Mouse Trap

Lovely weather to mix climb

Erik Johnson, Scott "Sandbaggin" Salzer, and I put up a new mixed dry route in Hyalite canyon. The route is located ~30' to the left of "The itchy and scratchy show" on the unnamed wall. It is bolt protected (13 bolts to chain anchors) and climbs incredibly good rock for Hyalite. Bring a single 70m rope. Props to Erik for finding/cleaning the route and letting me tag along, and Scott for helping bolt/clean/climb the line. We decided to name the route "Mouse Trap" M4+, 33m, a damn fun moderate.




Looking up the route


Erik on the first ascent of "Mouse trap".





Cheers, Loren

Glacier Research in the Alaska Range

Melt regimes, stratigraphy, flow dynamics and glaciochemistry of
three glaciers in the Alaska Range




Two seasons ago Kevin Volkening and I went to Alaska to climb for over a month, we visited the Ruth Gorge and the Kahiltna glacier on this trip. We climbed a number of routes and peaks and I finished the trip by helping Seth Campbell, Dominic Winski, and Kevin Volkening do glacial research. I was the official grunt worker (ie. dig holes, carry sleds, ski with radar equipment) but I learned practical knowledge of the dynamics of an active glacier. Seth Campbell (et al) submitted the final paper and got it published. The paper is a rigorous scientific publication so it may prove difficult to read through, if so just read the Abstract and the Conclusion. I'm glad I had the opportunity to help out with this study, interesting and important stuff as we become more aware of our climate.



The paper can be viewed HERE




Doing glacier research on the saddle of Hunter.


Seth doing research


Kevin doing research






Cheers, Loren

Imja Tse

Photo By Rick D.

An ascent of Imja Tse, 20,315'.

For beta on climbing in Nepal contact Pete Shelley at:     himalx (AT) yahoo.com

Pete Shelley, Rick Dvorak, and I went to Nepal a few years ago to climb in the Himalayas and experience a different culture.  I can't say enough good things about the trip.  The people were remarkable, the peaks gigantic, and the culture was significantly different than small town Montana.  We had great weather and were able to summit the trekking peak named Imja Tse (Island Peak, 20,315'). 

Kathmandu

Bazzar in Lukla, Photo by Peter Shelley

The Khumbu Himal

Pete and Rick

Sherpani women near Thame

If you're in the area you must visit Toshi and Lopka at the Ama Dablam Lodge!

Pete brought tooth brushes to the school children at Periche.

View of Ama Dablam from Nangkar Tshang (16,760')

Near Chomolungma (Everest) base camp, Pumori in the background, photo by Pete Shelley

Myself, Pete, and Uttra on Kala Patar (18,400'), Chomolungma (Everest) and Nuptse in the background. Photo by Rick D.

Imja Tse (Island Peak), photo by Rick D.

View of Ama Dablam from Imja Tse, photo by Pete Shelley

Pete, Rick, and Uttra near the summit of Imja Tse

Pete taking a well needed shower

Lhotse, Photo By Pete Shelley

Cheers, Loren

"Bearcat"

Wolverine falls, Bearcat is the smear on the far left side of the falls proper.

Years ago Rick Dvorak and I stumbled on a beautiful, unclimbed, ice line in the Crazy Mountains of Montana. We somehow managed to climb the ice flow in two pitches (it was one of my first ice leads ever, and Rick's first time ice climbing). I still remember being so scared on the first ascent that I nearly shook myself off the climb. When I reached the top of the first pitch I lowered our only set of ice tools (used DMM predators) down to Rick so he could second the pitch in soft boots and strap on crampons.

It was undiluted adventure.

I had seen wolverine tracks in the area thus we named the route "Wolverine falls" WI3/4.


Rick following on the first ascent of Wolverine falls. Notice the bike helmet. The ice in the back ground is the route "Chicken Wing" M5/6.

A few years passed and Kevin Volkening, Kasey Welles, and myself went back to climb a mixed line located next to Wolverine falls. We hand placed two bolts in the blank rock above the ice then placed natural protection to gain a belay/rappel tree. We named the route "chicken wing" M5/6, in honor of the amount of bar food we devoured after the climb in Livingston.


Myself on Chicken wing.

By now I thought the the area was climbed out in terms of new ice or mixed lines. It takes new eyes to see what was sitting directly in front of us the entire time. Ron Brunkhorst and Olin Erickson invited Bridget and I to Wolverine Falls to try a new mixed line, of course I jumped at the opportunity. It was also Olin's Birthday thus a group (the first annual Crazy Mountain Ice Fest?) was born.


Olin leads the first pitch of Wolverine falls.

The new line was an anemic drip on Wolverine's far left side ending in a rock dihedral. Since Ron spotted the line I offered to take pictures from above.

Ron climbed the thin ice route easily. Another mixed line in the area was born. Ron cleaned the route on rappel, We pulled the ropes, and I lead the route for the second ascent 20 minutes later, then Bridget climbed it for the third.

Ron named the route "Bearcat" WI4+, M3+. (another name for wolverine).


Ron on Bearcat.


Ron on Bearcat


Myself on Bearcat. Photo by Ron B.

The Crazy Mountains continue to amaze me.

Cheers, Loren

Low Gravity Day

Pete Tapley on Roman Candle

I don't really get to excited about climbing individual pitches; be it rock, ice, or bouldering, but this last week I climbed a single pitch that was the exception.

Kyle Vassilopolus and I headed out to Hyalite canyon this past tuesday to work on some mixed climbing routes. This is Kyle's first real season on ice and he is already crushing it, granted he is a very strong rock climber (more on this later). We headed up to the bingo world cave, on the unnamed wall, where Kyle has been working "Northwest Passage" (M11). He roped up, stretched a little, then jumped right on the climb figure-fouring out a hrorizontal roof. He reached the lip of the cave, shook out, then climbed (bare handed) to the anchors and clipped the chains, it was his 3rd try at the route total!


Northwest Passage. photo by Adam Knoff

After Kyle sent his project we walked over to a route called "Roman Candle" (M9-) that was put up a few years ago by Whit Magro. I laced up my boots, stretched my arms, then climbed the route to the anchors (Whit bolted an extension to the top of the cliff, "The Roman" M10+, which I did not do).


myself on roman candle last year.





I couldn't believe that we both just walked up to our projects and climbed them first try of the day! I had been working on roman candle for a while and the route felt impossible when I first tried it, maybe this is why this route means so much to me, because I put a bit of effort into it and was able to make the subjective impossibility possible!

So I mentioned that Kyle was a strong climber. The day before Kyle climbed N.W. Passage (M11) he climbed "Montana Beef" V11. A V11 and an M11 within 24 hours of each other....has this ever been done before?

Anyway, it is great to see some progress in my own climbing and be inspired by watching Kyle climb!

***Kyle continued to crush this season, here's a write up on his mixed climbing from ROCK AND ICE.***

Cheers, Loren

Chasing the Ice Dragon

I had a blast climbing with Daniel, Tanner, Chris, and Ari this past weekend. A long day out, sticky ice, great views, and hilarious partners made this a memorable day.

Ice Dragons is one of the best alpine ice lines I have been on; purely based on difficulty of access and position while on the face. It's a long climb (1,500 feet) and has a bit of everything thrown in, ice, snow, rock, neve... The best beta for this climb can be found here and here.

We started the day by leaving the trail head at 6:00am and hiked to the base in 3 hours. We climbed the route in 5 or 6 pitches (with alot of simul-climbing). We walked off the route to the north-west and arrived at the trailhead 12 hours later.

Cheers, Loren






Photo by Daniel Burson













Beautiful!

Black Mountain y-couloir

Winter is finally here. This past weekend Bridget and I chased the snow that accumulated high in the mountains of central Montana. We decided to climb the Y-couloir on Black Mountain (located east of Paradise valley). Bridget and I had been kicked off this peak with force this past spring by a strong snow storm that left us sprinting for the trail head, a rematch was in order. We figured that there would be ice somewhere on the peak and perhaps the Y-couloir would be in fine shape. We left Pine creek trailhead at 8:00am and made great progress to the beautiful Pine creek lake; one of the coolest high mountain lakes I have ever been to.


Bridget hiking up the 5,000 some feet to Black Mountain under perfect fall conditions.


Bridget on the approach

When we reached the lake we could just slightly make out the summit of Black Mountain as strong winds raked the summit and clouds swirrled around it. We climbed up snow covered boulderfields to the base of the route, passing beautiful blue marble (?) boulders that would be perfect to climb on in the summer. When we reached the base of the couloir we found the snow to be incredibly windloaded and a bit spooky. We decided to rope up, hug the rock to our right, and place as much gear as possible between us as we simul-climbed. We literally swam up the couloir as spin drift slides randomly cascaded on us. After looking at the left branch of the Y-couloir we decided to go up the right branch. We could see some ice bulges and the objective dangers didn't look as bad.


The bottom section of the couloir, spooky windloaded snow and strange pro.


Bridget is down there somewhere.

Bridget lead out as she got pounded by spin drift "slides". She climbed through the crux of the route over a fun 80' section of ice and neve. We topped the couloir out and both sat in the sun as we nursed the first screaming barfies of the year.


Bridget on the upper section on the couloir




just having fun


This whole section was composed of rock-hard ice, burried just under the powder snow.


Bridget nears the top of the couloir


Heading to the summit.


Bridget on the top


And this is why I love Montana.


This is another reason why I love Montana.


The only down side was the amount of trash we found at the lake, lame.

We scrambled against the wind to the summit then decended the North ridge back down to the lake. We hiked out to the trailhead in the dark and decended from winter back into autumn. The experience was about as good as it gets and a great reintroduction back to winter.



Cheers, Loren