The Dukkha Diaries

The long east ridge of Iddings Peak

Iddings peak is the second highest peak in the Crazy Mountains of central Montana. The entire mountain range is an anomoly, it resides in a basin feature (i.e. the mountains shouldn't be there), the rock is ignious and metamorphic, and the relief in these mountains is enormous for such a "low" mountain range. It's a unique place.

I have always wanted to climb this peak's long east ridge, and with the rest of the mountain ranges in Montana being on fire, this was the logical choice.

I leasurely hiked into the beautiful cirque that contains Pear lake and set up a camp near the inlet at a small tarn. I spent the day exploring the two tiny pocket glaciers that surround the peak. They both had small terminal moraines which is a good sign (you can see one moraine in the picture above).

I awoke when it got light out then headed up the few thousand feet to the base of the east ridge. The night felt really cold and I was surprised to see that the tarn I was camped at was frozen over. Once on the east ridge I found the rock to be a bit loose (expected) but really, really good climbing as well. The ridge was mostly 4th class for about half a mile, exposed, windy, with great views. I summited the peak then descended the entire ridge back down because it was so fun (one can excape the ridge just below the summit pyramid).

The east ridge

The east ridge with the summit pyramid still 1/4 mile away.

Rock lake way down there, the haze is from all the forest fires in Montana.

A few mountain goats

This little guy was more interested in choke cherries than me.

Cheers, Loren

"The Wet Whitey-Tighty Contest" 5.11.

A terrible (and awesome) route name I know.... let me explain.

This past winter Kevin Volkening and I went exploring a cool place for some ice to climb. Well, we didn't find any ice but we did "discover" (I found an arrow head at the base of the wall, which means the wall was probably discovered a few thousand years ago) a beautiful wall of gneiss. While exploring the cliff we were forced to cross the creek below it - in winter - in our underwear (or lack of...) a seriously cold endevor...

...that's how this route got it's name.

Kevin crossing the creek

Bridget, Scott "Sandbaggin" Salzer, and I headed to the cliff this past Labor day weekend to check the rock out. Here's what we found:

Myself on the first pitch (The Fruit of the Loom Pitch) in survivor mode. The perfect 2" hand crack in the back was protected by a wasp nest and a huge spider, both of which I had to climb around to get to the top.

Bridget on the first ascent of the second pitch (The Atomic Wedgie Pitch) - oh so good!!

Looking down the "atomic Wedgie Pitch" in awe!

Scott following "the atomic wedgie pitch"

The next day we rappelled the cliff looking for a way to link the route together

We linked the route together by climbing the pitches ground up after inspection from above. We ended up placing a couple bolts in blank sections (i.e. one 60m pitch has 3 bolts)

Bridget following "The Fruit of the Loom Pitch" on the free push.

On Labor day we climbed the route ground up all free at solid 5.11.

And we were watched the entire time by the worlds boldest climber... no pressure.

Scott on pitch 4 "The Bannana Hammock pitch" - bring very small gear for this one to supplement a couple of bolts.

Bridget on the 3rd pitch "The skid marks pitch". Bring a clean pair of underwear for this pitch as it is insecure. (the white scars on the slab below are from cleaning the route, there still may be a few loose blocks on route- bring a helmet).

Route cleaning

We bolted every anchor on the route and the route can be rappelled with 2, 60M ropes (3 rappells total)from anchors that have bones tied to them (recommended as you approach from above).

If you want beta for this route let me know, I'd be psyched!

Cheers, Loren

The SW buttress is the right skyline.

Bridget and I had a fairly successful time in the East Rosebud this last week. We climbed the SW buttress of the wall above Elk Lake (its been climbed prior). We managed to make a mostly free ascent of the upper headwall- I pulled on a cam on a friction traverse (The original rating is 5.9 A2, and Daniel Burson and Ari Greenburg made a free ascent of the buttress a few years ago at 5.11) and we topped the monolith out around 1 in the afternoon. The unsuccessful portion of the climb was the descent. We totally went down the wrong gully (the gully below the first wall). It was the most chossy place I have ever been (and that's saying something). It was a place you didn't want to linger in as it funnels rocks from high above and they come exploding past like bullets and missles. It was like a game of Russian Roulete in there, you knever knew if the next rappel had your name on it, and pulling the ropes caused a whole new barrage of rockfall. The gully was pooring water and we were soaked, leaving nuts and slinging blocks for anchors. Five hours later we stumbed out into the evenging light at five mile creek happy to be alive. Aside from the descent the climbing was great and, as always, the scenery was amazing - just never descend down that gully!

Bridget on the headwall

Bridget knocking a big block off the headwall

Myself climbing steep corners on the upper headwall

The top out

The descent

The rope didn't handle the descent well either

Cheers, Loren

While trail running with Bridget last spring up South Cottonwood Creek, near Bozeman, we ran past what appeared to be limestone spires sticking out from a thick mat of pine trees. I logged the location of these spires away in my memory, for a rainy day activity, and kept on running behind Bridget with a pounding side ache.

Nearly a year later we were back, we left the ice gear at home and loaded a pack with rock gear. We hiked up the south cottonwood trail in perfect fall weather to the third bridge crossing (2.5 miles). From here we walked up the trail another 5 minutes until the spires could be seen on the other side of the creek. We crossed the creek, hiked to the base of the spires and looked up at limestone choss in all its glory. As an inspired choss tower connosure I can not pass up unclimbed towers so we tied in.

The first view of the cottonwood towers from the trail - "The Ancient Fart Tower" on the right and the "Choss Wrangler Tower" on the left.

The spires turned out to be really cool. They are overhung, really narrow, and tilt out in strange angles. There is a notch that separates the two towers on the spires' back (west) side that has a wide crack. I started up this loose crack that lead to the notch that protected well with cams to a #4. From here I went up the climbers left tower and found some protection with two ice specters pounded into turfed-up cracks. I mantled the tiny summit that is reminascent of the 'ancient art of the desert tower' in Utah. It really is the ghetto version of that tower- thus we named it the "Ancient Fart Tower".

The ancient fart tower- the route goes up the arete in the center.

Myself heading up the "ancient fart" tower

Bridget rappelling off of the ancient fart tower- we ended up slinging the entire summit with cord as an anchor.

After climbing the ancient fart tower we decided to climb the other tower that is attached. We started up the same wide crack that gained the notch between the two towers then climbed up climbers right on the exposed ridge to the other virgin summit.

Bridget heading up the "choss wrangler" tower with the "ancient fart" tower in the background.

Bridget on the summit of the "Choss Wrangler" tower.

Required gear for the cottonwood towers.

We placed a single bolt on top of the choss wrangler tower in good rock as there was no other option for a rappell anchor. Both these towers deserve a special rating- a choss rating- to mentally prepare for the climbing. They both get a Choss 5.7 rating, bring some pitons/ice specters. These towers are chossy as hell, but also good fun and a cheap reminder that climbing inadequate rocks is best approached with humor and zest.

Cheers, Loren

The House of Hyalite- Bozeman Ice Fest 2012

As always I had a great time at the Bozeman Ice Fest. I love the good energy of everyone involved during the event. From the boot/gear demos, slideshows, rubbing shoulders with the legends, and of course instructing on ice (where I learn just as much as the participants). Thanks to JoJo and Coop (and many, many others) for providing the most seamless Bozeman Ice Fest I have seen! Here are a few pictures I took during the event.

The Scepter

Rock and Ice

Kitty Calhon and Carlos Buhler providing great instruction on Saturday during the
"vertical Runway" clinic.

Will Gadd cruising to the top of the podium. La Sportiva Boots and coors beer.

Cheer, Loren

This past holiday season found Bridget and I on the East Coast of the U.S.A. We enjoyed Christmas and New years in Massachusetts but spent the time between in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ice climbing. As a native westerner I must say I was impressed with the climbing on the east coast, the nice people we met, and the terrible weather that adds character to the experience.

Upon arriving in Franconia Notch (New Hampshire) the weather turned for the worst. We wanted to do some routes on Cannon cliff but the winds blew us to the sheltered climbing area called the "Flume". It was a great setting.

The flume

Bridget climbing at the flume

The most dangerous part of climbing at the flume was the raging wind which was knocking down big trees all around us. One tree fell 20 feet in front of us on the hike out to the car.

After the flume we headed to Frankenstein cliff to go ice cragging. We climbed a few of the classic routes (after getting lost on the drive and wasting half the day).

Myself leading the classic "Dracula" at Frankenstein.

Bridget leading the classic "Standard route" at Frankenstein.

Bridget coming up the second pitch of the "Standard route".

Throughout the entire trip I just wanted to get into the bigger mountains but the weather was terrible- a wet, cold, high humidity, windy kind of terrible. We looked up the weather at Mount Washington everyday and it was consistently 70-80mph sustained winds with a temp hovering around -4 F. When we saw that we had a day where we might be able to get on Cannon cliff and climb the "Black Dike" route before another weather system moved in we jumped at the chance.

Climbing with a bunch of other people on a multi-pitch ice route was a novel experience for me as I tend to stay away from falling ice, however, by hanging out at the base of the route I was able to find a pretty descent ice screw that someone dropped earlier in the season-winning! All in all the other groups on the route were really nice people and we had good conversations at the social-belay hours, and the route was indeed as classic as its reputation.

The beautiful Cannon cliff at Fraconia notch

Looking up the black dike with a few parties already on route.

Bridget looking for dropped gear at the base of the route.

Myself leading the crux middle pitch.

Cannon cliff from the "Black Dike" top out.

Climbing in the east blew me away in respect to the amount of ice climbing there is to do. I saw more ice in one valley than we have in entire mountain ranges in Montana. I feel like I barely climbed any ice on the east coast, and I'm already anticipating another holiday visit 'out East' with ice gear in the bag!

Cheers, Loren

Lately I have been motivated to climb as many ice routes as I possibly can (in between student teaching) with a personal bias towards obscure or unpopular routes. I decided that I'll try and climb all the "recorded" ice routes in the Beartooth Mountains to ensure the quality of obscurity. This last weekend Bridget and I headed to the Stillwater River valley near Nye to climb "Nyes' ice". Nyes' ice is a long (180m, WI2/3) moderate climb that spills over a beautiful cliff band near the Stillwater mine. The climb sits entirely on the property of the mine. The Stillwater mine digs up Paladium and Platinum and is the largest paladium producer in the world (used in electronics). Having the ice climb lie on a mine's property makes for a unique situation. We had to ask for permission to climb the route from the guard station at the enterance to the mine, luckily the route is visable from the guard station so it makes explaining what you want to do/climb much easier. We lucked out and the guard let us climb the route (it turns out that to climb the route on the weekend you must call and ask permission on a business day to get formal permission from the higher ups).

We ended up having goldy-lock conditions. The ice was fat and sticky, there was hardly any snow, the valley was beautiful, there was abundant wildlife, and the climbing was 100% type 1 fun.

The reason I'm talking this route up so much (it's only WI2 for all you radsters) is that it is the best route of the grade I have ever climbed- pure hippy holler glee!

Spot the line?

Where's waldo?

We ended up soloing the first 300' of the route over rambling, fun, ice. Bridget soloing the initial portion of the route.

yee haw pilgrim! the upper pitches of the route.

Bridget leading on the upper pitches

Bridget coming up the final pitch- all smiles.

Nice views from the top

One of the best parts was eating at the greasy spoon of "Carter's camp" (the hotel/post office/eatery/saloon) in Nye. Bridget going big buck hunting.

Cheers, Loren

Spire Climbing Center Grand re-Opening!

We completed the remodel of Spire Climbing Center in Bozeman this fall. We had a grand reopening of the gym complete with a ribbon-cutting from 30 feet in the air! It was great for me to be a part of this remodel project, and it feels good to see the gym in all its glory and people having fun climbing on it!

Here are some pictures I took throughout the summer as we made progress on the gym.

Jeff Ho cutting the ribbon on the Grand Reopening night with a sweet dyno from the roof.

Climbers on the new wall on opening night! (props to the route setters)

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Fall time in the mountains of Montana

Bridget and I tried finding some ice a few weekends ago to climb. We wanted to go rock climbing but the weather had other plans as it snowed around 20 inches. We basicly stumbled over slick, snow covered rock looking for ice. We found a little ice to climb and a loose gully that was around M4 (short section). We ended the weekend by bouldering on the perfect granite boulders in the Rock Creek Drainage.

Truck camping breakfast of champions

The best part was bouldering in the sun with crisp temps.

Bridget sending a John Gill problem near the road

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The Butte Bouldering Bash also occured last weekend. I love going to this low key event (where dogs almost out number the climbers!). This year the event was held at a new sector of boulders (the Trailer Boulders). Rusty Willis and I manned the Sportiva booth and went bouldering throughout the day. The new area is sweet, with high quality problems of all grades.

Good temps

good food and fun crowd

Rusty Willis sending a cobble arete

Keeping warm in the Sportiva booth. Photo by Thomas Kingsbury

Cheers, Loren

With a very limited amount of time to get out climbing due to teaching middle school science as a student teacher (and a very limited wallet) I have been sticking closer to Bozeman this winter. I have also been doing something I have never done before as well; I have given a route more that three days of attempts. I generally dislike projecting routes, it leads to burn out and takes alot of the fun away for me, but this season I have been growing immensely as a climber by projecting a certain route. Northwest passage is a mixed climb that climbs out a roof in Hyalite canyon and has been my nemesis this winter, I've climbed through the crux a few times now only to unexpectedly pop off or pump off. So maybe if you feel like you have hit a plateau in your climbing world, try picking a route that seems really hard to you and give it a bit of effort, you WILL make progress!

Myself pumped to the max at the lip of N.W. passage (M11). Photo By Bridget B.

The bouldering guru Erik Christenson came out mixed climbing with me and made this funny video of me failing on Northwest Passage. We ended up going to Billings (MT) later this same day and competing in the Montana Bouldering Competition at Steep World climbing gym; which lead to us going to Chuck E Cheese with the Bozeman Climbing team... we even got to dance on stage with Mr. Cheese himself...

I also got out with Kyle Vassilopoulos as he worked his monster project in Hyalite canyon (which he just climbed!) he named "The house of flying daggers" M12+. Like always it's badass watching Kyle climb through improbable sequences so well- very, extremly, super, inspiring.

Kyle on the roof of "The house of flying daggers"

Kyle gaining the ice on "The house of flying daggers".

Bridget and I also headed down to Cody, Wyoming for the 15th annual Cody Ice Fest. This is such a low-key event, I really enjoy working the Sportiva booth during the fest and watching new ice climbers emerge. We got out for three days during the event and climbed beautiful ice pillars in the South fork and dry boulders in the North fork of the Shoshone river. Climbing dry and warm rock in February is such a luxury, we couldn't resist climbing the perfect sandstone boulders.

You know you're in Wyoming when...

Rusty Willis working the moves and the gear on the"Carotid Artery" mixed variation. This had some of the loosest and scariest (even on TR) rock I have ever tried climbing. Photo by Bridget B.

Myself leading "My only Valentine". Photo by Bridget B.

Bridget climbing on the "toadstool traverse"

Myself climbing "mini cave center" Photo by Bridget B.

Bridget enjoying the sun

Cheers, Loren

The Windgate Sandstone (Utah) is know for being bullet hard, splitter, and strikingly beautiful. The Eagle Sandstone (Montana) is known for being bullet-hole ridden, loose, and strikingly sandy. But this isn't Utah, it's Montana, and we take what we can get.

The Eagle Sandstone is about 70 million years old and formed as a gigantic barrier island along the shore of a shallow Cretaceous sea that covered most of Montana. The Eagle Sandstone has high angle cross-bedding (sand dunes) and fossil remains from terrestrial and aquatic organisms; geologically it's a pretty cool formation.

The formation is best observed at Billings, Montana. It is seen as the large, white cliffs surrounding the town. These cliffs have been climbed on for years and now have a great guide book filled with boulder problems and classic crack climbs of all grades. The book is called SUPER SAND LAND and should be purchased if you are interested in placing flesh against 30 grit sandpaper in a vertical orientation (recommended).

Bridget and I explored a little visited area with an outcropping of Eagle Sandstone near Lavina, Montana (i.e. Cow town, USA).

cow town

USA

This particular cliff sits on BLM land and has been climbed on prior by a few hardy Billings folks. I am a sucker for obscure places (they are typically more memorable that the popular places) so we headed out to Lavina to see what we could find, and hopefully climb. Here's what we found...

Great view of the Crazy Mountains from the crag

The camping situation was a bit sketchy and lame (we have no idea if we are trespassing on a rancher's pasture and we were worried that we would be woken up at 4:00am at gun point by a rancher feeding his/her cattle... and there are no trees).

Bridget heading up one of the best cracks we climbed.

The view from the top (i.e. what 99% of Montana actually looks like).

Bridget on "Cozy Cafe"

We did find this great crack that we are sure no one had climbed before (it took alot of cleaning of big blocks). It has a tough crux at the ground (V5) into a 5.11 finger crack- sweet route! Notice the bullet holes... The redneck marksman had great accuracy and precision.

We named this route "Cozy Cafe" 5.12, in reference to the Cozy Corner Bar in Lavina where we had dinner. The Cozy Corner bar had some "special" locals who were quite colorful, and creepy...

The bullet holes are on and are required foot beta.

Bridget on the steep "Cozy Cafe" 5.12

We also found this stellar corner that may be a new route (we cleaned a key hold at the crux that was very obvious no one had ever touched (super loose) - and would have been forced to if they would have been on the route. We named this route "Trailer Park Fire" 5.11+

Bridget on "Trailer Park Fire"

Myself on the lie-back special of "Trailer Park Fire". Top rope hero.

good times

Cheers, Loren

"Safety is no accident" photo and saying by Henry Scholtzhauer

Last summer I had the opportunity to help remodel Spire Climbing Center in Bozeman, MT. It was a dream job for me (what serious climber doesn't want to build an awesome climbing wall and get paid for it?).

We had a camera taking pictures every few minutes while we did the remodel of the gym and a video of the remodel was made. Click the link below to watch the video:

SPIRE CLIMBING CENTER REMODEL VIDEO

Henry hard at work during the wall remodel

Indiglo, our summer mascot, photo by Henry Scholzhauer

Cheers, Loren

The towers of the virgin

Finally (and not a day to soon), I got a whole week off from school and teaching to head to the desert of Utah in an effort to create some vitamin-d, climb sandy rock, and stare awe-struck at the looming walls that are characteristic of Zion National Park. Bridget and I started our drive from Bozeman, MT, and spent the night visiting friends in SLC. It was a fun night exploring the city and hanging with the Volkenings.

We entered Zion National Park during the busiest ever recorded time in its history. But somehow the cliffs and walls were empty of climbers. The buses, however, were packed to the max with tourists who asked us questions about our strange climbing gear and on why we were covered in sand and blood (most were polite enough that they didn't recoil at our stench and we didn't recoil at their cameras).

Montana wildlife near West Yellowstone

Finally in the sunny and sandy land of Zion

We started the trip by climbing the fun "right toilet crack" at the temple of sinawava. It was a butt kicker for "only" being 5.10-, but it was fun and we had the route all to our selves.

Bridget following on the first pitch of "right toilet cracks".

Bridget on the second pitch of "right toilet cracks".

Bridget on the 4th pitch of "right toilet cracks"

myself striking my best warrior pose on the top of "right toilet crack"

Bridget becoming one with the universe

We then climbed "lead by sheep" on Aries butte during a day when it was predicted to rain (which it didn't). What a strange yet satisfying route. Run out 5.7 climbing on petrified sand dunes brings one to the summit of this feature with great views all around.

Bridget approaching Aries Butte

pictographs

Bridget on the first pitch of "lead by sheep"- Aries butte

Bridget climbing on "lead by sheep"

View from near the summit of Aries butte

Bridget bouldering

After "lead by sheep" we geared up for 'Space shot" on the leaning wall. We planned on spending a night on the wall and got an early start. Once we reached the fourth pitch we were in the full sun and baking under the heat. I managed to lead the C2 pitch in two hours. I am not an aid climber and this was the hardest thing I had ever lead on clean aid; it kinda fried me out with the mental weirdness and the intense sun beating down on us. I decided that I didn't want to lead the next pitch (also C2), so we bailed and were back in Springdale by supper. It was a learning experience for me for sure, I need to get my wall climbing techniques down better.

Space shot ascends just to the left of the great arch in the background. (photo by Kevin Volkening taken from the base of moonlight buttress).

psyched!

Bridget leads the second pitch of Space shot

Bridget being cognizant of the buses below

Merica' - myself rigging our "cheater stick" with some pride.

Myself on the first C2 lead (pitch 4) of space shot

This is about when I decided that aid climbing may not be my thing.

Even when we bail on a route Bridget keeps on smiling

Bailing from space shot

A scorpion that was under our tent

We spent the next day climbing the best route of the trip- "headache" near the tunnel. Three great 5.10 crack pitches brought us to the top with poop-eating grins on our faces.

Bridget on the first pitch of "Headache"

Myself on the second pitch of "Headache"

Myself on the third pitch of "Headache"- tight-tight hands.

Mt. Kinesava from our camp site

Unfortunately our camera batteries died with a few days left on the end of the trip. We did some really good climbing sans photos. We got on "Iron Messiah" A pretty cool route. The first pitch was the best by farrrrrr- but don't blow the first three clips. We also headed to St George where we finally were able to take a shower and camp with a flush toilet in the beautiful Snow Canyon State Park. We climbed the ultra-classic "Living on the edge" a great 4 pitch (5.10) sport route (except for the last 5.9 pitch) that climbs right on the edge of a small arch and then takes a plumb line to the top of the formation. On the descent Bridget and I ran smack dab into a Gila monster that was as large as my forearm!

I had a lot of fun on this trip and I can't wait to head back this coming fall with a rack full of offset gear!

Cheers, Loren

Yesterday I found these topos I drew from a Beartooth climbing trip from many years ago. For some reason I brought a really deep book to read on this trip (The fabric of the cosmos: Space, time, and the texture of reality) which describes everything physics, and I drew the topos in the blank back pages while sitting around camp. I hadn't picked this book up for years (and I still haven't read the whole thing) but I started laughing when I flipped the book open to this page. kinda cool to rediscover.

Cheers, Loren

I just graduated from MSU-Bozeman with a teaching degree, got a job teaching 7-12 science, and then spent the last week at my parents farm near Billings, house sitting. While at my parents farm I went exploring in the Bull Mountains of Montana (Just north of Billings).

Farm life

I bought a few BLM maps and located some public lands that may potentially contain some climbing, but as far we know there have been no climbing routes recorded in the Bull Mountains; thus the rock could be terrible. What I found on my solo drive out to the 'Bulls prompted me to call (the) Olin (ator) and go exploring with ropes and cams the next day. We went to an area called steamboat butte and it was much bettter than expected, actually it was great!

Olin with the Butte in sight

On the first scouting trip we explored the entire butte, found a few rattlesnakes, stumbled on a historic site with knappings and petroglyphs, and climbed two beautiful splitter cracks.

This butte, we agreed, was a very special area, thus we were determined to have as little impact as possible while climbing. We determined the ethics of the butte to have two factors;

1.) no fixed anchors/gear

2.) do not disturb the historical markings and artifacts in the pursuit of climbing the splitter choss

It was obvious that the butte had been visited/abused by many others in the past (the cliff was bullet hole ridden and people had carved their names in the sandstone near the summit), all I'm saying is that we as climbers are better than this, so lets just go climbin'.

The next day we convinced a crew of fun Billings climbers to join us in picking the plumbs of the area, here's what we found:

The crew: Bridget, Echo, Olin, Chad, and James.

Myself on the first ascent of "Baahpuuo crack" Which transulates from the Crow language as: they (who) shoot the rock.

Olin beneath "Baahpuuo crack", which takes a plumb line to the summit of the butte

James Melnyk climbing the beautiful "Friendship crack"

Chad Chadwick climbing "friendship crack"

Echo Oaks on Olin's awesome climb "House Cleaning"

Olin rapping on a gear anchor onto the short crack named "Masters of the Universe"

Myself on the first ascent of "Bull Mountain Jam"

Chad on "Bull Mountain Jam"

Bridget on top of the summit block over the zig-zagging crack she climbed. The butte is set up in two tiers, so to get to the top you need to climb two pitches (or do the scramble on the backside of the butte).

We also climbed the brilliant leaning tower of pitons (aka the pinnacle) in Billings, Montana. If you want a desert tower experience within city limits, this tower should not be missed!

It's a bit run out until one reaches the crack.

parting shot

Cheers, Loren

Ti'Swaq' (Mount Rainier)

Ti'Swaq' (the sky, sky wiper, it touches the sky) is the composit native name for the highest peak in Washington, aka Mount Rainier. It is a giant mountain that honestly dominates the skyline and forms a great dichotomy of ocean and altitude.

Bridget and I made our way to Washington to give this behemoth of a peak an attempt at spitting us off it's slopes, and it did, with great success.

We arrived right when the great high pressure system was collapsing and a prolonged unsettled weather system was approaching. Once we checked out the weather we abandoned our plans at climbing the liberty ridge and set our sights on the standard route (disappointment cleaver). We skinned up to camp Muir under perfect weather...

Bridget skinning up

View from camp Muir

During the night the predicted weather system moved in and we awoke to a world of white. This weather system lasted for two weeks and no party summited during this time; Ti'Swaq' was boss.

We gave the peak a half-hearted attempt by climbing just below the cleaver on Ingraham flats, but I was psyched out by the roar of unseen avalanches ripping on the flanks of the peak, so we bailed. Bridget and I skied the 5,000' ski descent from camp Muir to the paradise parking lot in a complete snowstorm, following faint tracks and buried wands in a whiteout. It was still a sweet experience.

Above the clouds for a moment- pretty cool

Soaking the view in

Tent time!

which way is up?

slug

We ended up heading to the Pacific Ocean to view the ocean life. It was sweet!! I am always amazed by intertidal life, I just don't get it. All the animals live on top of each other, eat each other, get along, and have bodies that are arranged in such a way that I can't figure out where their heads are.

sea otter

We even ran into the elusive Erik and his crab

A video on my sweet new knife I found on the Cowlitz glacier

On a serious note though: Bridget will be spending the summer guiding climbers on Mount Rainier. If you want a badass (yet kind and gentle) guide ask for Bridget who is working with RMI (Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.)!

Cheers, Loren

Beehive peak's south face In the beautiful Lee Metcalf wilderness.

The hanging garden is a "hanging" snow couloir that dissects Beehive Peak's north face. It was first climbed in July, 1967 (back when men were men) and has recently become a high-end ski descent in winter. With nothing better to do with my day I decided to solo the route in late season conditions, hopefully find some ice to climb, and see the north face of Beehive Peak. Beehive peak may be the "best" alpine peak in the greater Bozeman area (aside from the peaks lining Paradise valley) it definitely is my favorite peak in the region. The hike in is short, the peak has no walk up route, there is snow, ice, rock, and ski descents. It embodies all the aspects of a fun alpine peak- it actually reminds me of a tiny Grand Teton, and you can get your alpine fix and be back in town for lunch.

The hanging garden runs left to right in this photo and ends on the flat shoulder of the west ridge. Photo obtained from:

http://www.outsidebozeman.com/activities/climbing/mountaineering/beehive-peak

The climb was really fun- lots of no fall terrain- but really moderate climbing. I started by climbing the east couloir to the col, then descended down towards beehive lake. I found the bottom of the hanging garden and had perfect frozen neve and some water ice to climb. I topped the couloir out then tagged the summit and descended the west ridge and the 4th of July couloir. The best part of the climb was that it allowed me to circumnavigate the peak, climb thousands of feet of ice/neve by enchaining multiple couloirs, and get back to Bozeman before 3:00pm.

Looking up the foreshortened east couloir

Perfect neve in the east couloir

Good views

down climbing neve on the north side

yea- in the hanging garden

Looking down the hanging garden

Cheers, Loren

Bouldering in the 'Pine from Loren Rausch on Vimeo.

Folks on the summit of 'Sac.

Sacajawea peak is the highest peak in the Bridger mountains just east of Bozeman. The peak is named after the Native American interpreter that aided the Lewis and Clark expedition. From Fairy lake it's a chill 2 mile hike to the summit but the views and geology make it seem like you are deep in the backcountry. A few years ago I onsight soloed this 800' arete that bypasses the switchbacks leading up to the saddle; it was an adventure as I didn't know if it would "go" within my comfort level. It goes on mainly solid rock and is much more fun than winding up the switchbacks on the trail. There is one switchback that heads far right when you're ascending the trail. At the switchback a rock buttress comes down and nearly touches the trail, this is the arete. It starts in the dark purple chimney (on a bedding plane) and climbs this corner (5.4). The next portion is the technical crux. A short (15') gendarme guards the steller arete above. Climb this steep face (it is overhanging for a few moves) on less than stellar rock at 5.5/5.6. It is short though. After this have fun on the long knife edge arete that climbs up on solid rock for about 600'. The climbing on this arete is exposed and awesome! It is easy 5th class to where the arete ends, from here hike to the left and gain the saddle where the trail tops out at the big carin. This weekend I headed back up to the arete for a multisport conditioner day. The arete is still an adventure. Buyer beware, it is a freesolo on loose rock in the mountains (I wouldn't recommend it for everyone). I think the Bridger Mountains may have a wealth of fun low 5th class aretes like this for those who like long, loose, limestone ridges, and adventure- if there are any other idiots like me out there.

The arete

The first section right off the trail

The steller upper section of the arete

On the west slope of the pass look for these long colums. These are actually Stromatolites- fossil evidence of blue-green algae and cyannobacteria from ~350 million years ago!!!

The goats are nice and friendly on Sacajawea Peak

Cheers, Loren

Hyalite Canyon, Bozeman, MT, is geologically composed mainly of the Absaroka supergroup. A massive series of volcanic explosions and the ensuing mud flows (much like the Mount Saint Helen's explosion-but on crack) created the unique stratigraphy seen today. This rock creates world class ice climbing but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of rock climbing.

Nate Opp and Aaron Thrasher put this route up a few years back on the spire of rock that sits adjacent to the classic Hyalite Canyon ice route named "Cleopatra's needle". Those guys are rad climbers so I expected this route to be bold and, well, loose. I talked Scott "sandbaggin" Salzer into climbing this three pitch route with me and he agreed. The route is said to be 5.10d and all one needs are draws for bolts- I have climbed in Hyalite canyon long enough to know that I should bring a couple of #3 peckers and a hammer along just in case.

I'm not going to lie, this is kind of a messed up route. Messed up in terms of what one is climbing on; overhanging kitty litter sprinkled with tennis balls half sticking out of the poo. On a route like this the experience is what dictates quality- not the rock- thus, this route is the definition of quality.

What the route is made of

We found the route and I headed up the rock-like-material. I have never been on the Hyalite choss when it wasn't winter and everything is frozen together. In the summer the Hyalite rock takes on a whole new level of funkyness. It's not bad once you wrap your head around the experience, but the first pitch was a bit rough. I ended up placing two crap peckers in the first 25 feet on my way to the first bolt... After that the bolts appeared on a regular basis and the route was protected well (there are quite a few moderate runouts on every pitch though).

Myself placing a second pecker on my way up to the first bolt

After the first pitch was over it started raining for about 20 minutes. The second pitch belay has a cozy cave to keep dry in. While we were waiting out the storm a humming bird kept buzzing up to us and hovering a few feet away from us the entire time it rained.

The humming bird- I'm not sure on the species- my best guess is female calliope or blue-throated hummingbird which isn't supposed to be in Montana.

Scott psyched on the top of the first pitch waiting out the rain

The second pitch (5.8) was awesome, by far the best climbing on the route! The last pitch was exposed and required a long runner on every bolt to reduce the rope drag (something I failed to do). The last pitch does have a huge detached flake that the climber has to stand on- if it went it would be no good for anyone.

Scott on the second pitch

The final pitch

A canyon with a rich history

Myself doing the robot wave with twin falls pouring in the background

The last rappel is rather overhanging

The route is very cool and a bit bold for being bolt protected. Props to the first ascentionists, this route is in a class of it's own in relation to Bozeman climbing, super unique. This route parallels it's neighboring ice climbs as being not quite solid. This is the only rock route I have ever climbed that felt ephemeral. Like the humming bird on the breeze, this route may cease to exist tomorrow and may fall into the fir trees below- or it may remain standing for centuries to come. Thus is the nature of Hyalite rock.

Cheers, Loren