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marek
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marek
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 8:49 pm 
It all started rather innocently with my short list plans for 2006, you know how it is; You have the list, you plan it and then? All hell breaks loose! The weather, partners, work schedule, weather again, family, family and more family. I’m screaming!!! Chair Peak North Face (January)
I had wet dreams about this one for a while; once avalanche conditions changed our plans for Silver-Abiel tour, and then we’ve got rained on as we approached the darn peak. This time January looked PERFECT and I hooked up with too many people, so we had to break it in to two ropes. As we worked our way above Source Lake we were surprised to see already 3-4 teams above us. sh##!! Final ridge approach revealed the truth; there were already 3 groups on the route, so we had to switch to NE Buttress. I went on the first rope as a “fine second” Brian made steady progress through the first section of steep and thin ice over 4th class rock (Crux?) Being hidden behind rocky face I didn’t realize how cold it was in the wind; nonetheless I continued with my thin gloves on and my hands slowly turning in to useless popsicles. by the time I got to Brian I was spent more from the pain in my hands than from climbing, It was bad enough that I had to beg for few minute break; not a long one! You don’t get those long ones with Brian! Off I was plowing though the next lead, shortly regaining feeling in my hands, Snow slope was in almost excellent condition of knee deep 50-55 deg angle. In no time I made it to below nice ice bulge (15-20feet) and when Brian came up we were almost arguing about who should take that one. It ended up being Brian’s lead and it took him seconds to disappear above the ice pitch and I followed shortly thereafter. The final section was just easy walk to the col and little scramble to the top. We went down after some lunch and second rope team summited. Way down was in to south gully (45sh) just down climbing 500ft? or so and then one double rope rappel over cornice in to the chimney on the north side. SCORE ONE! Unicorn Peak (February)
My friends Jake, Greg and Peter have already attempted that one, but got lost in ZERO visibility. This time Peter, being on Acouncagua, could not make it, so I’ve got the call to the rescue! Not that I minded; after all it was another Tatoosh Peak to be had! Now, Unicorn Peak is the most remote one of the group and thus requires the most time, But we knew we were invincible! Again, rather late start, but progress was good and given EXCELENT snow conditions, we were making good progress. Our way was from Narada Falls up to the Lake and up again to the shoulder east of Castle Peak, then we followed the ridge down to the saddle and because of good snow we cut across on the south side to next saddle and in to basin below Unicorn. From there we plowed straight for the gully separating U Peak and another one to the west. At the top we rested a bit at the col and continued by traversing left (east) and shortly following yet another gully (45ish). Being on the south side in some sloppy snow, our concern was avi danger, so one by one we made it to the shoulder below Unicorn’s summit pyramid.
From a distance things looked good, but at closer inspection we all lost our desires for leading. But being so close to the summit we couldn’t just flake it and Greg took the initiative of leading with some questionable pro. Greg is in his 60is!!
After summiting we thought we would just hike out and that’s it! But !Nooo, we had different ideas; why don’t we go down different way in to Stevens Canyon? It will be easier! Sure! Naturally being already in the darkness we went it to wrong ravine and by the time we realized our mistake we were in some strange looking canyon with steep walls on either side. In all, it took us hours to get back on track and we hit the road some 4 miles in on the Steven’s Canyon rd. Score two Shuksan North Face (March-last day of winter) Call it a seven year itch, but every time I went skiing at Baker I pictured myself on that face. This year was It! I either do it or forget it. Given object’s reputation, we had no problem assembling our team; first there was Mike with whom I climbed Chair Peak, and then was Brian, James and me.
As it turned out, all the talk about horrible bushwalk proved to be non issue and after some mini bushwalk we hit the stream, where Brian pounded out of my head the idea of following Nelson’s “summer directions” straight up to the ridge. So we snow shoed along the creek in some deepish snow until we got to beneath White Salmon Glacier, where we camped, cooked and slept in the open.
The idea was to climb NF and get down via WSGL, time permitting we would go for the summit as well! We started around 4am and got to the saddle below the face still in the darkness of the night, to our dismay snow on the North side was less consolidated and deeper. Nonetheless we pressed on plowing up and below the face, periodically switching leads until we hit rock and went up over some steep gullies between rocks (the actual route is a bit more to the east, but given snow conditions, it would get us nowhere) Mike led over some thin snow/ice (60isch) then we plowed up to ass deep snow until we got to an ice bulge and exit runnel on the left. Again Mike led (70ish) and we followed to the top of the steepest section. From here we unroped and put snow shoes for better traction.
Futile it was! For the crust was to hard for snow shoes to break through and to thin for us to walk in boots, sometimes sinking up to our hips. But we refused to give up, knowing that by getting over the face we had easy going down White Salmon Glacier. So, we plowed for hours, making slow progress, until we got to the top of second shoulder where we melted some snow and thereafter continued up.
At this point we made a mistake and went up and right hopping for better snow between rocks higher up. The correct way up and left to the center of the face and open slopes. Considering even bivy with no overnight gear at about 175ft from the top of NF and 30min of light we finally capitulated and resolved to down climbing the face. In no time we walked down to the top of steep sections and did 2 double rope rappels plus 60% down climbing in total darkness, but it got us to safety of our camp In all we had 21 hr day! At that time I didn’t want to have anything else to do with NF Liberty Bell via Becky’s Rte 5.7 (June) Seven year itch it was not, but Mike called and I had no choice but to join! Right? Since this was my first “rock climb” I was a bit apprehensive, but Mike’s confidence was so overwhelming that I was not worried too much. Again, early-late start due to hwy 20 repairs has put us at the parking lot a dot late, so we had no choice but to make it up. Again, with snow cover we made fast progress and hit the col at the start of the route ahead of schedule. In all, every crux point mentioned in guide books proved to be easier, what gave me the most problems was the second pitch 5.4 chimney. I still think it was much harder or I do not know what I did wrong; I basically got stuck on the left side of the block, my backpack hooked on something and me trying to swim upstream like salmon. Score #3 Shuksan North Face-take two! (July) This time I was even more resolved at getting my sorry ass over the face than in the winter. After my friend Mike indicated his dislike for “take two” I had to look for another able partner, and again North Face’s reputation hooked me up with Tony.
This time, besides melting snow and disappearing glaciers we had other problem on our hands; the weather! But figured we had a shot at it, so it was a Go! As we approached, we found out that bushwalking in the winter was much better deal than summer time slog, but again, it wasn’t that bad and we made it ok down to the White Salmon Creek. Then we continued up in steep timbered forest to the top of the shoulder and followed the ridge to the saddle below North Face. While we were working our way up, the weather remained unsettled with some occasional sprinkles and by the time we arrived at the saddle we had some nice rain. So, we set up the tent, slept some and ate some lunch. Being bored and still having lots of juice left, we decided at 6pm to just continue as high as we can; off we went. To our dismay, wherever we looked, access to the face was melted, glacier broken, only bare rock and water falls. I led from the camp over the Hanging Glacier to the Far East part of it, until there was no other way to go but up. From here on Tony took over and led up over broken snow/ice boulders, serac and on to snow above (55ish) until we hit bench at the base of rock cliff leading back west. Having no light left to work with we build a nice platform and pitched the tent. We reckoned we had half the face done and would just breeze in the morning.
In the middle of the night, fog changed in to sprinkle, sprinkle in to rain, rain in to torent, and here we go; rocks started going down. Having our tent hunkered down up against the overhanging rock we were not to worry much, nonetheless the feeling was there, as the barrage of rocks zipped down the gulleys on either side and bounced rocks flew over the top of our tent. By early morning rain continued to invade and we were engulfed in thick fog, unable to move up or down (unlikely) So we resolved in to cooking some more of Polish Barszcz, bullshitting a bit and packing in hopes of better weather. Sure enough, as soon as we were finished packing a big blue hole appeared above, in no time we were on the move in to a snow gully, up and across, continuously traversing to the right (west). Sloppy snow slopes were around 55% angle and hard to protect, but we made steady progress. In the mean time the weather improved and as we got closer to the top of the North Face I could see the point we reached in the winter (a dismal 175ft from the top) the higher we went the better the snow got, improving our chances of hacking the summit pyramid. Unfortunately, by the time we circled around the pyramid and got to the bottom of the gulley, we run out of time and thus decided to go down via Fisher Chimneys. At first, with fog all around navigation was hard, but with GPS and good directions we made the right moves down Hells Hwy, over Upper Curtis, Winnies Slide to the top of F Chimneys. Even in plastic boots down climbing wasn’t a problem and we hiked out until we run out of light, a mile or so from the trail head. Score #4 Redoubt and Spickard (August)
My friend Jake had plans for those two for quite some time and every time he planed it, the weather or partner failed to co-operate. This year was to be different! After two of our friends bailed, it was then only Jake and me. Since registering at Marbelmount was out of the question because we accessed from Canada, we called in rangers and got our permit number. For both of us this was the first chance to see how Canadians do this climbing thing and of course how secure was our northern perimeter! We drove Jakes Subaru as far as we could at night, until we decided it wasn’t worth wrecking his transport, so we parked on the side of forest rd in the midst of drug paraphernalia, beer cans, and garbage. A bit earlier we encountered this dude who camped on the side of the road, and when we asked him for directions, it was obvious he wasn’t totally with us on this planet. Anyway, we moved on early in the morning hiking over road at first in to muddy overgrown road until we walked in to deep forest and obelisk indicating our return to the US and few feet later NCNP sign up box. Funny!? Because this is supposed to be ILLIGAL entry! And everyone, even rangers use this way
We continued on fairly flat ground in pristine woods with plenty of fallen trees and parts of the trail washed up by the river, until we started to gain altitude and getting close to torrent of huge waterfall. Some more bushwalking and scrambling has gotten us to right beneath the waterfall and we scrambled over slick and slimy rock right in to the darn waterfall (there is a short hand line here) With water pouring on us and obstructing view around we almost turned around to re-group, but Jake punched trough and found faint trail on the other side. Now, all we had to do was to gain another 1,500ft over steep thing called trail, which turned out to be brunch grabbing, boulder hopping endeavor. On top of the fall there was a camp (if you are doing just Redoubt stay there) a really nice
place in the woods, then we worked our way on the left side of the valley until we got to small lake at the end of the valley. (Easy going here, open terrain)
Next day we went after Redoubt; started with some 3rd Class scramble until we reached the Redoubt Glacier (easy) and continued up and right until we were able to drop to the south side. The rest of it was steep snow traverse and up in to first prominent gully (snow) and exit left to easy shoulder, then up and right on the ramp until just beneath left slanting gully. Thereafter we cut left in to another gully leading to “Cannon hole” feature seen from Spickard . There is couple of 4th Class moves here right before you get trough the hole and then we made it back to the North side. Exposure here is tantalizing with 4K foot drop, but the going is pretty easy 3rd Class to the top.
You can rap down through the hole, but it is better to just do two short raps because of rope drag (I got my rope stuck and damaged here) Next day we moved on to Spickard, which proved to be loose 3rd class and steep snow slopes. The view down Silver Lake was just magnificent. We hiked out the same day to some Canadian PiZZa. Score #5 and 6 Prusik Peak W Ridge (5.7) September As time passed all of my friends did it, and for various reasons I could not do it; there was always something, so when Mike called me, again, I had no choice! Yes I’m weak!
We showed up at the Levenworthless Ranger Station for the daily lottery, but the door was shut, only a box hang with permits, where we noticed one permit for 8 that was canceled. Apparently their web site forgot to mention, station’s closure on Sundays! We were rather pissed for not having overnte permit, but we went anyway having done everything in our power to stay LEGAL. Having good trail helped move quickly and in no time we wound up at Lake Viviane, where we stumbled upon female ranger (aka Pipi) very shortly we were instructed to go down with her; and this, despite our explanations that we tried to get permit, that official website didn’t state closure on Sundays. Pointless it was, so we told Pipi we were going to climb Prusik in one day. That’s where we left it and continued on our way up, this time more less cross country. West Ridge proved to be very clean granite with some exposed sections along the way, especially 5.7 friction slab mid way. Just for a moment I thought I would have to grab gear or rope, but likely I made it on my own. The real difficulty awaited us at the summit chimney pitch where we saw other team struggle in front of our eyes. Mike led that one convincingly and we crawled on to summit at 7pm with one hour of light left to get off the mountain.
Next day we hooked up with our friend Pipi the ranger, who told us that she would recommend we were not to be given ticket since we did everything in our power to do it legally. Sure! About a month ago Mike and me received $125 tickets and we are still awaiting our court date. Score#7
Tooth South Face 5.4 (October-just picture)
Mt Stuart W Ridge 5.6 (October) The idea sparked in my head the previous week on the summit of the Tooff; after mentioning Mt Stuart's W Ridge to Mike I felt the DESIRE in his eyes! We met in Issaquah at 1:30 am and drove to the trailhead. Over the cup of freshly brewed coffee on the way to the trailhead we learned we each slept less than 2 hrs; thus we took a 30min nap at the parking lot. Left our car at 4am in a cold air and started hiking, to our surprise, the higher we went the warmer it got. We hit Ingals Lake just before the first light and messed around the lake for about 30min, then we continued on a nice tread to the base of West Ridge-9am. Just in case, we bushwalked east for few minutes to check the next gulley, then backtracked to the second one from the west. Going was easy over some class 3-4 loose stuff to the top of first gulley and some nice bevy sites, then we continued left around another gulley which turned to the right and at the top we exited right/east to the next ravine. In front of us stood imposing Long John Tower (from afar it looked difficult) but having our DETAIL directions and pictures we knew which way to go. So we took the right option over very lose class 3-4 terrain, where one of the rocks liked my toe so much, it made it hurt and swollen and by now blue First mistake: After leaving LJT notch-12:30 we went down and traversed over some 3-4-5 class benches, horns, chimneys: loosing some 300ft? We should have gone higher over different ledges, different chimneys and corners! Up's!! Realizing our mistake we located wide gulley and went up it connecting with our rte just before "God's Kern"? and short after we reached West Ridge Notch--4pm At the time we reckoned we still had a shot at the summit and enough light to go over false summit. Mike started leading summit pitches:1st easy 4th class, then second over 4th class ledge on the North Side (30ft?) and up over some 5.4 moves back to the ridge's south side. Left side of the face (corner crack) looked to difficult so Mike led on the right side over 5.6+ chimney/crack up and left back to the very exposed spine of the ridge and fantastic flake move right on the spine From there we rapped down 50ft to a ledge with nice bevy spot on the south side--7pm sh? Looking at our pictures we downloaded from Cascade Climbers, we had 3 options to climb, almost an hour of daylight left and none of the routes less difficult than 5.6+ After a brief discussion we decided to give it a go for the last 2 pitches to the summit. Again, Mike started leading an option on the left side of the face and it was too screwy, so he then went to the right side(20ft) and led right corner chimney with 2 chock stones; I estimate this move at 5.7+ At this point our hands and legs started cramping and we were tied after 15hrs of climbing. Then I went up and surprisingly, I didn't pull on a gear or a rope, but it wasn't over yet! After racking up Mike led yet another 5.7+ pitch in a left corner with some jamming options and yet another chock stone (how did he pull this one off?) few feet above it was an old piton with blue sling on it, which proved rather handy to both of us. We summited Mt Stuart with less than 5min of day light left and spotted nice bevy ledge right below us on the east side; as I went up to the very top to attempt again to call home, Mike went down to check our ledge.
After few minutes of trying to call Kasia, I gave up and joined Mike, the difference was; he had a sleeping bag, I DID NOT! But tank's to the inversion temperature was not so bad (~40Deg?) Mike dove in his sack, I put on all my clothing I had plus Mike's jacket and pants, made my bed using my pack and rope, stuck my boots into Mike's pack, ate some and off we went to sleep--8pm? I lasted like that, dousing off for few minutes here and there, additionally wrapping me in an emergency foil blanket Mike called Cheap Shower Curtain! At around 1am I finally gave up freezing my ass and jumped into Mike's sleeping bag; "Getting stuck
between the rock and a Hard Man" No! No! Its not what you thinking! We had our rules! No hugging, no kissing, Mike’s ass against mine. I must say, I slept some more and having one bag for two worked just fine! To finish, I would like to thank Mike for leading and especially sharing his bag; hope Debbie didn't mind?! Marek www.frozenimage.net ps, sorry for the picture size, I'm still in the process of learning.

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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 9:21 pm 
Uh. confused.gif This thread is useless without pics! hockeygrin.gif

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Tom
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 9:29 pm 
Marek, looks like you inadvertently linked to the thumbnails instead of the larger size. I fixed that but it looks like picasa prevents hotlinking to anything larger than 288 pixels which prevents people from viewing the larger sizes here.

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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 9:32 pm 
Thanks Tom! And thanks for the TRs, marek!

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Tazz
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 9:41 pm 
Sweet report!! Thanks for sharing it with us. You had a great season! up.gif

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marek
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 9:41 pm 
Thank's Tom You are fast man, I was just figuring out, what else can I do to fix it. Thank's for fixing it! M

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Tom
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PostSat Nov 25, 2006 10:12 pm 
I'll put some code in to get around the hotlinking issues but you'll have problems at other sites if you try to hotlink to picasa. I'd suggest a different picture host.

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Slugman
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PostSun Nov 26, 2006 5:24 am 
marek wrote:
At this point we made a mistake and went up and right hopping for better snow between rocks higher up.
Hopping for better snow? Is that like doing a rain dance? embarassedlaugh.gif Seriously, nice reports and pics. up.gif

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Marmotneer
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PostSun Nov 26, 2006 5:16 pm 
Surprised I didnt run into you again this year Marek, Common photo after a climb/scramble

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mvs
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PostMon Nov 27, 2006 7:36 am 
nice work Marek! Awesome work on Redoubt biggrin.gif

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marek
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PostTue Nov 28, 2006 11:44 am 
Hi Michael Looks like you are lurking everywhere! I know you live in paradise, but you also miss Cascades?!! Hey, your calendar is ready to be shipped, that is, it will be shipped when the snow is gone. Marek Michael, your photo is the month of January www.frozenimage.net

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Jamin Smitchger
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PostFri Dec 08, 2006 1:39 am 
I love that image of Dome. Where is that very sharp pointed, high snowy peak located.

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marek
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PostFri Dec 08, 2006 11:26 pm 
Jamin, Dome Pk is located in the southern part of North Cascades, just North East of Darrington. The pointy summit is the West and lower of the two summits.

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Dayhike Mike
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PostSat Dec 09, 2006 7:17 am 
<grin> Jamin's well aware of where Dome is located, he just didn't recognize that prominence (likely due to the size of the pic wink.gif ). Jamin's trip report for his trip up Dome is located here. They did a quick in-n-out in two days...that's a long haul for an overnighter. BTW - I can't even see the picture you're both talking about. There's not even any discussion of Dome Peak in the original post.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Jamin Smitchger
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PostSat Dec 09, 2006 11:04 pm 
I am looking at that picture of those two guys on the footbridge with that awesome snowy peak behind it. Is that K2 or something.

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