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    Mt. Thielsen East Face

    thielsen1.JPG

    By Tyler Adams

    Mt. Thielsen was Steve Elder's idea. Steve is a 56 year old kiwi who has been living in Oregon the past 25 years. He is the definition of hard core, as I think kiwis tend to be, think first ascent of Mt Everest. So with that said, Steve is the one that made this route possible, I was just along for the ride. Steve and I are lucky as we have a secret weapon for climbing; we own a small airplane together so we can easily check on conditions saving us some long hikes. After three years of looking at the east face and never really seeing what we wanted to, we did a couple fly-by's in the past few weeks, and finally found the route to appear to be “in”. With some high pressure in place we drove down from Corvallis and tried to catch a couple hours sleep in my camper before starting the hike at about 1:30am.

    We hiked for an hour on stable snow, and then pulled out the snowshoes for the rest of the hike to the SW ridge. We ditched the snow shoes and traversed the west face, and north face, and found ourselves on the NE saddle just as the sun was coming up. Another traverse halfway across the east face brought us to the base of the route at around 8:00 am, and shortly thereafter Steve was off on the 200’ rock pitch that leads to the base of the “ice”. Luckily the rock was solid and Steve was able to get in a good belay and bring me up. By this time the sun was baking the face, and the constant stream of ice pellets started raining down the route, with each pitch only getting warmer and warmer.  A 200’ pitch on the ice with decent sticks ended below the first vertical/overhanging section of ice, which by that time was basically a waterfall, so we dispatched another 150’ pitch to the base of the crux. At this point I was soaking wet, but thankfully there was zero wind and enough sun to let me dry out a little bit. With the route rapidly melting Steve fired the crux and got 100’ before getting a solid cm and an O.K. slung block giving enough protection to feel somewhat comfortable on the final 70’ of overhanging rotten ice.

    I've climbed with a lot of great climbers and have seen some impressive leads, but nothing compares to what Steve did battle with on this pitch. He stayed calm, cool, collected and was pulling over the final bulge before I could even make sense of how hardcore this really was. As I followed the pitch getting pumped silly, trying to get some rests while the pitch basically disintegrated below me, I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams ever leading a pitch like this. Steve had done the nearly impossible. He somehow found the most solid belay of the route, and soon enough I was on easy terrain staring up at the two final rock steps of the route. We regrouped for a second, but had to get moving as now it was really getting warm. Above the two rock steps moderate snow led to the top of the route about 200’ below the summit. Unfortunately for me while I was up in front 300’ below the top, the only major rock fall of the day occurred on the route. I heard Steve yell from below but it was too late, I took a nice loaf of bread sized rock to my knee. I ran for cover and managed to find the first spot on the route where I could actually lay down. Somehow the rock didn't do too much damage and after a little rest below the safe overhang, we were ascending the final 300’ to the top. It was about 3:30 pm by the time we took our harnesses off, and began to descend the south face back to our snow shoes, the descent with crampons was pretty painful, I wound up sliding on my ass for about half the descent, but once I got my snowshoes on and could stay on my toes more, the going got a little easier, an within two hours we were back at the truck. Finally safe and sound I could strip off my wet clothing and get comfortable. We reveled in our stoke for a little bit, and then tried to drive home, only making it about an hour before decided we really needed to sleep. 

    Just as we got back into Corvallis the following morning, I got the news my friend Sean Leary had been killed in a B.A.S.E. accident in Zion. This was a blow to the stoke, but I soon realized Sean was with us that day. The last time I saw him in the Fall we had tried to fly by the East Face of Thielsen together so he could see if it might be worthy of a B.A.S.E. jump. Sean never got to see the East Face that day as the clouds closed in on us. While Steve and I were on the Thielsen, there was something in the air that kept us going, it felt different than any other climb I had been on. I believe that this was Sean that was with us and kept us going, and that he finally got to look at the east face from above. With that I’d like to dedicate our route to Sean Leary, may his stoke and spirit motivate generations of climbers to come. I’d also like to thank Steve for the adventure of a lifetime. 

    Sean Leary - September 2013

    Sean Leary - September 2013

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    Northwest Adventuring #1- Wallowa Alpine Huts

    Endless terrain

    Endless terrain

    I'm a little loath to write about the Wallowa Mountains and Wallowa Alpine Huts, because it can already be difficult to get reservations to one of the huts that operate in various parts of the range. But I'm going to anyway because it's a backcountry skier's dream that everyone into such activities should experience at least once. 

    The Wallowas are a hidden gem in Northeastern Oregon, located outside the bustling metropolis of Joseph, Oregon. The Wallowas are a long way from anything, the closest major airport being Boise (four hours), and it's a long six hour drive from Portland. The range is far enough east that the snowpack is more comparable to intercontinental snow than the maritime snow we get in the Cascades. The terrain is incredible and expansive offering everything from big alpine couloirs to beautiful ghost glades. A large percentage of that terrain exists in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Save for the tiny community ski hill Ferguson Ridge, there is no resort skiing.

    The Wallowas are a destination not to be missed by the discerning backcountry skier. Get your reservations now for next season, they fill up fast!

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    Summer Sausage

    Tyler Adams reports from the field. While everyone in Oregon is out there just clipping bolts and climbing basalt splitters, most don't know that Oregon is home to hundreds of rock spires. Think of it as the Utah desert but covered in trees, and then instead of sandstone spires, in Oregon it's volcanic choss with quality ranging from the most decrepit looking spires, to some awesome bullet hard stone.

    With Summer finally here, it's prime time for tagging rock spires in the Oregon Cascades. One of my favorites is Horse Cock Rock or HCR named so due to it's phallic nature. Don't let the name deter you because the summit of this one is hard to beat, it's right up there with other classic Oregon spires such as the Turkey Monster or Steins Pillar. Located just a little bit east of Sweet Home HCR has only one route to the summit, almost all on bolts, so it makes for a relatively stress free day in the hills. First attempted by Bob Eckstrand and Steve Knutson back in 1967. After climbing the first free pitch and reaching the blank upper section they retreated. Pete Pollard and Darryl Gotwald returned in April of 1980 to make the first ascent. My hero Jim Anglin and Mike Hartley made the second ascent later that year. When Brian Gilbert and I climbed it in 2008 with a tiny bit of beta from Jim Anglin, we found no evidence of a recent ascent except for some new bolts on the 1st pitch and a bail sling. There was no visable summit anchor, so we drilled a new two bolt anchor wich makes it easy to make one rappel with two ropes that puts you right back at your packs. Originally climbed in three pitches it makes more sense to do it in only two pitches, and avoid an uncomfortable hanging belay. I returned last week with Kiwi hardman Steve Elder to fix up a couple bolts, and made this beauty good to go for another hundred years. I wound up talking to Pete Pollard eventually, and he recalls the summit tree having a little bit more life in it when they did it. They rappeled off of the tree and to the top of their second pitch and then to the ground. Pete had absolutly no objections to our added rappel bolts. So don't miss this classic Oregon summit! HCR - Soft Space - 5.8 A2 FA: Pete Pollard & Darryl Gotwauld, April 1980 Pitch 1 (5.8): From the uphill saddle climb up the obvious wide crack system using some bolts and larger sized cams for protection. Some bolts were added to this pitch, most likely by the "Lebanon Bolt Cowboy". Natural protection is available so it's possible they may be removed at somepoint. The crux is located just below the belay ledge. Mind some loose blocks on the pitch. Pitch 2 (5.7 A2): Begin with two bolts off of the belay to a short nailing crux, using RURPs or knifeblade's. Continue past more bolts and a couple of rivets, with a hook move or two. When the bolts end, nail a couple more pins or just start free climbing to a trough to the right. Climb past a hangerless 1/4" bolt and continue to the flat and spacious summit with a single bolt and tree anchor. The free climbing is quite runout, but the rock is super solid. Rappel with two ropes from two bolts on the uphill side of the spire. Protection: A couple of cams to 4", a small selection on thin pitons from RUPS to Lost Arrow, a medium sized hook and some wire rivet hangers.

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