tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36566075206694297312024-03-19T04:09:22.020-07:00Climbing and Caving JournalUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-46717642688999410042021-03-23T11:18:00.001-07:002021-03-26T11:18:49.444-07:00A return to caving... sort of<p>Levin's class has been doing a module on geology and learning about caves and karsts recently. If a pandemic weren't still happening, they would have gone on a cave field trip, but that is out of the question right now. Instead, I planned a caving adventure for just me and the kids, to explore a wild cave in Kentucky.</p><p>Liz was pretty anxious about this trip, since caving is inherently a bit of a risky activity. more so when you have little information about the cave you are going into. My initial plan was to drive 3 hours down to an area near Somerset Kentucky, where I knew about some cave entrances from a geocaching trip I did there back in 2014. But then I got in touch with someone who knew about cave a little closer, called <a href="https://www.cavecartography.com/historical_rockcastle_county.htm">Pine Hill Cave</a>, and after talking with him, got enough information about this cave to plan a trip there. Having a map and some idea of what to expect in the cave helped reduce anxieties a bunch. Still, the kids, especially Levin, were not too excited about the trip. They had done some caving previously when we lived in Tennessee, but that was a while ago. Back then we also had a knowledgeable guide, my friend Natalie, which removes a lot of the uncertainty and danger. This trip would by nature of us visiting a cave we'd never been in before, would be more of an adventure and exploration. This can be thrilling or terrifying. I was hoping the kids would find it more on the thrilling side of things, as I usually find this kind of activity.</p><p>We left at a reasonable time and got to the parking spot in a reasonable time, a small pull-off on the highway just outside of Mount Vernon, Kentucky. We sorted through all the gear we would be bringing, plenty of light sources, elbow and knee pads, hard hats, and clothes we wouldn't mind getting muddy, then set off to find the entrance to the cave. This turned out to be very easy, thanks to the info I had gotten from another caver. At the mouth of the cave we put on all our gear, and sent one final text to Liz telling her we were going in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBDDMayzqwm1reEbk1q7C2oo9ei2DSrySmgemLVYYHmWC40fBsqM0doE3M-fSF2LXxxx2aYvsU0QVuvtNIHXXFDzY2pANVmrT7lBuxywVoVrFsFggI5N96oCJCS_oOEFHgJJkx6puwfK5/s4032/PXL_20210323_152049324.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBDDMayzqwm1reEbk1q7C2oo9ei2DSrySmgemLVYYHmWC40fBsqM0doE3M-fSF2LXxxx2aYvsU0QVuvtNIHXXFDzY2pANVmrT7lBuxywVoVrFsFggI5N96oCJCS_oOEFHgJJkx6puwfK5/s320/PXL_20210323_152049324.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAtINqbp0roq71lPOo2z2Ug-fHs90cVSejaoK_lfd0hzwWOEaMlvg1xCk5QzLVwJbnrfvFN3kxJXSYW9n6I7c04_mZiOyaob0H_8gAANE6_lM0OpJQZIwgMidts_mL1Ml2Cb6hS-4QO8K/s3264/PXL_20210323_154555704.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAtINqbp0roq71lPOo2z2Ug-fHs90cVSejaoK_lfd0hzwWOEaMlvg1xCk5QzLVwJbnrfvFN3kxJXSYW9n6I7c04_mZiOyaob0H_8gAANE6_lM0OpJQZIwgMidts_mL1Ml2Cb6hS-4QO8K/w300-h400/PXL_20210323_154555704.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clean cavers, about to enter the underground realms</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The cave entrance was nice and large, and looked to have several little branches to explore, but quite soon we were crawling on hands and knees towards the sound of rushing water. The main trunk passage of this cave is an underground stream and once we reached it it became clear that we were going to get wet on this trip. We would be traveling upstream, in the water for most of the passage. This slowed progress down a bit, and also dampened spirits. You could say it adds to the spirit of adventure to be slogging through a stream, but the kids were already a little nervous about being underground and completely on our own, and having soggy feet and chilled toes did little to make them more comfortable with this fact. We passed a couple side passages and eventually came to a spot where we either had to crawl in the stream, or take a dry looking side passage that on the map was labeled "mid section bypass". We opted for the bypass, which was easier going since it was dry. Towards the end of the bypass, where it seemed like it should reconnect with the main stream, there were two dry passage ways that had spray paint telling us they were both dead ends (which agreed with the map), but the way back to the main stream appeared to be a tight crawl under some break-down and the kids absolutely did not want to investigate this at all. The idea that we didn't really know if something connected, or even know exactly where we were on the map was dawning on them, especially Levin. Levin was getting freaked out, and was starting to whine about turning back and getting out. The more I poked around looking for the main passage way, the more vociferous he became. Ada, who up until this point had been really excited about exploring the cave, and was often out in front, started to join in with Levin about wanting to leave. Not seeing a way forward at this point, we turned back and headed to the place where the main passage was faced with a low crawl through the stream. At this point, it looked like the only way forward would be to take on this crawl in the stream, and both kids were distressed and getting close to tears about wanting to leave. We had been in the cave a little over 30 minutes. There was still so much more to explore, but I could see we were not going to get further in without a serious change in their mindset, and I didn't know how to calm the kids down. So we started heading back the way we came.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-6b1vfDLOjwGWP8zHhwmonWBPSWExRU7K-qI8P8mH698PCPNz4Zprxl_Mzmf4MojQSTFP2uvCtwwDDHXGPQznAFKZ5teSxtXzu_2zD2p8yohls3Jbu9SafHlWkh_jI_VF4R2GzpO43ve/s4032/PXL_20210323_162930540.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-6b1vfDLOjwGWP8zHhwmonWBPSWExRU7K-qI8P8mH698PCPNz4Zprxl_Mzmf4MojQSTFP2uvCtwwDDHXGPQznAFKZ5teSxtXzu_2zD2p8yohls3Jbu9SafHlWkh_jI_VF4R2GzpO43ve/s320/PXL_20210323_162930540.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIM9uabYuepqpDpELw6RmJEmaxl9QUbnIoi7_1mbSt0tFUDatM1UtgmVgrlg13b3QkNdYgkmnLUmkkEweF9kajczJwqphm4JEPbobFqDXrQ5dFD5lCyolvCaOiBOr8VX0irHDtf6tNzaL/s4032/PXL_20210323_162942420.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIM9uabYuepqpDpELw6RmJEmaxl9QUbnIoi7_1mbSt0tFUDatM1UtgmVgrlg13b3QkNdYgkmnLUmkkEweF9kajczJwqphm4JEPbobFqDXrQ5dFD5lCyolvCaOiBOr8VX0irHDtf6tNzaL/s320/PXL_20210323_162942420.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Levin looking longingly at the exit grafitti</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFvSOFB_W0Sz3Pap1wLxP8cNKa0HBaHHcNEl4c8Mdx18uPbElTORmQJOu2mLXQqLA4rm4vLFL_gjyYqHKFrV5sT5zIDE5Psj-J7aRu1W_v4FBWhjqMhkb1XjuzQPM76vTfWfYwOG9c1cW/s4032/PXL_20210323_162946647.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFvSOFB_W0Sz3Pap1wLxP8cNKa0HBaHHcNEl4c8Mdx18uPbElTORmQJOu2mLXQqLA4rm4vLFL_gjyYqHKFrV5sT5zIDE5Psj-J7aRu1W_v4FBWhjqMhkb1XjuzQPM76vTfWfYwOG9c1cW/s320/PXL_20210323_162946647.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTWIJKos_C8MKplGd5sfpvUbtu71sztc4eGKUbwhVqpXKu2v3-TJTSZM-FwiM_Q0nVyZaGevJeo94im7aDF_mSo786EhsxmfFQ48vx7315eKihD9kCVcV1bLk5PrOJ7apsbyIoZY0S3eN/s4032/PXL_20210323_165136035.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTWIJKos_C8MKplGd5sfpvUbtu71sztc4eGKUbwhVqpXKu2v3-TJTSZM-FwiM_Q0nVyZaGevJeo94im7aDF_mSo786EhsxmfFQ48vx7315eKihD9kCVcV1bLk5PrOJ7apsbyIoZY0S3eN/s320/PXL_20210323_165136035.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of he only cave formations we found, partially defaced</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6xrG5zf9RvKa5wrhNykuNXAUYaovz-yV-eUtnFiRMNgfWo-OtrDv2MX-Txjsa0O-cVTwK0C582YHDMCETR9BnPDitWEhlIxkm5WNBJDpYj1tE_h1iPQUfYz1IlCBiVXS-xBLGe0TnjVz/s4032/PXL_20210323_165910208.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6xrG5zf9RvKa5wrhNykuNXAUYaovz-yV-eUtnFiRMNgfWo-OtrDv2MX-Txjsa0O-cVTwK0C582YHDMCETR9BnPDitWEhlIxkm5WNBJDpYj1tE_h1iPQUfYz1IlCBiVXS-xBLGe0TnjVz/s320/PXL_20210323_165910208.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Navigating slippery rocks and streams</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpR9faS99HiNAXotVeN1Dm03NSJOMR7R248w1aCSfJ0DqAXlJL0nTX1EwmLaLmOnU-u9TLRALlvxlTP-eqasED-CoWQWLEfSp0mpMTuvVPwxfDgIXkDzByZBkFDNai6G_i96-5nsyef36/s4032/PXL_20210323_170646056.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpR9faS99HiNAXotVeN1Dm03NSJOMR7R248w1aCSfJ0DqAXlJL0nTX1EwmLaLmOnU-u9TLRALlvxlTP-eqasED-CoWQWLEfSp0mpMTuvVPwxfDgIXkDzByZBkFDNai6G_i96-5nsyef36/s320/PXL_20210323_170646056.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyBZk8lE0UTCqCT5HpVZz9kwfVgy_G5LmsHuiOgIvzzjUnvIJyPhFaSJ3UfFAulBAAptoXSZHUMZ8uak1FT4Dtkweik-9ftvRIyMwafCdBp19g7w6PrwIkjkHu0PP0zH6szNE4uoBwHf8/s4032/PXL_20210323_162918820.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyBZk8lE0UTCqCT5HpVZz9kwfVgy_G5LmsHuiOgIvzzjUnvIJyPhFaSJ3UfFAulBAAptoXSZHUMZ8uak1FT4Dtkweik-9ftvRIyMwafCdBp19g7w6PrwIkjkHu0PP0zH6szNE4uoBwHf8/s320/PXL_20210323_162918820.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fossil Ada spotted in the ceiling</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAcbLGL6JQgDTnsJcgNsyqe-f5ZG84khO6zkeTHhtTQZEqx5veiSDyKIqUjniqWrq0sN-OiaWMM9lk58ZhNjYvBrrUL64nCkS137fWk21lBGg2amB_JVyf1XcKZ8uC6SmKhP4NyAISYqY/s4032/PXL_20210323_162924165.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAcbLGL6JQgDTnsJcgNsyqe-f5ZG84khO6zkeTHhtTQZEqx5veiSDyKIqUjniqWrq0sN-OiaWMM9lk58ZhNjYvBrrUL64nCkS137fWk21lBGg2amB_JVyf1XcKZ8uC6SmKhP4NyAISYqY/s320/PXL_20210323_162924165.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Popcorn formations on the ceiling</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>Once we were heading back, Levin calmed right down. I don't think he was all that scared to be underground,, but the idea of exploring simply was not enticing him. Instead, the fear of the un-known had been firmly planted in his mind. Going back the way we came was now calm, because we knew this passage already. He happily scrambled over the rocky obstacles, and negotiated the slippery mud as we headed back to the cave entrance. He was quick to point out the landmarks we had observed on our way in, keeping us on the right path. And soon enough we were back at the cave entrance, exiting into the sunlight.</p><p>I couldn't hide my disappointment that we hadn't spent more time in the cave. We barely saw any cave formations that Levin had learned about in his class, and there were literally miles of passageways more to explore. The really cool things about cave exploration, discovering beautiful formations, seeing rare subterranean wildlife, figuring out how to overcome obstacles, we really had only just got glimpses of. Our hour underground left me wanting more. But the kids were totally fine with being back outside. I texted Liz that we were out, and got a reply that she was glad we were all safe. We shucked off our muddy caving gear and I started thinking about how to salvage our adventure. Had we really just driven over two hours to spend only a hour underground? Were we just going to turn around and head home? I think not!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGUXKJPpKF2ypxS_ByOWIQV6r6MvCJLa45vJy4E39OlTaAaQewnHUQRj-EWErCkUJp_iqzMQ3Ks45Q8n68r_90ZYjFs3B_j4SS6AtPfYTt9JTpiBhoW3fGD3hcx2iLxxIf240kSEl-mDxX/s4032/PXL_20210323_171358621.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGUXKJPpKF2ypxS_ByOWIQV6r6MvCJLa45vJy4E39OlTaAaQewnHUQRj-EWErCkUJp_iqzMQ3Ks45Q8n68r_90ZYjFs3B_j4SS6AtPfYTt9JTpiBhoW3fGD3hcx2iLxxIf240kSEl-mDxX/s320/PXL_20210323_171358621.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKX5SlDPTyoA3aTwIrhkf-5u8DP5oFco3pHtGePJLnHmZQltU0XMUXskIipKCgS_Byl9Vm-P60RaB9S8LqijwnCw4t70OqBTh8loclpvDoBPCWo2FhYNbBVis9DW-8SohJvqBBbZX5rg_/s4032/PXL_20210323_171409025.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKX5SlDPTyoA3aTwIrhkf-5u8DP5oFco3pHtGePJLnHmZQltU0XMUXskIipKCgS_Byl9Vm-P60RaB9S8LqijwnCw4t70OqBTh8loclpvDoBPCWo2FhYNbBVis9DW-8SohJvqBBbZX5rg_/s320/PXL_20210323_171409025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi7HrpkG_YnUv9usSEEpjH7o8ev8W_QDljIVsM2LD9lghvJv6cM_XuRfKBUwxMa_OwCN43PkYLsmsAl3SbZnFXFz2R-77i5roNmHMtdylc3jrHSYXlpOdJ7tVNrvMMwvL1x2cQZTfwR2ns/s3264/PXL_20210323_171622831.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi7HrpkG_YnUv9usSEEpjH7o8ev8W_QDljIVsM2LD9lghvJv6cM_XuRfKBUwxMa_OwCN43PkYLsmsAl3SbZnFXFz2R-77i5roNmHMtdylc3jrHSYXlpOdJ7tVNrvMMwvL1x2cQZTfwR2ns/s320/PXL_20210323_171622831.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post cave portrait</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlXOTuI2r4WxECu5hy6dRjhO0oMzFT4ILu22tYKrmSttvo5Rwddqa83QtHyEr8aeQPPJ4zxjXptItcpj-9DHqljvOtDHq8UgBOkVHkHoQy55Wgl-O3a6O1K5ywEXm0z61h0KVzG1W3BxV/s3264/PXL_20210323_171639677.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlXOTuI2r4WxECu5hy6dRjhO0oMzFT4ILu22tYKrmSttvo5Rwddqa83QtHyEr8aeQPPJ4zxjXptItcpj-9DHqljvOtDHq8UgBOkVHkHoQy55Wgl-O3a6O1K5ywEXm0z61h0KVzG1W3BxV/s320/PXL_20210323_171639677.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obligatory butt-shot showing who has the muddiest bottom (Ada wins!)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu3YtjWKjL30uDvmR4V7k3tjivT7zFJl2j9XfnC3ZO-RgTjHw0kcPZA6rSWoIFQlN26zXq63iZJhDsLbZBDg2Jb5uThfS7ApZKLE5XbbHQb8oGUhOiHHpMF4OMhFBNMtu5foGtLFF4xu3/s4032/PXL_20210323_171716381.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu3YtjWKjL30uDvmR4V7k3tjivT7zFJl2j9XfnC3ZO-RgTjHw0kcPZA6rSWoIFQlN26zXq63iZJhDsLbZBDg2Jb5uThfS7ApZKLE5XbbHQb8oGUhOiHHpMF4OMhFBNMtu5foGtLFF4xu3/s320/PXL_20210323_171716381.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyFLxB4TqM_q7GtM5ThHhwLZECt7ZsjEQV052whLbxtKmju0HUN8ZPMMLR6f4lTz0v2v-MlRvMXOyPJv3EvUITofy9ib_7QwhOtbPXtar1TYbIENGcM9PeEvlXQ55OJQtXFR4qDdXUbiM/s4032/PXL_20210323_171722244.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyFLxB4TqM_q7GtM5ThHhwLZECt7ZsjEQV052whLbxtKmju0HUN8ZPMMLR6f4lTz0v2v-MlRvMXOyPJv3EvUITofy9ib_7QwhOtbPXtar1TYbIENGcM9PeEvlXQ55OJQtXFR4qDdXUbiM/s320/PXL_20210323_171722244.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7s70s1T-lX_m6SVkrW7n8EySU0G3FcCMd_Q5rDG0W_NrFVAq54nsTrv3LWj-Zqd0EeB0ZKaCv9i_cgLMdf-v-Xg72tXU_26yu3oMC062LBnjYiiPUnzLlebRi7Qv7wkaKlL7NctHkp1ax/s3264/PXL_20210323_171733102.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7s70s1T-lX_m6SVkrW7n8EySU0G3FcCMd_Q5rDG0W_NrFVAq54nsTrv3LWj-Zqd0EeB0ZKaCv9i_cgLMdf-v-Xg72tXU_26yu3oMC062LBnjYiiPUnzLlebRi7Qv7wkaKlL7NctHkp1ax/s320/PXL_20210323_171733102.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2CoY0qjMc0rSo3CH5egPfhhCl3ED-cZosz_c9b74t4HlpVv6_cyIeuHtaDH8hNGbUtSIUBE-0YJGQxYimf6j6S4zeeoewXoybX-xnBjiP1KCeSn0s4-1-y8WLKOp3VMvOqgTDpvPRvCV/s4032/PXL_20210323_172802764.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2CoY0qjMc0rSo3CH5egPfhhCl3ED-cZosz_c9b74t4HlpVv6_cyIeuHtaDH8hNGbUtSIUBE-0YJGQxYimf6j6S4zeeoewXoybX-xnBjiP1KCeSn0s4-1-y8WLKOp3VMvOqgTDpvPRvCV/s320/PXL_20210323_172802764.jpg" /></a></div><p>Looking at my geocaching map, I knew there was some interesting locations to explore a short drive north from where we were. We could travel some back roads through rural Kentuckian hollows to a places of more springs and caves, possibly scout out another cave to explore in the future, and look for a waterfall to hike to. The kids thought this sounded reasonable, so off we went.</p><p>I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the backroads north towards Berea were. The roads followed ridge tops and hollows, and there were signs of waterfalls, limestone bluffs and possible caves everywhere. I am not at all surprised to learn that this county has a huge concentration of caves, although I bet most are on private lands. We stopped at Climax spring, which is a beautiful small waterfall along the side of the road, with a drinking pipe set up.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5AA-3JjGQGncvXyR2S0SR9WqFxL5v1mMDSz26oe19w3l8vtt8g83LyjtELlSD6sjqegkKKLpXOHGXSpc3aOJdObL1fXj60QQZaG9YATt20YZClCZWxmpBTtc81hbbwQgXygvKL1iSUTS/s4032/PXL_20210323_181838592.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5AA-3JjGQGncvXyR2S0SR9WqFxL5v1mMDSz26oe19w3l8vtt8g83LyjtELlSD6sjqegkKKLpXOHGXSpc3aOJdObL1fXj60QQZaG9YATt20YZClCZWxmpBTtc81hbbwQgXygvKL1iSUTS/s320/PXL_20210323_181838592.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climax Spring/Falls</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknesUtGPOzGlfQWTc_y8qSZiW1Os4PJpFpGgSzsL3lsixe-tGkOUR40abfJEMrNY2C09Ak2C52lf3RMLg9NzmBGhrqg8sdECJoow_Fxk9aHcPhKUkRaJGky6x2BVKWhJbnTpnL4gkykvu/s4032/PXL_20210323_182230490.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknesUtGPOzGlfQWTc_y8qSZiW1Os4PJpFpGgSzsL3lsixe-tGkOUR40abfJEMrNY2C09Ak2C52lf3RMLg9NzmBGhrqg8sdECJoow_Fxk9aHcPhKUkRaJGky6x2BVKWhJbnTpnL4gkykvu/s320/PXL_20210323_182230490.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Levin has a taste of Climax Spring</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Just a short ways past this was a geocache placed near Climax Cave, another little cave system that might be worth exploring some time. This cave is on property owned by a nearby church, and I'd want to contact them before making a trip inside, as there are a bunch of "No Trespassing" signs posted around the cave entrance. After finding the geocache nearby, we poked our heads into the cave and immediately there were more cave formations, stalactites and stalagmites than in Pine Hill Cave. Ada seemed like she would be interested in grabbing our helmets and headlamps and exploring a bit, but Levin wasn't having it. Instead we chose to drive a bit further north to the trailhead for <a href="https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7030442/anglin-falls-trail">Anglin Falls</a>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwjN32HbZLlf3s1UuNZjdCSLZN_TJl-i0MWQelKM5vQN1h-tHwN5rVrPnb4Wv8kSLVMN_WpRdMRoYNLga3czkhwW08Mf06kUUzl1k3EC6esa85LrIr39ROIvJsJXhtLtiekdgW-AsASr4/s4032/PXL_20210323_183451619.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwjN32HbZLlf3s1UuNZjdCSLZN_TJl-i0MWQelKM5vQN1h-tHwN5rVrPnb4Wv8kSLVMN_WpRdMRoYNLga3czkhwW08Mf06kUUzl1k3EC6esa85LrIr39ROIvJsJXhtLtiekdgW-AsASr4/s320/PXL_20210323_183451619.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ada checking out the small entrance to Climax Cave</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>Anglin falls was another place I only knew about because there was a geocache there, but I am sure glad we stopped for a visit. the geocache was right at the trailhead, but we set off up the trail, about a mile, to check out the waterfall. There were spring wildflowers along the trail )white and purple bloodroots), lovely limestone bluffs and the waterfall was running well and just beautiful. The uge boulders around the waterfall were fun to scamper over, and best of all for the kids, was catching salamanders in the pools beneath the falls.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBF_8EuqnIWc8hGtazH2f_kjg0no8lZctk0a-0SCnwrZSUvErTCVVy7cwq3Om0xmq8WRjEWlVWIhaqouqq2MVeTI7F-NpXCII9YR1LHcadBSEi-T8mFPUmqgJCmSEPTkFjQeRGsf3NKmx/s4032/PXL_20210323_190425144.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBF_8EuqnIWc8hGtazH2f_kjg0no8lZctk0a-0SCnwrZSUvErTCVVy7cwq3Om0xmq8WRjEWlVWIhaqouqq2MVeTI7F-NpXCII9YR1LHcadBSEi-T8mFPUmqgJCmSEPTkFjQeRGsf3NKmx/s320/PXL_20210323_190425144.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKQxLWktHwEi3GMZftzwiFVtaL9yd2rKkI4XvLulBqS6BpV3zu00ktfvG9105dkM8jTIT48f-lwAqJDxUf2Nw-DKIIMomPBwrvOdgNQ9tltqIENUpErHs10CxmrOg4zl9m5R72JPGDQrP/s4032/PXL_20210323_191653596.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKQxLWktHwEi3GMZftzwiFVtaL9yd2rKkI4XvLulBqS6BpV3zu00ktfvG9105dkM8jTIT48f-lwAqJDxUf2Nw-DKIIMomPBwrvOdgNQ9tltqIENUpErHs10CxmrOg4zl9m5R72JPGDQrP/s320/PXL_20210323_191653596.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3DQvqDskTK3AdPW6djYKEeI-C_tyGkFg3H_7jexaSuJr4QoltukkklGTGZ-vNxXhszm0wl4Uo_0FDH32IPG6uBc3HveJndk4YTwdgUbZLIHoovJX691y7nHb4LRL3uU_Ow9PJCvbADl5/s4032/PXL_20210323_192649092.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3DQvqDskTK3AdPW6djYKEeI-C_tyGkFg3H_7jexaSuJr4QoltukkklGTGZ-vNxXhszm0wl4Uo_0FDH32IPG6uBc3HveJndk4YTwdgUbZLIHoovJX691y7nHb4LRL3uU_Ow9PJCvbADl5/s320/PXL_20210323_192649092.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbqCLvhSHbmvd4jUyImRyq56HwF1s3yMxhNMxjTAe34BrTN8uXqf7WFfVN0xF8uEfmGDSU0P-xAIKv0xTyWZGA3-ItgL2EFnXwM_ZQr5WfKeIInbnfUCVs2nTwLXB9WQyFlmKZxcsiVE6/s4032/PXL_20210323_201454901.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbqCLvhSHbmvd4jUyImRyq56HwF1s3yMxhNMxjTAe34BrTN8uXqf7WFfVN0xF8uEfmGDSU0P-xAIKv0xTyWZGA3-ItgL2EFnXwM_ZQr5WfKeIInbnfUCVs2nTwLXB9WQyFlmKZxcsiVE6/s320/PXL_20210323_201454901.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>This last little hike to Anglin falls really redeemed the trip for the kids. They were so excited about catching the salamanders, and just boisterous about playing around the waterfall and the rocks. This was more in line with what they want from an adventure trip. Somewhere to run around and climb on rocks, catch cool amphibians, and enjoy a little hike. I'll have to keep that in mind when I plan our next outing.</p><p>I would still really love to do some more caving, but I'm not sure I could get the kids, or Liz that interested in exploring a cave with me. So for now I'll have to content myself with the little taste of caving we got today. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-42102339551515452592016-03-05T05:14:00.000-08:002016-03-12T05:25:32.525-08:00It's been a long time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After nearly two years without going climbing, I finally got back on a rope. As climbing trips go this one would barely count in most peoples books. IN fact, the climbing was an after-thought for the day,. We had taken the family down to <a href="http://ijams.org/">Ijams</a> to hunt for spring salamanders, and after spending the afternoon doing that, I dragged everyone over to the new Ijams Crag to check out the clibing.<br />
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<a href="http://ijamscrag.wix.com/ijamscrag">Ijams Crag</a> was only recently developed and opened to the public, and is a small limestone wall with sport routes. I jumped on two of the easier routes on the far left hand side of the wall. Bruce Banner (5.8) was my first taste of rock climbing. I didn't know what it was graded at the time, but it didn't look that hard. At the 3rd bolt was a cruxy move, which is probably responsible for the rating, but other than that it was easy going. For not having been climbing for so long, I felt pretty comfortable leading up. My wife said I wasn't as fluid as I used to be. No surprise there.<br />
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I jumped on an adjacent route next, Down on the Corner (5.7). It started sprinkling a little, and the rock started to get slick, and the crux section here felt more awkward for me, but I got up quickly (it is only 4 closely spaced bolts to the top). Liz took a turn on the route next, it's been even longer since she climbed, and I thought she did wonderfully.<br />
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As afterthoughts go, this was pretty fun. I may have to try to get in a few more climbing trips before move.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-87971970781882796592016-02-26T18:25:00.000-08:002016-02-29T19:10:18.221-08:00Fox Hole Cave<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had been wanting to visit this cave because of the geocache that exists at the entrance to it. Kind of a silly reason for picking a cave, that is, if you're not a geocacher. There are tons of caves in this area, some of which may be much cooler than this one, but this one has a geocache in it, so it was bumped to the top of the list. If you are not a geocacher, I wouldn't expect you to understand. But silly reasons aside, this cave turned out to be pretty darn cool.<br />
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First, let me disclaim that the cave is on the <a href="http://dogwoodcitygrotto.com/files/closedcavelist.pdf">Closed Caves List</a>, but is also on Private Property, which means that you can obtain permission from the landowner to access the cave. I'm not experienced enough to know whether caves on that list are on the list because of poor relations with landowners, or other reasons, but when my friend Natalie suggested I try to get permission, I was game. It took some internet sleuthing just to find out who to call, and I called a few wrong numbers at first. Eventually I connected with someone, only to make a mistake and ask for the person's daughter first (who is listed as the property owner) and then her deceased husband. You might think that after these faux-pas I wouldn't have gotten permission, but the lady I spoke to was kind enough to allow us to visit the cave. I was STOKED!<br />
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For the rest of the week I was planning the trip, not just to the cave, but also to a number of geocaches and natural formations in the area. Those other destinations seriously ate into our below-ground time, and it was nearly 2pm by the time we were gearing up for the cave. I wasn't all that bothered by this, but I was lucky that my caving companions were also geocachers. Any other caver might have been seriously miffed. The entrance to the cave is in a 30m deep sinkhole, locally known as the Confederate Sinkhole as it was used as a hide out during the Civil War. I had brought a climbing rope, harnesses and gear for rappelling/ascending, and was prepared to bring it with us. But jsut as we were getting ready to leave the car, a bunch of "kids" (ok they may have been in their lower 20s...) walked by and said they were heading to the cave too. They had no visible caving gear, such as helmets and knee pads, and no visible rope either. We figured if they could get down the sinkhole, so could we. Plus I was a little hesitant about leaving a nice climbing rope at the hole knowing that others could take it. Not that they would.... well, I guess I was just being unfair to them. If we hadn't seen anyone else around, i most surely would have hung and left a rope while were down below. Oh well.<br />
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We got to the sinkhole a bit behind the kids, and it turns out they did have 100' rope, cheap 8mm stuff that you might use as a tow-rope for water skiing. Heck, maybe not even that good. They were slowly making their way to the bottom, and offered to let us use their line. Then, much to my shame, they offered to leave their rope in place even after they had left, since we would probably be in the cave longer than them. Boy did I feel low, having stereotyped them as rednecks, when they were just nice kids wanting to explore. So we descended to the pit using their rope. By the time we hit the bottom they were already disappeared down the main north passage. Rather than follow in their smoky wake (who smokes in a cave?), we quickly located a sandy crawl that took us to the southern passage. The way that this cave splits like this is not at all obvious. In fact, if we hadn't known to look for a southern passage right at the bottom of the sinkhole, we probably would have gone into the main north passage, since it is big and obvious. I think this fact actually helps protect the cave somewhat, since most "spelunkers" will be drawn into the northern passage, leaving the other passage to the "cavers". This was fairly well born out by us not seeing much trash at all in the southern passage, and what graffiti we did see seemed to be from carbide lamps. No spray painting or ugly rock scrapings.<br />
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The southern trunk was pretty sporting. A short ways in there was a 3m climb up a crumbly wall, aided by a fixed rope. Further in past that was another dicey traverse by some deep pits, once again aided by a fixed rope. The rope had been broken half-way, so it wasn't immediately clear to us how this portion was done, but we figured it out and even tied the two ends together to make a nice handline for the traverse. Mostly the passage was a good walking passage, and dry. There were numerous small leads off to either side which we stopped and took time to explore. I got pretty muddy going in one of them. We were looking for the lead which had been dug out by Hal Love in the 90's and opened up 3 miles of additional cave passage. We didn't know what we were looking for though, and were never sure if we had found it. The trunk passage we were in had survey marks labeling it as the F passage, and carbide markings dating back to the late 60's. It ended at a nice little pool (and some additional muddy crawls which we declined to investigate).<br />
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On our way out, we tested one lead with a nasty, tight and awkward z-bend. Natalie was first to get through, and got excited about possibly being on virgin cave. I followed (painfully) but there wasn't space enough for us both to be at the end of her lead. Mitch deemed the tight -bend to be beyond his comfort zone. Eventually, Natalie returned saying that the lead might go a bit further on with some more digging. Something for another day. I exited the z-bend in crazy style, contorting my body in painful ways, with my head smooshed to the ground, and my hips and legs sprawled up to the ceiling. Mitch got some video which I'm hoping to get access to.<br />
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When we got to the entrance sinkhole, the sun had already set, but it was still twilight. Rather than exit immediately, we walked a short ways into the North entrance-passage. Our earlier thoughts about cave condition were confirmed, there was a lot more trash and graffiti in this part of the cave, at least near the entrance where we were looking. What's worse, we found some fresh rock scratching graffitti from the kids who had entered just before us. They even dated their graffiti. Made me kind of pissed at them, because actions like theirs is what can cause bad landowner relations. And I stayed pissed at them even after we started climbing out the sinkhole and found that they had indeed left their rope for us to use. Ok, so they are generous about sharing their rope, but they are still idiots for marking their names in the cave. Sheesh. It was good and dark by the time we got out, but we had only been underground for about 5 hours. Not a long trip, but definitely a good one. A few days later Natalie sent me a pdf of the cave map, and there is a tone more to explore to this cave. We had utterly missed Hal Love's "recent" discoveries and their appear to be miles of awesome cave left to explore. It's always fun to have something like this to look forward to.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Van Buren County, TN, USA35.794713842978204 -85.46131979731444535.788274342978205 -85.471404797314449 35.8011533429782 -85.451234797314441tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-18046612006587993512016-01-20T06:19:00.001-08:002016-01-20T06:19:18.578-08:00Some recent caving adventuresI've already written about some recent caving adventures on my other journals. But some links here seemed appropriate. Some of these may not be publicly view-able though.<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://thehobsonian.blogspot.com/2016/01/clinton-caving.html">Drive-In Cave</a>, Clinton, TN 1-3-16</li>
<li><a href="http://thehobsonian.blogspot.com/2015/12/wild-cavin-wes.html">Eblen Cave</a>, Lenoir City, TN 12-24-15</li>
<li><a href="http://thehobsonian.blogspot.com/2015/11/underground-hiking-first-trip-to-blue.html">Blue Spring Cave</a>, Sparta, TN 11-27-15</li>
<li><a href="http://fugads.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-legend-of-petty-john.html">Petty John Cave</a>, Lafayette, GA 10-2-15</li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-19711073758869410052016-01-20T06:13:00.002-08:002016-01-20T06:13:22.798-08:00Reviving this BlogThis blog was always intended to be a simple climbing journal I keep for myself. As my climbing activities have dwindled, and I've starting doing other adventurous activities, the psots here have become less and less. I am adventuring less than I once was, but that is fairly natural considering my life stage. I have a family now, and my leisure time is no longer so focused on the adventures I want to have, but shared with them. But I still have some adventures and would like to continue writing about them. So I'm expanding the scope of this blog slightly to include other adventures.<br />
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My geocaching adventures I write about on a <a href="http://fugads.blogspot.com/">different blog</a> already. And my <a href="http://thehobsonian.blogspot.com/?zx=b03c4e5db04cbe54">Family Blog</a> (which is open by invite only) is still the best place to capture Family Adventures. Everything else I will try to capture here. For now, that mainly means Caving!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-25220788244098981162016-01-17T14:02:00.000-08:002016-01-20T14:33:48.936-08:00Blue Spring Cave: Fear Chasm<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sTj0QqsEleU/Vp5PBgNlQCI/AAAAAAAAIDI/x2D6YBxLAP4/s1600/IMG_0978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sTj0QqsEleU/Vp5PBgNlQCI/AAAAAAAAIDI/x2D6YBxLAP4/s320/IMG_0978.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Matt in BSC</td></tr>
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A return trip to Blue Spring Cave. I had contacted Natalie about going caving since it was forecast to be cold. Nothing like being underground in a warm cave when it is icy cold above ground. I was game to visit any cave, but Natalie wanted to go back to Blue Spring Cave, so taht's where we went. We were joined by three other cavers: Abby Harmon, the Chair/Pres of the <a href="http://caves.org/grotto/etg/index.html">East Tennessee Grotto</a> of which I am a member. Abby's boyfriend Matt Tomlinson, who is the Chair of the <a href="http://smgrotto.wix.com/smg-webpage">Smoky Mountain Grotto</a>. And a caver and geologist named Sarah, who recently moved to Knoxville to do her Masters. A better group of cavers you couldn't ask for. Our destination for this trip was the Root Cellar, but we were also open to exploring other areas beyond that if we were feeling up for it.<br />
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Natalie led the way in, taking us through Johnson Hall and the Ships Prow. I tried to keep an eye out for the BO junction, but without Natalia pointing it out I never would have noticed it. It is very inconspicuous. We saw a handful of bats on the walls, but nothing like what we saw at the Drive In Cave. The main passage, which goes through Tamra's Hall and Buckner's Borehole is very large in most places, and has a lot of complicated climbing over break down. It was nothing like the easy walking passages of the M branch that we did on my last trip. Even so, we made pretty good time and were soon taking a break in the breakdown area where we would connect to the root cellar. This junction is not at all obvious, and involves squirming down through breakdown boulders. Before doing this, we checked out the main passageway continuation which would lead to Thunder Falls, one of our possible destinations. No one in the group had been that way before, so it was enticing to scout the passages a bit. But we didn't want to go that way until after exploring the root cellar.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chert roots in the Root Cellar</td></tr>
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The nature of the cave changes quite a bit once you reach the passages around the root cellar. Instead of giant borehole with breakdown, the passages are smaller, maybe 10' high at most and only as wide as a body length. Smaller, but still quite comfortable. There were also a lot of little side passages that branched off in both directions. We checked out a few of these which were crawls, and I succeeded in getting very muddy. The survey markers were FCK and if I ever get my hands on the BSC mapbook, I'll try to look up exactly where we were. The root cellar itself was pretty awesome, with the chert tubes leftover from ancient crustacean burrows. None of the pictures I took really capture them. It was definitely cool.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fixed Rope traverse..Fear Chasm?</td></tr>
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The passage at the end of the root cellar peters out to a low muddy belly crawl, that Matt declared passable. However, no one seemed keen on pressing it any further, so we turned back to check out the Parallel Worlds passages. Parallel worlds, as the name suggests, is a passageway that is initially parallel to the root cellar. There are even a few small window connections between the two, which makes for funny photo ops. one of these openings is just large enough to squeeze through, and Matt and I both tried our luck in it. I needed some help getting through, but made it through, earning some nice ribcage bruises for my effort.<br />
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Matt doing the window squeeze between Root Cellar and Parallel Worlds</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natalie climbs the 15' pit past Fear Chasm</td></tr>
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We continued to explore passages beyond Parallel Worlds for a while, after dropping our packs. We passed a fixed rope traverse that we assumed was Fear Chasm.Abby and Sarah both decided not to tackle this traverse, as it was kind of exposed. While they stayed beyond Natalie, Matt and I forged ahead. We got split up a bit, when Matt stopped to check out a pit. I ended up sticking close to Natalie as we continued down narrow stoop/crawl passages that just kept going and going. We eventually encountered another pit. A 15' downclimb landed us int he bottom of the pit, where there was a fixed rope leading up the other side. We didn't have gear to climb the rope, but found going passage at the bottom of the pit and kept going for another hundred yards before finally deciding to turn around. Splitting up the group in the cave was making me nervous. On the way back I talked through my fears, and then Natalie reassured me that we'd be able to figure out where everyone was once we got back to where we dropped packs. Fortunately, we caught up to Matt, and then Sarah and Abby and were all together again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f2nNDmW5YZY/Vp5PAb3dDlI/AAAAAAAAIC0/7bl_lBehLUc/s1600/DSCF5115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f2nNDmW5YZY/Vp5PAb3dDlI/AAAAAAAAIC0/7bl_lBehLUc/s320/DSCF5115.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt lights up some Alien writing on a cave wall in Parallel Worlds</td></tr>
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We backtracked as far as the main passage where the junction to Thunder Falls was, then sat down for a break and some snacks. Abby put on some David Bowie music, which was a fitting tribute to the Rock Star who passed away just days earlier. We munched and sand, and then decided that it was late enough that we weren't goin to explore any further. We were still hours from the entrance and it was time to head out. The return trip was pretty uneventful. Abby attempted to lead us out, to test her knowledge of the cave route, and was mostly pretty successful. I wonder if I would have been as good at navigating through the big breakdown passages. Perhaps some day I'll find out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chert root in the Root Cellar</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-59328624541370091552014-05-03T21:47:00.000-07:002016-01-18T08:35:32.392-08:00A Farewell to the OrgansI love the Organ Mountains. For climbing, hiking and geocaching. I combined all these activities into my geocaching series, <a href="http://coord.info/GC4GDHN">Organ Saint</a>. Some people, like myself are just drawn to these rugged mountains. So it is sad to say goodbye now that we are leaving New Mexico for the greener pastures of Tennessee. The only proper way to say goodbye would be one last hike and climb. I teamed up with <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=0f4eeb41-0a6c-48e9-b5ee-8f3d28799d23">Combatnurse2003</a>, aka Mike, to see how many Rabbit Ears we could bag in a day. You would think a rabbit only has two ears, but not this one, there's the North Rabbit Ear, Middle Rabbit Ear, South Rabbit ear... then there's the Rabbit Ear Massif, and other lesser spires and ridges. No shortage of objectives here. And the hike up Rabbit Ears canyon is one of the best in the range.<br />
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We met at 5am at the jeep rd that starts up to the rock hut. I parked my city car, and piled my gear into Mike's sweet 4x4 jeep. We bumped and jostled our way up to the Rock hut, shaving a mile off our hike. It was still dark as we donned our packs, and we wore headlamps until we were well into the canyon. I enjoyed being the chattering guide, pointing out all the rock features and walls, places to camp and general climber's trivia. This was Mike's first trip up the canyon. Perhaps my chattering frightened the wildlife off, because we saw none, but I was happy to be in my element. At the granite bathtub Mike dropped a gallon of partially frozen water out of his pack to stash for later. I can't believe he carried so much water up here! It probably has something to do with our last big adventure in the Organs on <a href="http://coord.info/GL8RF7A6">Baylor Peak</a> when he got pretty dehydrated. I don't blame him for carrying so much water after that experience. I should have done the same, but turns out I did almost the opposite. I had meant to take a 24 oz gatorade with me but it had jostled out of my pack on the bumpy jeep ride. So I was short liquids for the day. Bummer, but I wasn't about to let it ruin my fun.<br />
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As we hiked higher up the canyon we debated some side objectives. The cache on the <a href="http://coord.info/GC2X95H">Citadel</a> would make a great prize. I was the last find on it a few years ago. We decided that we would wait and see how felt on the way back down. It would be a significant amount of effort either way, what with a few pitches of climbing involved. Another temptation was <a href="http://coord.info/GC2Q95K">ORP</a>. Since we were planning on tagging the summit of the Massif anyways, we could almost justify taking the gully that one would take to go to ORP. It would only be a short side trip to that spire, then we could continue up the ridge to the massif. But we nixed this option too, thinkiong that our efforts were best spent on the main peaks. We were making good tme, reaching the saddle around 7:30am. We dropped our packs and made the quick and steep hike up to the Massif, and our first cache of the day, the venerable <a href="http://coord.info/GC11ZAP">Labor of Hercules #10</a>. While Mike worked that, I searched in vain for the summit register, only finding an old gatorade-powder lid. I was bummed not to find it, but there was a nice cache of water, 4 12-oz bottles. I grabbed one, knowing my own supply was less than optimal for the hot day we were going to have. Hopefully this doesn't piss someone off later, me steeling their water and all, but it was in a very obvious place where hikers go, so I figured it was fair game.<br />
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Our next move was down to our packs and then over to the <a href="http://coord.info/GC1DY6K">South Rabbit Ear</a> or SRE as I like to call it. There is a short section of nasty bush whacking here which I had mostly forgotten about. No Organ Mountain experience is complete without this, and I was pleased to get one last taste, although Mike was grumbling somewhat. We dropped packs again at the col between MRE and SRE, had a quick snack and then scrambled up the easy lichen covered north face of the peak. I consider SRE to be an easy peak, and sometimes forget that even it has some serious challenges. The rock gets steep, the plants disappear and you really have to pay attention to what you are doing. This is especially true on the descent. It helped to have Mike there with me, and see the mountain afresh through his eyes. The niceties of being a guide! We didn't dally long on the summit, just enough to grab the cache, and peruse the summit register. Looks like SRE has been getting regular visits. Very cool!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmxDUHZL2cXysd7xfY1_4yNFlz1vJZbZqjm3UhIXu_ghjGISiAAXNbxpt-ymHRNs6RuFnDBM2UcIPmxIW5eKILidCg2pM5WUW8BtkE6Y1neGyD90HlS1ydM8zXKTw6IbFetbH1LxgfwKR/s1600/13923980558_66b7cde6bf_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmxDUHZL2cXysd7xfY1_4yNFlz1vJZbZqjm3UhIXu_ghjGISiAAXNbxpt-ymHRNs6RuFnDBM2UcIPmxIW5eKILidCg2pM5WUW8BtkE6Y1neGyD90HlS1ydM8zXKTw6IbFetbH1LxgfwKR/s1600/13923980558_66b7cde6bf_o.jpg" width="240" /></a>One nice thing about linking up SRE to MRE is that on the descent from SRE you can really scope out the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/normal-route-south-corner/106278280">regular route</a> on MRE. I pointed out to Mike all the belay ledges, the crux moves etc.. and he had an absolutely clear idea of where to go. Then he handed me the rack... (just kidding, I was planning on leading the fun stuff anyways!). It's been a little while since I roped up for some <i>real</i> climbing. I was using my twin ropes and thin rack supplied by Mike. I knew the route, had climbed it multiple times but still got that nervous feeling in my gut... and sweaty palms. Well, that's why climbers use chalk right? Powdered courage! I stepped up to the rock and started to climb. Style, well, I've had better days. But man was it fun, and exhilarating. I think I've been missing this too much these past few years, chasing geocaches instead of technical climbs. Maybe I can remedy that in Tennessee? Who knows, but it felt <i>real</i> up there. Alive and one with the mountains in a way you can't get any where else. And as we climbed that sour thought kept popping into my head, "I am probably never going to see these mountains again".<br />
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We relaxed on top of MRE for a while. Mike was famished and tore into his lunch. My first priority was to look at the summit register. Marta had warned me that the jar had broken a while ago and she had replaced it, but it didn't occur to me that because it had been broken that pages would be damaged. A small animal had eaten away at the pages I left up here, making fractaled edges. And several pages were completely missing including the ones from my visits in 2011. I was a little bummed, seeing those entries is a cheap way to wax nostalgic about past achievements. The logs that caught my eye were from last weekend when Jon Tylka, Nate Fry and Glen Melin had attempted the full traverse of the Organ Needles. They ended bivying before the low horns, then fighting 70 mph winds.. all the way to NRE before finally calling it. Amazing! Another entry that caught my attention was one from March 28t where two climbers named Luke and Chance had written "Full Traverse". I wonder how many of the peaks they had actually nabbed, and if they had completed the full traverse? These thoughts distracted me for a bit, but eventually, the urge to check on the <a href="http://coord.info/GC2WRJ3">geocache</a> I left up here grew too strong and I goaded Mike, who was comfortably relaxing, into making a search for it. He was doing what veteran cachers do, not relying on his GPSr and searching plausible locations. Except up on top of the MRE, every square foot is a plausible location. My impatience got the better of me and I pulled out my GPSr just to "check where GZ was". I was immensely pleased to see the numbers on the display drop down to zero ft as I stood directly over the cache. For only my second cache placement, I had marked coordinates very accurately!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlJNSCNCqngiBTxKCBmWdJmk2fhiUuHB5RQkFmZI4vvP8ZQIZN8gY3QIsBWRUYe_TFDz9ixXS2fEotGzECwpZe_lxRG_Ijs_YCPMMmUF28F47-fUD_iRSj232DVArnePGQpm3eQIxaz0cU/s1600/IMG_4833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlJNSCNCqngiBTxKCBmWdJmk2fhiUuHB5RQkFmZI4vvP8ZQIZN8gY3QIsBWRUYe_TFDz9ixXS2fEotGzECwpZe_lxRG_Ijs_YCPMMmUF28F47-fUD_iRSj232DVArnePGQpm3eQIxaz0cU/s1600/IMG_4833.JPG" width="320" /></a>The cache itself was pristine. I don't know why I would worry about it, but for some reason I had imagined that either climbers would mess with it. Or maybe I had thought that the effects of ice and snow from the mountain top winters would allow water to intrude. Completely unreasonable it turns out, the little water-proof matchstick holder was untouched, and dry as a bone. The paper was still crisp and neat. There wasn't even a chew mark on the outer portion. This give me good hope that the cache will survive for many years. And why wouldn't it? Only I probably will not know because another geocacher might not be up here for several years s well. Mike sat down at the cliff's edge and signed the log in the coveted FTF spot. Today is his 39th birthday, so this is my birthday present to him. A worthy FTF prize if ever there was one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKy10PDbJUntBxuSu4ZRqpoWGwFzNcgKQW1jke7PyU-o8c7qoM33eSQw1yt6TUTvVIVHAdCOd4eIquBbE2fIclQhs02JBg9NeDpKPJY00WFfahrXWvyBCTClv6ELjSojfZ7iYlz4dbDKBG/s1600/IMG_4846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKy10PDbJUntBxuSu4ZRqpoWGwFzNcgKQW1jke7PyU-o8c7qoM33eSQw1yt6TUTvVIVHAdCOd4eIquBbE2fIclQhs02JBg9NeDpKPJY00WFfahrXWvyBCTClv6ELjSojfZ7iYlz4dbDKBG/s1600/IMG_4846.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJtLGqiplWIrupR9S4z0XWKXNEjvSUwsp7OKzoFhLcNtm9WR08BQ4DuyWtPNWtcmSdkk0SlqeBqIxD4NLKsLqQhJPV7XTkAQCeNtEiR5QwEBE9-iovcq-og9LJUKUpY0IdWi6KXS8mTM1/s1600/14110971974_a9aafbfe3e_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJtLGqiplWIrupR9S4z0XWKXNEjvSUwsp7OKzoFhLcNtm9WR08BQ4DuyWtPNWtcmSdkk0SlqeBqIxD4NLKsLqQhJPV7XTkAQCeNtEiR5QwEBE9-iovcq-og9LJUKUpY0IdWi6KXS8mTM1/s1600/14110971974_a9aafbfe3e_o.jpg" width="240" /></a>Eventually we felt rested and ready for some more and started our way to the north side descent. This involves a very steep down-climb to a faded orange rappel sling I vaguely remember from 3 years ago. I checked all around it and decided it was good to use, but we probably should have added a piece for back-up. I hoped on the rope first, and was quickly down to the churchkey. A bit lower I found a pair of shiny bolts, anchors that Jon had told me he had placed. Having well placed solid rappel stations made the next two rappels much nicer. I could have linked them up into a single 60m length rappel but I was worried about rope getting stuck on the stunted trees covering the middle ledge, so we broke it into two rappels to have more control over the rope-pulls. The rappels off the churchkey are fantastic, with free hanging sections, and an immense neon green lichen roof system off to climber's-left. A great mountaineering experience. As we went I pointed out route features on the north face of MRE. Mike wasn't interested in tackling the North Face directly. The long day was starting to wear on him and he was only up for the easiest possible route which would be the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-davis-route/107146143">Davis Route</a>. We checked the time, 2pm, and did some thinking. If we were to tackle NRE as well, it would probably be 4hrs to get up and down, plus another 3 for the return trip. That put us back after dark. Definitely doable, and perhaps if we had been younger, or more gung-ho we wouldn't even have hesitated. But the thought of a 15hr day, getting home after the family had already gone to sleep, and missing any further birthday celebration (for Mike) made our decision for us. I know we could have completed the MRE this day, but we made the wise decision to call it a day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigO8ag9SXb_mFese1HQTBrDL7BgG4ETEcBc_FcUNPoiXwssY-cY7eUQLBeRZlx5SkMncc_rdx2zkhAoExTe8BprCphzvjtDRFYEWVvCOEepcIyRixRq5yc0Q0NKmgjwTpg1DxgDDQ87A1F/s1600/14107331631_42f0d2fd5e_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigO8ag9SXb_mFese1HQTBrDL7BgG4ETEcBc_FcUNPoiXwssY-cY7eUQLBeRZlx5SkMncc_rdx2zkhAoExTe8BprCphzvjtDRFYEWVvCOEepcIyRixRq5yc0Q0NKmgjwTpg1DxgDDQ87A1F/s1600/14107331631_42f0d2fd5e_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_Yb2T0fDXmHpJokK919fpIxisX6zBse_J26ceniY_2nlTngXxUmGFxoK0WwUIN77hxS_X9sk8-ZQ8St5HkubQFoHv3adYRxDUU5L_mYU4tnB_G0_270zVj8FRMnvnjtFHNiYW_i3fAJA/s1600/IMG_4848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_Yb2T0fDXmHpJokK919fpIxisX6zBse_J26ceniY_2nlTngXxUmGFxoK0WwUIN77hxS_X9sk8-ZQ8St5HkubQFoHv3adYRxDUU5L_mYU4tnB_G0_270zVj8FRMnvnjtFHNiYW_i3fAJA/s1600/IMG_4848.JPG" width="320" /></a>The hike out was at a leisurely pace. Part of this was by necessity, the gully we had to descend was steep, loose and full of Organ Mtn vegetation. Mike took a couple of spills and bloodied himself from a close encounter with a cholla. No Organ mountain adventure is complete without someone getting intimate with the veg! At one section Mike lost his footing and came careening down on top of me, nearly bowling me over. He managed to shift his center of mass just enough to avoid a nasty collision, and halted himself without any injuries himself. This kind of stumbling is another typical feature of a long day in the Organs. Fatigue and dehydration add up and make the feet clumsier and clumsier as the day goes on. Another good reason to have called it a day instead of doing the MRE. But with plenty of afternoon daylight we could afford to take breaks, numerous relaxing breaks at several scenic spots in Rabbit Ears canyon. The ice water that Mike left by the bathtubs was divine. We chugged half of it, then decided to leave the rest as a water cache for future hikers and climbers. It is hidden away, but in a spot that is likely enough to be discovered by those who would need it. A bit further down we stopped at my favorite tree, a stunted broad-leafed tree with a canopy just my height, creating a perfect shady rest on one of the hottest parts of the approach around the Citadel. We chatted and laughed the whole way down, and I quietly said my goodbyes.<br />
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Goodbye ringtail cat, that looted our food when we camped here with a 7 month year old son.<br />
Goodbye finger-singer, that slick 5.10 slabby test-piece that I so bravely led years ago.<br />
Goodbye Lambda Wall, where I climbed with an Air Traffic Controller when we first moved to the area.<br />
Goodbye Mexican buckeyes, with your startling rattles every time you are brushed.<br />
Goodbye lonely spires, visited by the rare few who love to roam harsh terrain.<br />
Goodbye rusted mining equipment, slowly decaying but still alluring.<br />
Goodbye ocatillo blooms, flashing bright red buds against a see of browns.<br />
Goodbye golden eagles, gently soaring from lofty perch to lofty perch.<br />
Goodbye Organ mountains. My heart will forever ache for you.<br />
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Goodbye Organ Mountains....<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-35582597408818130392012-04-27T19:36:00.000-07:002012-05-06T20:11:00.989-07:00OMTRS: Gila by NightIt's been quite a while since I participated in a rescue mission. Partially this is because there haven't been as many call-outs in the past year, but also family has kept me closer to home. When a mission call-out for the Gila happened to coincide with a regular off-Friday at work, I jumped at the opportunity. The missions involved searching for some day-hikers who had not returned. We would be searching through the night for the first operational period, so I packed up lots of warm clothing and plenty of light/batteries.<br />
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5 OMTRS members responded, enough to field one team, plus provide some base support. Our field team consisted of 4 strong hikers, Gary, James Robert and myself. The other three had recently been in the Gila searching for <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/micah-true-ultramarathon-runner-dead-at-58/2012/04/10/gIQArqjX9S_story.html">Micah True</a> only a few weeks earlier, so they all knew the area pretty well. This was a major plus considering we would be hiking in the night on wilderness trails. We were searching for a 50-something year old couple who were out for a long dayhike to some hot springs. Three other teams were already assigned the main trails that would lead to the hot springs, so we were assigned a side trail of the Middle Fork of the Gila River. Actually, we were assigned a "social trail". I had never heard this phrase before but it became instantly clear. A trail not marked on any maps, but it known through social circles. It turned out to be a pretty well maintained trail, even had a gate at the wilderness boundary.<br />
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Our main objective was to gain a large mesa simply titled, Gila North Mesa, and to run a loop of trails around the top. the idea being they could have got off on this spur trail to try to find higher ground to signal some help. Once we were on the proper social trail, it was easy going, but we were all pretty tired. We hit the top of the mesa around 1 am and stopped for a "night-lunch". James, ever prepared, brewed up a cup of Ramen noodles. I sucked some power-gel. Robert promptly fell asleep. All of us had worked full days already and the hike and late-hour was beginning to take its toll. Robert seemed especially tired, and kept dropping his flashlight on the trail, practically sleep walking. I gave him a caffeinated gel which seemed to help.<br />
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Our loop trail around the top of the mesa turned out not to be so straight-forward. Basically three trails looped around the mesa forming a sort of triangle. The first leg was no problem but we couldn't find the trail that was supposed to be the second leg. After wasting a bunch of time looking for where the trail was supposed to be, we eventually decided just to go cross country following the location on our maps where the trail was supposed to be. This roughly corresponded to a fence-line. Once we picked up the third leg it was easy going again.<br />
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On the way down off the mesa it began to get light. To perform a thorough search, we took the spur trail all the way down to the Middle Fork (not the way we came). Again there was some confusion here because the maps showed the trail junction at the wrong place. We found out later from Gila Rangers that this trail had been moved 10-20 years ago but that most maps were not updated. Too bad Incident Command didn't know that. Below is our team at the trail junction of the spur trail and our "social trail".<br />
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Once down on the Gila we verified that we were on the right trail (White Rocks trail), then followed the river a little ways. We passed by some campers and figured we should check to make sure they weren't who we were looking for. Unfortunately we couldn't radio Incident Command this deep in the canyon or we would have found out that one of the other teams had already stopped by and questioned these campers. So the campers got an early morning wake-up call. I think they said something like "you guys are still searching for them?".<br />
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We had to cross the river a few times. One benefit of our assignment is that it was almost entirely in high-dry terrirtory. Some of the other teams had dozens of crossings. Since we only had a few to negotiate, we did our best to stay dry. Below Robert negotiates one of our sketchier crossings.<br />
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We rolled back into camp tired after a 12+ mile loop hike through the night. No sign of the subjects. About 1/2hr after we got back, news came in that the subjects were located, and that there had been a misunderstanding, turns out no one was lost after all. To quote the incident Commander, "It is better to search for somone who is not lost, than to not search for someone who is."<br />
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Well, I for one enjoyed the night-long hike in an area I've never hiked before. It really made me want to come back and hike some of these trails again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-18858486946648025102012-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:002012-05-06T20:20:54.058-07:00Checkerboard wall with my Dad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been climbing much lately. But when my dad came down to help out around the house before our Daughter was born, I couldn't resist taking him out climbing one day. We had a pleasant climb up the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/cross-trainer/105800894">Crosstrainer</a> on Checkerboard Wall.</div>
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Above: Dad racking up for the crux pitch.<br />
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It felt good to be out traversing stone once again. the route was easy, the day was warm and we both felt good scaling up the wall. Since my Dad's been climbing more than me recently, I gave him most the leads. He also got to play with me double-rope system which was fun. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-38077297963042050472011-07-03T12:00:00.000-07:002016-01-20T05:48:49.353-08:00Assault on the Organ MountainsI don't know why it's taken me so long to write about this. Jon and I had prepared for our assault on the Organs for months, hiking and climbing almost every weekend leading up to the big day when we would attempt all the peaks in one go. We made our bid July 3rd, and now 3 months later I'm finally getting around to describing the adventure. Partly, I put off writing about it because it was so daunting a task. We covered so much ground, pushed ourselves to our limits moving for nearly 24hrs straight. It just doesn't seem possible to put this ordeal down in writing and convey the true feeling of it all. Maybe if I were some genius writer I could, but I worry that it will all come out sounding rather dull or monotonous, "<i>and then we tackled the next peak, and then we drank some water, and then we rappelled down...</i>" Indeed, some of my memories of the trip are just like that. We became machines, plowing down through the granite peaks almost without thinking. Constantly pushing, moving forward, trying to keep a lid on the bubbling up fatigue that threatened to derail us. Well, before memory turns the whole thing into something it wasn't, I better put something down here so that I can go back and get a feel for how it really was, not just how I remembered it.<br />
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The trip really started the day before. Our plan was to hike up to the summit of the Needle Friday evening, and bivy the night up there. We'd then be able to start the ridge at or before the crack of dawn. To save carrying a bunch of unnecessary gear, our bivy would be two foam pads and an old wool blanket, shared between the two of us. Food consisted mostly of high-energy snacks, power-gels, cliff bars and the like. I spent the day before resting and eating a lot, hopefully storing up the energy I'd need for the next day. Jon called around and got us a ride up the Modoc Mine Rd. I packed a cooler full of cold drinks and food to leave in my car at the Baylor pass trailhead, where we met at 6pm. Our ride up Modoc Mine Road was provided by John Gallegos and his beefy Hummer.<br />
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I can't thank John enough for the ride up this road. It was a hot July afternoon and the Modoc road was in full sun with very little breeze. John's hummer made short work of it, crashing and grinding up the rocky road saving us a lot of effort and sweat. He dropped us off near the final switchbacks and wished us luck. Then we were off, marching up the trail. I've hiked this trail numerous times, once at night, and lead the way. We made good time, but it felt like forever to reach the top. By the time we hit Hummingbird Saddle, the sun had dropped and we were in the last little bit of twilight glow. Instead of taking the regular trail around the east side of the pass, I led Jon up the South ridge. This involved a little bit of exposed solo climbing, but got us up to the top quickly. We were tired and sweaty from our long hike and plopped down at the summit bivuoac spot to eat some dinner and prepare for the night.<br />
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Our sweat dried quickly and soon we were cold and putting on all the layers we had brought with us. A breeze was kicking up as we settled down on our foam pads, and tucked the single thread-bare blanket over us. I was counting on it being the hottest time of the year so we wouldn't need to bring extra warm clothing. But as the night wore on the wind picked up and lightning storms passed through the valleys around us. We didn't get rained on, but it was very windy and we shivered. We emptied out our backpacks and put our feet inside of them, but were still chilled by the wind. At some point in the middle of the night, neither of us could sleep due to the cold wind, so we got up and made a wind-break out of rocks. The labor of moving dozens of rocks warmed us right back up, and soon we had a serviceable wind-break to hide behind. It was still cold, but we had enough shelter from the wind to get some sleep. <br />
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There's something about upcoming excitement, a big day of climbing, that seeps way back into your brain and governs how you act. Somehow, both Jon and I were up before even the first lightening of dawn. The night had been restless and we were eager to get moving. All our gear was scattered about when we dumped our packs, so we set about organizing and preparing. We filled up our water bottles with the gallon of water I had stashed here several weeks back, and drank the remaining bit, then stashed the empty bottles, foam pads, and blanket under a large boulder near the summit. We wrote some notes in the summit register and were soon ready to go. We descended the North ridge of the needle by headlamp, carefully picking our way down dome steep terrain. By the time we reached the rappel sling I had left, it was light enough to turn off the headlamps. The 30m rappel landed us on a high shoulder, but it was easy downclimbing to the saddle. From the saddle, I led jon up the easy 5th class solo climb to bypass some slabby climbing around the corner. The short pitch gains a nice ledge where an airy traverse leads over to the main gully which ascends to Little Squaretop summits.<br />
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We scrambled up to the summit of Little Squaretop in time for the sun rise. The short climb up also served as a nice warm-up. We jotted some optimistic comments in the summit register and scrambled down to the spot that I had used previously for a rappel. The last time I rappelled off the North side of LST, I had scrambled down the blocky summit boulders to point where there was a short 40ft drop down a wide crack and overhang. I had rapelled off a knot-chock and ended up scraping my knuckles when transitioning opver the lip. It was an awkward rappel, and I was hoping to find something a little better this time. But after a bit of scouting around I didn't see another simple place to leave an anchor and since it was such a short rappel I decided we'd just go for it. We set up one of the 8mm ropes through the anchor and rappelled down to a little cave below. I pulled the rope and it started coming down but a large loop fell down into the wide crack above a chock stone and got stuck. Jon and I both tried flicking the rope, and moving to different angles. jon even tried climbing up the wide crack for a ways, but the awkward off-chimney crack and overhang was hard to get up, and he couldn't reach the chock where the rope was stuck. It became apparent that we'd need to climb back up to get the rope unstuck but going back up the wide crack didn't seem that feasible. I scouted around the corner to the SW to a steep gully that Jon and Marta had used a few weeks back when they bypassed around the LST summit. There was a spot in the gully that looked pretty climbable up to a clean corner crack. I put on our small rack while Jon flaked out the 2nd 8mm rope for me to climb on. The climb was pretty short, maybe only 50 ft but was actually really fun. Probably a 5.6 hand and fist crack, and smearing against quarry-grade granite. I was quickly up to a stance where I could squeeze through a gap in the boulders and get our other rope unstuck. I tossed it down and then squeezed back through the hole and set up a different anchor for Jon to lower me down.<br />
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This whole time spent rescuing my rope I am thinking about how we are losing time for the rest of our enchainement. Overall, we lost about an hour. Didn't seem like that much, but later on I was wishing we could have gained that hour back. Ropes safely stowed we scrambled down the ridgeline over to Sqauretop. Jon led up the easy pitch to the summit, although "led" is pretty generous. He placed some pro for the intial crux, and maybe one other piece a little higher up, but then he cruised to the top, not seeming to mind when he entered groundfall territory. I quickly joined him and once again we were jotting down optimistic notes in the summit register, and setting up the rappel.<br />
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The descent from Squaretop over to the Wedge involves one of the longest sections of scrambling without hitting a summit for the entire day. We used one more rappel in the gully beneath Squaretop but mostly just 4th classed. The bushwhacking between the Squaretop gully and the saddle underneath the Wedge slowed us down, but not all that much. We had both traveled this route recently, and knew exactly how to shortcut around the east side of the saddle, into the stand of scorched maples and over to the ascent gully on the Wedge. The climb up the Wedge is one of the longest of all the peaks, and it also was starting to feel hot. I was sucking down my water, and sweating profusely. It was a great comfort to find the stash of water that Marta and Jon had left on the wedge and add it to our packs. We soloed up to the top of the Wedge and made our mark in the register. It was already 9:49 o'clock and we had quite a ways to go. Is this still feasible? No time to worry about that, we had to get a rappel set and press on to Lost Peak.<br />
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For Lost Peak we broke out the rack and ropes and Jon led up, taking a corner system. We stowed one of the ropes and the rack, but left the other rope out to make a short rappel down to the saddle next to Third Peak. There, we dropped packs entirely and scrambled up the 4th class terrain to the picturesque knife-edge that is the summit of Third Peak. One hour had elapsed since the Wedge, which was only a short distance away. We quickly and carefully down-climbed back to our packs and set off for the 3rd class climb to Dingleberry.<br />
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It took a purposeful effort to remember to eat and drink. I knew we were sweating off lots of water and losing salts, and would try to keep the camelbak tube stuck in my mouth during the easier scrambles. I also was trying to keep a steady flow of "food" in my mouth. You know, all those gawdy wrapped marathon-runner foods like "gels" and "chews" which would somehow supply all the energy we would need to keep moving, and keep our electrolytes in balance. Still we needed to break to get some real food in our bellies. We finally topped out on Dingleberry at 11:28 o'clock and left our mark in the register, then started scrambling down towards Wildcat and our next water stash.<br />
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Previously, I had managed to down-climb most of the Dingleberry North Descent gully, but I opted for a couple short rappels this time. With two of us it just seemed safer and not much longer. While I was messing around with the second rappel we heard a voice and some movement from the Wildcat gully. Then we were surprised to see Marta coming down the gully! She had biked all the way up Dripping Springs road that morning, and hiked up Wildcat to try to meet us at our "half-way" point. She had beaten us to wildcat by an hour or so, and had just decided to head down when we finally came down off of Dingleberry. Now I knew we weren't making as fast progress as we had hoped. She graciously refilled some of our water and gave us encouraging words, something like "you guys are it!". It was nice to see a friendly face and get that encouragement because we still had a long ways to go. With a hug we left Marta to descend, and turned ourselves back up the easy scramble to Wildcat's summit. Here we picked up a nice water cache that we had left a month ago, hastily signed the register and then picked our way over to Razorback.<br />
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The terrain between Razorback and the Spire is where we knew we would get bogged down. Getting down from Razorback involves a couple long rappels, and then we needed to break out the climbing gear for the South Face of the Spire. Even though we had opened up that route a few weeks ago, it still took time to climb the two pitches up to the Spire, and by the time we were scratching our names in the register it was 1:40 o'clock. Somewhere around this time is when I started a conversation with Jon about what are prospects of finishing this epic really were. In my mind, we were only going to continue until it got dark, and if we hadn't finished the peaks by then... well we probably wouldn't finish. Jon was in a different frame of mind, one of <i>we go until we drop from exhaustion</i>. There is definitely something heroic [naive] about pushing on through the dark to reach a goal, and I could tell where he was coming from.<br />
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The Low Horns, or as Jon likes to call them, "the Slow Horns" are not terribly difficult, or high, but each one requires either some careful soloing or a short roped pitch up or down.We knocked them down as quick as we could, but it just wasn't quick enough. Low Horn 6.... 2:57pm... Low Horn 5.... 4:24pm... Low Horn 4... 4:53pm... Our daylight hours kept ticking away and we pressed as fast as we could... Low Horn 3....5:20pm... Low Horn 2 .... 5:31pm... Low horn 1.... 5:51. At least the last 3 horns went quickly. But shadows were growing long and we still had the Rabbit Ears to tackle. Exhausted as we were, it looked like it just might be doable, especially if we could just get past the Middle Rabbit Ear which is the hardest of the bunch. If we had been making better time, we would have considered tagging the summit of Gertch, which isn't really a mountaintop, but is an impressive cliff when seen from the west. Absolutely no thoughts of doing that in our fatigued state. Just a waste of effort.<br />
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The route from the Low Horns down and over to the Rabbit Ears is not fun, consisting of thick bushwhacking through hostile plants. Oh how nice it would have been if there was an actual trail here! We did have another water cache though, which we took advantage of, stopping and drinking as much as we could. The Low Horns were especially hot and had dehydrated me a bit. We needed every drop of the cached water here. The summit of South Rabbit Ear is just a scramble, and we could even leave our backpacks at the saddle between it and MRE, which felt amazing. Amazing but still exhausting. We tagged SRE at 7:22pm, then made our way down to our hardest climb.<br />
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Funny that a 3 pitch 5.7 route would be our hardest climb. That's not really that stout a grade. But in my exhausted state, it was all that I could muster just to get up. I faintly recall my limbs burning as I pulled through the crux moves, and then struggling even more on the easier moves above, which should have been a piece of cake. I was clearly drained, but we topped out just as the sun was going down, just after 9pm. I was so beat that I demanded a rest before we tackled the tricky rappel down to NRE. And I practically fell asleep right there on the windy summit. Night set in. I dozed but soon it was time to get down. We dug out our headlamps and forcefully propelled ourselves down to the tricky rappels off of MRE. To make matters more difficult, the wind was picking up. Actually it was hard to tell if was picking up, or if the narrow gap between MRE and NRE was funneling a normal amount of wind. It didn't really matter though, the wind made communication during the rappels harder, shouting with hoarse voices to be heard over the wind. But make it down we did and the massive NRE loomed in front of us. The last, big obstacle of our assault. It was 10pm. And it was getting stormy.<br />
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We debated a bit about whether to head up or not. The storm blowing around us did not make for good conditions for us to complete our traverse. And we were already exhausted. but we were also so close. One more big climb, one more tough rappel, and then the remaining peaks were fairly small. Still tiring, like the Low Horns had been, but small. Then the long bushwhack to Baylor's pass. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I doubted I could manage. But Jon was willing. The biggest concern though was this storm. If it hadn't been storming about us, we were both willing to press on. But in a storm? Could we handle the remaining challenges in stormy conditions, with high winds and rain? I didn't think so. And Jon reluctantly agreed. But it wasn't raining yet. We decided to go for it, but if it started raining we would reassess and see if we could bail somewhere. Jon took the lead, heading up the Davis route, the easiest, but meandering route up NRE. As he climbed lightning began flashing around us and the winds whipped up even more. He reached the first anchor point just as droplets of water were starting to hit us. He climbed fast and confidently, but the rain was the last straw. Writing now, with so much time elapsed, I honestly can't remember if I even climbed that pitch. I don't think I did. Jon probably set a rappel anchor and cleaned on his way down. And then we were bailing down into Rabbit Ears Canyon. It was past midnight.<br />
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Making the decision was both terrible and immensely relieving. We were having to turn away from this long envisioned goal, admit that we didn't quite have what it takes to complete this crazy traverse, and hang our heads in defeat. At the same time, a giant burden was lifted from us, and we seemed to have new energy the lower we got down the rough trail that constitutes the route up and down Rabbit Ears Canyon. In an odd echo, the stormy tension surrounding the Rabbit Ear peaks also lifted as we descended. We didn't get rained on, the winds died down, and the sky cleared up to be a beautiful summer night. We could have pushed forward, the storm was just a feint, a test of our resolve as it were. And our resolve had faltered... so we faltered and stumbled down, down, down. Down the rough trail to the modoc Mine Road. Down the miles of rough jeep trail to the paved Baylor Rd. Trudging one step after another along the paved highway, miles to go until we reached the Baylor Pass trailhead. We stumbled up to my car at 2:38am. And collapsed. The cooler had some cool beers in it though, but even better, was the fried chicken. We slumped to the ground, utterly spent, and looked up at the mountains behind us. They appeared peaceful and quiet. Where would we be if we had continued to push? Would we have already come off of NRE and be in the last final peaks? Would we have gotten by those already too, and be thrashing our way down to Baylor's Pass? Would we be giggling and giddy from exhaustion while trundling ourselves down the Baylor Pass trail? There was no way to know. The one thing that was certain was that if we had pressed onwards, we would still be up there somewhere. Struggling to keep our wits about us as we navigated the treacherous terrain. And we both felt a sadness at that thought. We could have completed this, we were so close. It wasn't meant to be.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-21622970143623846592011-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:002016-01-20T06:06:41.838-08:00Pictures from The Organ Mtn Traverse<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting up</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon Decked out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dt8c18Vrr1M/Vp-RU5zYkwI/AAAAAAAAIFc/pf7HJwwhhd4/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dt8c18Vrr1M/Vp-RU5zYkwI/AAAAAAAAIFc/pf7HJwwhhd4/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Losing our sun on the climb up Organ Needle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yviXoC-nEJU/Vp-RVUAxGMI/AAAAAAAAIFg/BXP0lz06b8Q/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yviXoC-nEJU/Vp-RVUAxGMI/AAAAAAAAIFg/BXP0lz06b8Q/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_048.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final dark solo to summit of Organ Needle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XSywLCRj3lg/Vp-RWJRnSiI/AAAAAAAAIFs/ggvXwSKs-Lk/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XSywLCRj3lg/Vp-RWJRnSiI/AAAAAAAAIFs/ggvXwSKs-Lk/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cold July Bivuoc</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-frgDfSs17rg/Vp-RXXbJKZI/AAAAAAAAIF8/TkbNjBBdUHY/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-frgDfSs17rg/Vp-RXXbJKZI/AAAAAAAAIF8/TkbNjBBdUHY/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Down climbing off the Needle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OYCR2lXttlY/Vp-RXzkfYiI/AAAAAAAAIGE/SYQVxEzTnEA/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OYCR2lXttlY/Vp-RXzkfYiI/AAAAAAAAIGE/SYQVxEzTnEA/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_011.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon Greeting the Sun from Little Square Top</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pivq84eL-4k/Vp-RYJDkWDI/AAAAAAAAIGI/2jP8Ap_3S_c/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pivq84eL-4k/Vp-RYJDkWDI/AAAAAAAAIGI/2jP8Ap_3S_c/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise on the Organs</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MdYnaAvqbKg/Vp-RYqQj70I/AAAAAAAAIGU/Dm6htSAiZRY/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MdYnaAvqbKg/Vp-RYqQj70I/AAAAAAAAIGU/Dm6htSAiZRY/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_013.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeling good in the morning</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rdWs7W_ne8Q/Vp-RZ_TfUiI/AAAAAAAAIGg/0jrzqQ0LCzE/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rdWs7W_ne8Q/Vp-RZ_TfUiI/AAAAAAAAIGg/0jrzqQ0LCzE/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_020.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking North towards our end goal</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3oV-i8udxo/Vp-RbQEYhiI/AAAAAAAAIG0/mbLc0owZxJk/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3oV-i8udxo/Vp-RbQEYhiI/AAAAAAAAIG0/mbLc0owZxJk/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon leading up Squaretop</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQuYyPM6WTI/Vp-RbuzfMMI/AAAAAAAAIG8/M5HrmtsV1BY/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQuYyPM6WTI/Vp-RbuzfMMI/AAAAAAAAIG8/M5HrmtsV1BY/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_023.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon topping out on Squaretop</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AelSGgMsWqo/Vp-RcPc_gSI/AAAAAAAAIHA/ix6jlYTD3nA/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AelSGgMsWqo/Vp-RcPc_gSI/AAAAAAAAIHA/ix6jlYTD3nA/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_024.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting late</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uqP_dj-lJBU/Vp-Rc-1biMI/AAAAAAAAIHM/Y3um8Z2OFO4/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uqP_dj-lJBU/Vp-Rc-1biMI/AAAAAAAAIHM/Y3um8Z2OFO4/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_027.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming down from Squaretop</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YkMxzBjWtJA/Vp-ReFdGcjI/AAAAAAAAIHY/U0TM-Trjz9g/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YkMxzBjWtJA/Vp-ReFdGcjI/AAAAAAAAIHY/U0TM-Trjz9g/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_030.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Backdoor traverse towards the Wedge</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPIZ3dMLkSs/Vp-Rez9u3aI/AAAAAAAAIII/ny5yG4E9nX0/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPIZ3dMLkSs/Vp-Rez9u3aI/AAAAAAAAIII/ny5yG4E9nX0/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_032.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behind the Wedge</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Q_j7qz7dxI/Vp-RfnZeo1I/AAAAAAAAIHs/MwBepPCDx7A/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Q_j7qz7dxI/Vp-RfnZeo1I/AAAAAAAAIHs/MwBepPCDx7A/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_033.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing up to the Wedge</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-br9a14amw/Vp-RgFPV75I/AAAAAAAAIH0/n3CEKaxO2Jo/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-br9a14amw/Vp-RgFPV75I/AAAAAAAAIH0/n3CEKaxO2Jo/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_034.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of the Wedge or Lost Peak</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PXq-ktqT6rc/Vp-RgiTD_ZI/AAAAAAAAIH4/3kQqBAlTfjU/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PXq-ktqT6rc/Vp-RgiTD_ZI/AAAAAAAAIH4/3kQqBAlTfjU/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Careful traversing... somewhere</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_S6cmdugbMY/Vp-RhDRfW8I/AAAAAAAAIIE/nGN10W6YFeI/s1600/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_S6cmdugbMY/Vp-RhDRfW8I/AAAAAAAAIIE/nGN10W6YFeI/s320/Multi%2Bpeak%2Bexpedition%2BJuly%2B3%2B2011_002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modoc Mine Hut... after bailing down Rabbit Ears Canyon</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-27214961283060182892011-06-30T19:47:00.000-07:002011-06-30T19:47:40.723-07:00Third Peak Summit Register<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>On a lot of the "minor" Organ mountain summits, I cannot find an old summit register. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this old film cannister on the top of 3rd Peak back in May. The 3 tiny sheets of paper in it date back to the 50s. Nothing more recent than 1972, wow!<br />
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<iframe height="400" src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1QKLxaNVs9NMA415kydHNtI79Xi2GjXgR8BGOahODf5A&embedded=true" width="1000"></iframe><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTchE2hocCwdqw8S5f1ATOO2Fka5uOvCHyiVQyfC5UYkODR-Iyl_TlIs-C2KtDs1ZdNs4kaRNqoz2Jrsk2uhwRoZQYjKJTctCE3NSJ_FzSM_-3Pdpp3TcH68hSpB1h9HXAQmDdVXzghlN/s1600/Third+Peak_SR_001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTchE2hocCwdqw8S5f1ATOO2Fka5uOvCHyiVQyfC5UYkODR-Iyl_TlIs-C2KtDs1ZdNs4kaRNqoz2Jrsk2uhwRoZQYjKJTctCE3NSJ_FzSM_-3Pdpp3TcH68hSpB1h9HXAQmDdVXzghlN/s640/Third+Peak_SR_001.JPG" width="640" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-66660808305162935352011-06-30T19:41:00.000-07:002011-06-30T19:41:57.228-07:00Little Squaretop Summit RegisterI retrieved the summit register from Little Squaretop back on May 13th 2011. There was an old metal kodak film cannister tucked inside a newer plastic container. The old container had a sheet which had been recopied from a previous register, but it had information dating back to the first ascent parties in the 50s. always cool to read that old stuff.<br />
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<iframe height="500" width="1200" src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1MPuqaTJf3k-KgEPw6b56Z0COLV3-i4VNUJx3m1qOV6Q&embedded=true"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-14348624775487631802011-06-30T19:35:00.000-07:002011-06-30T19:35:31.788-07:00Middle Rabbit Ear Summit RegisterI retrieved the old summit register from Middle Rabbit Ear May 21st, 2011. It consisted of a PVC tube. The contents were not in good shape, and haven't been since 2007 when i first found it. I left some fresh paper (our route description) in order to sign, because the only other stuff in the tube was a moldy, wadded up piece of "paper" crammed in the bottom. I wasn't able to decipher much from this old sheet of paper, but what I could decipher is transcribed below. I plan on placing a copy of this transcription back up on the summit this weekend.<br />
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<iframe height="400" width="1000" src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=13jWN-PhThu84jRnUxpF8A9S1HihGkevU5ox-F03fYR4&embedded=true"></iframe><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEISxBxJGOjVhhJxi9ikBaHdlT7hWu6luhQy45a6LCgdKCrcs6SYTQxAFSMpDjeKIDa2MSxYwFHuYERt69dJsJMCxutsQgsJ8bHASqlN8vYOvyqvoDAyT2S7GOqDxfKdtowhbhpgvi_-q1/s1600/Middle+Rabbit+Ear+May+2011002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEISxBxJGOjVhhJxi9ikBaHdlT7hWu6luhQy45a6LCgdKCrcs6SYTQxAFSMpDjeKIDa2MSxYwFHuYERt69dJsJMCxutsQgsJ8bHASqlN8vYOvyqvoDAyT2S7GOqDxfKdtowhbhpgvi_-q1/s640/Middle+Rabbit+Ear+May+2011002.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-66578845122157953762011-06-24T20:24:00.000-07:002011-06-25T21:50:25.440-07:00Sugarloaf: Simul-climbing with Jon TylkaI've been going strong the last 5 week-ends, piecing together portions of the Organ-peaks-linkup, and this weekend was to be a break from that. Jon and I are going to try our big day next weekend. So instead of climbing or scrambling along the Organ Needles, we struck out for Sugarloaf today. We went to have fun and practice using my brand-new set of half-ropes, which we'll be taking with us for our big day. After some previous weekend trips, we decided two ropes were necessary and I was leaning towards getting a new rope anyways, so I bit the bullet and ordered a set of 8.1mm half ropes. Sugarloaf was our proving ground.<div><br />
</div><div>A few other OMTRS climbers, Bob Cort, Marta Reece, Matt Wotford and Cat Wu, were also wanting to climb Sugarloaf so we decided to head out as a big group. Once again, Eddie South agreed to let us in the BLM gate early, and we met him promptly at 5am to be let in. It was forecast to be a hot day, and it felt hot even at 5am. We spent a little while gearing up but were soon on the trailhead and flying up the trail. It took us 1h20m to reach the base of <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/north-face/105834678">North Face</a> route. Jon and I stopped here, planning to simul-climb this route first and then try another route later in the day. The other two parties had their sights on the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/left-eyebrow/106767277">Left Eyebrow</a> and continued up a little bit further to the base of their route.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Instead of the light alpine rack Jon was used to seeing me bring, I had a full compliment of cams and nuts, and loads of runners. We discussed simul climbing details before starting up, such items as good communication, keeping solid pieces between climbers, and clipping both ropes through each piece (using them as twins). this last item is important because while simul climbing you cannot feed the ropes at different speeds, so they both need to move together. I racked up first and started up the immense and beautiful slabs, still in the morning shade.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBA7V_nWFSG7ozEET_afttZ0VkVEmFE3GbZc0DGBtgI93qrG4Zz_x0oNECdBk_2YzrYQEDRseoRK_W7H9ENxdGfbortuKTq3vH-3ASyJsShS06cMiQFxRnE6owOls_s_IaipX5cedurkZ/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBA7V_nWFSG7ozEET_afttZ0VkVEmFE3GbZc0DGBtgI93qrG4Zz_x0oNECdBk_2YzrYQEDRseoRK_W7H9ENxdGfbortuKTq3vH-3ASyJsShS06cMiQFxRnE6owOls_s_IaipX5cedurkZ/s640/sugarloaf+simul_004.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon cruising up the North face</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>We made a steady and good pace up the route. I paused a bit at a slabby run-out variation on the "3rd" pitch, clipping both 1/4" bolts along this section. For the most part, simul climbing is about being comfortable and confident on the rock, climbing fluidly together. After a little while, my world narrowed to a focus of climbing movements. Eyes darting to each good hand and foothold, stepping up and feeling for slack or tension in the rope, and always moving upward. I ran out of gear a little over half way up the route, on the huge grassy ledge. I set an anchor, but Jon on belay and brought him up quickly. He already had most of the gear with him, but I gave him the remainder and tried my best to point out the route for him to lead us to the top. "It goes right to that block," I pointed. He nodded and agreed, and then proceeded to climb straight up well left of the normal route. I reminded him a few times that he was off route left, but he was already on his way. That's one of the beautiful things about leading, is you can pick your own way, travel up whatever looks best to you. In this case, it meant a little dirtier climbing, more lichen covered sections, and some loose rocks, but overall decent climbing. Jon eventually met up with the normal route near the upper pitches, and when i reached him at the top he was all smiles.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBmfpi0OUkwkS7a6Z2MU0Lqjl8_h6ets1B0Q3an3gl3xL4XA25Ajll-1Rf09C1StoIJx_eFwaQK5CnvPNsyXoalw3MoYu9QAcPrFuNEQlmycEVU-y-np05dV_kL7C0RaAeP7-04V35fj4/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBmfpi0OUkwkS7a6Z2MU0Lqjl8_h6ets1B0Q3an3gl3xL4XA25Ajll-1Rf09C1StoIJx_eFwaQK5CnvPNsyXoalw3MoYu9QAcPrFuNEQlmycEVU-y-np05dV_kL7C0RaAeP7-04V35fj4/s640/sugarloaf+simul_019.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon tossing the rope for the east side rappel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>Our ascent had taken 2 hours, it was about 9:30. We rested a bit on the top and then talked about the descent. I have always rappelled down the south side, but we had noticed a newish looking suing on the East side and decided to give this descent a try. We were able to scramble lower than this first sling to another rappel station, and set up the ropes for a double-roped descent. I went first, sliding quickly down the two brand-new half ropes. 60m put us on a large ledge where there was a single 1/4" bolt rappel point. It looked to be in decent shape and we were sure to be able to reach the ground from there, so we pulled the ropes, only to get one of them stuck. The orange rope had caught on a flake and was not budging. We tried all manner of flipping the ropes and gently tugging, but I was worried about damaging my brand-new ropes, so I had Jon put me on belay on the purple rope, and I climbed up to free the stuck loop. Turns out it had wedged into a small flake and came out easily by hand. No harm done to the rope, I down-climbed back to jon and we set the 2nd rappel. This time Jon went first and immediately tacked right when he spotted a nest of climbers booty. He is still building his rack, and any gets super excited about finding climbing gear. Since he wanted to work on cleaning the two wires and tricam (plus 5 carabiners), I went ahead and rappelled down. Attached to the booty-anchor was a ratty old rope, sheath completely missing and totally coming apart. I tugged it down while rappelling so that we could trash it.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUtcf16R-2KDwdIzJ9Y4GCgA3gXgAu6-vrbst_vti_qFEvrZTlZbT8Rr3ZMGXRfgwGk7U3360z35CQmt1nJo2YoM36La_GcGmVWBXubvLhWXTQ6v3kPDaRyQHBW0IMAw29d_wGHQhGlqw/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUtcf16R-2KDwdIzJ9Y4GCgA3gXgAu6-vrbst_vti_qFEvrZTlZbT8Rr3ZMGXRfgwGk7U3360z35CQmt1nJo2YoM36La_GcGmVWBXubvLhWXTQ6v3kPDaRyQHBW0IMAw29d_wGHQhGlqw/s640/sugarloaf+simul_021.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bottom of 2nd rappel on East side</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>Jon was successful in cleaning one nut and the tricam, but couldn't get the last nut. Still a nice find, he was over the moon about it. We packed up the ropes and scrambled down the east side gully of Sugarloaf. This area was pretty heavily burned out by the recent Abrams Fire, and there were some large felled trees as well. some sections require a bit of down-climbing finness but overall it was a decent route. Still, after getting a stuck rope, my preference lies with the cleaner South side rappel route.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Our decent had taken nearly two hours, almost the same amount of time as climbing the route. Still, there was plenty of time to get on another climb, and the other two parties could still be seen high up on the mountain. We rested a bit, and refilled our water from the generous water cache the Bob and Jon had hiked up last Wednesday. I can't stress how utterly awesome it was to have 4 gallons of water here at the base of the cliff for us. I'm sure we all could have done with just our own water, but we were in oh so much better shape with it. Despite the heat, I was feeling good, not fatigued at all.</div><div><br />
</div><div>For our next route we were both interested in the hard slab route, <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/science-friction-to-left-eyebrow/106105358">Science Friction</a>. We made our way up to the base of it, and stared up at the intimidating blankness. Unlike the North Face route, this one is steep slab, thin 5.10 moves between widely spaced bolts.It didn't take me long to balk at leading it. I told Jon I'd belay him, but didn't think I was up for leading. He was seriously tempted still, but ultimately decided that he wouldn't want to fall on the initial pitons. Our eyes then turned to the large right facing corner just to the left. My topo called this 5.8 corner <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/banana-peel/107188657">Banana Peel</a>, it didn't look easy. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVEfnpTAosf-doDuhUlBi3u0kRZEwc3X4jzue1dgGcgfSuxMPGQnfjJUWIiMt1iILf-MXhmDE-O2XjOfJymnKNQXNRa61YSSpM4MkR3L0uZfCdwmsZwcRXeBdbboRYx9J_XdcbE4fCpdk/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVEfnpTAosf-doDuhUlBi3u0kRZEwc3X4jzue1dgGcgfSuxMPGQnfjJUWIiMt1iILf-MXhmDE-O2XjOfJymnKNQXNRa61YSSpM4MkR3L0uZfCdwmsZwcRXeBdbboRYx9J_XdcbE4fCpdk/s640/sugarloaf+simul_023.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attractive right-facing corner of Banana Peel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>The right leaning corner looked like a powerful layback climb, with almost no feet or rest stances. Jon though was game for it, and racked up. This time we decided not to simul climb, letting Jon place as much gear as needed, and use the half-ropes as they are intended, clipping either rope as needed to reduce rope drag. This worked beautifully, as seen in the picture below.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdumDJBL_uvyAbl8zIAYTGCJYk9SKLthFtBM7VEiawqsZwXkp_spEVxjzzHBfkoiyAMRCS8ZvhSzAIltlHlJIO-4A16XiMiogVmA5Z9qDtpBGpAxPwtRwsiOv-cO0SEISkyR87z97v3Vc4/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdumDJBL_uvyAbl8zIAYTGCJYk9SKLthFtBM7VEiawqsZwXkp_spEVxjzzHBfkoiyAMRCS8ZvhSzAIltlHlJIO-4A16XiMiogVmA5Z9qDtpBGpAxPwtRwsiOv-cO0SEISkyR87z97v3Vc4/s640/sugarloaf+simul_029.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Half-rope technique displayed, on Banana Peel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>Jon muscled up the layback, and looked to me to be confidently sailing the route. Right above a small rest-stance, he dropped the set of nuts while trying to place them, and by some lucky break they stopped short in a flake just below him. He was able to retrieve them and continue up. He did appear a bit nervous in one section and took a rest at a stance above to recover. I discovered why on seconding, the layback was committing and draining. There were some good stances though that couldn't be seen from the ground, the key is all in the footwork. But even with good footwork, placing gear from the layback position is strenuous and I can see how he could get a pump trying to work in a piece. At the crux section, a fixed cam was overcammed way back int the crack. Jon had clipped it, but it was difficult to even clip because the wire-;loop was deep in the crack. This is where Jon had exerted the most effort, and I could certainly understand what was going through his head on lead. Above the crux section the climbing got a bit easier, but it also worked over this hollow huge hollow sounding flake. Easily a couple body-widths across, it resonated with each step I took on it. It didn't appear to be in danger of falling, but that ringing boom is enough to make anyone nervous.</div><div><br />
</div><div>At the top, Jon had set his belay right at the corner of the ;edge, but there was a bolted belay 20 ft back and at a better stance so I went straight for that, and then pulled the rope over to me. Since the rope was then stack for Jon to climb again he took the next lead. We decided to get back to simul climbing, the corner above us looked very easy, and then it joined right up with the Left Eyebrow. Matt and Cat were still high up on the route, and we exchanged a few hollers before heading up.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKoB6D2cWKdQBGH-A7CFqx2V3towboJvPJqqRrH__rBmodBLry0G3NPAMrbGIsXwObjo1QBNvd2ihhMw9Sii2p9Xc_QJh4W9D4dOiImOLbb4Dd7WvMUGHlse5pRLvu9MD7fcRsOej29Xf/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKoB6D2cWKdQBGH-A7CFqx2V3towboJvPJqqRrH__rBmodBLry0G3NPAMrbGIsXwObjo1QBNvd2ihhMw9Sii2p9Xc_QJh4W9D4dOiImOLbb4Dd7WvMUGHlse5pRLvu9MD7fcRsOej29Xf/s640/sugarloaf+simul_032.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easy middle pitches of Left Eyebrow Route</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>Jon made it all the way up to the large dead tree beneath the crux pitch, but a poorly planned gear placement had left him with terrible rope drag and he decided to set up his belay there. I racked up at the tree and got to lead the high quality upper pitches. The only other time I had climbed this route was with John Hymer years ago, and again we had simul-climbed it. I didn't really remember the route, but had a good enough idea. plus a fresh trail of chalked holds had been left by the party above, so i could always just follow their lead.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The exposed crux pitch was awesome, and as good as it gets for a 5.7 multi-pitch route. Probably 1000' above the floor, you swing out to a committing move around a roof/prow, not being able to see what's on the other side. You can swing your feet and out, and yelp away, then pull over and find bomber jugs to haul up on. really a stellar feeling, maybe even the best move on all of Sugarloaf. Above this move the climbing stays interesting, with run-out slabs, gneiss intrusions dotting the rock and providng holds, and the opccasional old 1/4" bolt. I took my time threading through the terrain, searching out the best rock and most protectable features. I also made sure to holler back down to Jon to make sure he let me know when he reached the crux moves. I knew he wouldn't have a problem with them, but I also wanted to make sure I had a decent stance when he got to this section. With simul-limbing, communication is key to avoiding sticky and uncomfortable climbing.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I reached the summit just a minute behind Cat. 10 minutes later bob Cort came into view atop the north face route. He and Marta had heard Matt complaining about a loose pitch on the Left Eyebrow, and decided to switch over to the North Face route at the large ledge. The timing was perfect, with all six of us on top together. It was around 3:00pm, it had taken us a little over 2 hours to climb another route on Sugarloaf. Once agian I forgot to birng up a proper summit register, but thanks to a geocache on the summit, I left a make-shift tiny register in the summit cairn. It should last 6-12 months, by which time maybe I will be back to put a proper log-book up here.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6zxoaWifSqpqT2E6WvhsEggIrs6xYdlaS8LLqT7kbea_n3VrMZ8109Rx-mTlhu_Ya4adn9Rn0CW6crjMVOrB6vz1dgSLeJASGzcs1ZqWq6vIoFzMPe7OBbcEwTuF6mazKHVPh8mmYEzF/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6zxoaWifSqpqT2E6WvhsEggIrs6xYdlaS8LLqT7kbea_n3VrMZ8109Rx-mTlhu_Ya4adn9Rn0CW6crjMVOrB6vz1dgSLeJASGzcs1ZqWq6vIoFzMPe7OBbcEwTuF6mazKHVPh8mmYEzF/s640/sugarloaf+simul_041.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myself and Jon, with the ridge-line we hope to conquer in the background</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGxhB0sHSdJzZydMfkhT1GW39xBmFoPwCY0tKmM9e4xaKaM-VNimQNyQH6c1N0Ypd-7GltldIeIZRufoQGD6bIKoMjU9weJBt1b6ttowppJvUXy29sfGPzqZd1-bbiT-JBYttkU5Pb-fD/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGxhB0sHSdJzZydMfkhT1GW39xBmFoPwCY0tKmM9e4xaKaM-VNimQNyQH6c1N0Ypd-7GltldIeIZRufoQGD6bIKoMjU9weJBt1b6ttowppJvUXy29sfGPzqZd1-bbiT-JBYttkU5Pb-fD/s320/sugarloaf+simul_045.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ymXtE5AzIQDulCw7xzAxvd2gs72MVDgMNY-rWcmMDvhurue-EcLjLBaTBjYy_XoI3JNHrxBxrN5L8jRe0Rg83T2BiGp0cz74QB77jzJ_MUDm7XhxHdJEFa_9C1EZmK1CwvN9l09plxtg/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ymXtE5AzIQDulCw7xzAxvd2gs72MVDgMNY-rWcmMDvhurue-EcLjLBaTBjYy_XoI3JNHrxBxrN5L8jRe0Rg83T2BiGp0cz74QB77jzJ_MUDm7XhxHdJEFa_9C1EZmK1CwvN9l09plxtg/s320/sugarloaf+simul_048.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOIpyJZyoQ7ft_KYrNKVg0wx0ne7I3jAHnKOjIGBdS-boQA8Sz3TRNnkvqZz6EDW6qb8QHvgBUEaTYvGpVgf7D6zM7hUVZ2vwZNEuJnY9f5q-AWLpEe49Sel3PgqzZk4HkqSvaZtNHQ6J/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOIpyJZyoQ7ft_KYrNKVg0wx0ne7I3jAHnKOjIGBdS-boQA8Sz3TRNnkvqZz6EDW6qb8QHvgBUEaTYvGpVgf7D6zM7hUVZ2vwZNEuJnY9f5q-AWLpEe49Sel3PgqzZk4HkqSvaZtNHQ6J/s320/sugarloaf+simul_053.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbT1u7jY_C-hHTCf4cmLsnm199bkUP05UfsUt9EsxQFy2nV39i2N12ThxxSMefiDuH7Duo59yyHukBAw6jc7lqclWGEu7aVRBrUspOYVlcK06SyctJdF7ptmji1DB9OYhuGC1Y7skrsPgm/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbT1u7jY_C-hHTCf4cmLsnm199bkUP05UfsUt9EsxQFy2nV39i2N12ThxxSMefiDuH7Duo59yyHukBAw6jc7lqclWGEu7aVRBrUspOYVlcK06SyctJdF7ptmji1DB9OYhuGC1Y7skrsPgm/s320/sugarloaf+simul_049.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtcU8XcLkSulI2Jih5CXedhsyV01om-ucVOALPaQqL9UkHwg8HxbPbhbMSbdCCkolZOJpOoA282l0kB0GbynNEfScix87k0m279Aiu_1KSf8eeozHhQjn6ZOp8Vfx3ep_E1PlVFzC46eG/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtcU8XcLkSulI2Jih5CXedhsyV01om-ucVOALPaQqL9UkHwg8HxbPbhbMSbdCCkolZOJpOoA282l0kB0GbynNEfScix87k0m279Aiu_1KSf8eeozHhQjn6ZOp8Vfx3ep_E1PlVFzC46eG/s320/sugarloaf+simul_050.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div><div>After the requisite summit tom-foolery, we set-up a fixed line down to the South rappel. With 6 people and 4 ropes, we made good time setting rappels and getting down. Once again we all refilled our water and drank the last of the 4 gallons of water. We took a leisurely pace on the hike out, making it back to the cars by 7:30pm. Bob had a cooler of ice cold water and beer waiting for us, now that's what I call prepared!</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKF9oIA1x1wFhZvCwtSoKe5TcTaSI96OEs9DmWOrVj-Jh7tKzU-KxTwvbqckl5WyOCsnaj61iLxvUAcfQdLbPW7pK8P9VJSYqsid8HE8aHhDFKmqWSM0jLxRkSdXwuq1LQdSyAjxFyseN/s1600/sugarloaf+simul_058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKF9oIA1x1wFhZvCwtSoKe5TcTaSI96OEs9DmWOrVj-Jh7tKzU-KxTwvbqckl5WyOCsnaj61iLxvUAcfQdLbPW7pK8P9VJSYqsid8HE8aHhDFKmqWSM0jLxRkSdXwuq1LQdSyAjxFyseN/s640/sugarloaf+simul_058.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right, Top: Jon, Cat, Marta, Matt. Bottom Aaron, Bob</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-52999948698506834422011-06-18T18:15:00.000-07:002011-06-25T18:18:39.759-07:00Last Peak, Nordspitz and Baylor Pass<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydre9h2NY-oyaCdym1Fb_Lc07N8uobDRJDnKRvH648OXnMjwlURs23StjvV5goC-ZvyAQYjVr8g10mOFT9VJeF49Ig18kDnWY6jrtRZpVc1jnaqJ0a07Bm6pz6WtSlXP1CNmb1-2iILd1/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydre9h2NY-oyaCdym1Fb_Lc07N8uobDRJDnKRvH648OXnMjwlURs23StjvV5goC-ZvyAQYjVr8g10mOFT9VJeF49Ig18kDnWY6jrtRZpVc1jnaqJ0a07Bm6pz6WtSlXP1CNmb1-2iILd1/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_013.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The North rabbit Ear looms behind a yucca from the summit of Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I reached a special milestone today. Ever since we moved to Las Cruces, I have wanted to climb up all of those jagged peaks on our horizon. Today I reached the summit of the last two. Well, to clarify, the last two of the jagged "needles". I still haven't been on Baylor Peak, or even Organ Peak (restricted are). No matter, I am happy anyways. Reaching these last two peaks also gives me a little more confidence about the upcoming Organ peak Marathon. I have a basic familiarity with all the peaks on our route, ways to get up and down, information which is key to our attempt to link all of these peaks in a single day.<br />
<br />
My hike today started before the sun came up. I bade my sleeping family a quiet "goodbye-morning" and jumped in the car around 5am. I parked at my usual spot a mile or so up the Topp Hut road, and started hiking up. I decided not to bring any climbing gear with me, but my pack was still heavy because I was carrying an extra 4 liters of water to cache. I was also solo today, Marta and Jon had decided to team up and hike up the Organ Needle and familiarize themselves with the northward route from their (they made it all the way to Lost Peak). Being solo is nice sometimes, and I took a several extra geocaching diversions on my way up.<br />
<br />
The hike in was nice and cool, and stayed cool all the way through Rabbit Ears Canyon. There was an unfound geocache on top of the Citadel which I decided to go for. I dropped my heavy pack in the canyon and took a 30 minute detour to grab it; Normally, the Citadel can only be topped out by 5th class routes, but I was pretty sure I could find a scramble up it. I remembered a hidden gully to the west of the route <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/wish-you-were-here/105822405">Wish You were Here</a>, which was an easy scramble. It topped out on a large shoulder a few pitches up on the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/west-ridge/105834043">West Ridge</a>. This left me with a little bit of exposed climbing, but after looking at it carefully, I was confident I could get up it. I did have a few second thoughts about coming back down. After all, I had no rope or gear to rappel with. Pushing those thoughts aside I summited anyways, thinking there was probably another descent/scramble on the south side. I did find nice rappel chains on the SE side side of the summit, but no easy scramble down. However, down-climbing wasn't as bad as I had feared and I was soon back down to my pack, and on my way up to Last Peak.<br />
<br />
My approach was up the main gully on coming down from the north end of <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/north-rabbit-ear/106119561">North Rabbit Ear</a>. About half way up a rocky ridge divides the gully. I had been up the right-hand side before, on a previous trip up to the CWM, so I decided to try the left-hand side this time. It had a few sections of tough bushwhacking, but was pretty easy and direct. I was soon up to the saddle between the CWM and Last Peak. I stashed 2 liters of water and scoped out the potential routes up Last Peak. There was a promising route right up the south face that I was interested in. I could see a way to scramble up some ramp systems to a shoulder mid-way up the face. from here I could only see a 5th class corner to the top, but the rock around the corner was hidden from view and I was thinking that it might have a scrambleable gully. I decided to have a look. The initial "scramble" section involved a 5th class move, and once again I worried about reversing it. Still, I went up hopeful for the nice gully around the corner. I got up to the shoulder and looked around the corner, and was dismayed. Not only was there not an easy corner, but it was actually steeper over there. right above me though, was a very attractive route up a narrow rib. It looked in the 5.6-5.8 range, but there was no way I was going to solo it. Lucky for me, I did not have to reverse the hard move I had done to get up here, instead finding a secure (but 5th class) down climb in a crack system with good holds. Safely back at the saddle I made my way west around the base of the wall to look for the regular route up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGjClRdnw0MzjMPAyz2S5yVl5FUpvxfQ9L7XpEypYvjHFjYQRuJN_FBRirws6-WbMI_wEasf1W0EWIuMF43w9EZFJ6W7ReApwlZ3nmhgK5D3MubLyxmYCg8gqKQfiK_FifntCmHHh-R-6/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGjClRdnw0MzjMPAyz2S5yVl5FUpvxfQ9L7XpEypYvjHFjYQRuJN_FBRirws6-WbMI_wEasf1W0EWIuMF43w9EZFJ6W7ReApwlZ3nmhgK5D3MubLyxmYCg8gqKQfiK_FifntCmHHh-R-6/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_008.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South Face of Last Peak, and my aborted route attempt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Only a few hundred feet away was the 4th class (3rd class Ingraham) route, up a nice weakness to the top. I quickly ascended and was on the lovely summit ramp in no time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQKVP38h_iKBnwsHuTgifWOAPjzKYVMvjtssNJPscaH8l80CJfM306sEcEc6cTOXdTSRb5_xT1PdwoDr1MjyeeFiQ3qmK4lrDGPRG9Ah3ZWjaVywVYtXut0fFHc4PSCVr0WiYOswwiwX4/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQKVP38h_iKBnwsHuTgifWOAPjzKYVMvjtssNJPscaH8l80CJfM306sEcEc6cTOXdTSRb5_xT1PdwoDr1MjyeeFiQ3qmK4lrDGPRG9Ah3ZWjaVywVYtXut0fFHc4PSCVr0WiYOswwiwX4/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_009.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4th class route up Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I found a small summit register left by a recent Geocacher, and added my name to it. The log was only a single sheet of paper, so I think I'll bring up a proper notebook when we come here next. It was still early in the morning, so I found a nice spot to sit and eat breakfast. I had birds-eye view of the summit of The Citadel where I just was an hour ago. I took my boots off and let my feet air out, munching on trail mix and gulping water.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPkI6i8Ia2AJ4_ZyY7W9xq9z2GfLmvrl8z0OYJnOGogayAGGcIpLDr0mmFXhywtmt0_hrcclvXGbEObrLXyx3Du0U8DeEas_PvUUHZ7fPsdF4HHboCsGTqJt2ruY-2k1t0YHsZ0mLSoab/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPkI6i8Ia2AJ4_ZyY7W9xq9z2GfLmvrl8z0OYJnOGogayAGGcIpLDr0mmFXhywtmt0_hrcclvXGbEObrLXyx3Du0U8DeEas_PvUUHZ7fPsdF4HHboCsGTqJt2ruY-2k1t0YHsZ0mLSoab/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_015.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry feet are happy feet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v5CTYyeHa-5nPz0Y9Mq0vls4GZ6mIN4JsFflETiw10iFlbYTMYf_sEtZsX60uH3-uYJrdJxnT3J_Y8Oq2Y0iKxf9u2I5XHSCnlGtSOU0q7Ovg8Z8KGEScvmjCjVBcolKITS_rjSoNLq6/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v5CTYyeHa-5nPz0Y9Mq0vls4GZ6mIN4JsFflETiw10iFlbYTMYf_sEtZsX60uH3-uYJrdJxnT3J_Y8Oq2Y0iKxf9u2I5XHSCnlGtSOU0q7Ovg8Z8KGEScvmjCjVBcolKITS_rjSoNLq6/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_017.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Agave blossom/fruit on summit of Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After a suitable rest, I peered over the north side of the peak to scope out the descent down to Nordspitz. A jagged ridge led directly towards the saddle. There were a few spots that looked like they might be difficult to negotiate, but overall it looked doable and direct. I started down the exposed ridge-line, carefully climbing over blocks and down boulders. About half-way down I was stopped by a steep section. It would be a short and easy rappel (although I saw no rappel gear from previous parties), but I had no rope. However, there was a weakness on the east side which i thought I could down climb and I decided to go for it. I had to be extremely careful here, using the crack for solid jams and carefully placing my feet and testing the rock as I lowered myself down. It was indeed down-climbable but when Jon and I come back this way on our big traverse, I think we'd be better off rappelling.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinE4-XIQF6kr6Anygdj_fSdRVGibqqS6MhFSbmY3hNj809pRoI8UUhv5eHRZENGFFAoHUv3wk8kfSacD7JVCPWv2GAcBc5t2K1FJBcCw5cFf9u5ABG_RGZEa33pchZuqn2xWyOl_647Msa/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinE4-XIQF6kr6Anygdj_fSdRVGibqqS6MhFSbmY3hNj809pRoI8UUhv5eHRZENGFFAoHUv3wk8kfSacD7JVCPWv2GAcBc5t2K1FJBcCw5cFf9u5ABG_RGZEa33pchZuqn2xWyOl_647Msa/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_018.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down the North Ridge of Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Getting up Norspitz was a cinch, a simple 3rd class scramble up the south side. There was another new register placed by the same Geocacher. I looked around for signs of an older one, but didn't find anything. It's pretty unlikely that this peak sees many ascents anyways.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6lELvl9l3_me3sk6pXCOaiCE3cbV25U15HJgtgW96sgAcHbloMp5nouHDwEbx6AMfc6QHAAfuQM16z0JzOZs0A3rImj_FRZDeV6AXcDCuU13HhVr7X6BD3wNQqNWT8tLcNgO3gojhylD/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6lELvl9l3_me3sk6pXCOaiCE3cbV25U15HJgtgW96sgAcHbloMp5nouHDwEbx6AMfc6QHAAfuQM16z0JzOZs0A3rImj_FRZDeV6AXcDCuU13HhVr7X6BD3wNQqNWT8tLcNgO3gojhylD/s400/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_025.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit shot on Nordspitz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I didn't stay on the summit long, and started scrambling down the North side of the peak. The scramble off was nice, over some beautiful slabs and past some nice old trees. I had to zig zag a bit to avoid a large steep wall, but it was all very straightforward and actually quite pleasant. Minimal brush-beating, not too much slippery gravel, and slightly shady from the North-facing aspect. When i finally got to the bottom and looked back up, Nordspitz actually looked like quite a nice peak, with gently slabs growing up into a nice little summit. It would probably be a nice hike to come up this way from Baylor pass, but my goal today was to do the opposite.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlBWVrEUc_a3m1g7x_RzjXs86XY8bwEl4l9nyKT-J5mhszRavfZQts9xTBz5LDyVyDSp9xHodBle1HgVwhZpXWXG8uNsFsJjMS2aPdawxTk_Fb34P_2e5HStWd08J8sIZiM8O2hHDVg9_/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlBWVrEUc_a3m1g7x_RzjXs86XY8bwEl4l9nyKT-J5mhszRavfZQts9xTBz5LDyVyDSp9xHodBle1HgVwhZpXWXG8uNsFsJjMS2aPdawxTk_Fb34P_2e5HStWd08J8sIZiM8O2hHDVg9_/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_028.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North Side of Nordspitz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The first 1/4mile along the ridge towards Baylor was the worst of the bushwhacking. I delicately threaded myself through mahogany, cholla and yucca, eventually reaching a small summit. From there it was a bit easier although still brushy. There were occasional faint traces of "trail" and I was before I knew it I was down at Baylor pass. I cached another 2 liters of water under a shrub, and pondered my next move. Getting back to my car on the Topp Hut road would take some doing, I could go back the way I came but what fun would that be? Another route I considered is a sort of ridge-line which goes from the top of the Lambda to somewhere near the pass. Ultimately though, I opted for a lower elevation route, skirting around the base of the some unnamed cliffs. Partially this was motivated by a few more geocaches, which I picked off lower down, but I also was interested in checking out the impressive cliffs on the North side of the Lambda Wall massif. I've often stared at these cliffs while driving along Baylor road. There are some obvious corner systems which beg to be climbed, and I was interested in some reconnaissance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDjCQ2MtDPPBlUH7WBb64Qgda7AHxtROI64seVoRui_csp1bhuQmoLbEyBvWDdLPRvQ0jgXbJLm9dL6Gdq6u2a1hBj7Ty3pDIJSYeC13lm8P9mzyyFZAMjbTxCDkngKpp0ub_TAOPAvzu/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDjCQ2MtDPPBlUH7WBb64Qgda7AHxtROI64seVoRui_csp1bhuQmoLbEyBvWDdLPRvQ0jgXbJLm9dL6Gdq6u2a1hBj7Ty3pDIJSYeC13lm8P9mzyyFZAMjbTxCDkngKpp0ub_TAOPAvzu/s400/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_032.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All smiles before I left Baylor Pass trail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I left the Baylor Pass trail a little bit below the camping spot, and aimed for a small pass to the south.from there I was able to scramble over maintaining my elevation to another little pass, overlooking the canyon beneath the unnamed wall. So far the brush hadn't been very bad, but I could see that traversing around the base of this wall was going to be tough. The steep slope beneath the wall was boulder-strewn and choked with vegetation. I didn't see any possible easy route, so just forged ahead trying to maintain some elevation. I got a good look at the corner systems, they look like they could be really awesome routes. The approach from Baylor Pass would be reasonable, although it would be better in the cooler months.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nvNUnsSTkY_fOzRSGFDcWa74lYtMHnhcJlB3DNn7i9zx9dmCC7SaZGnNHqEiQWx9nNQWXxoLjKwO1sn4uqsVQgnSqna0C6VYmtoL2uS2m69Tp9KspJZhNS3J3XDUbnkjT4SJS-bXOovo/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nvNUnsSTkY_fOzRSGFDcWa74lYtMHnhcJlB3DNn7i9zx9dmCC7SaZGnNHqEiQWx9nNQWXxoLjKwO1sn4uqsVQgnSqna0C6VYmtoL2uS2m69Tp9KspJZhNS3J3XDUbnkjT4SJS-bXOovo/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_035.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unnamed Cliffs North of Lambda Wall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My water was running low, it was the hottest part of the day and I was in the worst terrain the Organs can throw at you. It seemed like forever, but I finally rounded the corner underneath the Lambda Wall, and made my way back into Rabbit Ears Canyon. To my surprise there were hikers there, two guys coming down from Rabbit Ear Massif. they had just passed by the campground and lost the trail. I helped them get back on track, and then hiked out with them. One of the guys, Andre, actually grew up near the Gunks, and went to school at Plymouth State, right near where my Dad lives in NH. Small world. I enjoyed the company for the last hike out, we commiserated about our lack of water, and the hostile Organ mountain plants, and cruised back down the Topp Hut road. Overall route stats: Hike came in around 10.8 miles with a total elevation gain of about 2500 ft. Car-to-car in about 9 hours.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqy8gTookKcRe3ChIdl_vBUVUR-9QvlDod0hQBuDSvI5CziZKQosTp_uh9HCy3RHZ4F0RFkBR-NeHAK1aKg51Su_IOf1gppEjd8hZebTVGv9ScDGhp1uafi2UqZfZm3szU0HGpMdVvu-9u/s1600/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqy8gTookKcRe3ChIdl_vBUVUR-9QvlDod0hQBuDSvI5CziZKQosTp_uh9HCy3RHZ4F0RFkBR-NeHAK1aKg51Su_IOf1gppEjd8hZebTVGv9ScDGhp1uafi2UqZfZm3szU0HGpMdVvu-9u/s640/Multi-peak+6-18-11+Last+peak+to+Baylor+Pass_026.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot and hazy looking South-East from the Nordspitz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-38014133180064827222011-06-12T19:52:00.000-07:002011-06-16T21:07:47.525-07:00Traverse of the Low Horns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div> This week-end's Organ Mountain challenge was to complete what we had set out to do last week-end, namely traverse the low horns from #6 through #1. This time it was just Jon and me. We got an early start thanks to meeting th BLM host Eddie South, who met us at the Aguirre Springs gate a little after 6am, and let us through. Starting up the Pine tree Trail early makes a huge difference. Most of our elevation gain is getting up the ridge-top, and the cooler monring temps definitely helped us not sweat our brains out. We reached the saddle between Horn #6 and The Spire a little after 8am. We left another water stash to lighten our load.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOTvFlJwFyvQQ3iApxzpkPCHSOGnH6n8InAPq9mnxR3aLx1Ja0QE9a5SBvCfcUQVlCsdknA84s1Ooz6jcI_hgegqVN_0JdQCLCSar0N_0KY0Oz1KplMQrBq74FII9ygyDQ_5uU-CnL2hR/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOTvFlJwFyvQQ3iApxzpkPCHSOGnH6n8InAPq9mnxR3aLx1Ja0QE9a5SBvCfcUQVlCsdknA84s1Ooz6jcI_hgegqVN_0JdQCLCSar0N_0KY0Oz1KplMQrBq74FII9ygyDQ_5uU-CnL2hR/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_003.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon at the high-point of our aborted route on the S face of #6</td></tr>
</tbody></table>While I was pretty sure we'd end up scrambling around the west side of the base of Horn #6, in search of the normal route up, we had made good time and after gazing at the south face Horn #6, decided we'd try a route. A series of cracks and ledges seemed possible, so I racked up and started up. Only about 40ft up, I ran into a crux move where the wall got steeper and there was an awkward pull up into a thin corner. I approached the move from a few different angles, but ultimately decided I wasn't up for it. Maybe the extra weight of the pack worried me, or my lack of much recent climbing... either way, I balked. Jon wanted to give it a go though, so I left my high piece in and down climbed. When Jon got up to the high-piece, I was sure he would get passed. He pulled up on the hard move, and was almost established in the corner, where easier climbing lay ahead. but then he too chose to back down. He was able to clean the gear while down-climbing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_O3e-xMhtoiFFFPP9nco4yki9_oiOWvvZGTBWemzXIVYe37oYY7i6iJQJSR9J9j5tc6nL0TCNldD2u6VmPdZ7GAQk5OjF5Dr_XEE1Ok30b_1vp86_4jeMw5qOY-liCBDZ6wkD3a7rmSR/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_O3e-xMhtoiFFFPP9nco4yki9_oiOWvvZGTBWemzXIVYe37oYY7i6iJQJSR9J9j5tc6nL0TCNldD2u6VmPdZ7GAQk5OjF5Dr_XEE1Ok30b_1vp86_4jeMw5qOY-liCBDZ6wkD3a7rmSR/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_005.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon on the sketchy slab traverse</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Thus thwarted, we scrambled to the west around the base of Low horn #6. The west side was still shady and cool, which felt great. We dropped a bit of elevation, but were then able to traverse across a smooth slab and get into the gully which leads up to the saddle between #5 and #6. I made it up there first (Jon thought the slab traverse was SKETCH) and relaxed a bit, checking out the potential routes. When Jon reached the saddle, he realized that his water bottle had become unclipped somewhere between us and the Spire saddle. Since I was all rested up, I volunteered to scramble back over and look for it. I took a different slightly better traverse of the slab this time, and found the water bottle right where Jon had though it might be. This ate up a little more time, but it was still early. The scramble up the north side of Low horn #6 was easy and clean. The summit was pretty large and we spent a little time searching for a summit register, but not finding one. I left a new register and we headed back down to the #5/#6 saddle. The time was 10am. On the way down we scoped out possible routes on #5.<br />
<br />
The South flank of #5 did not appear to have a 4th class route up it. There was a short 5th class section to reach a shoulder, then a final headwall broken by what appeared to be a chimney. I was referring to the Ingraham description and was convinced an easier route must be around the corner. We scouted to the east side, but nothing looked easier there. To get around to the west, we would need to drop down in elevation again, and take a ledge north to unseen terrain. We put our packs back on and headed that way. Once we turned the corner, we were confronted with steep, blocky and dirty terrain leading up to the mini-saddle on the south side of #5. It looked scramble-able, and indeed it was, but it had a few scary moments for me. It was the kind of terrain that ends up being steeper than you expect, with less positive holds, and more exposure than you bargained for. Also, there was a lot of lichen, dirt and vegetation in the cracks. The only positive was that we were still in the shade, and it was nice and cool. We eventually made it up this section, but I don't think we'll go this way again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lWZCWZLRwAl6ycSKSs92zlqMdDA_O64KyAJGZcY-vMtQOXWLXD4aY-8bMDn3MUehDdwCvaUDDhdvcrkJHdU92Ap_1troiZUNABSTTxd5IHNbbiUmzqIAqHCC4vBuUAAx5iRlXuuVmH33/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lWZCWZLRwAl6ycSKSs92zlqMdDA_O64KyAJGZcY-vMtQOXWLXD4aY-8bMDn3MUehDdwCvaUDDhdvcrkJHdU92Ap_1troiZUNABSTTxd5IHNbbiUmzqIAqHCC4vBuUAAx5iRlXuuVmH33/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_013.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Low Horn #6 as viewed from the NW along our route around #5<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
We roped up for the final chimney, and I took the lead. I was a little worried at first, as it was hard to tell if the chimney was wide enough to squeeze into, but it turned out to be perfect. I had to dangle my pack beneath me, but could comfortably put my back to one wall and climb up features on the other. A small crack on the left wall provided ample protection and I was soon at the top. I think this is probably Ingraham's Chimney Route, but I wouldn't call it 4th class, more like 5.6. Jon quickly joined me on the top and we spent a while relaxing and enjoying the summit. It was about 11:30am, and we still had a ways to go, but I was hoping the hardest climbing would be behind us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7J3SxcB7NLIAQQfXyeknc_GC1ESbTTfq1qfrTx12nbQQL06i-yjI8t4KmhRsmfV-geKqVtlIT9asVohB29BCOx0rcJ_nS_khcRMwCcDUEHmTyfa9spkDCECsnWY7vENomVwdRwXRdNRR8/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7J3SxcB7NLIAQQfXyeknc_GC1ESbTTfq1qfrTx12nbQQL06i-yjI8t4KmhRsmfV-geKqVtlIT9asVohB29BCOx0rcJ_nS_khcRMwCcDUEHmTyfa9spkDCECsnWY7vENomVwdRwXRdNRR8/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_018.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myself on the Summit of #5</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
After our nice rest, we loaded up the packs again and started scrambling north. We had been warned about several false summits, and indeed there seemed to be a few of these along the way, but we were able to scrable along the top of the ridge without much problem. We passed a new-looking rappel station closer to the northern flank, but didn't use it, down-climbing all the way down to the #4/#5 saddle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYHhUCYuvBJe5JUOZvTForRnXpol3EgvlfOQSnNd2m4W9Yt_TmAUoRzDV44em1nlq2c8nYpJNPjORkIR-FShldJ6euGKEHpfi3dcxaXQXgvhQWceLuLJgTq4A7BXxko5mq_D9F_1DSvPi/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYHhUCYuvBJe5JUOZvTForRnXpol3EgvlfOQSnNd2m4W9Yt_TmAUoRzDV44em1nlq2c8nYpJNPjORkIR-FShldJ6euGKEHpfi3dcxaXQXgvhQWceLuLJgTq4A7BXxko5mq_D9F_1DSvPi/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_028.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon on the beautiful ridge-line north of #5</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The rappel station Marta and I had used last Fall was still in good shape and we could clearly see it from the saddle. Climbing up to it didn't look too hard. There was one steep crack section near the bottom, which involved a little grunting but was quite manageable, and didn't pose a serious fall. We were able to 4th class all the way up to the top of #4, nabbing the rappel gear as we went.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQveeNH8WwNbAWpS02mBAImDEmqufSxZSPmOk67NjcZ2pCUDrTH-hnbiHHDuBm2e71pSF_bH0-F9II8CjP1FjKClgGej5NL1S3xmlVEGw6wYZQ5E1IBCF-VTQiK5pdjl70QdvRSj5kd5RJ/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQveeNH8WwNbAWpS02mBAImDEmqufSxZSPmOk67NjcZ2pCUDrTH-hnbiHHDuBm2e71pSF_bH0-F9II8CjP1FjKClgGej5NL1S3xmlVEGw6wYZQ5E1IBCF-VTQiK5pdjl70QdvRSj5kd5RJ/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_034.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon does the "grunt" move up the S Face of #4</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We didn't hang out on #4 very long, just long enough to scope out the next peak. We down-climbed the same route that Marta and I had scrambled up. I left another water cache on the #3/#4 saddle. There appeared to be an exposed 4th class route up the south face of #3, but we decided to rope up for it just in case it was harder than expected. Jon took the lead this time, and made short work of the face.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNN81S_6Qq0XoDrocADnWeD5Qz-W9pCsJjyM6K2GQSlZnYEAyaprulByFiEdFG60bIlDS4eTTFzJc-XJvDfIqyPHOL9JPLzkgO0Z65I9oH6ip_LeKlkBlwD3pNvhcQus2oCMG2-Z7kk7uQ/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNN81S_6Qq0XoDrocADnWeD5Qz-W9pCsJjyM6K2GQSlZnYEAyaprulByFiEdFG60bIlDS4eTTFzJc-XJvDfIqyPHOL9JPLzkgO0Z65I9oH6ip_LeKlkBlwD3pNvhcQus2oCMG2-Z7kk7uQ/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_038.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon leading the S. Face of #3</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was indeed as easy as it looked, although Jon opted to make a few 5th class moves instead of taking an easier ledge system, which saved him from potential rope-drag issues.I quickly joined Jon on the knife-like summit of #3. There wasn't much room to hang out, and #2 is so close, so Jon looked for a down-climb while I coiled the rope. He found a good 4th class down-climb on the NW ridge, and before I was even finished with the rope he was on his way up #2.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yGCUcNABTlAhOWoWvCpnqF-H11Tl_yDQFj2vvWQVP866iux2Enm55nM0-AoVw0GkwPoWkQ8DezkIfJNK8joy0_gKMefJrS3t_6S6Td3aShbAuY6wxTlOpw0yiVevqEIJVBMRzYZ0m4ue/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yGCUcNABTlAhOWoWvCpnqF-H11Tl_yDQFj2vvWQVP866iux2Enm55nM0-AoVw0GkwPoWkQ8DezkIfJNK8joy0_gKMefJrS3t_6S6Td3aShbAuY6wxTlOpw0yiVevqEIJVBMRzYZ0m4ue/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_041.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon scrambling past the crux boulder problem of the S. Face of #2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The south face route up #2 is very straightforward. from the saddle, there is a single 10ft boulder problem move, and then it's easy scrambling up to the top. Marta and I had rappelled this section before, since there was already a rappel station available, but it could probably be done without a rappel. I caught up to Jon on the summit of #2, and he was already scoping out routes up the south face of #1. getting down the North side of #2 though didn't look trivial, but there is a good rappel station already there, so I broke out the rope and we made a 30m rappel down to the #1/#2 saddle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zJDvjpWQiLbKlMQ65d6LibuVSdHd6nuhvVsujjY64EwpjgoZBhH3URl0ZYYRlRg8dBtTERdmAs8w9MXsoa04R6eaZKl1_1HeVkOZpIg1YLlQcV1JwWB1A9vtYlXw4ySm51pexvY4x4NA/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zJDvjpWQiLbKlMQ65d6LibuVSdHd6nuhvVsujjY64EwpjgoZBhH3URl0ZYYRlRg8dBtTERdmAs8w9MXsoa04R6eaZKl1_1HeVkOZpIg1YLlQcV1JwWB1A9vtYlXw4ySm51pexvY4x4NA/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_035.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me showing off a cool geocache container on the top of the Horns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The time was 2:30, we were finally starting to pick up the pace over the last few horns. After scrutinizing #1's south face, we opted to scramble around to the east, and then up the easy 3rd class East Ridge. We topped out on #1 at 3:00, completing our run of the horns! Our water situation was pretty low, but we were both feeling good. Jon really wanted to "tag" Gertch since we were almost there already. I didn't really get this, Gertch doesn't even have a discernible summit. But we down-climbed #1 and went over there anyways, and lo and behold, found a "summit" register. It was only recently left in 2007, and was marked by a dead branch stuck in a pile of rocks. It was logged a few times by apparently the same group of hikers, always coming up from Aguirre springs. I never really thought of Gertch as a destination hike, but I guess it would be pretty fun.<br />
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From Gertch we made the brushy descent down to Big Windy Saddle. Marta had added to our water cache here, and I quickly found the bottles she had left, but it took a good search to find the original 2 quarts we had left. I had tucked it <i>way</i> under a rock so that it couldn't be seen from any angle. We decided to put it next to the other water bottles to make it easier to find. the time was now 4:00 and we were down to less than 1 liter of water between us. Still Jon wanted to press on and tag Rabbit Ears Massif, and maybe even the SRE. I knew this would cause us to run out of water. It was hot, and that is a long detour. There also wasn't much of a point in bagging those peaks either, we know the way up them already, and Jon had already tagged the SRE. Still, there is a certain appeal to being "hardcore" and pushing ourselves. Against my better judgement, we started off towards the Rabbit Ears.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_9s_m-zLHIHjZG28HlT4CYjGTA_XT8k_cWJohRdorTvjooZYlYis95T32x3BX_BhXB0hb7Gu4qzQ0E2fIBG_dDL2aJjirmXo16MC6z1HgcC0XA7PZH4gViKdX4XDP3a75SCWKBsZzTh4/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_9s_m-zLHIHjZG28HlT4CYjGTA_XT8k_cWJohRdorTvjooZYlYis95T32x3BX_BhXB0hb7Gu4qzQ0E2fIBG_dDL2aJjirmXo16MC6z1HgcC0XA7PZH4gViKdX4XDP3a75SCWKBsZzTh4/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_054.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View South from Big Windy (#1 flank in back-ground)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We made good time getting to the top of Rabbit Ear Canyon, but it was still very hot and we used up almost all our remaining water. We dropped packs at the saddle there, and scrambled light up to Rabbit Ear Massif. There is a geocache up there that I was hoping might have a little stash of water, but no luck. Just the regular Geocaching type knick-knacks. We scrambled back down, put on our packs and started over to SRE. It actually made sense to go to the SRE/MRE saddle and then descend to Aguirre, rather than try to go back to Big Windy and descend. I've never done this descent before but Marta has mentioned several times that it is her preferred trail to the summit of SRE, and it would probably save us time. in getting over to the SRE saddle, I got ahead of Jon and lost sight of him. I found a shady spot on the saddle and waited and waited, trying to resist drinking my last ounce of water. When he didn't show up, I started to worry. I dropped my pack and started back down the SRE west gully, calling out for Jon. Eventually I got a reply, from way over at the NRE/MRE gully. He had somehow missed the SRE gully and traversed too far north. Serves me right for not sticking close, but I still wonder how he could have missed the SRE gully. We weer here only a few weeks back...<br />
<br />
The rest of the descent down the east side of the SRE gully we were dehydrated. our water was gone, and we were tired. At least it was shady though. The gully is mostly bare rock until it reaches the bottom of the SRE cliffs. I seemed to recall that it exited the gully down here, adn followed a ridge-line. I struck out on the wrong ridge-line for a short ways, but then we doubled back and found the correct ridge-line and a faint trail marked with cairns. We followed this trail all the way down, losing it only a few times near the bottom, where it meets up with the Baylor pass trail.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjsCTqX8MDw6VWXiXCH7ZOPl9gbAGktZnRgfd7TV6ffzBntCDG3mbaHgiAtML8ZoLop4nB1viNWSd0V9X_SyAu-DYqF1BwmRtdc340rSJs24dQB-O5dJXQeio8wj7pgEiMPpjI4I3R13y/s1600/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjsCTqX8MDw6VWXiXCH7ZOPl9gbAGktZnRgfd7TV6ffzBntCDG3mbaHgiAtML8ZoLop4nB1viNWSd0V9X_SyAu-DYqF1BwmRtdc340rSJs24dQB-O5dJXQeio8wj7pgEiMPpjI4I3R13y/s640/Low+Horns+traverse+June+12+2011_058.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy to be back on Baylor trail, and almost to the car.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was an exhausting day, we were back to the car at 7pm, making for a 13hr car-to-car trip. We were both a little dehydrated when we reached the car, but we also felt pretty good. Our speed over the Low Horns had been reasonable. The first two took the longest, and Jon nicknamed them the "Slow Horns". Now that we know the routes though, I think we'll be able to make good times across this entire section. Plus, we now have a few more water caches to help us along the way. A ver successful day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-76318098685405642412011-06-04T20:00:00.000-07:002011-06-09T07:25:26.646-07:00From Wildcat to the Spire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">After linking up the Rabbit Ears, the next big question mark for me on Organ Ridge through-climb is between Wildcat and the Low Horns. We this in mind, Marta, Jon and I struck out to find a route through these peaks.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fjuQ9Ytb4uSF_PQuZ_puI5AI2eReD-L8hFM4jvMsxUQF-i-WLDgu-jZXJxOrwPIJNxY3YqZmpXm9q4knsPcdYs564fLENQZRRbe1XLph-Hzm0u41pI6HYnO7cXvZg4kOnkdJIQ6bYRSM/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fjuQ9Ytb4uSF_PQuZ_puI5AI2eReD-L8hFM4jvMsxUQF-i-WLDgu-jZXJxOrwPIJNxY3YqZmpXm9q4knsPcdYs564fLENQZRRbe1XLph-Hzm0u41pI6HYnO7cXvZg4kOnkdJIQ6bYRSM/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_001.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Pine tree Trail showing the "green ramp" between Dingleberry and Wildcat dead-center</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We got to Aquirre Springs campground a little after 8am and ran into the BLM host. Eddie South is his name and he was kind enough to give us his phone number and allow us to call him to open the gate early should we want to do so in the future. What a champ! We quickly started hiking and opted to take the elusive Ghost Fire trail in hopes that it would save us some time. the Ghost Fire trail/canyon was first shown to me by Marta on our trip up the Wedge last fall, and is a nice shortcut to the middle of the Pine tree Trail. Marta made me lead, and I got it wrong in a couple of spots, but now I have a nice GPS track of the route.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HV3rtyXkh400pqzQwqwTFFeEqXY4d46pVAhkDc3mqu_JFaK7QeW-sn98gmKUXmmgvml39HWo7feJAMP1r-MUdjX7BBvulzcmRnpBl_PVfxkqHuVZOoP8ymN2ymidnbQs1A_7BEwVLbtd/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HV3rtyXkh400pqzQwqwTFFeEqXY4d46pVAhkDc3mqu_JFaK7QeW-sn98gmKUXmmgvml39HWo7feJAMP1r-MUdjX7BBvulzcmRnpBl_PVfxkqHuVZOoP8ymN2ymidnbQs1A_7BEwVLbtd/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_006.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">jon digging the nice slabs on the approach </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8i2QxfAQ86KBQ2RGNOzxp9SfS5y3VlaEnWQX7b-NTkC6KD80rDDuzWIgaZbxrGHv-7ofcG6v8TDv7eof6t8xQAUm4905LWbWItC5Gf1WzyR11AFWDI96i7AQYTbwMBn-e6b0ZX1M7SPG/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8i2QxfAQ86KBQ2RGNOzxp9SfS5y3VlaEnWQX7b-NTkC6KD80rDDuzWIgaZbxrGHv-7ofcG6v8TDv7eof6t8xQAUm4905LWbWItC5Gf1WzyR11AFWDI96i7AQYTbwMBn-e6b0ZX1M7SPG/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_008.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marta underneath Dingleberry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We took a short break at the top of the Pine tree Trail, Marta said she was not 100%. It was also a very hot and humid (by NM standards) day and I was sweating profusely. We ambled north along the Pine tree trail for a short ways before coming to the gully which leads up between Dingleberry and Wildcat. The first 1/4m or so up this gully was tough and nasty bush-whacking. Jon coined the term "narberries" to describe the thorny plants we had to get through during this part of the hike. It was reminiscent of my adventure on the Lost Carabiner route last year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25SLFuoqdFnDgv636B3_t64YW4_SFWyomRR_lhb7UOfhPyd4B4Z82L1qYFvtgsNjPeDNUPeLXXeIBhZyVvE_KnfDguFrrP_SzUwN77xlLHbBGBcIdUY3DWqMDBdHEh_YQazAHm-tqGBb9/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25SLFuoqdFnDgv636B3_t64YW4_SFWyomRR_lhb7UOfhPyd4B4Z82L1qYFvtgsNjPeDNUPeLXXeIBhZyVvE_KnfDguFrrP_SzUwN77xlLHbBGBcIdUY3DWqMDBdHEh_YQazAHm-tqGBb9/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_011.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon and Marta nearing the top of our approach gully</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Fortunately, the gully became steeper and more passable the further up we got. Near the base of Dingleberry's cliffs, we bore right up a beautiful slab, to get to a right leaning tree-filled ramp which leads up to the Wildcat-Dingleberry Saddle. The tree-filled ramp was pretty descent traveling, but near the top the brush got pretty thick again so we opted to scramble on rock to climbers right, and quickly gained the summit ridge of Wildcat.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8qxd7yDK8g4i2uOxs_GdQoN7j0THLxxV3XPqelXUV6x-b5Oh0R7BkgaMVW4M8Ar0QR0kMI_BpQ6z34mAlwoiNnJAo987JtEnnIWGdaq-p1nfxqWWd4fB4zJNf_U2SY9P01GPPLc-Qcse/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8qxd7yDK8g4i2uOxs_GdQoN7j0THLxxV3XPqelXUV6x-b5Oh0R7BkgaMVW4M8Ar0QR0kMI_BpQ6z34mAlwoiNnJAo987JtEnnIWGdaq-p1nfxqWWd4fB4zJNf_U2SY9P01GPPLc-Qcse/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_014.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon on the summit ridge of Wildcat<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">We did not stay on Wildcat for long, stopping only for some food and water. I left a ~2l water cache near the summit for future use. It was hard to tell what the best way up Razorback would be from our viewpoint on Wildcat, but there was an easy scramble to reach the saddle, so we decided to go check it out. The scramble down is on slightly to the NW, and while descending we found the easy <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/se-ramp/107166930">SE Ramp</a> route up to Razorbacks summit.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBr7WTFGNhHcFZES-iv0OpT9ZnxnXVq5CU8zmJEl5wNea35YS_XoZJNH7lolVv7yIozbbqZpC9kWguZ_dmgPKYbNFqGEppjCCIQFQ7xcglQl43a35HxQo31-h10qx8mhzVj3ELHZmpBiCc/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBr7WTFGNhHcFZES-iv0OpT9ZnxnXVq5CU8zmJEl5wNea35YS_XoZJNH7lolVv7yIozbbqZpC9kWguZ_dmgPKYbNFqGEppjCCIQFQ7xcglQl43a35HxQo31-h10qx8mhzVj3ELHZmpBiCc/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_017.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Jon Tylka at the top of the SE ramp</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Razorback did not have an existing summit register that I could find, so I left a brand new one. Jon found a rappel station for the north side, and set up a double-rope rappel while Marta and I relaxed a bit. The Spire's summit is incredibly close, and we had good opportunity to scout out routes up its southern wall. there was a huge ledge about half-way up that if we could get to would surely get us up to the top, but it was hard to gauge the lower pitch to get to this ledge. While waiting for my turn to rappel, I also scoped out the beautiful razor-sharp West ridge which gives Razorback its name. I was very tempted to hand-traverse out across it, it looks so inviting. I will definitely need to come back to climb this route some day.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGe6A80Z9tkYVn8HDde21dBBzW3C_jKlrC_UKBz0MW65nmdiqGfdnbo8wR323OqU83qiTEHF-el-y1BnF8sggFNBsv0taWBUpY3_fBT9JbQnYt1GBzhPM026JROE0jWlFkRqnxMeO6rpi/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGe6A80Z9tkYVn8HDde21dBBzW3C_jKlrC_UKBz0MW65nmdiqGfdnbo8wR323OqU83qiTEHF-el-y1BnF8sggFNBsv0taWBUpY3_fBT9JbQnYt1GBzhPM026JROE0jWlFkRqnxMeO6rpi/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_026.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Marta getting ready to rappel off of Razorback<br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">We used two ropes for the rappel from the summit, my 60m and Marta's 50m 8mm rope. The 50m rope just barely reached a small ledge where Jon found a single bolt/quick-link. Fortunately, this was not one of the old rusty 1/4" bolts, but a newer looking 3/8" expansion bolt with a beefy metolius hanger. From this bolt it was another 20m rappel (just using Marta's 50m rope) to the saddle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoCiHG4e2y_i0pL9XCUwWGWct8gv1G6puHQHKFA1d_9vW1yG7zNi42JXqh-A0iaUM1FlvltFZyVd9rBvP-95l9MCyGg-kgyBGV0XkBO25wyyp76btfx4ht-5J9XY0yLF5AUAVf_e3K8tS/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoCiHG4e2y_i0pL9XCUwWGWct8gv1G6puHQHKFA1d_9vW1yG7zNi42JXqh-A0iaUM1FlvltFZyVd9rBvP-95l9MCyGg-kgyBGV0XkBO25wyyp76btfx4ht-5J9XY0yLF5AUAVf_e3K8tS/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_028.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">The namesake knife edge on the West Ridge<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">While the west gully between Wildcat and Razorback appeared very difficult to go up or down, the west gully between the Spire and Razorback looked walkable. We definitely had the option of hiking around the west side of the Spire and going up the Normal Route, but Jon was psyched to try a crack system on the <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/south-face/107166882">South Face</a>. this would give us a direct (and hopefully shorter) means of summiting the Spire when we go for our big day. We started the climb adjacent to a tree a hundred feet or so west from the saddle. Jon took the first lead and made it look easy, dropping into a hand-traverse at the identified crux-traverse. He stayed there a while to place pro, then mantled up and disappeared from sight, quickly reaching the large ledge. Marta struggled with the traverse on this pitch, trying to balance through it without dropping into a hand-traverse position. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAIkdz_ACARsP2muhED0IKSstUabXabPS8U-tQlrVYh0llbXoIYdj7cM9mTIylz8EybuGt0fRc3G5MNl7ti0qjzmx-CrVvOa31aX_0tcu28JkOu_yGEr4klUNawFS-U9frmNaNj5gvLSk/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAIkdz_ACARsP2muhED0IKSstUabXabPS8U-tQlrVYh0llbXoIYdj7cM9mTIylz8EybuGt0fRc3G5MNl7ti0qjzmx-CrVvOa31aX_0tcu28JkOu_yGEr4klUNawFS-U9frmNaNj5gvLSk/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_030.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Marta starting out on P1 of the South Face route</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the large ledge, I swapped gear with Jon to lead the second pitch. It was less steep than the first, and involved a couple blocky sections between ledges. I chose a direct line at the back of the ledge, starting up a weird lay-back crack. What made it weird was that there was only 6-8" of rock to lay back against, and the threat of barn-dooring was real (this happened to Marta). this turned out to be the crux move, but was only a a few moves long so I did not end up having a problem with it. Above this the climbing was easier, but the rock was a little crumbly and there was also a large detached block that concerned be quite a bit. I warned Jon and Marta not to touch it much and finished up to the top.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQMxHY9DTQAqRSCc4ZMtxa0Gp0e4mCFu53ZHMQ-tXAhdDpYpviE_aEmLaEOmU_gttqGcXBRjfQqxjUpcOBYgrcMrLLUPMHs_hv-NJabP4EuWu5h03luJsX5aH-J_aRA67jOX2zPB1zD4u/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQMxHY9DTQAqRSCc4ZMtxa0Gp0e4mCFu53ZHMQ-tXAhdDpYpviE_aEmLaEOmU_gttqGcXBRjfQqxjUpcOBYgrcMrLLUPMHs_hv-NJabP4EuWu5h03luJsX5aH-J_aRA67jOX2zPB1zD4u/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_040.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Myself just before the crux layback</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yKX55tWJtCOPJV4i6UJiSk789_ljnpUZHzI89IxDC8dnW12ii37xEP62VNnItDTX-O-xMqUNlVUMuToYACJGXBkMRlcVQSZ-jaZxcVawbgw3MqkFlpLtAWyOW5PPL96nrYTHANS6yHSH/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yKX55tWJtCOPJV4i6UJiSk789_ljnpUZHzI89IxDC8dnW12ii37xEP62VNnItDTX-O-xMqUNlVUMuToYACJGXBkMRlcVQSZ-jaZxcVawbgw3MqkFlpLtAWyOW5PPL96nrYTHANS6yHSH/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_046.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">On the summit of The Spire</td></tr>
</tbody></table>At the top, Jon posed for some "Deep Survival" photos. "deep Survival" is a book being passed around the OMTRS community about people surviving extreme conditions. the cover has a photo of a climber out on a rdige-top, with the rope making a gentle arc through space to him. It looks something like this:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxZhz1yZxO-6YAS3PC1CMII1jkdqoMYgPYfItaUJuC8vYoZns9sDdfT9WCZTP0cjuB9pzvwnR3-yDb5VouRLqDIx4XteNNpGxHiIgZy4Q42T_82a1azQloxE0WumxqVPpeZYjFAzFX9X8/s1600/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxZhz1yZxO-6YAS3PC1CMII1jkdqoMYgPYfItaUJuC8vYoZns9sDdfT9WCZTP0cjuB9pzvwnR3-yDb5VouRLqDIx4XteNNpGxHiIgZy4Q42T_82a1azQloxE0WumxqVPpeZYjFAzFX9X8/s640/Multi-peak+expedition+June+4+2011_052.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Jon posing for a "Deep Survival" shot</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>According to the summit register I left here back in January, no one has been up here since then. We scrawled our names, then started the down-climb. I guided Jon and Marta down the way Dan and I had descended before. this involves some down-climbing of 4th class rock to reach an old rappel station about a rope-length from the summit. We did a single 30m rappel, angling west, and then down-climbed/scrambled the rest of the way down to the Spike, and then the saddle below. Some of the down-climbing along this route may be at the limits of 4th class scrambling, and Marta voiced her concerns more than once, but we made it down in one piece. It was little past 4pm and our next goal was Low Horn #5 & 6. Except I wasn't feeling it. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was a lack of energy coming from not eating enough. But I was feeling a little shaky, slightly nauseous, and not too eager to take on another unknown climb. I called Jon and Marta over to a shady spot so we could talk over our options. Jon was gung-ho eager to go, and offered me some gelatinous electrolyte. Marta was more neutral, saying she was good to keep going or head down. I was the one wanting to head down. I felt bad about being the weak link of the group, but I really didn't want to push myself too far and make myself miserable later on. We were at a good spot to descend between the Spire and Low Horn #6, and would get back to the car at a reasonable time. to me, it just made sense to "quit while I was ahead", but another side of me chided myself for being weak, and giving up to easily. How can I entertain ideas of linking every peak if I can't even push myself on a single day hike?<div><br />
</div><div>despite me feeling wimpy, both Jon and Marta were very gracious about calling it a day, and we headed down the rock-slide/gully back to Pine tree Trail. Of course, they did try to kill me once on the way down, by trundling enormous boulders at me, but that's another deal. By the time we got back to the car, i was feeling better, but glad we were down and headed home. despite not stringing together all the Low Horns, we still had a great day, discovering a new route up the South face of The Spire, and connecting over from Wildcat.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-34211394049264203562011-05-21T20:02:00.000-07:002011-06-01T20:08:07.338-07:00Three Rabbits: Peak Link-up in the Organs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>After last week-ends blitz I was eager to try another portion of the Organ Mountain ridge. This time I found some climbers to come with, two fellow OMTRS members (Marta Reece and Jon Tylka) both interested in this "Bag all the Organ peaks in a day" craziness. Our goal today was the section between Big Windy and Baylor Pass. We would start and finish at Aguirre Springs. Primarily, this section entails the three Rabbit Ears Peaks, but it also includes some long sections of ridge-walking (or thrashing) and 3 lesser peaks; the CWM (pronounced coom), Last Peak and Nordspitz.<br />
<br />
Since we were starting from Aguirre Springs, our start time was constrained by the time the ranger opens the gate. We arrived just at 8am, just in time to watch the sleepy volunteer host unlock the gate. The first part of our hike was pretty mellow, a mile or so up the "northern" fork of the Pine Tree Trail. We left the Pine Tree trail at the same location Marta and I diverged last time, when we were going after the Low Horns. The red balloon is still there. This was Jon's first real hike in the Organs (he had only been on the Baylor pass trail before) and also his first big hike on his newly recovered broken leg. Boy was he in for a day! The gully up to Big Windy saddle is not too brushy by Organ Mountain standards, and Marta and I were quite used to it and cruised on up. Jon, did his best to follow, and already was making comments about how this was much tougher than he expected. We gained the saddle and took a little break, leaving a 1/2 gallon cache of water.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixa-HeNP0Jdk21I426UjsrUHReiJrjKm8jJNYBxxbqOHnp4mNYn1RqVN3zlDu43bcJt8d_GGcTs928InusQBStUQADaDiHFAspexnCa493EkNR7yBsIEMx_YvNX4PNaU1kfSKHXxzxJym/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixa-HeNP0Jdk21I426UjsrUHReiJrjKm8jJNYBxxbqOHnp4mNYn1RqVN3zlDu43bcJt8d_GGcTs928InusQBStUQADaDiHFAspexnCa493EkNR7yBsIEMx_YvNX4PNaU1kfSKHXxzxJym/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_005.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SRE as viewed from Big Windy Saddle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The traverse from the Big Windy Saddle over to the top of Rabbit Ears canyon ended up being our toughest bushwhack of the day. Not only was the terrain we were traversing pretty steep and rocky, but there was no good path to avoid lots of brush, mainly mahogany, spanish daggers and the like. At the top of Rabbit Ears canyon is a small saddle where we took a quick rest, then plodded throuhg more thick brush to reach the gully between South Rabbit Ear (SRE) and Middle Rabbit Ear (MRE). Once in the gully we were on familiar ground and smooth sailing up to the MRE/SRE saddle.<br />
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We dropped packs at the saddle, and scrambled up SRE very quickly. Instead of the Normal route, I led Jon and Marta up another easy looking route more to climbers right. This ended up being a series of nice corner systems and beautiful rock, with nothing harder than 4th class. We signed the Summit Register, but somehow I had forgotten to bring a copy of the last transcription I did, so I wasn't able to leave it. Guess I'll have to climb up here again soon. We descended the Normal Route and immediately started gearing up for the MRE.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwG5W4Z2ddXcTEffDq4Y9RS9ijxLdp-A9oe2VH4IW_zyJjZTAENl4AbbjY1v5DZf45b2ufqVboqju0kh3XsuuzpiDsAv7QA1YTFJ5F2cX4FHavh_O3A0txyJZfk_T0L6rXr8nwPw8luA-/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwG5W4Z2ddXcTEffDq4Y9RS9ijxLdp-A9oe2VH4IW_zyJjZTAENl4AbbjY1v5DZf45b2ufqVboqju0kh3XsuuzpiDsAv7QA1YTFJ5F2cX4FHavh_O3A0txyJZfk_T0L6rXr8nwPw8luA-/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_010.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon scrambling up SRE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The MRE was our toughest peak of the day, and took the biggest hchunk of time. Jon was super keen on leading, and I was happy to hand the rack over to him. In tretrospect this might not have been the best idea. Jon is a solid climber but new to trad. Also the rack I brought was very thin, only nuts and my set of tricams, no spring loaded camming devices at all. I was interested in seeing if I could climb the route in my approach shoes (5.10 Exum guides, with nice sticky rubber) and doing it on top-rope seemed to make sense. If I could climb the route in these shoes, than I probably wouldn't need to bring climbing shoes when/(if) we do the entire ridge, saving considerable weight. Jon had his climbing shoes, and after quickly racking up was on his way up the first pitch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHZ_CJeNVeBIMc9t5HexBZuJ2xxT06fwPHmmwK17lih2VXeQkA7AxQYVTCoSdML0koaiC41HIo9aVE3X9YXNB6XaYr57uDvdpVlFAV1zK0D_lh4Fo6OCP56JgK7S7oXUSQvDphbBYXGe4/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHZ_CJeNVeBIMc9t5HexBZuJ2xxT06fwPHmmwK17lih2VXeQkA7AxQYVTCoSdML0koaiC41HIo9aVE3X9YXNB6XaYr57uDvdpVlFAV1zK0D_lh4Fo6OCP56JgK7S7oXUSQvDphbBYXGe4/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_016.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon leading up the first pitch on MRE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>He dispatched the first pitch quickly, and sailed the large crack section under the chains. Due to my thin rack, he wasn't able to place any protection for this 25 foot crack, but said he felt perfectly comfortable on it. I climbed up second, and didn't have any problem dispatching the pitch in my approach shoes. I trailed Marta's thin 8mm rope behind me, and while Jon belayed her up on that rope, I traversed over to the P3 belay with the lead rope.<br />
<br />
P3 was the crux for us. I didn't really remember how difficult it had been when I had climbed it before, but when Jon got to the off-width crux "lip" he was struggling and cursing. One of the biggest challenges seemed to be climbing this pitch with a pack on. The crux section is easier if you can "scum" your back on the right hand wall, but with a pack on this was impossible. Jon eventually made it up, but he said it was some of the scariest climbing he had ever done. Fortunately, there is a nice pink tricam pcket just below the crux, otherwise we would have needed a big cam to make this pitch safe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_bq4aoNJOd_bXMeA_YT_QvfObHZJ9NYgMHDVtHrM5SZVKQu6GSQdZqy3Ed-uQyodBsppcWurSf18mJsBifUmEaStJetNd4HLFyUPyHIvFmpVvs_9ZFhBnSDqsyQP41FkiqxoyPyw0eWV/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_bq4aoNJOd_bXMeA_YT_QvfObHZJ9NYgMHDVtHrM5SZVKQu6GSQdZqy3Ed-uQyodBsppcWurSf18mJsBifUmEaStJetNd4HLFyUPyHIvFmpVvs_9ZFhBnSDqsyQP41FkiqxoyPyw0eWV/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_022.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butt shot of MArta at the crux 3rd pitch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Marta went up second this time and also struggled at the crux. Eventually it was my turn. I opted to try it in my approach shoes still, but as soon as I hit the crux I was struggling too. Fortunately for me, I remembered a trick i had read about offwidth climbing: I backed down to a stance, then took off my pack and clipped it to my harness with a long runner. This let me climb up through the crux (using the chimey-like back-scum). It was still difficult, but I managed to get myself, then the pack up. Feeling very hot and thirsty from this excursion, I slowly finished the rest of the pitch.<br />
<br />
While we had completed all the 5th class climbing, we still had a steep 3rd class scramble up to the summit. It seemed we all took a while getting up this, but eventually we were at the summit, taking water and food and admiring the view. The wind was picming up slightly but overall not bad. I looked at the time though and it was already 2pm! We were going to have to start making serious time if we were to get all the way to Baylor pass.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0fIpCLj13sweV_CTWgczxLvzJkmMit5gWF7TmudHrGTt6o-uBkoC-APexAFtPvyFIVMS0rKtfTxiZh-VUg8CXebIHvsnHm9x9Nzx_VVgDPB9Mu4p7HtdFMpinFQzC16UlstqLbEnP8oy/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0fIpCLj13sweV_CTWgczxLvzJkmMit5gWF7TmudHrGTt6o-uBkoC-APexAFtPvyFIVMS0rKtfTxiZh-VUg8CXebIHvsnHm9x9Nzx_VVgDPB9Mu4p7HtdFMpinFQzC16UlstqLbEnP8oy/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_025.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit shot on MRE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Feeling the pressure, I started down the north slope off the summit to start finding our rappel route. instead of using the normal rappel route, I wanted to find a new rappel route down the North face, which would put us right at the foot of one of the NRE routes. The north side of the MRE has a huge pulpit like rock formation called the Churchkey, and I was hopuing we could rappel down it's west corner. I was able to down-climb almost all the way to the top of the Churchkey, in fact I think I could have done it, but some of the down-climbing was more difficult than I liked, and I was sure Marta wouldn't be comfortable on it, so we set our first rappel at the top of a corner system about 20m above the churchkey ledge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6DioPdVNbkTGo8iEEZ85kueRtGAljvylQ067JbFuTt1FvsO0oL7Ku_wbQ8i3VrLEMJ2sM17uEt8OuNyQGNxLjBkGo_FJMFIG9e4cGHhIVm0ZhstDNL2phyphenhyphen6LgCKcUlRiK7XhpxSJNucA/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6DioPdVNbkTGo8iEEZ85kueRtGAljvylQ067JbFuTt1FvsO0oL7Ku_wbQ8i3VrLEMJ2sM17uEt8OuNyQGNxLjBkGo_FJMFIG9e4cGHhIVm0ZhstDNL2phyphenhyphen6LgCKcUlRiK7XhpxSJNucA/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_026.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First rappel off of MRE North side</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me say that the Churchkey is amazing. None of us could resist scrambling up its 30deg perfect slab to a nice little crow's nest perch. It's one of the nicer little exposed ledges of any that I've been on.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezIItoU6RvquafxYPfuRVnoAdgsX-bh-7ODW8EEJcpGHgFK8wirH11hKW_PeV3rOLMd_-nU_E6BB_eerc0naVL2eEEguAHUb_ERrsw3sCJAelh9-cn43kgcE49Ler9U-Cp1HyCDyaEB3r/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezIItoU6RvquafxYPfuRVnoAdgsX-bh-7ODW8EEJcpGHgFK8wirH11hKW_PeV3rOLMd_-nU_E6BB_eerc0naVL2eEEguAHUb_ERrsw3sCJAelh9-cn43kgcE49Ler9U-Cp1HyCDyaEB3r/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_028.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shot from on top of the Church Key</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The west corner of the Churchkey is pretty vegetated, and I was partially hoping we would be able to down-climb much of it. This wasn't really the case, we only got 15m down before it became too steep to down-climb, at a large chimney section. We set another rappel, and 30m put us on a nice big ledge beneath the chimney, but above the off-width/squeeze that had shut me down when I had attempted this route with my father almost a year ago. Here we found a decent piton to rappel down, and another 30m rappel just barely landed us at the bottom, where we were able to scramble the rest of the way to the MRE/NRE saddle. So far so good, all the rappels we could do with a single 60m rope. This is another key piece of information I was hoping to learn today; if we can do all the peaks with a single rope we save a lot of weight.<br />
<br />
The wind was really starting to pick up while we rapped down, but once we got close to the NRE we were sheltered from it. Our planned route up the NRE was the Davis Route. I had climbed the upper portion of this with Zach a while back, but have never climbed the lower portion. However, it is supposed to be 5.4 or easier, and it certainly didn't look harder than that. For this route, I decided we'd simul-climb. I had to give jon and Marta a quick lesson on simul-climbing, some basic dos and don'ts. I took the lead, marta tied in 30m behind and Jon took up the caboose. We made slow and steady progress up the entire route. It was as easy as I had hoped, and I felt that I could have gone much quicker up the route, but simul0-climbing doesn't let you go at your own pace. Inevitably, one person has to slow down at a steep section, while another is waiting around on an easy ledge. But overall, we dispatched the route very quickly, and were soon on the summit of the NRE.<br />
<br />
Again, we took a little break, but it was already 5:30 and we didn't have much daylight left. We left 2 small water bottles on the summit as another water cache, then headed over to the North side to find another new rappel. There is a steep gully on the north side which we were able to down-climb quite a ways, but eventually needed to set up a rappel on. After one rappel we down-climbed some more, but it became clear that this gully led down the east side of the NRE, and not to the CWM/NRE saddle. At a logical spot, we traversed out of the gully to the west and found a perfect ledge right above the CWM/NRE saddle. The only problem was it was more than 30m down. in fact none of us were even sure it was less than 60m down. The wind was really howling around this face of the mountain, so we couldn't really drop the ropes and see if they would hit. Jon attmepted to tie a rock to the end of Marta's 50m rope and lower it down, but the rock came loose. Eventually I decided we'd just go for it. We were limited by marta's rope to a 50m rappel. I took the rack with me just in case, and started down. I had to lead the rope as I went, the wind had blown it all over the face and it wasn't obvious that I'd reach the saddle until I was almost there. With relief, I landed. It is a near perfect 50m rappel, straight down a steep cliff. Looking back up, there were cracks all over this face and I bet some fun hard climbing could be found here. But we had to turn our attention elsewhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9dvs7meuY2YfT4KPLpA6WiTKpnylPW3VGqUAdEeCjnCjJAfiPwH_1_oJ5pO4T7TldCKUtWIOu1UpYokU3ee1JaCt83WFXDgLTJ3arzsBs6eYZOT4LeZa5dGnf1LvJEZNXl_DqlYL70oF/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9dvs7meuY2YfT4KPLpA6WiTKpnylPW3VGqUAdEeCjnCjJAfiPwH_1_oJ5pO4T7TldCKUtWIOu1UpYokU3ee1JaCt83WFXDgLTJ3arzsBs6eYZOT4LeZa5dGnf1LvJEZNXl_DqlYL70oF/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_031.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking out over the CWM towards Baylor Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>While Jon and Marta were rappelling down, I scrambled up to tag the CWM's summit. I think I described this as 4th class scrambling before, but it could jsut as easily be "low 5th" . You ahve to climb up a smooth slab face before gaining the "pitched roof" summit slab. I felt good climbing up and down it, but I'm not sure it would meet everyone's comfort level. Neither Marta or Jon seemed that interested in tagging the CWM, the sun was getting low and we were all thinking about how we would get down. We scrambled down the west gully between the CWM and NRE, and had to do one more 30m rappel before we were down in the scrubby bushes surrounding the peak.<br />
<br />
It was 7pm, and we had some decisions to make. It was clear to me that we wouldn't be going after Last Peak or Nordspitz. None of us had a desire to be scrambling and bushwhacking in unkown terrain by headlamp. The only problem was we didn't have a clear route down. We could very easily have descended Rabbit Ears canyon, a route I know well, but this would leave us on the wrong side of the mountians from where we parked, and we'd proabably need to get picked up by someone. The option of scrambling around Last Peak and Nordspitz on the west and then hiking down the ridge to Baylor pass seemed even less inviting. None of us knew this terrain, and it was still a very long ways to Baylor pass, going this way would surely mean hiking out by headlamp. our last option was to try to descend directly to the east down a gully, but again none of us knew the terrain over there.Some of the gully's on the east are horrendous (my experience on Lost Carabiner route attests to that) and I was hesitant to try this.<br />
<br />
Marta suggested a 4th alternative that I was about to go agree to. We would descend Rabbit Ear Canyon for a ways, but then climb up to a ridge-line where she was familiar with the terrain,. The ridgeline would then lead us to Baylor pass. This option would be very long and grueling, but offered some hope. Plus, if we got most of the way down Rabbit Ears canyon and decided we weren't up for it, we could simply keep going down and get picked up (i already had called my wife and she said she was willing to come rescue us). All of us thought this sounded reasonable and Marta and Jon started heading down. I was right behind them but something told me to at least scramble over to the saddle between the CWM and Last peak and check it out. From our stopping point we couldn't actually see into this gully. I quickly scrambled round the corner and liked what I saw. The gully was brushy, but not bad at all, and not very steep either. I called Jon and Marta over.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcNlxydKDVjW_Jp4e4UtFeujqj-l2oJtZVj9TaMm7B0ILfM-JJpwEY-7tXp9qd2yG-xoF0BFyaP72mVh-5RcYwJt_hdOg2FajKLHUkQFi6Vu6iTsoaJj_Rens8g58rDpqit7-AUuuJi7-/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcNlxydKDVjW_Jp4e4UtFeujqj-l2oJtZVj9TaMm7B0ILfM-JJpwEY-7tXp9qd2yG-xoF0BFyaP72mVh-5RcYwJt_hdOg2FajKLHUkQFi6Vu6iTsoaJj_Rens8g58rDpqit7-AUuuJi7-/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_032.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Losing Daylight, Saddle between CWM and Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After looking at the east side gully, they also agreed that it looked better and soon we were off, racing dusk. Going down was quick and treacherous. These mountian gullys have thick vegetation in spots, loose boulders in other, and slippery ball-bearing gravel. Still we made good time. Most of the thick-looking brush turned out to be wild-grape (not the prickly briars I ahd feared). Marta did bang her knee in a hole, and Jon took a few big slip/falls, but we made it down to the Baylor pass trail just as it was dark. By headlamp we marched the 1 mile back to the car.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPRV4D-1uBnwZwVtMZE6jeZhuAl-BPWPm1xrd6I0P367DOmWp0a05VnNZ52itvB2dJJ895p4dOcHA7HMJyZhYlTyzFOTFPixmNnL3MCp8ID3kdO8lzzBFpsgGuigSsoHxjqXLGhesu3Pj/s1600/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPRV4D-1uBnwZwVtMZE6jeZhuAl-BPWPm1xrd6I0P367DOmWp0a05VnNZ52itvB2dJJ895p4dOcHA7HMJyZhYlTyzFOTFPixmNnL3MCp8ID3kdO8lzzBFpsgGuigSsoHxjqXLGhesu3Pj/s640/3+rabbit+Ears+Day_035.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brushy gully east of CWM/Last Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Even though we didn't make it all the way to Baylor pass, we learned some valuable information: MRE is definitely the hardest peak of this section and will need some extra attention.<br />
<br />
<ol><li>It can be climbed in approach shoes though, but we should probably bring a big cam to preotect it better.</li>
<li>Rappels down the north sides of MRE and NRE work great (and already are equipped thanks to us). We took 3 30m rappels to get off MRE, 1 30m and 1 50m rappel to get off of NRE and 1 30m rappel to get down the CWM. Looks like having two ropes may be needed.</li>
<li>We left water caches on NRE and Big Windy.</li>
<li>the Davis route is as easy as it was supposed to be, and a good way to summit NRE.</li>
</ol><div>I still need some more information on this section though, specifically the route from CWM over Last Peakand Nordspitz, as well as the terrain down to Baylor Pass. It would also be good to find a better route between Big Windy and the SRE. It would be appealing to go from Big Windy up to the Rabbit Ears Massif (and looks less brushy), and then down to SRE. This might involve more climbing, but could be less brushy, and would add an extra peak into the mix. Looks like there's plenty left to explore later.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Pictures coming soon. Also more summit registers coming soon. i replaced the register on top of the NRE, and have the old one to transcribe.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-34653516862573182462011-05-13T19:35:00.000-07:002011-05-15T21:05:24.765-07:00Organ Mountain Summit BlitzEver since we moved to las Cruces, the idea of linking all the Organ peak summits in a day has intrigued me. Since then, I've had the chance to summit individually many of the peaks and have gained a pretty decent familiarization with this rugged and beautiful range. But until recently I haven't given a whole lot of serious thought to the endeavor. It seems impossible, and it may yet be. But a new member of the rescue team, and a passionate climber is keen to give it a try and I've been sizing it up again.<br />
<br />
Despite having climbed most of the peaks, there are still regions of the ridge line that I am unfamiliar with. Therefore the first order of business is to scout out these areas. Also it is clear to me that any attempt will need to travel fast and light, a near impossibility with the desert heat. Water caches are a must, so these scouting hikes should also serve to cache water in strategic locations throughout the ridge.<br />
<br />
With those ideas in mind, I struck out for a solo trip to link up Organ Needle to the Wedge, with a possibility of going even further with time permitting. I left Las Cruces a little after 4am and after a quick gas stop, was leaving my car on Modoc road at 450 am. The quiet cool morning is perfect for hiking this easy stretch. I got my first surprise at the BLM gate, where someone was camped out. I startled him awake and he yelled "HEY!", making me jump as I hadn't really noticed him. "I'm just hiking, no worries" was my reply and hike on I went.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseGGnMDJLMtlV10UhvT-vnFeQh9M2ADWa4DEIP9uB0CKRcSUDXuJTwR8WHAJIMg4RHpyxtEDN5AzK1bpv942FCO2pGNzP3u_1Iu_X0i3rZr7t2J8pemWXUhInwy240ji_jRukq8OK6urN/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_003.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseGGnMDJLMtlV10UhvT-vnFeQh9M2ADWa4DEIP9uB0CKRcSUDXuJTwR8WHAJIMg4RHpyxtEDN5AzK1bpv942FCO2pGNzP3u_1Iu_X0i3rZr7t2J8pemWXUhInwy240ji_jRukq8OK6urN/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Feeling Good at Juniper Saddle</i></div>As I neared the top of Modoc road, I was able to put my headlamp away, the morning twilight was enough light. I flew by the regular landmarks on the trail up to the needle; Yellow rocks 6:06am, Juniper Saddle 6:37am, Dark Canyon Pine Tree 7:07, Organ Needle summit 7:26am. The cool morning and fresh legs made the going smooth. even so, I was happy to unload a gallon of water on the top of the Needle as a cache for future use. <br />
<br />
I took a short break on the summit, and rifled through the summit register. There were several full notebooks filling up the container and I decided to take them down with me for archiving. It will be quite a project to log all these books, but I usually enjoy reading all the different accounts of who travels these mountains.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGXT6JfrshTgf3YPZO736i_mI55ggVMX5iz0Hk9BQcTd37CPfWKg2cco2GEZpMkEUtfTygY6Mm0XxAvU8V_y65MS8jLme0sYxHbuSqqr3w6oAwrF2USjE4iXXE_BeKihY5yToLyPLE2ss/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGXT6JfrshTgf3YPZO736i_mI55ggVMX5iz0Hk9BQcTd37CPfWKg2cco2GEZpMkEUtfTygY6Mm0XxAvU8V_y65MS8jLme0sYxHbuSqqr3w6oAwrF2USjE4iXXE_BeKihY5yToLyPLE2ss/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_014.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Organ Needle Full Logbooks, coming along for the ride</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The summit was also my first chance to survey the extent of the recent fires. Large portions of hillsides were charred, but there were also untouched slopes. The fire had been very selective, constrained by geographical and meteorological forces no doubt. I tried snapping some pictures but with the morning sun glaring right at me I wasn't able to capture it very well.<br />
<br />
I descended the NW ridge of the needle, a route I had climbed a few years back. The down climbing was a bit exposed but solid. I left a poot sling to make the single 30m rappel down to the saddle. Once in the sadle between LST and the Needle, I climbe dup a short rocky headwall rather than traverse into the main gully. This followed the way I had descended from LST previously during the Lost Carabiner Route fiasco. It involves some low fifth and fourth calss moves, but is a quicker cleaner way to get over to LST.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIRGUENhloMnCLYSn94hELg0j9gC6FfxrUBzqy98vrWGJOdyZp_aSq7mpe6WZpnu08b6-bnqmGC2Ogy5EwdXRHKxJlWyCrGiiy7k0gTKqh_RfuieEwvqMgDb6ikTO-rMz_X3Le43TqiUN/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIRGUENhloMnCLYSn94hELg0j9gC6FfxrUBzqy98vrWGJOdyZp_aSq7mpe6WZpnu08b6-bnqmGC2Ogy5EwdXRHKxJlWyCrGiiy7k0gTKqh_RfuieEwvqMgDb6ikTO-rMz_X3Le43TqiUN/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_020.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scramble traverse into LST gully</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I was on top of LST by 8:33am, still making good time. The next part was the section I was least familiar with. I scrambled around the summit blocks for a while trying to find an easy way around, but ultimately decided on a short rappel to get down off the summit blocks to the north. I rappelled down a off-width crack which ended in an overhanging cave-like area. While transitioning to the overhang, my rope slipped into the crack and I grated a bunch pf skin off my left knuckles. Painful, but not serious. Also, looking back it did not seem that this would be easily reversible. One of the things I was keeping in mind is whether to try the organ ridge North-South or South-North. certain sections are easier one way or another, for instance the Low Horns work better North to South. Travelling from the Needle to the Wedge seems to work better South to north, especially because of this section. If we were to attempt a North to South, we'd still need to route-find a way to get to the top of LST.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjD4lsTvyR10sAT8gbEXVmZ34UsAE54SwiPO-vMFruorjZrp381o8RiJID8mmcrbwtiAk1vEV-HMVuqzcW0QL5tub7PZZZNWFf8SZ3KjnCSgnC-T9F5TAnSdWE-j-7Cf-N-WhuZ1t5bcz/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjD4lsTvyR10sAT8gbEXVmZ34UsAE54SwiPO-vMFruorjZrp381o8RiJID8mmcrbwtiAk1vEV-HMVuqzcW0QL5tub7PZZZNWFf8SZ3KjnCSgnC-T9F5TAnSdWE-j-7Cf-N-WhuZ1t5bcz/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_025.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My painful rappel spot off of LST</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The rest of the way between LST and Square Top was pretty straightforward, and actually pretty nice. I was able to stay up on the ridge for most of the way. At one point I had to descend on the west side into a gully byy a large pine, and there was a bit of brush to negotiate but nothing serious. The final down-climbing to the Square Top headwall was exposed but comfortable climbing. Actually summitting Square Top requires climbing an exposed fifth class pitch and I wasn't about to attempt this on my own, but it probably would only take 30-60 minutes to accomplish. I didn't stay long by Square Top, and headed down the familiar terrain of the regular ascent route. This involves some down-climbing on the west side. The rappel anchors John Bregar and I had previously used were still in decent shape so I utilized them to rappel the short "4th" class section and then down-climbed the rest of the way down the Square Top gully.<br />
<br />
At the bottom of the gully was more new terrain for me, I would have to traverse out of the gully to the north and find a point to cross over onto the east side of the ridge to reach the Wedge's standard route. The initial bush whacking to get out of the Square Top gully was the worst of the day, consisting mostly of dense and dead brush oak scrub. After only a short ways, i opted to ascend back up to the ridge-top following a faint climbers trail. This placed me on a nice perch between Square Top and the Wedge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwSXwI__bwvKtpV7lM6u68g7PzvEiPGM9mAj2EbgN8yqwuO7So0XhbmSBXCVb4uHrkfuSqSojTGGlwsWQzCM5mT3tslmXpw7P0zT3fBclUSsrFsi0Hh8mErV7WAVvGug2wdD2P5i_3eul/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwSXwI__bwvKtpV7lM6u68g7PzvEiPGM9mAj2EbgN8yqwuO7So0XhbmSBXCVb4uHrkfuSqSojTGGlwsWQzCM5mT3tslmXpw7P0zT3fBclUSsrFsi0Hh8mErV7WAVvGug2wdD2P5i_3eul/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_031.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking North with the Wedge behind me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In between me and the Wedge was an un-named peaklet that I would need to negotiate. Going around it to the west didn't seem like an option, and it looked like I would have to descend a steep gully on the east side and meet up with the gully that runs to the Wedge lower down. but on closer look, there appeared to be a brushy ramp which led directly from this little saddle around the peaklet to the east. I scrambled down the ridge-line to this little saddle and on closer examination this little ramp looked perfect. It let me maintain elevation on the ridge, and skirt around the rock obstacle. Once I turned the corner at the end of this ramp, I was in an oak/maple forest typical of the shady east side gullies. This one had been hit by the fire, and had a powder soft layer of ash blanketing the ground. the trees themselves looked like they survived, but the fire had torched all the leaf litter and small shrubs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_oG2ktPo7CG5aRxQ3DFzBRrP8FChn2Io1l8-OuymAQNMwP3-Th-tPYRxvLH22a150uz15DDMV7eAXe-Uvtn5-w2fE1VZeUZHTFeG2nu3hiQLl91eN-Tl2hLO5TrRMni9koI6zZ2wWsfo/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_oG2ktPo7CG5aRxQ3DFzBRrP8FChn2Io1l8-OuymAQNMwP3-Th-tPYRxvLH22a150uz15DDMV7eAXe-Uvtn5-w2fE1VZeUZHTFeG2nu3hiQLl91eN-Tl2hLO5TrRMni9koI6zZ2wWsfo/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_034.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burnt Forest</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Hiking down this short section of forest was kind of surreal. The ash was very much like fine powdery snow. The smell of fire hung in the air. Only a week or two ago this area was burning, and now it was still and calm. Once we get some rains I have no doubt that the plants will come back with a vengeance.<br />
<br />
By the time I joined up with the Wedge's regular route it was getting hot, and I was slowing down. I finally summited the Wedge by 11:28am. Good time, but not fast enough to do the entire Organ Mountain ridge. My legs were beginning to ache, and my camelback was already empty. I only had one more 32 ounce water bottle left and considered heading back to the car. To go on would surely mean I would run out of water while still high in the mountains. While I was having these thoughts, I holed up under a boulder, the only decent shady spot on the summit and tried to eat some food.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSuz1dblhRsh5jR77dB5OuvBDt_ta1imd3gE5-CDSyzvBimGOI3ow7UH4JHMXNRXN9GSmxPMM4eWAY4qzCHtEbVgo4Ac4MvRbwBNOSAXItth5Inz1O_lVYBmh2c_GyqUQOSAo_c5FBC8E8/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSuz1dblhRsh5jR77dB5OuvBDt_ta1imd3gE5-CDSyzvBimGOI3ow7UH4JHMXNRXN9GSmxPMM4eWAY4qzCHtEbVgo4Ac4MvRbwBNOSAXItth5Inz1O_lVYBmh2c_GyqUQOSAo_c5FBC8E8/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_036.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My shady nook on top of the Wedge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Somehow ambition got the better sense of me. I decided to keep going towards Dingleberry. I had previously covered the terrain from the Wedge to the saddle between Third Peak and Lost Peak, but there was still some unknown terrain to be scouted out. I rappelled off the Wedge and scrambled down beneath Lost Peak. Lost Peak is another summit that from the south requires a rope and partner to get up (at least, i wasn't going to solo it) and since I knew this already, I decided to try to bypass Lost Peak. I did this by descending the steep gully on the east. This down-climb turned out to be steeper than I was hoping, involving 4th class scrambling. Still it put me almost right where I wanted to be, in the saddle on the south of Third Peak. the last time I had been here the group I was with decided to head down without trying this little peak, so today I decided I'd give it a shot. It turned out to be a very nice albeit exposed scramble, probably only high 4th class. The summit is a small sharp knife-edge, with a decent little belay spot to put my pack down. the time was 12:37pm. There was what appeared to be a small summit cairn about 30 feet out on the knife-edge, so I scrambled over to see if there would be any signs of a summit register. Sure enough, a small yellow-metal Kodak film canister was stashed in the cairn. In it were 3 neatly folded sheets of note paper containing the first ascent parties' log and the next 4 ascents as well. The last record was dated 1972. I love finding these kinds of logs. A little bit of Organ Mountain history, getting to a place that maybe no one has touched in 40 years. It's a great feeling.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoV-YWlCDaImZ9w9IdtX06UvZjhSnhscE96IO-OndkL_IgBPXl_oghOHPQtNN8s2ou8kTTkGSChpBxnlCP8HjbhQA5zIbCXSBiWkVGRnvnPLbALY1Nzgn6Wv0T1jO8nAyYyMgiw2UWdWu/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoV-YWlCDaImZ9w9IdtX06UvZjhSnhscE96IO-OndkL_IgBPXl_oghOHPQtNN8s2ou8kTTkGSChpBxnlCP8HjbhQA5zIbCXSBiWkVGRnvnPLbALY1Nzgn6Wv0T1jO8nAyYyMgiw2UWdWu/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_043.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Third Peak's little summit cairn and knife-ridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It looked like a double-roped rappel off of Third Peak's north side might work, but I didn't have that kind of rope with me, so I down-climbed my ascent route. ASctually, the elevation of the saddle between Third Peak and Lost Peak is a little bit higher than where I wanted to join up with the regular acent route of Dingleberry so this worked out pretty well (and would work in the opposite direction as well). Lost Peak also looks to be easily scrambled from the north side which is good to know if we end up trying a North to South trip of the ridge.<br />
<br />
My route to the summit of Dingleberry was unremarkable. I had to bushwhack a bit to get over to the ascent gully, but it wasn't very bad. The main thing that was getting at me was exhaustion and dehydration. I was nursing my last water, but the heat of the day was sapping me quick. I took advantage of every shady spot to rest and try to recuperate, but I was still slowing down. I finally reached the summit of Dingleberry at 1:21pm. The summit log I replaced a year or so ago is in good shape, and there has even been some traffic up here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQGv0s2K-gIjf8khCrqy1Pe4oNjrWdmvpeB0frcjx49tiNiLyS7vMnpH_38AQfUttoMkp3w-X94N3QutGlozFH9b2-5nJQ0KF0XATZUI4DZSjzrHmGEbQ9HO5MqCfYbR2JkpVOaexodHU/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQGv0s2K-gIjf8khCrqy1Pe4oNjrWdmvpeB0frcjx49tiNiLyS7vMnpH_38AQfUttoMkp3w-X94N3QutGlozFH9b2-5nJQ0KF0XATZUI4DZSjzrHmGEbQ9HO5MqCfYbR2JkpVOaexodHU/s400/Organ+ridge-walk_044.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dingleberry, the 5th summit of the day for me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My memory was telling me that the Wildcat gully would be a better descent route, and since I was going to be going down Wildcat gully, I might as well tag Wilddcat too, since it is not far to go. I was able to down-climb most of the descent off Dingleberry to the north (passing by one rappel station that Bob Cort and I had previously used), but the final 20ft boulder drop stopped me. I set up this short rappel, and only after getting down did I see that there might be a way to bypass this drop without needing a rappel. Again, this would work well for a North to South excursion.<br />
<br />
Once down in the Wildcat gully I decided to shuck my pack and go light up to the top of Wildcat. I still was nursing my water but I knew it was down to the last few sips. I was exhausted, but I slogged my way up to the top of Wildcat. the time was 2:30pm. I brought a copy of the old summit log to leave, so future parties will have a chance to read the history of this little peak. Then I turned around and started my descent.<br />
<br />
Despite travelling on familiar terrain, the exhaustion and dehydration made the descent very trying. I sucked my last few drops of water down while still high in Wildcat gully, and the whole rest of the way I was fixated on nothing but water. I sang songs to myself to try to keep my mind occupied. I cursed myself for leaving an entire gallon up on the Needle. By 4pm I was at the top of Wholt's Welt. By 4:28pm I was back on Modoc road. One foot after another I just kept moving on. The lower I got, the hotter it was and I began to feel some of the signs I'd felt before.Nausea, cotton-mouth, tingling limbs. I held a glimmer of hope that the guy camped at the BLM gate would still be there and I could beg some water from him, but no such luck. I finally made it back the car at 5pm.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT5gawFVjLIc2Rbkwg727Y_fX3e7MjJTbOKX0ZOi-PoTB2aRpyW-QPJ5zgu6lktwsT6RJ7XQ6SBdd-dlma5_oMjhurEVf2YbL-40ZEScliJBg3HhAFcd01_-gpWIYPKHad5qvy_nt19nrE/s1600/Organ+ridge-walk_046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT5gawFVjLIc2Rbkwg727Y_fX3e7MjJTbOKX0ZOi-PoTB2aRpyW-QPJ5zgu6lktwsT6RJ7XQ6SBdd-dlma5_oMjhurEVf2YbL-40ZEScliJBg3HhAFcd01_-gpWIYPKHad5qvy_nt19nrE/s320/Organ+ridge-walk_046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shady spot in Wildcat gully where I tried to regain my composure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>When I finally got home, I was useless for a few hours. I slowly re-hydrated, washed all the salt off my face and took a well deserved rest. The 6 summit loop had clocked in at 9.47 miles with around 5300 ft of total elevation gain, and was about a 12-hr trip car-to-car. So is the entire ridge doable? Maybe, maybe not. This portion represents about a third of the ridge-line, and I had to skip two of the peaks. Also my I'm beginning to doubt my physical condition for taking on the whole ridge. This "little" portion nearly did me in. Still I can see how it would be possible, and am already thinking about the next "scouting" trip.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-10989221621752451072011-04-09T20:05:00.000-07:002011-04-13T20:19:27.206-07:00Cooke's Peak Hike with OMTRS members<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="800" height="533" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Faaron.hobson%2Falbumid%2F5595267264952286369%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br />
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I led an OMTRS "area familiarization" training hike to Cooke's Peak. the forecast on the day of the hike was an ominous 60 mph wind advisory, but we decided to go anyways. We met at Truckstop America at 6am, Chris Pennise and Kurt Anderson were the only two members foolish enough to join me today. We started hiking around 8am and were following the route description described in Greg Magee's <u>Day Hikes and Nature Walks in the Las Cruces, El Paso Area</u>. A few times in the approach gully it was hard to find the trail, but most of it was pretty distinct and easy going. By the time we reached the ridge top, winds were starting to pick up but it wasn't bad at all. The 2nd class section was short, and we spotted a peregrine Falcon nest nearby. They squawked at us a bit when we scrambled down to a nice observation spot to peer down into their nest. I didn't see any young or eggs, but one of the adults displayed brooding behavior, so they are probably on their way. It started getting stormy while we were on the summit, but nothing close to 60 mph winds, not even 20mph. The descent was pretty uneventful, except for one "short-cut" that I led them on to help me play with my new GPS features. We were back at the car by 3:00, and would have made it back to Las Cruces in good time if we hadn't detoured to some old Fort Ruins nearby. The wind was finally really picking up, and soon even the nearby Cooke's peak was obscured in dust. Good thing we had an early start, making for a perfect day of hiking.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-79552003346053855942011-04-01T11:35:00.001-07:002011-04-01T11:35:29.511-07:00Article in Sun NewsKind of silly, but I was interviewed by a local reporter about names of peaks in the Organs: <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17749820">http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17749820</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-89333154262110397392011-03-26T18:33:00.000-07:002011-04-01T19:23:40.159-07:00ORP - Orgy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjf_58uoRVFaQBxw0nsiwSL7bgETZ_7dcufV2pvB2tcVSKrnn5o7hJzFPBwimLIdXpNEJ2p00GF86OgEGD4yizhr5mMvghWgzye6Bpo-NBgjuY3W1jMISS5SFkuOJVmm5Unzyfcok-A-X/s1600/IMG_1183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjf_58uoRVFaQBxw0nsiwSL7bgETZ_7dcufV2pvB2tcVSKrnn5o7hJzFPBwimLIdXpNEJ2p00GF86OgEGD4yizhr5mMvghWgzye6Bpo-NBgjuY3W1jMISS5SFkuOJVmm5Unzyfcok-A-X/s400/IMG_1183.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marta Reece with NRE in the background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After last week-ends botched attempt to rope-solo the route Orgy on ORP, I returned this week-end with a climbing partner, Marta Reece. We made a fairly early start, I picked her up a 6:30. It was actually fairly cold and breezy on our hike in but we made good time and were racking up at the base of the route at 9am. As we were racking up both of us were shivering, it was definitely much cooler than last week-end. I quickly led up the first pitch, staying more to the right than before, on 5th class rock (instead of the easier ground to the left). this pitch climbs past a tree and ends up on top of the first shoulder. The top of the first pitch I was in the sun and began to warm up. I brought Marta up quickly so she could warm up as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Eoqm_u1gpceY3C5a10AmVIpC-DOrPZnNBK39VIn8I2KWKcXsD0nksj2os9tJJGmQIS7DtEUKx02i_-xymL0nKnlBXynXagAMnGQX9ctU4SXhWoYVE7Eo8c5FuZnKDaP-efANh-PAWwk/s1600/IMG_1186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Eoqm_u1gpceY3C5a10AmVIpC-DOrPZnNBK39VIn8I2KWKcXsD0nksj2os9tJJGmQIS7DtEUKx02i_-xymL0nKnlBXynXagAMnGQX9ctU4SXhWoYVE7Eo8c5FuZnKDaP-efANh-PAWwk/s400/IMG_1186.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up at the 3rd pitch. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>The second pitch I had rope-soloed before, but even with a proper belay, I felt a little off. It involves some fist-offwidth like cracks, which are not difficult but felt awkward to me. I'll be the first to admit that I am not in good climbing shape anymore. I retrieved the gear I had bailed off of last week-end and set up an anchor below the steeper wall that had intimidated me before when I was solo. This made for a short second pitch, but we were in the sun and quite comfortable.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc35F68joiUMdM26q1LU7o92OTBYxr5x797Tabd3A8_9163MSimZaP_P6eLUvqs6XlHnb_wKTausswfScuDjZnOoPHWhvoCiv8j4HPxCA9n1q8wBocjoYnPlZqZkyvmUrkuUkMKEGrO0Z/s1600/IMG_1189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc35F68joiUMdM26q1LU7o92OTBYxr5x797Tabd3A8_9163MSimZaP_P6eLUvqs6XlHnb_wKTausswfScuDjZnOoPHWhvoCiv8j4HPxCA9n1q8wBocjoYnPlZqZkyvmUrkuUkMKEGrO0Z/s640/IMG_1189.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down from the 3rd pitch<br />
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</tbody></table>According to the topo I had brought the 3rd pitch was the crux, if you could call 5.6 a crux. It looked almost wide enough to involve chimney climbing and there were a couple dead brushy growths. I hacked away the growths without much of a problem, and found the climbing above to be excellent. Good moves and protection up through the steep wall, but very comfortable feeling. The steep wall was only 60 ft or so high and above was some easy scrambling to reach the top of a large shoulder on the E buttress of ORP. I chose a belay spot near the top, but in a pretty direct line from where Marta was belaying me.<br />
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We consulted the topo before continuing. from the shoulder the buttress had another steep headwall, but it looked harder than the 5.4 suggested by the topo, and also fairly dirty. A comment on the one of the topos mentioned going around a corner and then up a 5.4 dihedral, and the only thing that seemed like it matched this description was to scramble over some blocky terrain down into the gully on the left of the buttress. After I had done this there was a dihedral-like corner on the right hand side of the gully which would top out near the small saddle beneath ORP. Despite placing little gear and having, I ran out of rope about 1/2 way up the corner, and had to stop and belay Marta over. She wasn't too happy about the traverse/scramble intothe gully, I had not protected it well for a second, and she faced a serious fall if she had slipped, but once in the gully she felt better.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OkJzY-qSwceeCAOz1Dh3BP22UhxCsCcOGkyP8kRK19DnFqX_YgmrqdABcz0aI2qwPWL7OdOD-x5_dZOX6mnxJYP9jkb6f34f-Nnz2pUDKBY37Nax4klK7Kvc1u5UHRYz3Kg3xw-arses/s1600/IMG_1190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OkJzY-qSwceeCAOz1Dh3BP22UhxCsCcOGkyP8kRK19DnFqX_YgmrqdABcz0aI2qwPWL7OdOD-x5_dZOX6mnxJYP9jkb6f34f-Nnz2pUDKBY37Nax4klK7Kvc1u5UHRYz3Kg3xw-arses/s640/IMG_1190.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marta scrambling off the shoulder and into the gully on our 4th pitch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our final pitch up the corner had one interesting section/move, which was a big reach to a good hold for me, and more technical for Marta. I guess you could say it was a 5.4 move, but at this point I don't trust my abilities to rate climbs much. At the top of the corner I passed some old rappel slings, and then I scrambled up 3rd class terrain until I reached the end of the rope, only a short distance from the summit. We didn't dawdle long on the summit, it was pretty windy. I put a copy of the transcribed summit register in the new jar, and we scrambled back down for our descent. It was 12:30.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisveaAob3Rc5cQhnVGJvGQL3Rw49Y7fsoEtHloguWPplPB7m94szdWlAxh_jdzGi1Cg0CLquRsQrl2r9weW5CckYks9skvt1l7i0bc00q8_-p9ye0mLFC8PsKG0ys_I9ElNeEDk-eMecBT/s1600/IMG_1193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisveaAob3Rc5cQhnVGJvGQL3Rw49Y7fsoEtHloguWPplPB7m94szdWlAxh_jdzGi1Cg0CLquRsQrl2r9weW5CckYks9skvt1l7i0bc00q8_-p9ye0mLFC8PsKG0ys_I9ElNeEDk-eMecBT/s640/IMG_1193.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glorious summit</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmj3Di0yyxE8GWOb_bPkFkm5thm1DewvDlTJlDzZPCmIzv1wf9xl0EVWRpfi1hbvOnbNWoE3giqauZTchldQh4YyR7bHjwpL-vDaJhwZp-Sk4Ixx-tRojTAoHHfcjNNaDRqVW1wwVoD58/s1600/IMG_1194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmj3Di0yyxE8GWOb_bPkFkm5thm1DewvDlTJlDzZPCmIzv1wf9xl0EVWRpfi1hbvOnbNWoE3giqauZTchldQh4YyR7bHjwpL-vDaJhwZp-Sk4Ixx-tRojTAoHHfcjNNaDRqVW1wwVoD58/s320/IMG_1194.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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For the descent we decided to rappel down the gully on the south side of the buttress, which would put us right at our gear. From the rappel slings at the top of the 5.4 pitch, a 30m rappel landed us in the gulley, where it was broad and brushy. We hiked to the bottom of this section and the top of the large chock stone that had stopped me on my first scramble attempt back in January. the rock above this chock was very loose and we tumbled down a few pieces while searching for something to rappel off of. Moving the rock opened up a hole behind the chock which I thought we might be able to chimney down, but Marta didn't like the looks of it. The walls were pretty far apart for easy chimneying. One bad effect of the hole was that wind funneled up it and kept blowing loose dirt in our faces and eyes. Marta found us a climb of living shrubs that she thought we could rappel off of, and when I went up to get a closer look, I found an old 2-piton rappel anchor hidden in lichen just off to the side.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25dao9Th2EiOzBXQKQsRyYbeJT51PRmBQLBWhFX0-JFG7f4QjjtyGsfh3FSwCqjPWfMgKf_sXFtk1R3rpXKilsHNRniEXVquwGHbTuxRImqpaArVeD1QCrNtR76YUgwXw5LJfgrHk5Nkv/s1600/IMG_1197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25dao9Th2EiOzBXQKQsRyYbeJT51PRmBQLBWhFX0-JFG7f4QjjtyGsfh3FSwCqjPWfMgKf_sXFtk1R3rpXKilsHNRniEXVquwGHbTuxRImqpaArVeD1QCrNtR76YUgwXw5LJfgrHk5Nkv/s320/IMG_1197.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">suspicious looking piton rappel anchor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The top piton was not very deep in the crack, and did not lend confidence but the bottom one looked decent. I was ready to use the pitons, but Marta felt more comfortable using the climb of shrubs, so we used them. Rappelling down the chock was only 20 ft to another brushy area, and I was hoping we could continue down past another chock/steep section, but it was clear that the rope would not reach to the bottom of the next section, so we pulled it down and set up for a final rappel. Again, we were shifting through loose rock to try to find something to anchor off of, and then spotted some old slings off the north side of the gully. the only problem was that to get to the slings involved a very exposed 5ft move over a steep slab, where a fall would be deathly serious. Unfortunately we had already pulled our rope from the above rappel anchor, but I made it over to the slings by protecting the exposed move with a wired-stopper, then setting up a quick anchor to belay Marta over.<br />
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The final rappel was on piton-like stake driven straight down behind a crack. It looked pretty solid, and the sling around it would also be held by the rock. This last rappel put us almost at the very bottom, where we could scramble back down to our packs. It had taken nearly 2 hours to descend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFvQwPBZYl45gXtbNgHKZ43Bsa_1wEZvWCqbahsYAU7NsoYNK8eIcIA_NxcrnCx66sbpBd7aZ2l2fyHRW34sNlTvp6OvIuDdIVkbvmaEbvTN-Fc2P7HCdAfgtKd8Z876UW3izXyvrWXanT/s1600/IMG_1199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFvQwPBZYl45gXtbNgHKZ43Bsa_1wEZvWCqbahsYAU7NsoYNK8eIcIA_NxcrnCx66sbpBd7aZ2l2fyHRW34sNlTvp6OvIuDdIVkbvmaEbvTN-Fc2P7HCdAfgtKd8Z876UW3izXyvrWXanT/s400/IMG_1199.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final rappel. the first pitch of the climb is on the right hand side past the tree, but could just as easily start from here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Overall the route was pretty good but not my favorite. The first 3 pitches were on very nice rock, and there is good potential for difficult variations on other crack systems. However, scrambling down into the gully to finish up the 5.4 corner detracts from the climb. It would be better to continue more directly along the buttress, tackling the final head-wall. The descent could also be improved by adding some descent rappel anchors. Another project for another day.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipboNIdVWe9CpoMSXaxq_Gi2wQ_SRB88K8xEUYkS_fE8PUbafQovZAFATrT0I_J-60MrnZZnuyVgEvIemwFla11Cd2_WR3J0bpQMGGfHkeDP6qeS9jDmm3RYsspeF70fmi_wldbFxcnfrT/s1600/ORGY+topo+-+Marker.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipboNIdVWe9CpoMSXaxq_Gi2wQ_SRB88K8xEUYkS_fE8PUbafQovZAFATrT0I_J-60MrnZZnuyVgEvIemwFla11Cd2_WR3J0bpQMGGfHkeDP6qeS9jDmm3RYsspeF70fmi_wldbFxcnfrT/s640/ORGY+topo+-+Marker.JPG" width="385" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-6915257238309230682011-03-25T19:31:00.000-07:002011-03-25T19:31:11.472-07:00ORP summit registerThe ORP summit register that I retrieved last weekend was a good one. Similar to the one found on wild-cat, it was a small metal film canister (rusted out a bit), with bits of folded paper in it. The whole thing had been placed in a larger orange pill container, which would help preserve it, but it looks like this pill container is relatively new. I left a new jar and notebook, and plan on bringing up a copy of the transcription when I next climb up there (tomorrow). The register did not have many entries, but it did have entries dating back to the 60's and the early Organ Mountain climbers. Very cool.<br />
<iframe height="100%" src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1rZQLMcqukbksnYaAswcvxViMlmiX2LS2TskAV-FSAuc&embedded=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656607520669429731.post-88396639048376059082011-03-22T19:51:00.000-07:002011-03-22T20:35:26.405-07:00South Rabbit Ear summit registerI replaced the summit register on the South Rabbit Ear on 3/18/11. the existing register did not date back very far, and a cursory glance did not show much climbing beta in it. Still, it was only some loose scraps of paper in a degrading plastic pill bottle, so I left what I hoped would be a more long-lasting glass container and notepad.<br />
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<iframe height="500" src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1WX0NSalocUPHGpNCBF4Z4vHHX5oufWnDYExgoHJUkO0&embedded=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1