Too Much Driving...: August 2008

Three Finger Jack - 8/10/08

On the approach, TFJ in the background

Snow and some chilly water for Rosco

West Face

Amy and Aaron sitting on the south ridge saddle waiting for the masses ahead of us

Mel and Aaron on the loose 3rd class scramble

Rather large group of climbers ahead of us... We had to wait our turn.

Mel below belaying Aaron and myself on the "crawl" section of the climb

Looking down on Mel and Aaron from the summit

Again

Summit of Three Finger Jack. To the right it's a nearly vertical 1500' drop. The left was probably a more manageable 1000'.

Aaron getting close to the top

Me belaying up Mel on the summit

Summit group shot

View back east of the nearly perfect Black Butte

Mel on the downclimb

Organizing the gear

Playing it safe on one of the last truely exposed part of the route

View to the south of Mt Washington and the Sisters

Mel cleaning all the rocks out of her shoes at the bottom of the mountain.

Mel climbing up the last step to the summit

Cool clouds racing past the summit

A rare summer rainstorm on saturday had me packing up my gear for a decent of Sardine Creek canyon (3C Grade II). I'd scoped this creek out a couple of times, but flows were too high to feel safe about decending it. Unlike some of the other canyons we've done in the area and elsewhere, this one didn't have the same feeling of "commitment". The canyon walls weren't steep enough to prevent escape out the sides, although after the first drop I was sure that there wouldn't be any going back up stream. This was also my first solo canyon, so I was glad that there was minimal required swims and that the current was low enough to be comfortable with everything. I was a little suprised when after scrambling over and under fallen old growth logs for a half hour I encountered the first real horizon line. The drop was felt bigger than I expected, with my doubled over 200' rope barely reaching the pool below. The rap was slippery, beautiful, and exciting.

Anyway, after the first big rap, the canyon mellowed out significantly with only a couple of other waterfall drops with I either climbed around or rappeled. I actually really missed the company I was used to on these types of trips, and was a little dissapointed with the canyon itself as well. After the first drop there wasn't much technical difficulty, and there was a lot of freshly fallen trees to climb over and under. The hardest part of the trip was trying to stay upright on rocks that were more slippery than usual. I guess a good time overall, although I probably won't be rushing back to repeat that one. :)

Pictures sorta suck cause I couldn't keep my camera lens dry. :)

At the put in... Doesn't look like much here!

The first big horizon line

The edge!

Peering over

First drop from the bottom

Self picture :)

Pool below the second drop

Final drop down chasm falls... This would be nasty in high water for sure.

Lake George... an East Coast Adventure! - 7/26-8/3

Mel and I flew back to the east coast a couple weeks ago for a pretty monumental family reunion at Lake George in NY. The last time we had our family together like this was in July of 1995, and believe it or not, it was in the exact same spot (of course, this time we actually had electricity)! The property is incredible and sits on about 150' of the most beautiful lakefront shoreline I've ever come across. Most of the week was spent in a supremely relaxing stupor brought on by too much food and drink, but we did get out for a little hiking, waterskiing, fishing, canoeing, and swimming. Actually, a lot of swimming I guess! Anyway, it was supremely awesome to see my extended family, and was great to be back at "the" lake. Clearly it had been too long since I had seen most of the crowd, and it was amazing to see how we've all changed and grown up (and to get to know Terry and Tony better... those guys are great!). I was really sad that the Narenski's couldn't make it, but hopefully our paths will cross sometime in the near future! Thanks to everyone for the great time, and if you are ever on the other coast please come and visit!

Here are a few photos... I was bummed that a bunch of them came out fuzzy. Oh well!