring Julie up with my anchor on top of the flake. Julie made quick work of the pitch and reported to me at the belay that taking the pieces out at the crux was difficult. It was her turn to lead up the four star second pitch. We both cruised the second pitch, and were celebrating on top in no time. Now to find other endeavours.

We hiked about a bit to find Fit 'n' Trim (5.8) a two pitch bolted/gear route near Mastodon Roof. Getting there was difficult and as best I can tell, no obvious trail leads there. I started to lead the beginning moves. There is an overlap/roof about eight feet off the ground where I placed a cam. After that, a bolt is clipped above the roof. After bungling around trying to overcome the overlap, I lowered off and gave the lead to Julie. She got through the overlap rather easily, and continued on the pitch to a tree belay. (off route) I followed up to her, after a fall and some hanging at the overlap crux of the pitch. We both ended up going a little left to overcome the crux, which was easier, but perhaps not exactly on route. Once up to the tree, I could see a bolt anchor and led up to it. This was supposed to be the top of the first pitch. I brought Julie up where we discussed the options of continuing up the wet second pitch or rappelling off. We decided on rappel, but I would lower Julie first to see if the rope would reach the ground. It did, and I then rapped down to the packs. (Lowering Julie from the top proved somewhat stressful for my body. I think if I was going to lower someone in a situation like that again, I would lower off the anchor.) We hiked out and called it a day.

Day 2 we again took a leisurely start and hiked up to the Planet of the Eights area in the morning. This is another not so easy to reach crag in the Icicle. Basically you cross the street from the Snow Creek Parking Lot and head generally east until you can cut back west and then up a 3rd class step near Poison Ivy Crack. Trails were well defined, but we had to cut through some cabins on the way there. Not sure if that is a normal or accepted practice. All routes on Planet of the Eights are 5.8, and all have at least one star. When we got up there, the routes looked a bit imposing, and we decided on the far left (Small Change) as our first route. I led it slowly, and then Julie top-roped it. We then both top-roped Surveillance of Assailants which was a more interesting and fun route. We left the third route for another time, and headed down to top rope Poison Ivy Crack (5.9.)

We were pretty much committed to rapping Poison Ivy Crack, as the 3rd class step was wet and not a safe down climb to get back to the road. So we set up an anchor, and we rapped to the bottom. Julie went first and did nice work on the crack. The crux is at the top where the crack ends and you have to move left out of the crack and onto a steep slab before topping out. Julie hung a few of times while working out the moves. She lowered off, and I gave the route a go. Unlike Julie, the route was never really a hands crack for me. However, I was able to climb the crack up to the crux fairly easily as well. I weighted the rope briefly at the crux and then worked out the finishing moves. Neither of us felt that we needed to climb it again. Julie and I agreed that is was not that difficult, but would be a bit harder to lead. I would recommend that anyone wanting to top rope it, use a cordelette or long runners to build the anchor so it reaches over the lip of rock at the top.

That was our last climb of the day. After saying "hi" to Ken, we headed back to Seattle.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.

Desert Climbing - Sunshine Wall - 03.07.09

With a good weather forecast only for Eastern Washington, Julie and I decided to head out to get on real rock. We also figured we could help Ken out as he was having his basic students out there for rock climbing practice. Our goal was one day of rock climbing and then skiing in the mountains on Sunday.

We opted to have two followers as we were looking for a more mellow day. Tony and Andrew joined us as we did a few routes in the sun and wind at Sunshine Wall. Highlights of the day included the first pitch of Chossmaster (5.7) and Skip 'em or Clip 'em (5.8). Both routes which Julie led. I led a 5.6 (Peaceful Warrior) and a 5.7 (??) which were not as nice. I really liked Skip 'em and wish I had led it.

What seems to be the norm for me at Vantage, is not climbing well. Julie and I thought that we both do not climb well when we are there. We think it has to do with our motivation. We are not really interested in being there, but want to get out on rock. I need to refocus my energy on climbing there the next time I am there as perhaps this will make me enjoy it and climb better.

My pics are here.

The Tooth - South Face - 02.28.09

Julie and I decided to make a ski attempt on The Tooth this Saturday. Avalanche conditions were cooperating, and a recent dump of new snow meant that the skiing would be more enjoyable than the hard crust which had been persisting.

We figured the climbing may be a bit more time consuming, but that we would make up time on the ski descent. This was of course, not computing that we were both less than stellar skiers. We left the Alpental parking lot at 7:45am under sunny, mostly clear skies. We followed the cat track until it became a skin track and continued on that for a bit. There were multiple skin tracks, which were also return tracks, and we wasted a bit of time in the woods trying to keep on decent track. We finally reached the gully to ascend to the hanging valley, and started skinning up in the trees between the two chutes. This lost us lots of time. Off of any track, the snow was deep. Floatation was required. Julie took a ski off, and was waist deep in snow. The slope was steep and treed, so not easy to make switchbacks on. Direct ascent usually resulted in sliding backward down slope. We struggled up this section until it leveled out at the top. That is when I realized the easier way to ascend it is to switch back under Chair Peak, and then take a rising traverse over to the basin. Oh well.

After the fiasco of getting to the basin, the skinning was fairly straightforward from there to The Tooth. Only thing was the skin track reaching the top of the basin proved a little too steep for me, and I had to blaze my own track. This was difficult, as the snow was deep, and we had heavy packs. Skinning under The Tooth we noticed a party on the first pitch of the NE Slabs route. The NE Slabs looks to be in right now, and almost made me wish we were going to attempt that route. We also noticed a party climbing the South Face as well.

When we arrived below the notch, we took our skis off and booted up consolidated steps up the gully. We stashed our skis and poles at the notch. I took this break to switch into climbing boots. We both took out ice axes for the travel over to Pineapple Pass. Snow down and over to Pineapple Pass was deep and unconsolidated. We post-holed down, across and up to the pass. Once there, we put on all our layers, and geared up. Julie and I debated about her wearing of ski boots or the approach shoes she brought to climb in. If she chose ski boots, I would be saddled with the leading on all pitches but the third.

I took first lead and started to climb. I wasted a bit of time deciding on which way to start. A party ahead of us had gone far left. I did not like this option, as it involved pulling on a boulder that I thought I could dislodge. After the boulder, was a snowy, icy, wet slab which was also not appealing. So I went to the right and got onto a ramp there which had about 2' of snow on it. Once through the ramp I climbed gingerly on the wet and snowy holds up the rest of the pitch.

I arrived at the top of the first pitch to a climber waiting to climb the second pitch. The party of three ahead of us was not making good time on the route. It was about 12:30pm. Julie was freezing down at the notch, and we decided we did not want to wait behind this other party all day and have a 4pm summit. I rapped back down to the pass and cleaned my gear along the way. We also rapped from Pineapple Pass to get by some sketchy wet snowy rock on the down climb. Once done rappelling, we were post-holing through the snow back to the notch.

At the notch, I finally ate something and we prepared to climb back out into the bowl. For me, this meant changing back into my ski boots, and putting my skis on my pack. I have to say, in winter conditions, is the easiest way up and down the notch. No 3rd class loose rock. No hard spring snow. Once at the bottom of the consolidated steps, we put our skis back on. A party of resort skiers was bare booting up our skin track in snow up to their thighs. They were attempting to do a run from the top of the basin. Julie got her skis on and proceeded to make long traverses of the slope with step turns at the ends. I made some long traverses as well in the upper steep section of the bowl. When we hit the flatter section, I noticed I forgot to put my boots in downhill mode, and had left the upper buckles unbuckled. No wonder I didn't feel too good on the steeps.

We started to make some good turns toward the bottom of the basin. Then it was time to pick our way down the chute. We descended the western chute, which is normally a small creek in the summer. Near the top it was somewhat steep, but it also had numerous holes. We made our way down. Julie sidestepping and traversing, while I would make a few turns then stop. We eventually made it back down to the correct skin/descent traverse and followed that. Since it was used a lot, it was hard packed and fast. This made for a few crashes by Julie and myself. Once we saw the lower cat track, we skied a powdered slope to it and made nice time back to the car.

Overall, it was an interesting trip. I accomplished one of my goals for this year which was a ski approach for The Tooth. Even though it did not result in a summit, it was good for the learning experience. It made me realize too, that skiing is not inherently faster than walking or snow shoeing. If I was a better skier, this may be true, but as of February 28, 2009, it may have taken equal or more time to ski. It was also interesting to see the south face in winter conditions. The recent dump of snow had more snow on the route than other parties probably experienced earlier this winter. The second pitch looked to have less snow on it than the first, but, of course, I did not climb it.

My pics are here.

Guye Peak - 02.14.09

Ken asked if I could help him out with his students and a winter scramble of Guye Peak. I accepted, but hoped to ski the route as I grow more and more weary of snow shoes. (Although part of it is growing weary of my 12"x30" giant, non-technical snow shoes.)

In the end, I decided against skiing. This is partly for solidarity with the students and showing a united front, but also, if I was to be the only one on skis, I had better be able to handle them better than anyone could handle their snow shoes. Since I'm not that good of a skier, it made sense not to come out with skis. Also, being the only one on skis defeats the advantage of skis. I couldn't be any faster, as I would have to wait for others.

While I do not regret the decision to bring snow shoes, I do believe I would have been OK with skis on. There would have been sections that I most definitely would have de-skied and bare booted. There would have been a few sections that were fun as well. There would have perhaps been a few sections that I would have lamented for being uphill on the way out too.

The climb went off without a hitch. We hiked up on well beaten snow trails most of the way. There was one section that had us a bit worried as it was steeper and icy in the morning on the way up. It turned out to be OK on the way down. Some warming during the day, and others who also tore it up with snow shoes seemed to have helped.

We set up hand lines for the two steps near the summit, and Julie acted as the human anchor for the hand line to the summit. We again set up the hand lines for the way down. Everything went according to Ken's plans. On the summit at noon, and back to the cars at 3pm.

We had variable weather all day, but mostly flurries with clouds coming in and out. Visibility wasn't great at the summit, but better than the last time I was on the summit of Guye Peak in the winter. We also saw a couple of climbers come up from the SW Rib route and traverse from the South Peak. Pretty wild stuff.

My pics are here.

McClellan Butte - 01.24.09

Yet another time on McClellan Butte, and another time not making the summit. The first time I had been there, Jennifer and I hiked up the first summer we were in Seattle. In the last 500' or so before the summit it was snowing. When we arrived at the final summit scramble, it was too wet and slick for us to attempt.

This time the goal was to do the North Gully or North Couloir route. Avy conditions had been low and Steve, Julie and I were going to give it a try before more snow fell. However, we were thwarted by another individual that was in our vicinity. We were heading up the correct gully, and saw him heading farther west. Since none of us knew the route, we started heading west. After wandering around, we came back east, and eventually climbed the north west gully.

The climb was enjoyable, and had a very different flavor than what I would expect a spring ascent to have. From the parking area, the snow was bulletproof. No need to snow shoes. Almost a need for crampons. We hiked up the trail and veered off around 2800' heading directly toward the couloir. We found the abandoned road and continued up in the snow field below the gully. (Later, on descent, we would notice that we could have taken the trail all the way to the clearings below the gully.)

This is where we saw some woods above us. According to our pictures, the gully should be continuous, and this is also when we witnessed the lone individual heading farther west. We started going into the next gully, and then the next after that. We realized we were too far west, and headed back one gully and started up. This wasted some time, and it was around 11am when we stopped part way up the gully to have lunch. (There was a reasonably flat area, which we weren't sure we'd see too much more of.) With crampons and ax, we all soloed up to the top of the gully where the angle reached about 45° or more.

Steve then led out belayed up a short 3rd class rock step and more gentle snow. Things still looked promising for us to be summiting. Although where we were didn't look exactly like pictures we had. We took our crampons off and Steve led a belayed rock climb through snow and 5th class rock to a sub-summit of McClellan Butte. We could see the true summit and the correct gully. Which is much steeper for the last 200' or so. (Perhaps 60°) After Julie and I arrived on top it was close to 2pm, and we needed to get down. There were flurries in the air, and we weren't sure about the best way down. After a bit of down climbing on the hard steep snow, we rappelled a rope length, and more down climbing got us back into the gully we ascended. From there it was a slow climb down the gully, and a moderate hike out on the trail. We left the crampons on all the way to the car.

The correct gully

Overall, it was a fun time. I don't feel I climbed all that well, but I have been getting sick as Jennifer was sick most of the week. I haven't felt particularly strong because of it. Also, I was still recovering from last week's blisters. (I did a lot of work to the right foot, but none to the left foot before the climb. The left foot wound hurts more than it did this morning, while the right foot does not.) Also the McClellan Butte trail has some of the largest Douglas Firs I've seen in the I90 corridor. We saw some mountain lion tracks in the snow on the way down as well.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.

Hyak - 12.20.08

What a difference a week makes. Although not in temperatures. (Telemetry shows the temp at Hyak today never exceeded 8°F during the time we were there.)

Julie and I headed to Hyak for a skin/ski trip. Snoqualmie has not yet opened Hyak or Alpental, due to "lack of snow." While it was adequate for skiing, it was probably not suitable for commercial skiing. A few more feet should hide the remaining conifer tops and all the alder. We decided on this location due to the 'short' drive, and moderate to high avalanche danger. Also, there was a "deadly" storm scheduled to hit later in the day, and we wanted to be home before that.

There were quite a few people out with the same idea. But, not as many as I saw last week at the Silver Basin. There was about a dozen or so "backcountry" skiers there. Probably a half dozen Nordic skiers and a few snowshoers. (Or is that slowshoers?)

The idea was to skin under the Keechelus Chair and then figure out what made sense for the descent. Under the chair was somewhat skied out, but it was the obvious line. There was a nice skin track on the way up, and we had no issues arriving at the top. At least that is what I thought. Julie lagged behind a bit, but I believed it to be because this was her first skin since the spring. When she arrived at the top, she explained that her back was bothering her and she was unsure about how the descent would affect it.

After some mulling about, we decided to descend under the chair. (The way we came up.) Julie was interested in attempting some powder as she did not have great success last season with deep powder. I too was interested, as my ski day last Sunday was less than ideal. We took our time on the way down with a couple of stops for Julie to reattach her ski. Near the bottom, we took the cat track as it didn't have as many alder branches sticking through it. (It didn't have any actually.) It was an alright run.

It was now 10:45am. Due to her back, Julie did not feel up to another run. I negotiated with her that I would head up and be back to the car by noon. To my surprise, I was able to skin all the way to the top and have a nice run back down in time to leave the parking lot at 11:55am. The second run was really nice for me. I was able to link turns and build some speed. I crashed once and arrived back at the car with snow pouring out of my clothes. I skied well.

(Photo by Julie Labrecque)

My photos are here.

Mt. Hood - 11.29.08

Sometimes the weather does not cooperate.

This is my first non-trip report. Julie, Dan and I had planned to ski/board Mount Hood. For Julie and I it would be more of a ski learning experience. I'm pretty sure Dan would have no problems with the sliding part. The goal was to skin to the Hogsback, foot it up to the summit and ski down to the parking lot. Forecasts for Hood for Saturday started out fantastic. (0% chance of precip, "Sunny") By the time we were about to leave for Hood, the forecast had taken a bit of a turn, but not enough to discourage going. (It had been changed to partly cloudy with no precip.)

When we arrived in the parking lot for Timberline Lodge, it was 37° and raining. I assumed it would pass as it was supposed to rain/snow a bit Friday. However, as we woke up late on summit day, it was still 37° and cold rain was still falling. Dan and I packed up the tent and we all jumped in the car to leave.

This was an interesting attempt and it shows that weather forecasting is not an exact science. Best I can tell, the system that was supposed to pass through Friday, came late and was not done passing through when we left Saturday morning. The rain was definitely melting snow at the 6000' level, and may have been falling as heavy wet snow higher up. But, visibility was very low, and we would have had to mostly hike up to snow from the parking lot. Not ideal. When is the snow pack going to be good?

Sperry/Vesper - 10.25.08

Due to the mixed nature of an alpine rock climb this time of year, Julie and I decided on a scramble. The goal was the Sperry/Vesper combo. Only as I sat down to write this did I realize we did not summit Sperry, and were really not on Sperry at any point. More on this confusion later.

The hike was mostly uneventful early. Autumn colors were beautiful, as clouds broke and built. We had some off trail time below Headlee Pass on the talus, but this was corrected with no significant loss of time. There was a fair amount of snow below Headlee Pass, with more than 12" on the ground from the 4300' elevation up. We were somewhat surprised by this since there hadn't been much precip this week, and we saw no new snow near the Tooth at levels to 5000'+. Anyway, the snow up to Headlee Pass was of a decent quantity to not hinder our ascent.

After Headlee Pass, we traversed over to "Vesper Lake." This is where going got slow. The talus/boulder fields that lie in the basin had similar snow coverage. Which in a boulder field meant enough to hide problems, but not enough to protect you from them. One had to be careful not to twist an ankle. On an related note, the lake at approximately 5000' was frozen over.

Now for the Sperry explanation:
Being somewhat lackadaisical about the trip, neither Julie or I packed a map. (The USGS map clearly labels Sperry Peak.) All we had to go on was the description and map in the "75 Scrambles in Washington" book. The map should have been enough, but for some reason we saw the unnamed hump on the ridge as Sperry. (I'll take the blame for this.) We started around the right side of the lake as the book told us, and thought that it would take forever, as the going was really slow with the moderately snow covered boulders and slabs. It is probably for the better we did not attempt both, as our 9 hour day would have been at least 2 hours longer.

Since we had already decided that the hump on the ridge was Sperry, it was an easy decision to go straight toward it from the south end of the lake. We picked a line up the slope and made our way to the summit. (The lack of tracks in the snow could have tipped us off, but did not.) We made our way to within 20' of the summit as there were some exposed moves on snow covered rock that we were not interested in. It was now about noon, and we sat down to eat lunch.

After lunch we headed to Vesper. We retraced our steps to the saddle between the hump and Vesper and proceeded up. After the initial snow slope, going got slow again as we had to post-hole our way between rocks and delicately cross snow covered slabs. About an hour later we were on the summit of Vesper. We dallied for a bit and started to head back down. The same slowness ensued although somewhat aided by our ability to retrace our steps. At some point we left our steps and found someone else's steps and followed them down to the crossing at Vesper Creek.

The hike out was uneventful, save for some late starting hikers trying to make it to the lake. What's up with late starts and unprepared hiking in the snow?

My pics are located here.

The Tooth - South Face - 10.18.08

With the days shortening and the temps dropping, Julie and I were thinking of at least one more alpine summit this season. The original plan of the East Ridge of Ingall's Peak seemed a bit snowy and cold, so we opted for the South Face of The Tooth. It is only an hour drive, and we had both done the route, and we could see how much snow there was higher up. Plus the partly/mostly sunny forecast and south facing nature, meant relatively warm temps.

So we headed out Saturday morning at a leisurely pace to The Tooth. We were the second car in the parking lot that wasn't related to some type of Alpental Ski Patrol meeting. We left the parking lot in clouds and heavy dampness. The closer we got to The Tooth, the better the skies appeared. When we got to Pineapple Pass, it was quite cold, but at least the rock was dry.

Julie started up the first pitch with gloves on while I belayed with my poofy and gloves. I followed the first pitch with the gloves on and the poofy, and took them both off before starting off the lead on the second pitch. (We were now in the sun.) The next two pitches went off without a hitch, and then we were sitting on top of The Tooth by ourselves.

Four rappels later, and we were greeted by a soloist at Pineapple Pass who was looking to get a decent time for a car to car trip. The hike out was under clearer skies, and beautiful fall colors. Even though it was mid October, the weather was nice enough that we would have expected to see more people climbing. We're glad we didn't as it made for a really pleasant experience, and an 8 hour car to car climb.

My pics are located here.

Static Point - Lost Charms -09.13.08

Julie and I headed out to Static Point on Saturday to do the only route there we could complete. The 5.9/5.7 A0 Lost Charms. It supposed to be six pitches of 5.7ish climbing with a 5.9 move which can be aided by grabbing an old Leeper buttonhead bolt. (Yipe!)

It was our first time to Static Point, and we found the approach a little vague. (In reality, the approach was pretty straightforward.) Approach beta differs for this crag, but most of it is pretty similar. However, recent work in the area means that you cannot drive the road to the boulders blocking further progress. Now the road ends earlier with high berms blocking progress. This involves more road walking and once you hit the boulders it is a mile in on the overgrown road. The turn off the road to reach Static Point is obvious, but there are a few rabbit trails that we sadly followed just as others had before us. The real trail seems further than it should, and was marked by a cairn, and a pipe 1/4 full of dirt. Other pipes were just decoys.

We eventually made it to the base of the climb which involves a small bit of 4th class scrambling on slabs to get to. Julie led out the first pitch which was supposed to be up and right, and we wound up at the Spencer's Spaceport anchor. I led up and left to get us back on route. The second belay had a bolted anchor at the bottom of the "Pillar". Since it was after noon and we were on a big ledge, we opted to eat lunch. Julie led out on the next pitch up and across the "Bridge Flake" which had a few exciting moves just before gaining the flake. (The topo actually listed that section as 5.8.) I led out on the next pitch which had a barely finger crack on it and set up a belay at the top. Julie got to lead the crux pitch up and over "The Great Flake" and set up a belay after. I followed up to her location and then back down a bit to a traverse left and then up to a set of bolts. There is supposed to be another pitch that takes you to the trees, but we opted not to go, as there were some guys rapping from Online off a dead tree up there. We weren't interested. We rapped Online with 3 double rope raps. (Actually, most of the bolts we rapped on were older hardware, and I was under the assumption that Online had been rebolted.) Perhaps we rapped some other route.

Overall the route was enjoyable on great rock. It was not as run-out as I was expecting. It takes decent gear, and I was happy we packed double of aliens from blue to yellow. (The finger crack pitch I would have liked a third blue alien, but made a nut work.) It is fairly easy for the leader to French the 5.9 move, but as the follower, I would have found it difficult to remove a biner/gear from the bolt after making the move. I also think that it is probably about two moves of each foot, and not just "one move" of 5.9. It is a short steep featureless section just below "The Great Flake." Once through the move, my heart was pumping and remained that way through the rest of the pitch. (I didn't find a large creaky flake very confidence inspiring.)

I didn't have a camera. (Jennifer has it in NJ.)

Following the Bridge Flake

More of Julie's pics here.

Le Petit Cheval - 09.07.08

Looking through trip reports online, Julie and I decided to hit Washington Pass and attempt the Spontaneity Arete on Le Petit Cheval, a prominent feature on Kangaroo Ridge. (Sorry Sabrina.) Since it was later in the season, and I am growing weary of longer approaches, we figured the estimated 1-1.5 hour approach sounded good.

What the information on the web does not tell you is that much of the approach is technical. Second, third and fourth class terrain separate you from the route. Julie and I made quick time down to the river and across then out into the clearing. The trail ends at a 3rd class step, and this is where things begin to slow down. After the step there are numerous sandy ledges to hike, more 3rd and even 4th class steps to confront and two fixed lines! Once near the top we had minor difficulties finding the start of the route, and eventually, I led off for a rope length that may have been a touch too early. Julie led out on mostly 4th class terrain until we were on the ridge proper.

After a touch of scrambling around, we found the area that appeared to be the second half of the second pitch with some 5.7 corners. Julie led up and we were back on the ridge for some legitimate 5.7 crack climbing. Some unmemorable climbing led to the 5.7 corner that I led, followed by Julie leading a steep section out of a cove, and then my turn at the "fun headwall" pitch. It was the most fun climbing on the route (for me) and was an enjoyable lead. Julie led one more pitch and we scrambled (roped) to the summit where we hip belayed each other for the somewhat exposed summit moves.

We could not find a rap station or suitable rap anchor near the summit to rappel into the gully. So we down-climbed back to the last rap station and proceed to rap the route. This was tedious, and the rope was fighting with us to get stuck on every pull. It eventually did, and I had to belay Julie back up 30' to get it loose. We eventually found a rap station that would get us into the gully. This proved no better as the gully was sand on slabs and plenty of loose rock. We finally made it to our packs and started the down-climbing and rappelling that would get us back to non-technical terrain.

We arrived at the 'first' 3rd class step just before turning on our headlamps. We proceeded to find our way back to the trail and get off trail in the forest. Fortunately we just headed downhill to the creek, and found the correct crossing. I, deceived by headlamp and darkness, thought I was stepping onto a section of dry creek bed, only to plunge 1' deep into water. Thankfully the car only lay a short distance up a not so fun (in the dark) loose rock/boulder field away. This is a trip I will not soon repeat. I did not find the climbing worth the approach.

My pics are here.

Julie's pics are here.

Argonaut - SE Ridge - August 9-10

Julie and I attempted the Southeast Ridge of Argonaut this past weekend. It is a route that only has a paragraph in the Beckey Guide. Reported good rock on a granite ridge with a difficulty of 5.6. With good knowledge of the route, and a strong party, this could be a day climb. With not much beta on the climb, we decided to make it a two-day trip. On Saturday, we hiked in and set up camp near Fourth Creek. We then went on a scouting hike to determine the approach to the climb. After hiking up a dry creek (which turned into a wet creek) we saw a ridge forming to our west. We left the creek bed and hiked up game trails to 5000'. We decided that this felt like the correct approach, and would take this path up the ridge on Sunday.

We awoke at 4:30 am Sunday and proceeded to take Saturday afternoon's path up the ridge. After about an hour, the hiking became more bushwacking and then scrambling. At some point we started roped climbing for a pitch only to realize at the top of the pitch that we appeared to be too far east. We rapped west of the ridge for some more scrambling to what appeared to be the correct ridge. Roped climbing started again, and after three pitches we could finally see the false summit (SE Spire) above us. Realizing that it was almost noon with at least 5 pitches of belayed climbing to the false summit, we made the decision to retreat.

I down climbed to a tree that started the first of five bailing rappels. The hike out below the rappels was loose rock and alpine meadows with what appeared to be dwarf (<1' tall) madrona trees. Some bushwacking through the woods got us back to the Ingall's Creek trail and then back to pack up camp and then on to the car.

It was an interesting experience, and I think there must be an easier approach to the ridge and the rock climbing is supposed to start higher up. I presume we gained the ridge too low and that was the issue.

My pictures are located here.

Julie's pics are here.

The Tooth - SW Face 07.19.08

Julie and I decided on the Tooth as we didn't have the ability to bivy at the trail head on Friday, and wanted to be back in town on Saturday evening. The Southwest Face is moderately harder than the more common South Face route, and less crowded. The 'summer' approach is being used now, but there is still enough snow that the talus field is not an issue. We had little difficulty finding the route (Thanks Scott) but did have some route finding issues while on route. The route basically climbs a series of corners to then join the South Face. Judging from another party on the route with us, there are different options/variations that can be taken. (They did different variations on pitches 1 and 4.) Climbing was nice, although there was an uncomfortable squeeze chimney on the first pitch, and there were some areas where protection was scarce. We rapped the South Face after chatting with a party of four on the summit. Overall a great climb on a great day.

Pictures are here.

Kangaroo Temple 07.05.08

Weather wasn't great, but we managed to summit in a long day. No real issues during the day other than some rain showers passing through. We stopped for the first shower, but climbed right through the following. The approach was a little difficult to follow through the talus fields, but it didn't seem to slow us down that much. We did don crampons for the snow up to Kangaroo Pass, but they did not seem necessary. (All these minor 'issues' seem to add up.) Slightly off route on the first pitch caused an intermediate belay. Then smooth route finding on the rest of the climb. The step around move was not as intimidating as I thought it would be, but it is never comfortable climbing without solid hand holds. We introduced an extra rap to get to the summit rap anchors, and found the descent route description to be somewhat off. ("Two double 50m raps to the packs.") The rap from the summit is a single 60m and the second rap is a double 60m back to the notch. Overall, a fun climb on decent rock, despite the rain.

Summit shot (photo by Julie Labrecque)

For more pics, click here.

Jessica's pics here.

Lundin Peak - W. Ridge - June 15

Julie and I headed up the Commonwealth Basin to climb the West Ridge of Lundin Peak. The route is supposed to be fairly easy climbing and a reasonable day trip. The approach was fairly straight forward, although there was a 'fresh' layer of snow above 5000' that made going a bit slow. Before long we were at the far western end of the West Ridge. We simul-climbed the first bit which I would say was 2nd class. After some route finding issues, it made more sense to belay the pitches which consumed time drastically. The climbing was generally not difficult, but not super enjoyable either. The rock was fractured blocks and pro placement was somewhat suspect. (Except trees.) Also the beta for the route states that is generally stays to the north side of the ridge, but there were at least 3 full pitches for us on the south side of the ridge. We also climbed a block/tower that was off route and perhaps low 5th class. We finally summited around 5pm, only to then question the rap anchors on the East Ridge. We couldn't find anything better, so went with the standard (which was a jumble of detached microwave sized blocks) rap anchor. There was wet slide activity on the southern approach slopes (triggered by skiers during the day.) So we set a few slides off before plunge stepping back to the car. Overall a nice learning experience and our first summit of the year.

Avy Destruction from the Winter.

On the West Ridge with South Face showing.

Lower West Ridge with ski cut on the south slopes.

On the lower West Ridge with Rainier on the horizon. (Photo Julie Labrecque)

Julie on the final pitch to the summit.

Me on the summit. (photo by Julie)