Mores Mountain

We tried to get out of the heat by going up to climb at Mores Mountain. It's a great spot to climb in the summer since it's over 6,000 feet in elevation. When we got there, two guys were already up on "Roadside Rock". I was actually surprised that there weren't more climbers up there.

Roadside (L) The Pincer (R)

We scrambled up a class 3 wash-out since the last time I was up there was years ago and there was a fixed line up an eroded path. The kids made it fine and we stopped to soak up the area. The two guys came over and we talked for awhile and then they packed up and headed down. They told us that there was a trail that is in really great shape. Later, on the way down, we took it and it was in great shape.

We went over to the backside of "Roadside" since it is eternally in the shade. It was still hot. Not as hot as town, but still too hot to climb in the sun. We climbed a route called "Life without Beer". It had evil little knobs and your footwork needed to be dialed in. We didn't have long, since the kids were starting to feud and complain about hunger or something. After I put up the route, Bonnie tied in and proceeded to climb her first 10b! It was amazing! She would start to think about weighting the rope and I would yell encouragement and then she would yell at herself and push on. I was very happy and proud.

Bonnie almost at the anchors!

After she climbed it I had to clean it because I left the draws as directionals (falling on toprope would swing you WAY left!) and rap down. I got to the 4th bolt and was stepping up on a micro Evil Knob and it snapped off! I don't think it will make a difference because it was pretty small and I was in a hurry. Plus, most of the other guys besides me that climb up here probably only need one foothold per 20 feet anyways!

Evil Little Knob

There are A LOT more formations that I would like to explore. The drive from town is only 25 miles and is well worth it.

Potential???

Rainier

We made it to the summit via the DC on Wednesday. It took us about 5 hours from Muir to get up and about 2.5 hours to get down. The conditions were very good and there was a full moon.

When we first arrived at Camp Muir, there was only one other climber there. We actually prepared to stay the night in the shelter. Soon the clouds parted on the Muir snowfield and "The ride of the Valkyries" cued up. There were LOTS of climbers making their way up. I mean LOTS. I didn't know what the hell happened. I planned on a nice relaxing mid-week summit with very few other climbers. After things settled out, the shelter was full. I mean like 30 people full. I left our stove in there and asked Chris if he wanted to stay out on the glacier. I think he was already down there and had the tent out by the time it left my mouth.

We pitched the tent and enjoyed the solitude of the glacier and our nice little piece of real estate. We went up and found a King 5 camera crew milling around the shelter. I talked to one of the guys and found out that there was the commissioner of the NFL and the head coach of the Seahawks doing a United Way charity climb. RMI was the guide company for the cause and we got to meet Ed Viesturs. Then we found out that Camp Patriot was there as well. Camp Patriot is an awesome organization that assists disabled Veterans in getting back into the outdoors. The NFL guys had a giant man-tourage and the Camp Patriot heroes had a couple of guides.

Needless to say, our solitude didn't last on the glacier as a Mountaineering club from the midwest moved in and a couple of other independent groups came down also. I felt like a Native Idahoan being overran by Californians.

I think some of the tents may have been made by Hubble or Corey Barton. On our summit night the tent below us kept yelling to the tent above about having a water bottle. Which is okay since when I went up to the shelter early in the morning to make coffee, it was a steady drone of snoring, coughing and farting.

The route was in really good shape. There was a nice bootpack all the way up. There were about four or five crevasses to cross. Only one required a jump.

I was concerned with rockfall since it was coming down off of the Cleaver and had injured a climber the day before we arrived. We roped in short and moved fast through the more hazardous areas.

There was some pretty good sized blocks coming down off of the Cathedral Gap. A refrigerator sized chunk missed a party by about ten feet.

I think that the summit crater is the longest 1/4 mile a person can walk...

There were about 10 independent parties including us and 5 summited and 5 turned back. Three of the 5 that summited were from Idaho!

The City II.

Rapping off of "Jackson's Thumb"

My wife and I went back to the City for a few days climbing while I rested for my trip to Rainier. It was a very enjoyable trip. The weather was nice until the last night when it ripped our camp up while we were eating pizza at Rock City!

We were able to climb some fun stuff and she led some stuff in Castle Rocks. We did a 5.7 on Jackson's Thumb called "Theater of Shadows" first thing because I've tried to climb it twice and have been shut out because of weather. I love the City!

I'm back from Rainier. We made the summit under a full moon and great conditions! I will put more up here with some pictures soon.

Summit of Rainier