Wandered around the Famer’s market downtown SLC this morning with some friends and just 1 lens on the camera. I wasn’t really shopping for any groceries, but the pastries were good!
Makes me think of enchiladas.
Not a bad deal.
Not all the performers that show up are as talented as others, but this woman was singing her heart out and well.
The rest of the photos are in the Summer 2010 set on Flickr
Sometimes, getting away is all you need, and it doesn’t even have to be far.
“”You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above.
One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” -Rene Daumal
”
Really well done video telling the story of a designer and the connection to his designs. Via @craigmod
After the adventure on the Grand the day before, we wanted something casual and fun in the sun. Wes and Steph joined us again and we took the ferry across Jenny lake to climb Baxter’s Pinnacle. It was a great day of climbing on good, dry rock. Wes and I climbed ahead of Polly and Steph so I could take photos.
The rest of the photos are on A Teton Weekend on Flickr.
Polly on a cool 5.10 variation of the second pitch.
The End!
We drove up to Jackson, WY to meet up with Wes and Steph last Friday to climb the Direct Exum route on the Grand Teton. The route combines 6 pitches of 5.7 climbing up to the Wall Street ledge, and then continues up the easier Upper Exum ridge (which can also be gained by traversing in from the side avoiding the climbing).
It definitely rained hard down in Jackson that night but we woke up at 230 to find clear skies. Good to go! On the hike up to the Lower Saddle, we found about 3 to 6 inches of snow and ice plastered everywhere. This should have been our first clue. Once we got up to the saddle we ate and soaked up the sun after hiking in the shade. There were at least 30 people turning back from the Owen Spalding route. Should have been clue number two. After waiting and hoping the sun would start melting off our route we traversed over to where the Lower Exum starts.
We found the access ramp to the route, however it was iced up. The face above was dropping small chunks of ice and water as things started to warm up and melt. So despite the intimidating ramp conditions, we were hopeful that things would improve as we climbed up. Past this point, we had to climb up at least two pitches to be able to bail. The iced ramp could have been clue number three.
Polly lead out and up the ramp, the ice made it tricky enough we had to pitch it out for two rope lengths. In dry conditions, we could have simply walked/scrambled unroped up to the chimney that starts the route. Once we got to the chimney, Polly took off and after some desperate climbing the rope got stuck under a chockstone preventing her from climbing any higher. This forced her to build a makeshift belay to bring me up, and when I got up to her (hanging belay) there wasn’t really enough room for me to stand and take much of the gear from here, so I just kept going with the gear I had cleaned so far. I was climbing in gloves and approach shoes, so the technical difficulty couldn’t have been that bad, but the snow and ice over everything made it some of the most fearful climbing I’ve ever done. There was no margin for a slip and a fall for another 40 or so feet. Wes managed to find a dryer way up the chimney with some very wide stemming, and once he got to the belay ledge above where I was climbing, yelled down that I shouldn’t go much higher as it didn’t look good. I didn’t have much choice because it was overhaning to get back in to the chimney from where I was. So up we go!
It was such a relief to throw a leg over a snow covered horn and swing into the sun. Wes brought up Steph and Jon and I belayed Polly up into the sun as well. From here we had to go one more pitch to get to an optional bail point.
Polly’s wearing my gloves to help warm up her toes, she switched to her climbing shoes on lead to try and make the climbing easier at the expense of being warm.
We climbing the next pitch which was a neat crack system but that was running with melt water from above. This doesn’t exactly make the climbing any easier… or warmer. From the big ledge at the top of this pitch, looking up at the dripping face above us we decided to bail.
Once we got down into the gulley below the Wall Street ledge, we could see that it too was iced up. It would have been a horror show trying to descend that without crampons (which was the other option from the top of pitch 2, climb the remaining 4 and then retreat down Wall Street). This probably also meant that one of the crux pitches up much higher, the Friction Pitch, likely would have been icy too.
Polly and I at our highpoint at the top of pitch 2 with the Middle Teton in the background.
Got in some fun climbs, then got chased off by lightning and rain. We seemed to have brought the Cascade’s weather back with us. Interesting to think about climbing with Wes in two timezones within the span of one week. I really like how the OR show has brought friends back into town several years in a row.
Check out BJ’s flickr stream for more of the photos and his comments about our attempt on Baker.
Looks like it might get worse before it gets better
Man, it sure did get worse.
… or at least attempting it.
I flew out to Seattle to meet up with BJ to try the North Ridge, which is described in the guidebook as
"One of the best of the technical snow-and-ice climbs on a Cascade volcano" - Selected Climbs in the Cascades
Sounds like something worth trying more than once even. We started out Saturday morning with a hike and sunny weather complete with a good forecast till Tuesday.
However, by the time we got above the tree line, it clouded over and started to drizzle. Once we got up where we intended to camp at the edge of the snowfields/glacier to started to really rain. We opted to throw up the tent and wait it out. We got soaked in the process.
Eventually it stopped raining at 4pm, and we figured it was worth staying and waiting with the hope that it would clear off. The weather stayed pretty variable, both some sunshine and more rain. Things did not look promising. (see the videos below)
At 1am, we found no clouds, the moon and stars, and a flat barometer. Time to go.
We made it across the glacier in good time and wound our way up and over to the base of the north ridge. There are two access points to the ridge off the Coleman Glacier: one higher and steeper and more prone to rockfall hazard, and a safer one that takes a broad lower slope up onto the ridge. Based on seeing the rockfall path and a large bergschrund from camp, we planned on taking the lower option. We stuck to the plan.
However, instead of this broad snow slope, we found icefall, moats, and rockfall paths.
After trying unsuccessfully to find a good way through the icefall, we turned around because it was getting too late in the morning to safely continue up. Once back around, we could see that our intended route had melted out and that the more direct way was the only passable option. In hindsight, it could have been better to try to move fast through the section of potential rockfall and then we would likely have gotten up the route and summited. But you never know, and it seems like you live longer when you minimize the objective hazards like flying rocks.
This was a great trip and I’d gladly go back and try again. It was both inspiring and humbling to stand under a mountain like this.
Maybe next time.
Photos in the North Ridge and Index set on Flickr
Its still raining… (video by BJ)
Setting up the tent in the rain… (video by BJ)
Three time’s the charm. Back in Washington to try the North Ridge of Mt Baker tomorrow and I’m very excited everything worked out this time: weather, work and schedules. Being able to roll Southwest tickets forward because the weather didn’t work out sure beats the $150 fees for a ticket change other airlines charge, and it takes the pressure off trying to make a weekend trip out here happen. If it doesn’t work try again.
Climbing a route like this has been a long time goal for me and I hope it’s the start of more like it. Obviously, there’s no guarantee, but the odds feel like it’s in our favor.
The ritual of waiting
Mt Rainier from above, or at least out the window. (not this trip’s objective)
Gotta beat the heat somehow… was 95°F today.
Not a new photo (obviously) but nice to think about fall climbing, cooler temps and the eventual cold winter.
The rest at the top of this set on Flickr
"The unspectacular things are what’s important" - Dieter Rams
Comes in many forms.
Write the ideas down.
Keep them where you can see them.
Make them happen.
The interviews below about Tom Frost and his legacy of climbing, climbing gear and his photos from the “Golden Age” of Yosemite climbing, struck a cord today because he can be so humble about helping set the tone of American climbing, inventing so much of the gear we still use AND taking iconic photos all along the way. The gracious explanations of what inspired him and the lack of ego in his answers is a stark contrast to most of the self promotion that gets through around in the climbing world.
