The Dark Side

CoR

2009-06-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

City of Rocks

Castle Rocks State park

City climbs:

Castle Climbs:

5.7 - .10a

2009-02-05T09:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=11878.0

I made another blog :) :)

2009-01-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

American Alpine Institute

Not too hard to find. Look for hood.

Hood SS 1/10/09

2009-01-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks for everybody who showed up. I had a good time hanging out. Too bad we were able to hang out, but you get what you get.
Now for the important stuff. Conditions report. Winds were high, snow was being transported to sout east facing slopes. There is blue ice all over the place making skiing interesting. If you can link up the soft snow patches it was good turns. We only made it up to the half way point on Plamer. We made the call there cause visibility was not that great due to blowing snow and ice looked to be more problemmatic as we went higher. It is not all about the down, but that is a large portion of getting up there. I appeared that there was no good way down from hogs back due tow the blue ice on the slopes. Later this week as we get a corn cycle things will improve and creamy turns will be had. Think Wend-friday and possibly next weekend if the weather holds that long. In the mean time stick to the groomers for the best turns.

Here is a link to the pics

Crazy weather

2009-01-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

We had two weeks of snow and cold. Now we have really really wet and warm. Thank god it is not a true Pineapple express. The snow will stay in the mountains, want good turns this weekend for two days at Crystal Ski Resort. Fingers are crossed.

Sicknesssssssss Jan 2-4

2009-01-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Plans were set. We were skiing for three days in Oregon. But as always a trip with me is an adventure in an adventure. Team Double D (DD) was off to Batchelor for a half day of lift turns. But highway 26 was closed for 10 miles. We were detoured on to a very small curvey, icey, creek running over the road 40 minute tour around the what we found out later to be a land slide. Finally made it to Batchelor and it was flat light and clowdy. But the snow was great. Not blower but light and fun. 5 runs later Team DD was feeling a lot better on two planks and were off to meet up with friends and beer.

Day 2
Get up early, load up and head for breakfast borritos and coffee. Headed to the snow park loaded up the sleds. Cort and Jlag on one with her skis attached to her backpack and me with my skis on another sled. It was cold. My face mask froze up but it was Blue Bird and the snow was looking really good as we headed to the top. Jlag dropped to show us the way through the cliff bands for the first run. The turns were a bit rough on the wind effected top but quickly turned to buttery goodness in the trees and down to the open slopes below. Just steep enough to make it great but not too steep to get freaky. Cort did great and shredded a great line. We put in a skin track back to the top for another lap. This time Jlag dropped a sweet line while we spotted from below just incase it slid. As usual is killed it. Back to the top and now it was my time to drop. Problem, bent my pole getting to the line when I was going too fast on a wind lip and had to land sideways to avoid taking the top off a tree. Thanks again Chris for the great tune job on the planks and for the added graffics :) I rolled up to the top of the line and dropped it was a bit freaky having to deal with lots of sluff but blundered my way through till I decided to turn back into my sluff and fell. As I was sliding I figured I was not going to stop so I better get up and ski out before I hit a tree that was fast approaching. Pole bent further, guess we were going to stop off at a ski shop for another pair. We did another lap to ensure we tracked out the entire bowl for everybody else. What good citizens we are:) The amazing thing was that NO one else showed up. We later found out the reason was that they were planning on hitting it the following day. Early bird gets the shreddage.

After much beer off to bed to dream of the days sickness. Sweet dreams.

Just so you can dream too, the pics.

Day 3
This time Timmy, Schralper and Mlag signed up for some goodness. The crew was large and in charge. Team'z DD and Lag'z ready to tag team. At another snowpark got the sleds loaded and warmed up. At our first fork in the road we looked at little blue and decided the sled was not up to the task of making it the rest of the way. What to do....I know..Let tow Will off one of the sleds. That is a great idea. Ok it was not that bad, but it was not easy. At least it was mostly up hill to where we had to go. At the base of the slope we skinned up geared up and laid first tracks. Everybody thought the snow was going to be heavly wind effected but turned out to be quite good, some would say great. It was :) What littel wind there was kept it really cold. I only ski in so much gear at the resorts. Think I got a little case of frost nip on my nose. Need a nose warmer. Got in a couple of more laps before legs started to give out. Back to the sleds for possibly the best turns of the day. Guess we should have been lapping that slop. Lesson for next time. On the way out I forwent the harness tow system for a loop at the end of a rope. Much easier and I could get turns on the way out. I was actually having fun minus the whoopie-doos. Though were though to keep from crashing into the back of the sled. At one point there was so much downhill I let go of the rope and skied past my tow sled and past the second slep with Schralper and Cort and almost past the Lag's. That was fun till I hit a flat spot. I grabbed the back of Schalper's sled ala Back to the Future style and made my way down the trail. Finally it got really flat and I ditched Schalper and waited for Timmy to pick me up. A short while later we were back a little blue and off to the cars.

Man if every trip was like this. Pics for you.

The adventure continued as we were to find out that it was snowing in Portland AGAIN!!!! The drive from govie home sucked. The price for goodness.

Rain, Rain

2009-01-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

It is raining like crazy here. Don't think it stopped all day. Freezing level is high so not good for the snow pack. All packed up and ready to head to bend for 3 days of fun. Half day at bachelor if the lifts are running then BC for two days. Not sure where we are heading, but Cort is going along for a full meal deal this trip. It will be fun to see what she thinks of sleding in for turns. Will have the camera so pics will be posted when get back. Want to take the good one if there is enough room in my pack. I need to start looking for a good camera bag so I can pack it along with out worring about breaking it.

Govie turns

2008-12-26T15:51:00.001-08:00

Had not partners for today so I played it safe and skied the Alpine trail from Government Camp to the top of Blossom or is it stormin norman now. The snow is great right now, deep and soft. Came out of the skis today, so it looks like I will need to up the DIN and double check the boot clearence in the bindings. Good workout and got some good turns. After the poor ski form today I am going to hit the ski resort as soon as Cort gets back from Lakeview. Practice, Practice.

Well, well

2008-12-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

X-mas was great. Made out like a bindit as usuall. The kids were great. They are at the age where christmas is perfect. I could almost pass on the whole thing if it were not for them. Off for some turns tomorrow not exciting, just a workout basically, Government camp to lord knows were. Maybe top of palme if I am lucky. we will see.

Newton creek last saturday

2008-12-24T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well the storm was still raging in oregon, what to do.....go skiing. What else. We decided to hit up Newton Creek and test out the access. Snow bridges were not put in by the snow cat so we had to hunt around for one. We were lucky to find one that was just large enough to cross with the skis still on. Once across we were on our way. Breaking trail was really tough. Knee deep powder with the skis on and your pole would hit no bottom. Doing kick turns was a crux but looking ahead for turning spots really payed off. We stopped short of the open bowl I usually go, everybody in the party was tired after the slog up. We dropped for one lap of turns that turned out to be not that good. Snow is still not quite deep enough to cover all the small trees so you had to be carefull not to clip one.

This link has pics of the trip. At some point I will get the photos off my camera and add to the collection. What to do for this weekend??? Options are opening up.

First Turns

2008-12-16T09:49:00.001-08:00

Last sunday the snow was falling and there was just enough base to make a trip up to the mountain worth while. The big debate was where to go. After a conditions report from a friend that headed up saturday the decision was made. Meadows ski resort. A quick look reveled that we could ski the main area safely since the lifts that were running would not allow access to the #1,2,3 bowls. The snow was just deep enough that hitting the ground was a non-issue. Yes we did have powder and turns were good. It was Cort's first trip on her new gear. Figured out a couple of kinks that will be take care of before she heads out next time. She did great and both her and I had some problems on the first lap. Had to remember how to ski. But the second one went much smoother. With the cold weather and the next dump expected wed and thurs this following weekend is looking good for turns. The additional snow fall will open up the terrain we can ski. Thank god. It was fun to get laps in at the resort.

Glad I did not go

2008-05-28T02:24:00.001-07:00

Well the weather really heated up. I was planning on heading up hood for fun and bivi on the summit. After finding out it was going to be 98 deg in portland and mt. hood was going to be really warm I bailed on that plan. Really glad I did. Check out this report. I could have been caught in that slide.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/798141#Post798141

Wow my life

2008-05-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

Well thought I would post this just incase people were wondering. I have been up to absolutly nothing. I went up hood once and had some good turns, and went to smith once. but other than that this spring has been really slow on the adventure front. This weekend I am going to get out and do something and next month is looking good. I have plans finally :) Hope everybodies sping has been better than mine.

Red Rocks pics

2008-03-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

here are some choice pics from the First trip to Red Rocks.

The Drama

2008-01-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Went to the Wallowas for a backcountry hut tour. Spilled boiling water on my right hand and right foot. Killed the trip. When the photos come in I will put them with full story on the weekend. The burn ended up not too bad. Second degree, and should be good in a couple of weeks.

Hogs Back Jan 13th 2008

2008-01-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

Rare weather window was forcasted for sunday. Emails were sent and plans confirmed. Left the parking lot at 8 am. Idea was to go slow and cruse, no hurry. Well that idea went out the window when we arrived at silcox hut a half our later. We were hoping for a summit bid via the south side route. But that desision was going be made once we were on the Hogs Back. The weather was perfect. Clear, cold and basically no wind. Joel, and Marsha were crusing, Jon was starting to slow as we got closer to Crater rock. We were going to pop his alpine cherry this trip :) Skinning also was getting trickier as we gained elevation. One slope Jon had to take off his split board and boot it. The same idea was crossing my mind but I made it up the slope. But soon I was booting it with Jon. Just as fast and way easier than skinning at that point. Jon and I were just below crater rock and he was hinting that we was getting really tired. Not having that I told him we was going to make it to the hogs bag so get use to that idea. He was really great about it, I have been in the same possition so many times. We got to the hogs back and decided going any higher was not a good idea so stapped in I dropped first. First turns were steep and good, I wished that slope had lasted for a 1,000 ft. So much goodness. The rest of the turns back to the car were GREAT. The snow was fast and wind buffed, took turns like nothing. Fun fun was had by all. Now for the porn.... I mean pics :)

Skinning Palmer, look at her she looks great with all that snow

"Sofa" break, thanks Marsha and Joel for digging that out
Boot packing up the Hogs Back. Steeper than it looks. It rolls over to a nice steep slope, be it a short slope.

Now the fun. Joel skied down to a shorter slope and the next three photos tell the story :) Wish I had my camera on high speed. Love the go for it attitude Joel, keep on it. Now if you would just do a resort day.

Joel almost falling

Joel falling #1
Joel Falling #2... For the record he did better the more turns he got.
Marsha dropping in
Marsha looking good
Nice Jon, best pic right there!!!
Looking good on the traverse.

No more pics, but the turns were perfect.

Lame PBR pic, but manditory :) Great day with great people. Jon we will have to do that again and make it to the summit next time. This trip is the highest Jon has been on hood. Good work, I told you it would be worth it.

Newton Creek 12/30/07

2008-01-02T21:55:00.001-08:00

Took saturday off and geared up for a larger goup heading to Newton Creek. It had dumped feet of snow between Friday and Sunday. I recieved more than one phone call about avalanch danger and I said lets at least check it out, there is always a place to ski no matter what. We will have turns, good safe terrain even in high avalanch conditions. It was dumping hard right in the parking lot and it was cold. Good news for us :) Seems like every trip Cort goes on it is some kind of bad weather. Middle Sister snow camping, Colchuck snow caming, and now this trip. What a trooper or maybe I should not take her any more and I will have more good weather trips, food for thought..... On the way up I cut some cornices off to see how things would slide and just as I suspected things were looking good in the trees. We quickly made time up the hill and the weather rolled in or we were more in the wind. Getting cold we decided to make some turns. Joel, and Chris were quick, Cort need some help but doing fine, but dang it leave it to the splitboarder Jon to slowing things down. Geesh you would think these guys would get a clue and learn to ski. Joking, wish I had a split board for that day, snowboarding on big powder days is the best hands down.

Would have taken more photos but it was too cold for camera. Need to a better job keeping it warm. Needless to say blower turns were had by all. Joel was getting the hang of things sort of, first time on skis in many years. Thanks guys for heading out, worth it?? I think so :)

Cooper spur ski 12/28/30

2008-01-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

After putting the call out Jen took my up on my offer for some BC turns. Snow had been dumping for the lasts three days and it was set for some sweet turns. We skied through the Cooper Spur resort and headed for the Tilly Jane trail. The weather was looking good, so good I was in shorts and a think long sleeve. Thought we might make it up to the Stone shelter. Well after an hour and half we were up at the A-frame (smoken). Weather had turned for the worse, major wind and snow transport. Jen made the mistake of taking me for my word that I knew where we were going we back tracked a bit and broke out the map and compass. She guided us perfectly up to I figure 100 vertical feet short of
the stone shelter. At this point from the blowing snow it was hard to see
and it was getting cold. We strapped up for the decent and made some

sweet turns on the way down

High five at turn around point. Good job Jen

Jen falling. Was starting to wonder if she could ski.

Finally some turns, yes she can ski... :)
Great day. Thanks Jen for the good time.

First real trip of the season

2007-12-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

The weather was looking good, it was Friday. Man it was hard but I decided to get some turns. Driving up the clouds did not look good so instead of summiting I figured I would at least make it to the top of the Mile or Palmer. I got a late start of 9 am. But soon I was greeted with this view

And this view. It was really cold in the clouds but as soon as I broke out of them it was as pleasant temperature. Mt. Hood is looking real good for climbing now. I made really good time to Silcox Hut in 35 min, then 45 to the top of Palmer. Then I really slowed down. It seemed like forever to get to just below the hogs back. I decided to turn around because I was getting tired, my feet felt like wooden blocks and time was running out for day light.

Altitude really kicked my butt. Well this is the first trip of the season. Check out the avi crown around the crater.

The ski down was one of the best trips down ever! The snow was not very powdery but a good hard pack the took edges like a dream. Wish I could have done laps up high. Once down I drove over to Cooper Spur Ski area and found a place for the tent. woke up the next moring to sleet. After getting a very late start of 10 am in warm temps I stripped down to my thinest pants and shirt with glove liners. Needless to say the sleet quickly turned to rain and the snow it the trees was melting off to further get me wet. The snow was sticking to my skins adding at least 10 extra pounts, ok well it seemed like it :) Since the ski was going to suck and I was not going to make it up to the stone shelter I decided to check out the Polallie Ridge trail. Other than breaking trail for 2.5 miles to the Tilly Jane Hut I really like that trail for heading up. However skiing down would not be that great, lot of flat spots and very tight trees. So up on Polallie and down Tilly Jane.

Powerthirst

2007-12-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

Funny videos....too funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3qncy5Qfk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

last weekend

2007-12-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well I headed up friday afternoon to hood. Got to timbeline and set up the condo (3 man dome tent) just off the timberline parking lot. Took some work but I made a sweet tent platform. It was cold and very light snow showers off and on. Things were looking good for the next day. Woke up around 7 am and made breakfast before heading off. My bladder hose froze in the night but figuring it would melt by the time I hit the top of the mile I payed no mind. Man it was cold. Afte several layer adjustments I ended with rain pants and fleese top. That worked for a while. ANy way it was windy and Cooold, I need to figure a better glove set up, my hands are very sensitive to the cold after last years chair peak debockle. got some turns on good snow. I am ready to start getting some alpine and in better shape.

time to get some

2007-12-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well my back went out two weeks ago, not 100% but I am going stir crazy sitting around town on the weekends. So the plan is to head up to timberline for two days of fun :) Hope the high winds we had with the crazy storm earlier this week did not blast the mountain bare of snow. Weather is looking good up there so I should not be the only one up there. I am ready to start the winter season!!!!!!!!!

Snow

2007-11-21T18:12:00.001-08:00

When will it snow. Ok it has but not enough for me to get my skis out on the Mnt. It is cold now but we have no precip. This is sucking. To top it all off I threw out my back last weekend. Some much for some holiday fun. Oh well next weekend I will be back and ready to get the lungs hurting.

Smith Rocks 11-4-2007

2007-11-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

After heading to XC championships at Lane Community College on sat I drove over the crest to Bend for a day of climbing with Josh and Chris. Little worried about keeping up with those two. They sound like they are climbing strong. Weather was great. Felt like 70 deg, and it was sunny. Headed to testament slab, we started on revelations 5.9 for a warm up. Then irreverance 5.10 a. My turn to lead I headed up a 5.10b route (don't know the name). I am suprised to see that it is rated 5.10b thought it was a 5.9. Things were getting crowded so we headed over the pass to the back side and the Mesa Verde wall. Chris fired off Reason To Be and old school 5.10d. Man on top rope that route is HARD. Leading it is crazy! Realy fun route, pumpy and teckie footing. I was "told" I had to lead Sundown a 5.9 four star gear lead. This route is a bit intimidating. The first piece is about 15 ft off the deck. Easy climbing but if you fell..... Got my first two pieces in and felt much better. At this point you climb inside the detached dihedral with a great crack for hands. I was about half way up and my head started to go bad. I asked for a take and both Chris and Josh said NO. After hearing this I bucked up and finished the route. I cheated a bit and used the face to the left. Thank god for good friends and the no take. To finish things off for the day Chris lead Bad Moon Rising 5.11a. This route is fun but getting to the point of crazy hard for me. He took twice and fell once pulling the roof. It looked like a giant was above the ledge and blew him off the rock, he just flew off. It was rather entertaining. The start is so thin and powerfull. It was a great day, good weather and good friends to share the day. Can't wait till the next free weekend to head back down for a throw down :)

Mt. Hood Cooper Spur Hike 10/21/2007

2007-10-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

I slated a newbie backpacking trip for the weekend but no newbies signed up (suckers) and the weather was looking really bad for saturday. So the plan was hatched to do a day hike. I wanted to climb cooper spur but reality hit me. I am way out of shape for that so a day hike up the spur was called for. We needed to get into the snow one way or another. We drove up the road to cloud cap as far as we could (not nearly as far as I thought we could). There was a good amount of snow on up there. The recent storms did thier job! In the snow the whole time. We took the road for a ways then jumped off to hike ghost ridge (we think is was that) or at least a lateral morain for the Elliot glaier. The day was perfect, good temps and sunny. I was in shorts all day long working on my tan :) We ended up stopping at the same elevation as the stone shelter on cooper but a ways west of it. It is starting to look tasty up there for some turns and to climb cooper spur.

Mount Olympus - blue glacier

2007-09-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Trip: Mt Olympus - Blue Glacier Date: 7/27/2007Trip Report:After driving from Portland (man did that seem to take forever). Thought I was going to sleep in my car for a couple of hours. But as I was getting my permit I was not tired at all.

So at 7:15 pm I left the TH for Mt Olympus. The plan: Do it in 24 hrs and then head over to Tatoosh to meet g-friend who I have not seen for over a week. She was planning on climbing some of the tatoosh with a friend of hers. Oh did I mention I have not seen her for over a week, I REALLY wanted to see meet up with her!!!! OK back to the story. Left the TH at 7:15 and feeling good. Started slow but soon I was cruising, enjoying hiking in the daylight for a change. Taking in the sights. Starting thinking if I wanted to cross the glacier in the dark. Decided I did not want to so I had to find a place to hang out and catch some ZZZZ’s till sunrise. Glacier Meadows was the last camp I knew of. After most of the flat of the trail on the river it started to go up hill. Well to moving things along I hit Glacier Meadows at 1:15 am.

Was pleasantly surprised to find “emergency” shelters. Well I did not have a tent or sleeping bag and I was only going to us it for 3 hrs so yes this would qualify me J. Just in case you did not know sleeping in your rain shells (pants and jacket) really sucks. Amazingly I did get some sleep. Awoke and hit the trail around 5:45 am. Eating breakfast (4 tortia's and salmon) on the go. Took it easy and hiked behind a group of 4 till the glacier. It was filled in and looked to be easy to get across. Strapped up and started trucking across the glacier. What a great Mtn. I was thinking how hard it was to get in there in the winter cause that place would be great to ski. It is a giant ski bowl with great lines everywhere. Basically followed the boot track to the top of Snow Dome, over the shrund around to the false summit and over to the summit scramble. (survey marker on summit) The scramble to the summit was a fun and added to the experience, then the down climbing. As I was sitting on the summit thoughts of doing the trip in 24 hrs and heading over to tatoosh were going through my mind. Made good time down the glacier and back to the trail. I was sure I could do it. But now the pain was going to set in. I needed to run as much as I can to ensure I made my goal time. At some time I am going to hit wall. At first running down hill was going good, then my knees were getting tired, then they started to hurt. Next the feet started hurting, but I was still making good time. The first 8 or so miles down from Glacier Meadows went quickly, and then it happened I hit the wall. Had to stop running and started hiking very slow, but soon I was able to pick up the hiking pace and eventually slow jog. At this point my knees were rocked, feet HURT, and the back of my left knee was growing a knot. But I only had 10 miles to go. I could still make it in 24 (maybe) so I kept on truck as best as I could. Then it happened again this time for real. THE WALL. At about 6 miles left I basically shut down. Now thoughts of making it back before dark were crossing my head. Time to take out the hiking poles, anything I could think of to keep me moving I did. Talking to myself, not taking breaks, anything. I was still making decent time, about 2 miles/hr, but did it hurt. With about 3 miles left I just wanted to be done, I had no sleeping gear, almost out of food and now I could barely walk. The Death March was officially in full effect. Now my right calf joined in the choirs of body parts revolting against me and soon my back would finish things out. It was all I could do to keep moving. Just wanted to finish before dark. Soon it was 1 mile left then, half mile left and soon the sweet, oh so sweet sight of my car. At 8:10 pm Friday night I finished. All thoughts of heading to tatoosh were gone. Hell I could barely bend over to take off my shoes and shocks. Jumped in the car and drove a ways before I pulled over to catch much need sleep. My trip was over and what a wonderfully painful enjoyable time it was. I had a blast, and what a fun mountain and enjoyable route. Next time I think I will do it in 2 days to make it easy. Also I am wondering what it would be like to head in there in the winter for some turns. Pics will come later. Camera left at home this AM. I was amazed to see how many people travel that trail and how many people were heading up to climb the route. Guess maybe a long approach but a long maintained trail will attract more people than a moderate unmaintained trail.

Sorry about the bad presentation. Added pics after and that was a mistake. Next time add as I do.

Liberty Bell - Liberty Crack 9/8/2007

2007-09-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

Not sure who came up with the bright idea of doing Liberty Bell, liberty crack route but my buddy “P” and I were packed up with borrowed gear to supplement our own and on our way Friday afternoon. Long 7 hrs later we arrived at the parking lot for lib bell to catch some zzz’s. After some discussion on the drive up the plan was to get an early start fire off the first three aid pitches and if we were done with the aid by 11 am then we would go for the entire route that day. We slept in a bit but were still started the route early enough. I was up for the first aid pitch. After looking at the “4th class scramble” to the start of the aid I put on my rock shoes and thus started aiding in my rock shoes. The first pitch was very slow to start, some tricky placements and couple of areas that required me to get out of the aiders. Couple of placements I thanked my parents for the genes that made me tall. Not sure how long it took me but it was FOREEEEVER. Damn I suck at aiding!!!! P cleaned the pitch, and racked up for what I thought was the money aid pitch, the Lithuanian Lip. It took a bit for him to figure out how to pull the roof but he did it in fine style. Now I got to clean it. Damn that sucked. I was slow. Cleaning roofs is hard! Place jumar above piece, take bight pull in to clean gear lower back jug up to next piece. Then to pull the lip, my abs got tired on that one. When I got up to the belay he was very cold so I let him fire off the final pitch so he would warm up. By the time he finished that one I was freezing so I told him to clean the route on rap so we could get the heck out of there. I wanted my pant legs and a warm jacket that was left at the bottom since we started out in sunshine and thought those would be unnecessary extra weight. Big mistake. Day 2., early start. We jugged the lines and the roof was no problem for me, second time around. Oh I jugged in my hiking shoes and what a difference, so comfortable. As I was starting the first fixed line a couple from Seattle started and were French freeing the aid pitches…WOW. They were making great time. P racked up for the 5.10 pitch and went for it. That was a tricky pitch and we were moving slower than thought. I seconded it with the extra gear, shoes, water, clothes and rope coiled and packed away. Climbing 5.10 with an extra 20-30 lbs SUCKS donkey d$%k. I was so tired after that pitch I really started to wonder if we were going to be able to finish in a day. The couple was a pitch below and was clearly moving faster than we were so we decided to wait for them and let them pass. When they finish the wide 5.8 I started up and had a hell of a time getting into free climbing after all the aid. My head from the get go was saying get the heck off the hill. I started up and about half way up I succumbed to my brain and had to be lowered off. DAMN. After having a good head for North ridge of Stuart this was a step back. After looking at the time, all the weight for the second and my head we called it. P fired off the 5.8 pitch in fine style. We left all the hear and I packed the rope up. I was still having some head problems but got up the sucker and we did a two rope rape back to the last belay station to collect gear and get the heck out of there. I rapped down to the station and forgot to clip in, nice comfy ledge. P caught my error and basically saved my life. After getting to ropes unstuck from the first rap we were back at the bottom. The last rap we rapped over a guy aiding the first pitch, man he was aiding in fine style, basically showing us how it is done. WOW is all I can say. On the entire trip we were keeping a mental note of lessons learned on the trip. 1) Extensive aiding in rock shoes sucks.2) Aiding in rock shoes with Velcro is not good. Velcro catches on everything making a cluster.3) We both needed to eat a lot more and drink water. First day we drank one liter for the both of us and I only ate 2 bagels besides breakfast (most likely major contributor to my head f$%k). Second time this lesson was learned for me, North Ridge of Stuart I did not eat or drink enough. 4) Bring warm clothes with you up on the rock, blue toes, hands, and the shivers at belay is not fun5) We need a way to figure how to shave off lbs for the free climbing. 6) From Portland it is quicker to drive I-5 to Liberty Bell rather than taking the east side.7) Bring extra batteries even if you thing the ones you have are good. Damn camera was out for the first day. The best day for pics too.I like to thank Dan and Justin for loaning me the extra gear. Dan thank for taking me aiding the two times prior at Broughtons. I need a LOT more practice. Beacon??? It was an exciting 3rd time aiding A2 can be a bit freaky when you are new to it. Two lobes on a micro cam will hold body weight but does not like to be moved around a lot. P thanks for the good time, we both learned a lot and next year with some refinement and aid practice we will fire that thing off. We did a lot right; we just need to do more. It was a huge step up for both of us and we both has a great time. P lets fire some more sh$t off. I am game

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/722317/page/1/fpart/1

Da Tooth Sept 22-23

2007-09-25T02:13:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to do The Tooth and Ingalls Peak for quite some time. Talked to Cort about it and decided to invite Jon and Jessica as well as my main climbing partner Josh who was in dire need of getting some alpine. Friday afternoon Josh drove up from Bend, we loaded Corts rig and started the drive north. Jon and Jessica drove thier own rig and were going to meet us in the parking lot. After figuring out that the summer TH and the winter TH are in different parking lots the former being in the main lot for Alpintal camp was set just as the rain started falling. Guess we were going to get the 20% chance of rain. After getting lost Jon and Jessica finally showed up and set thier camp between showers. In bed by 1:30 am. It rained through out the night, great the rock will be wet oh well we can at least get to the base of the climb to check it out. Conditioning hike right? Got up late to let the rain stop we were hoping, left the parking lot at a reasonble 8 am. The hike in started nice, that trail was a wilderness highway. Made great time to the talus fields then things slowed down. The climb up to the base looks a lot shorter from the trail, what you don't see is a second talus field/bowl. It started to mist/rain halfway through the first talus field and at round the 5,500 ft level it was snowing. Things were not looking good. But we trudged on anyway. The scrambling on the back side of pineapple pass we very sketchy. Steep mud/rock. In dry conditons would be a non-story but wet it made for interesting footing. Falling was not an option. We wrapped around the gendarm to the base of the climb and things were wet. To top things off the sun was teasing us with sucker holes every now and again. Jessica (on her first alpine experience) was not ready to head up. Josh and I were ready to fire the thing off, Jon I thing was ready after he figured out that Josh and I did not care about the wet rock. Cort was being supportive of Jessica and was willing to go with her to let the "boys" climb. We set up the rap for the ladies, I talked to Josh after Cort was down and the decision was made to bail. Keep a positive experience for all was more important than bagging a easy climb. Needless to say I am looking for the next weather window to fire that bad boy off. Everybody had a good time. Sunday Cort, Josh and I headed to Bulo point for some alpine cragging in the dry. What a good time. It was good to see and climb with Josh, we have to get out more often!!

North Ridge of Stuart aug 25-26

2007-09-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

I talked Joel into doing the NR of Stuart. This route goes 30 pitches at a grate of 5.9. A huge step up for both of us. Go big or go home right? The weather was looking iffiy before we even started. Gathered up as much info as we could and decided on what sized rack to take. So the plan was to drive up to Stuart/Ingalls Lake TH start hiking around 2 am get to the base of the route by daybrake. Climb to the bivi sight on route. Finish the route the next day and get home. Well that was the plan. The drive took much longer (we went via I-5), and we started hiking around 4 am. The hike in took a lot longer as well. So we were at the base of the route around 9 am. Joel elected to take the first pitch. He fired off the bottom just fine till he got to the 5.8 offwidth. He was having a hell of a time because his backpack was hitting the roof of the offwidth. After many tries we finally decided that he would leave hit backpack clipped to a piece and finish out. After ditching the pack the rest of the pitch went like clockwork. I climbed up to his pack and promptly left mine there as well, but took the extra rope. I got up to the belay set the line for a rap for Joel who volunteered to rap down and prussic up so we could retrieve the packs. He did a great job and soon I was off on the 5.9 layback finger crack. I started with my pack and quickly ditched it. The extra weight was making my feet slip and pulling the tenuas layback difficult. After loosing a few pounds things went "easier." Placing pro was hard. I climbed up to a small roof with a good stance and did not like many of the pieces I placed, so I took some time to place the next one. After about 5 minutes I had a piece in that I was REALLY happy with finally. I started up again and the climbing was more of the same, hard. I could take the time to place a piece and get real tired or I could just finish this thing off. Well I opted to finish it off. The exit to the belay was not an easy move and sure enough I peeled off. A good 30 ft later I came to a nice stop caught by my belayer. Nice work Joel :) I was shaken a bit, my right thumb had a good gash in it and my right ankle was a bit tweeked, so I was just fine. Not too bad for my first real trad fall. After a minute or two I got back to climbing and finished the pitch with a few more pieces this time. Joel got to the belay and we talked about our options. Personally I was done after the fall. But the weather and the time were our main concerns. We bailed. My ankle was getting worse as we hiked out but it leveled out after a point. We made it all the way to just below Ingalls pass before we decided we were too tired to go any further. Found a bivi spot and slept. Around 5 am (4 hrs sleep) it started to rain, and we packed up and booked it out to the car. Stuart was fully in the clowds and rain. Thank god we were not up there in that, talk about an epic!!

updates

2007-08-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time since I have posted. I am going to update over the next week. The main reason for no updates is that this spring has been a slow one. Not much going on. Just trips to smith tieton river. Alpine was not that good due to bad weather over the weekends.

Ski time

2007-02-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

We with all the snow fall and sweet weather (ok not so good for climbing) it was time for a yo-yo weekend on the AT skis. Sat headed up with Dan to Bennet Pass to investigate the area. Have never been there before but heard good things about it. Dan had the map, I had the brawn to basically break trail all day long. We took an off shoot from the main pass road to hit a high point with some very nice glades. We did 5 long laps and I was bushed after. But sweetness what had all day long. I even fell into a creek. The snow was deep and only yielded surface slides, great skiing. Sunday headed up to the Cooper Spur Shelter with the Ski Mountaineering Class. We made great time on the way up. Visibility for the last 100 vert feet was not the best but turns were to be had and it was all worth it. Skiing like this happens once or twice a year around here and I wanted to farm as much as possible. Today Feb 27th I went with my dad and sister to Meadows ski resort for a day of lift serve. Very little untracked but the snow was so light, it did not matter. Just great skiing all day long. Visibility was not the greatest on top and it was windy on top all day long. We made every run count hitting the trees as much as possible (ok, I did). Sally did great on her board and Papa was look good for his only day this year. Man what a great 4 days. Wish I could just stay up there and get more turns. Hope others went out and got some as well. Too good to pass up!!! Now what to do this weekend? MMMmmmmm........

Presidents weekend 2007

2007-02-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

After some thought about weather Cort, Frank, Brynn and myself decided to head to the eastern side of the cascades in Washington to the Enchantments in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. The initial plan was to climb the North Buttress Couloir of Colchuck Peak. A huge step up for Cort but it would be a fun time. The plan was to skin the 8 miles into Colchuck lake set camp and climb Sunday and ski out Monday. Good long days but fun. Well sat we had spring like weather (me in shorts) and the skin in proved to be a bit tiring for some in our group while packing in all the gear needed for an overnight and climb. So the next morning after the weather turned nasty the during the night we decided to skin Colchuck Glacier and summit Colchuck from the West. Skinning across the lake was neat and a bit scary (over thinking on thickness of ice). The weather was the same all day, clouds in and out and windy all day. It took a long time to reach the top of the glacier so we decided that was our summit for the day. The ski back to camp (just below the lake) was fun with mixed snow conditions. Once back at camp we prepped for 12 hours in tent after eating dinner and making water for the night. The wind kept at it all night and into the next day. I did not think we were going to be able to ski most of the way out due to the difficulty of the trail on the way in but to my surprise we were able to ski 95% of the way out. Cort was amazing. First time on skis this year and she skied great on Sunday even with tired legs and then to ski the trail out with a heavy pack. All I can say is WOW!!! Brynn and Frank were great partners for the trip. We all had fun but I think we all agree it was a LONG trip in every way and not being able to climb made the trip not quite worth all the effort. But it at least I got back in there and I do want to head back and do some climbing for sure.

Now for the photo onslaught, enjoy (to enlarge pic click on it).

Dead Bird Gear

2007-02-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well I did it. I picked up new rain gear. My old jacket is so warn that the hood laminate has cracks in it and the back lets the wind right through. Protection from the wet forget about it. Ok, only if I treat it after every outing. Pants are going good, but they don't protect from the rain anymore and the right leg zip is starting to have a nasty habit of unzipping its self in the middle of the zipped portion. A local mountain shop had a sale on Arcteryx gear. After some long thinking I did it. I picked up full bibs and a new jacket. This stuff is hand made out of Vancouver Canada. Not cheep but this stuff should last longer than the 3 years of my old gear. Oh and the best part, they FIT!!!! I needed gaiters to keep the snow out of my flood ready pants and the arms were slightly too short on my old jacket. Can't wait to try this stuff out. MMMM, better check the weather for this weekend. Time to climb :) I don't want to forget the very nice new Mammut rope next in the pic. Thanks a ton Josh. Used once and man it has a nice feel to it!!!

Future Project: Broken Top 5 and 7 O'clock couliors

2007-02-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

Josh I took pics of the 5 O'clock Couloir. The clouds rolled in too fast for me to get 7 o'clock a.k.a Cannon Hole Couloir. Like that name. Anyway I want to give these a try. It looks like you will be able to walk off the back side. And the Cannon Hole looks SWEET!!! I think 7 o'clock will be a stemming problem with no pro till you hit the snow. Maybe a full rope length or more.

Broken Top 9 O'clock Couloir 2/3/07

2007-02-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

A week after reading and hearing my friend Josh's adventure on Broken Top's 9 O'clock couloir I convinced others to go. Route description here http://www.summitpost.org/route/265396/9-o-clock-couloir.html . So the plan was hatched that Joel, Meg, Tania, Cort and I would start around 5:30 am for the 7 mile approach.

As usual getting started took longer than planned and we were off at 6 am. Tania and Cort were on snowshoes, Joel and Meg were on XC skis and I was on my AT setup. We were making good time. I had been back there before with Josh to climb 11 O'clock couloir so I was trying to stick to the snowmobile trails for ease of travel. Some how I nailed it to the wilderness boundary where we needed to be. At this point Tania was feeling tired and decided to turn around and the rest of us headed in. Meg was having trouble traveling across the ice so she and Joel ditched the XC gear for boots and met Cort and I at the base of the Crater. We geared up and headed to the base of the route with the clouds rolling in to engulf the top of the peak. As you can see the fog was quite thick and it was misting on us. But the fun part was short so we headed up anyway. We gathered up on top of the lower lip of the shrund guarding the base of the route.

At the shrund I took the lead with all the pickets we had and headed up. The climbing was easy a modest 4 deg slope for most of the way. About half way up there was a mini-shrund you had to be careful not to kick too hard in fear of blowing out the steps. When the rope was taught between Cort and I she headed up having no problem with the route. I topped out shortly there after and belayed Cort up the rest of the route. Cort topped out and we were wondering where Joel and Meg were. Joel should have started right behind Cort to minimize time on the route. Guess she was a bit scared of the climb and worried about getting down off the route, but after some reassuring words from Joel they started off. Joel leading out till the rope was taught then Meg headed up. She did great on the route and they both topped out quickly. The next thee pictures are of Cort heading up the route and kicking but. The last two is of Joel starting the coulior and the other is of Meg walking over to get onto the steeps. Now to get down. Josh told me that you could rap the route off some slings that were around a large horn. He thought we would be able to rap to the shrund with a double rope rap and skip any down climbing on the steeps. We even with rope stretch a double rap would not make it so I set up an intermediary anchor. After they had rapped down to me we set up a snow bollard to rap off. I was a bit worried that it would hold and me being the heaviest person I went first. It held most of the way till I had to put all my weight on it for a free hanging to rap over the lip of the shrund it went. I felt a jerk as I was in mid air. The backup held me while I finished and touched down on the shrund lip. MMM now what to do. Joel mad another, this time much, much larger and the three of them rapped off no problem. Lesson: make the snow bollard HUGE!!! Packed up we headed out and made good time to the car for a long 12 hour day. The route is fun and a great one for in intro to steep snow climbing but I will never do that route again this way. It was way too short for the amount of work involved getting in and getting out. If we had access to snowmobiles (like Josh did the week before) that would be different story. But we all had fun any way and now Cort is ready to tackle some real routes like Leuthold Couloir on Hood. Now that will be fun!!!

The Aftermath

2007-01-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well the climb of Chair Pk was a great and fun climb that started the push into the next level. A price was paid for doing that. In my trip report(TR) I stated that my hand were swollen on route. Well that did not go away in fact it became worse. It looked like a surgical glove blown up, or I had the hands of a 400 pound person. The climb took place on Friday. Saturday the swelling peaked with redness in the palm region. The tops of each finger was numb and blisters developed and eventually popped on both middle fingers. The general bruising I had predicted did not appear but in the right light my hands are a slight shade of green as my mom pointed out. The swelling started to go down and was complete by Tuesday. Well all but both my middle fingers. A redness had developed in my right middle finger and was creeping up into my palm on top of my hand. A bit worried I finally paged the doc. His offices were closed due to snow and ice covering Portland. He urged me to head straight to the ER for treatment. As it turns out I was getting a secondary infection from the blisters that had burst. My thinking the whole time was that I had a bad case of Frostnip. The ER doc agreed. After some research on the internet it turns out that I had second degree Frostbite. I did not get the intense pain indicated from here http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000057.htm . This web site give the degrees http://www.outdoorplaces.com/Features/Mountain/frostbite/ . The doc put me on some potent antibiotics and cut into the knuckle to drain as much fluid as possible.

My hand are looking much better and can't wait till I have full rage of motion in my middle digits. Needless to say that it had been a learning curve for this trip. Next time I will rotate gloves every pitch and make sure that my gloves have more padding for busting through the ice crust. My ice tools have a good curve to the handle that is suppose to help but given the conditions I was unable to take advantage of that curve. With any luck I will be back in a couple of weeks for some backcountry skiing.

North Face Chair PK 1/12/07

2007-01-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

MLK weekend Frank and Brynn wanted to do a trip with Cort and I. After waiting till the snow fall and the arctic front had a full grip on the region we decided to head to Stevens pass for some touring. I really wanted to get some climbing in since the weather was going to be so nice, albeit freaking cold. A compromise reached that Frank and I would climb Chair PK on Friday and the girls would meet us at Adams house in Seattle. Thursday night Frank and I loaded up and drove to Alpental for some quick zzz's. Alarm off 5 minutes of sleep we were ready. Man it was cold. Security guard said it was around 5 deg and I believed him. Skinning once on the right track was fast. Snow was deep, thank god for AT gear. After about half an hour my toes were frozen so it tossed in some foot warmers and relief, hand were alternating between warm and cold. We reached a bowl where we had to ditch our skis. Now the fun began. Boot packing in deep snow up to a ridge line that would take us to the base of our route. It was mainly mid shin to knee deep. That was lot of fun. The best part was trying not to set off a slid on the wrong side of the ridge. Fall line was about 500 Ft over a cliff.

The photo on the bottom is of Chair PK. Frank is breaking trail while I took some pictures. The North Face is in the shade. Our route takes us up the slope just to the left of the small dark rock band at the bottom center of the NF. Yes it is as steep as it looks and in places steeper. We followed a straight line to the rock in the sun at the top of the peak. Frank fired off the first pitch, it was steep and mostly good ice. The start was tricky which was fun when Frank yelled down that he needed 10 more Ft then another 10 Ft after I had yanked the belay was heading up. Finally on belay I could climb with some security. The hardest part of the first pitch was the initial 100 Ft or so. Good ice but it was about 70 deg with a could of moves on 80 deg ice.

Good spiciness!!!! I reached Frank only to realize that he was belaying of the smallest of bushes. Trees were not too much further so I headed up to them and belayed Frank up to a much better belay. The photo to the above is a look down the first pitch and the one on the right is looking up pitch two (borrowed from another TR cause my camera froze in the cold). Now for the real second pitch and my turn on the sharp end. The start was good but the snow/ice quickly turned to breakable crust with sugar under, at bit unnerving to say the least. Bet bet was to keep moving and not think about it. I was sending a lot of ice and snow down on top of Frank and understandably he was not too happy about this. Oh well. As I headed further up conditions deteriorated more and more. Soon I was on 60-70 degree sugar and hoping to God that I did not blow as step or tool placement. Give you a feel for how steep that is, look to the photo above. A fall would have been a long ways and most likely would have ripped all the protection that I had placed. I had Frank yank the belay so I could reach some trees. Stopping short of the trees I placed two pickets and belayed Frank up. My hands were like wooden blocks at this point. Taking off my gloves I realized what kind of shape I was in, BAD!!!! My hands were very pale, cold and swollen. Nothing to do but get Frank up and get the heck out of there. Frank took us to the false summit and that is where we topped out. It was an exercise in wallowing on steep slopes. The final 50 vertical Ft we decided to bag cause it was late and my hands were no good. We rapped off a tree after some downclimbing to the top of a couloir. At this point we ran the rope through some old frozen webbing attached to two rusty old pins. The seemed good enough, we hoped. Frank went down first while I attended some "business." The rap was into a very steep couloir that was 6 Ft wide with a huge cornice at the top. My thoughts were to rap very gently cause if that thing went we were both dead. Rapped off another set of old pins about half way down and we were out of there. What a great day!! I want to do more steep ice/snow climbing, so much fun. Can't wait till my hand heal and more routes come into shape.

New Years and Secret Stash 12/30/06

2007-01-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

Headed over to Bend after much debate as what to do for New Years. Cort and I stayed with my friend Josh. Sat AM, he and I loaded up the sleds and headed for a secret stash. We were on the hunt for good snow. After about 20 min of riding (and me getting stuck many time on the flat and once on a steep slope) we started skinning. Blue bird day. Skinning in was easy and only 20 min to the top. A bit aprehensive about the snow conditions below Josh took off first on his split board while I took pics. The top was a bit wind buff, but not too bad. This area is real nice. I bit of everything for everybody. We took another lap and headed back home. Easy and fun day. I could get use to riding the sleds out.
Yes pics are out of place. Working on getting better at this.

Crystal AT trip 12/16/06

2007-01-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

After attending a birthday party friday night drove up to Crystal Mountain for some freshiez. We got some good dumpage that week and with cold temps the snow looked to be nice and light. Met up with Frank and Dan who drove up friday after work and slept in tents. It was freaking cold up there. An artic front was in full force. Temps were about 12 deg at the base. Sat am we headed up skinning through the ski resort. Our destination was Silver King and the bowl on his flanks. The skin in was easy till the slop steepend and the ice crust below the powder came into play. We skinned most of the way up till it was too much work, then booting up the final bit. It was cold and windy. Considering that the base was around 12 deg, I figure temps on the mountan including windchill were around zero...brrrrrr. After taking in the views we strapped up for the decent. A little hesitant on avalanch conditions I went first. Stable as can be, fun was to be had. At the bottom we refueled and headed up again. Skied a different line and I took a nice fall trying to show off. Durring the fall I attemped to dislocate my shoulder, little worred I headed to the bottom of the run. Dan was done and I was not feeling so good, but Frank wanted another lap. Well of course I had to go up again. We skinned a different part of the bowl for the best turns of the day!!!!! Back to the car to ditch gear and straight to the bar to warm up with food and much beer. I slept in my car for the second night in a row. Shoulder still hurting in the AM decided time to head home rather take the chance of hurting it more. Man what a great trip!!!

Wonderland Trip

2006-09-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

Cort gave me what she wrote up. This is her account of our trip on the Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier.

Wanted to give you all an update on my Wonderland vacation.

I started the trip on Friday, September 8th with my friend Tania. We had great weather and hiked 10 miles to our first camp ground. On the way, Tania got a nasty blister on her heel, though neither of us thought much about it. We camped without incident and started day two with our heavy packs (mine weighed almost 50 lbs and hers 40lbs). By mid-day Tania's blister became two much to bear and she could no longer really walk at all. We decided to bail on our trip. We were both disappointed but for having to bail things really worked out well. We were hiking into a camp ground with road access and it was a Saturday so there we lots of weekend campers. We hitched a ride down to the ranger station (about 6 miles down the road) and called Tania's mom who lived about an hour away. Tania's mom picked us up and drove us over to our car. Tania and I drove back to Portland Saturday night. I figured my vacation was over. However, Will was able to take the week off and do the Wonderland with me. Sunday we went shopping for some more lightweight gear and re-organized and re-loaded our packs. When all was said and done my pack weighed in at 28 lbs and Will's at around 35 lbs. It should be perfectly clear that Will carried every piece of "group gear" (i.e. tent, water filter, stove - I helped out by carrying our group toothbrush and toothpaste and spoon!) Will and I drove up to Seattle on Sunday evening and drove to Sunrise (at Rainer) to get a permit to camp on Monday. We planned a 6 day/5 night trek. We started hiking around 10:30 Monday morning. Our first day was beautiful!! Sunny but not too warm. We hiked about 14.5 miles from Sunrise to Nickle Creek. On trail everyone we saw thought we were sort of crazy for planning it in 6 days (it is recommended to complete it in 10 -14 days). We did meet a couple however who was also doing it in 6 days. They were on day 2. We got to camp around 5:00 - 5:30 and right away met some interesting people. There was a man and his younger wife there who just kept talking and talking to us. He was a tad on the weird side but did give Will some good beta on the trail. We set up our tent, ate dinner and passed out. Day two was also perfect weather. We hiked 18 miles from Nickle Creek to Pyramid Creek. We were sort of in a race against time on day two b/c we had a food cache delivered to Longmire Ranger Station. When we checked in the ranger who gave us our permit was not able to get ahold of anyone at Longmire to confirm we would be picking up the cache a day earlier then planned. The ranger said as long as we were there before 4:30 it should be no problem. We hustled and got there around 1:30. The ranger was a lunch so Will bought me lunch at the restaurant there. We pigged out - onion rings, fries, burger, lemonade! It was delicious! After lunch we loaded up our cache and continued about 3.5 miles into camp. Another nice camp ground and we found ourselves there with some sunlight to enjoy. We sat by the River for some time and tried to dry out our clothes. Back at camp while we cooked our dinner we checked the map and saw that each of our remaining 4 days was around 15 miles, with the exception that day 6 would be 12 miles - our "easy day". We met a very nice couple from Minnesota (I told them about you Grant!!). They we attempting a summit bid on Friday/Saturday. The woman's mother had bought the guided summit trip for the woman for her birthday. We had so much time to relax at camp that Will put up his hammock!! We both rested in it and read. Day three was overcast but still a very comfortable day. We hiked 15 miles at what was for us a very slow pace but we really enjoyed the day. We hiked up on Emerald Ridge and had fabulous views of the Tahoma glacier. (Actually this day we climb up and along two ridge lines - and down again!!!) I think this might have been Will's favorite day b/c we were in an alpine like setting - high and rugged. We hiked from Pyramid Creek to North Pullayup. North Pullayup had very few campers. Just one other couple and a group of three. As Will and I headed over to the toilet to dump our uncooked rice (oops - I packed non-instant rice - oops!) one of the men in the group of three let us use his binoculars to look at mountain goats high on the mountain. As we went to bed that night we could tell a storm was moving in. Day four we woke up to a light rain. Undiscouraged we put on our new nifty light weight, multi-purpose ponchos and set off. After a short distance and a few hours we were soaked! Just soaked. Both my feet were sopping wet - to the point I could wring out my soaks. Will's feet were also wet, although he did not mention (i.e complain) about it like I did. We hiked up yet another ridge into what we were told is a beautiful area called Golden Lakes. We of course could not see a thing b/c of the weather. While at Golden Lakes we met yet another nice couple from Texas who had been in the back country for 10 days. The man was doing research for his doctorate work in some sort of biology field. While we chatted it began to snow. Not long after I started to cry b/c I was so uncomfortable, wet, cold and nervous about camping with a floorless tent in the rain. Will was calm and collected, hugged me and said everything would be fine. (He ended up being right). So we started to move again to stay warm. We really hustled and hiked 11 miles in 4.5 hours. We ate lunch in a shelter at a camp ground and still had 4 miles to go to our campground and our second food cache. Because moving = warmth we did not stop for long and were on our way again. On our way uphill to our cache we met the couple we had seen on our first day. They told us to expect more snow up above. Our designated camp ground for the evening was Mowich Lake. Here we picked up our second food cache. Will made some warm water and we ate some top romain to warm up. We decided to hike another 5 miles to a lower camp to get out of the snow and b/c we had covered the 15 miles for the day so quickly. As we started down to Ipsut Creek the weather cleared and we took off the ponchos for the first time that day. It was nice. At Ipsut it started to rain again. After chatting with some other hikers for a minute we hustled to put up our tent b/c it was getting dark. We cooked dinner in the tent and looked at the map again. We had gone 20 miles that day and had about 23 to the car. B/c the weather was not looking up and our stuff was getting wet, we decided to get up early and head for the car the next day, cutting our trip one day short. We ate two nights worth of dinners to get fueled and went to sleep. Day five we got up early and headed up hill. This day the weather kept changing - from light rain, to sun, to just overcast, to snow! It snowed more then anything else which actually was welcome and so much better then the rain b/c it wasn't as wet. At least my feet were dry and we didn't have to wear the ponchos. We tried to eat often and drink lots so we could keep up a good pace. We did well until around mile 16 when my knees just started to hurt so bad (from all the downhill) that I really slowed down. We found ourselves up at a high elevation in an open meadow type area and it was really starting to snow and blow. B/c I was moving so much slower, Will geared me up in warm clothes and took off running for the car. The plan was for him to run to the car and meet me at a campground/trailhead about 2.5 miles west of where our car was parked. He had wanted me to get in my sleeping bag and wait at Sunrise (about 6 miles from the car) but I couldn't image waiting around and the moving really did keep me warm. So off ran Will and I hobbled along. I got to White River camp ground around 3:15 and started walking to the main road where Will and I agreed to meet. Just as I got to the Ranger station Will pulled up. Our timing was perfect. We were drenched, exhausted and so happy. We took a few last photos, changed clothes and hopped in the car for home! All in all it was a great trip. The trial is fantastic and grueling. The downhills are killer, as both of our knees will confess. Will and I actually moved faster uphill then downhill. Mt. Rainer is beyond beautiful and everything is grand and gorgeous. We both would like to do this trip again - although maybe tack on about 4 more days and do it about 4 weeks earlier!! Cortney

Laps March 11-12

2006-03-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

Headed up to Newton Creek. My camera crapped out on me so I borrowed some.
This what it was like on saturday. Sunday it was deeper still!!!! It was a great work out and I think I will be doing a lot more of this when I can't get up high for the summits. My trip report,

http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0603;action=display;num=1142306605;start=0

Broken Top, 11 O' clock couloir

2006-03-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

It was a good time. I really want to go back and do the noon direct finish. That line looks sweet. I understand that pro is hard to find. Also there are a couple of other routes I have not heard of being climbed that look great. I was going to ski the route but conditions were a bit sketchy for me. Another time forsure.

Jlag beet me to posting the route so the link is
http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/550234/an/0/page/0#550234

Redemption Pictures

2006-02-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Redemption 3-19-06

2006-02-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

For the three day Presidents Day weekend plans changed quite a bit. The initial plan was to head to Shasta but a front was moving through the area. Next was to climb Rainier. The weather was perfectly clear for our climbing period but an arctic front came down from the north and temperatures including windchill would have be around -30 degrees. Needless to say was not happy about the cold but crystal clear conditions since I did not have the gear for anything remotely that cold. The plan changed to climbing Middle Sister, and Thayer Headwall on North. At this point really did not want to carry all the heavy cold weather gear for an over nighter, ok I was getting lazy. Fortunately my climbing partner Josh was on the same page, thank god. I found out two days before the weekend that my buddy Chuck was going to go back and climb Leuthold after we had figured out what gully not go up in our previous attempt. Since the artic front was in full effect bringing high winds on Friday night/Saturday the climb was set for Sunday. The team of 6 (3 skiers, and 3 booters) left Timberline at the late hour of 7 am (cold temps + no wind = no ice fall). I decided to boot up since the slops had received no new snow for many days and the slopes were very icy. We made great time to illumination Saddle, 2.5 hours. Conditions were perfect for cramponing. Rested and geared up Josh and I left the saddle first followed shortly by the rest of the climbers. Heading up the slope to the Hour Glass the snow was perfect Styrofoam. These were dream climbing conditions. The Hour Glass was about two pitches of about 40 degree snow that went fast. Now we were on route for sure. Josh and I headed up to Queens Chair for a break to let the rest of the climbing party catch up. Josh and I reached the Chair and were greeted with a spectacular view of St. Hellens, Mt Adams, and Rainier. From here you can look over the upper portion of Sandy Headwall and that looks like a lot of fun. That climb would be a very long day but a lot of fun. After Chuck and Larry joined us at the Chair the four of us left for the summit. The last two in the party were roped up and placing pro most of the way for practice on steeper climbs, so they were taking a lot longer to climb the route. The rest of the climb went fairly quickly as we trudged up. At this point I was getting a headache from the altitude. The traverse of the North Ridge was easy and safe. We made the summit in about 3 hours from illumination saddle. A good time considering the long brakes we took. Booting down to the car was torture to say the least, a good reminder of why I like to skin up and ski down. My knees and ankles were killing me by the time I made it to the car. What a great trip!!! It was cold all day very little wind and perfect snow. I was happy to do the full route and will be happy to never do it again if I can avoid it. Great route with some steepness, but nothing that interesting. However I would love to do this route again if I can get some good ski conditions for a ski decent!!!!! The next climb on hood will be steel cliffs to help prepare for an attempt on the North Face. Will hope to post some pics as soon as chuck gets them on the web. What a great day!!! Hope to have more of these soon.

2006-02-12

2006-02-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

Cort and I headed up to climb Leuthold. Yes the day after the "epic route finding problems." Thought I could redeam myself now that I knew the way, or at least the way not to go..lol. I was so slow and tired. What did I expect. Cort was kicking my ass all the way to illumination. When we got there the sun was out, slight breaze and we had a great spot for lunch. Other than me being really tired (was prepaired to suffer through that) my right foot was starting to hurt. After a little pow-wow, Cort and I deciede we had went far enough. Cort headed out since she was on foot and I was on skis. Headed to the highest part of the saddle against Illumination Rock geared up and skied off on to hard snow/ice. I discovered how steep I was willing to go on that suface and I was on that slope angle. Very pleasent ski back to the car even if I had to stop several times to give my screaming legs a rest. Lower down the snow was just starting to get soft and made for nice turns. Was very exhausted and glad to be back at the car. Time for a nap.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48176128@N00/sets/72057594064909281/

Leuthold attempt 2006-11-02

2006-02-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

The plan was to head up Leuthold coulior. Josh, Chuck and I made good time to Illumination saddle. Josh and Chuck decided to stash their snowboard and skis while I decided I wanted to ski down leuthold. The first opportunity was to ski off leuthold onto the Reid Glacier to the base of what we thought was the route. Had about 4 good fun turns before had to traverse. Packed up the skis and got out the axe for the start. It was a bit steeper than I had anticipated then it go steeper and transitioned from hard snow to water ice. After getting out the rope, tools, and pickets Josh headed up for a pich of skechyness heading up what I think was WI3-4. Was not too happy that I decided we did not need ice screws. Chuck was the man, I forgot to bring the second ice axe for him so he did the pich with one light weight axe. We went up another pitch still thinking we were on route (some people were starting to question our route choice, Chuck). After Josh headed up a little further unroped we decided we were on Yocum ridge, DAMN!!! And HOLLY SH&T!!!!! Now we have to get down. After some talking to make sure we had enough gear to get down we rapped off two pickets than one to get to the start of the ice pitch which thank god had a nice anchor already set up. Rapping off the pickets was the hardest part for me. I had never rapped off the pickets and was not sure they would hold. But there was only one way out of there. Needless to say we left 4 pickets on that route, bootie for anybody dumb enough to go up that gully. The last rap consisted of one nut and two old slings that we hoped were around solid rock. After sending Josh down first we deemed the anchor solid. The rest of the trip was rather mundane after that. Was glad to get back to the car safe!!! and in one piece. All in all it was a really good trip, learned a ton. I almost don't regret going up Leutholds :)

Here are the photos, http://www.flickr.com/photos/48176128@N00/sets/72057594064877211/

Crater Rock Skin

2006-02-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

The weather was too tempting to pass up. Got off work early and headed to the mountain for a quick trip to Crater Rock and a nice long ski down. The surface was a bit on the icy side but was still able to make it most of the way up. Packed the skis the rest of the way and started my way down just as the sun was setting. Man what a great trip.
Check out the pics, http://www.flickr.com/photos/48176128@N00/sets/72057594064869787/

Crystal Mt.

2006-02-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

Went to crystal a couple of weekends ago and it is a great place to ski. The snow was better higher up the on the mountain. Unfortunetly the backcountry was closed all day due to high winds and poor visiblity. The place was a bit busy even in the poor weather, that place must get crazy on good weather days. Can't wait to go back and get into the back country.

2006-02-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Well I have started a blog. Some pics from the first trip outdoors this season. Some time in December. There was a ton of snow. A great start to what could be a great mountaineering season.