Too Much Driving...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Sardine Creek Canyon - 8/9/08

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!

Cruising out to the island

Mom and Dad at home on "their" lake

Cards out on Horicon

Makeshift rescue effort after the throttle cable on the boat snapped. Poor me! :)

Future olympic bocce team

The bocce setting. I've never played with that many people!

The fabled "monkey trick".

I wouldn't mess with this group.

Early AM canoe ride to catch the sunrise

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Middle Sister - 7/12/08

Well, it finally happened... I convinced Melissa to head up one of Oregon's High Cascade volcanoes. Middle Sister was our destination, at 10,047 it's the smallest (by 40 feet) of the "Three Sisters" (aka, Faith, Hope, and Charity), making it the 5th highest peak in the state. There are 4 named glaciers on the mountain, and our route followed the reletively mellow Hayden glacier. When snow covered the north ridge is an excellent introduction to Oregon Mountaineering... Just enough exposure and technical difficulty to make it more than "just a hike".

We departed the trailhead on saturday weighted down by skis, climbing gear, and overnight gear. The hike to our camp at treeline was hot and uneventful. Stupidly we set up our tent with a view of the mountains instead of in the shade, so while it cooked in the sun, we lounged around in the shade waiting for the sun to set while getting attacked by curious ants and mosquitos. Finally we couldn't take sitting around anymore, so we clicked on our skis for some sweet July corn. It was a difficult decision to stop our skinning ascent to save some energy for the climb the next morning. The were virtually limitless skiing oppertunities, and just going up there to ski would have been a worthwhile way to spend a weekend.

The alarm clock chimed its lovely melody at 1am and we were moving by 1:30. It was already warm enough for t-shirts, so we tried to move as quickly as possible with the intention of being on the summit before the sun really started cooking things. Ashamed for not even looking at a route description, I was thankful that the routefinding was straightforward and that the glacier was mostly crevasse free. We plodded our way upward under some of the best stars I have seen in ages with the mountain rising bigger and bigger as we approached. Around 3:45 (I couldn't believe it either...) the sky to the east began showing the first signs of day and we stepped off of the glacier onto the North Ridge. The ridge was in interesting shape... Mostly a pile of loosly stacked rocks and boulders punctuated with a few steepish snowfields. The climb was dusty and slow. I led the way and tried to do my best not to roll rocks down onto Melissa below. The crux of the ridge was a steep but short snowfield exposed above above a loose cliffband. We had just watched a team of three belay each other across this step, so I was suprised when Mel declined the rope option and set off to solo the "step". Although the conditions were safe, it was exposed and a fall would have been lights out... Above that more crappy scree and a beautiful snowfield led to the summit. We hung out for a few minutes, and then turned around, not looking forward to getting sunbaked on the glacier below.

The hike out was ruthlessly hot, but the lure of warm beer and potato chips had us cranking pretty quickly... The worst part of the trip was the drive home in what had to be 100 degree weather. We neglected to take the vehicle with air conditioning... A mistake that was not remotely worth the money we saved by taking the Corolla.

Sweet July skiing...

North Sister Sunrise & the Cascade Volcano "Lineup"

Mel on the steep snowpatch

Finishing the summit ridge... Serious exposure to her left!

Me on the summit

South Sister, Broken Top, and Bachelor

Mel on the summit

Decending the North Ridge

Decending the Hayden Glacier

Cooking on the Morane

Slow and safe on the sketchy part of the downclimb

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Flagstone - 4th of July weekend

In a effort to escape crowds, heat, and high gas prices over the 4th of July weekend Melissa, the pup, and myself hit up a small forested crag called Flagstone east of Eugene. Not having ever really been there, we were a little confused as to which route was which, but we picked a bolted line that looked fun and started to get our gear together. Shortly after a friendly older couple arrived and began to gear up for an adjacent (and harder) climb. We chatted throughout the two pitch route and they offered some friendly advice on other climbs that were enjoyable. It wasn't until we ran into a friend from Eugene that we realized that the couple we had been talking with were Dave and Dee Tvedt, who were actually the first ascentionests for both of the routes (and many other ones at this particular crag) we were climbing! Small world stuff to climb somewhere for the first time ever and either know or know of half of the people who are there! Anyway, no ugly pics of me groveling up polished friction slab... Just of Mel making it look easy!