Contributed Comments |
| |
|---|
Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : Higher Cathedral Rock : Braille Book (5.8)
By: mark felber When: May 13, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: Regarding the location of the climb, the best place to park is NOT on South Side Drive in front of Middle Cathedral Rock. There are quite a few climber's trails here, most of them leading to various routes on Middle Cathedral Rock. Park on El Capitan Drive, the cross over from North Side Drive to South Side Drive. Walk down to the 3 way intersection of El Capitan Drive and South Side Drive, and there's a very obvious climber's trail at the west end of the intersection. This leads to what is prob... more >>
|
Location: CA : High Sierra : Lone Pine Peak : North Ridge (5.4)
By: mark felber When: May 3, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: I followed cairns and a faint user trail down to the SW gully from the true summit, no route finding issues. If you start straight down after finishing the 5th class stuff then things might be different.
|
Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : Redgarden Wall : Redgarden - S Buttress : The Bulge (5.7 R)
By: mark felber When: Mar 7, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: Pitches 1 & 2 go together very nicely with a 60m rope, and one can see the belayer on the ground from the top of pitch 2.
The direct finish is excellent, but it felt more like 5.8 than 5.9 to me.
My 4 star rating is for the direct finish, the original finish doesn't look quite as good.
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Glacier Gorge : Shelf Cirque : Shelf Cirque Traverse (Easy 5th)
By: mark felber When: Aug 23, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: The rangers would prefer that you bivy in the Solitude Lake bivy area, not at Solitude Lake itself. The folks in the backcountry office were a little upset when they read the route description.
The Solitude Lake area is a great place to bivy, but I'm not sure how much you save by doing so. The trail up Shelf Creek has a good number of downed trees on it, and dragging bivy gear through that stretch is a bummer. Once the Bear Lake road construction is finished and the road closures stop, leaving ... more >>
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Glacier Gorge : Shelf Cirque
By: mark felber When: Aug 23, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: No sign for the trail up to Shelf Lake, but the trail is pretty obvious. There are quite a few downed trees on the trail once you start uphill. Since this is a user trail and not a trail maintained by NPS, I would expect the down trees to be a fact of life for a while.
|
Location: WY : Wind River Range : Cirque of the Towers : Wolfs Head : East Ridge (5.6)
By: mark felber When: Sep 7, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: I'm going to put in a vote for the Tiger Tower approach, especially if the grassy ledges are wet. Instead of the wide ugly chimney right at the corner where Pingora meets Tiger Tower, step climber's left to the not so wide chimney on the face of Tiger Tower. One loose stretch but otherwise very pleasant climbing up to about 5th class to get to the summit of Tiger Tower.
|
Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : Higher Cathedral Rock : Braille Book (5.8)
By: mark felber When: Jul 14, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: This climb gets my vote for the best 5.8 around. I did it for the first time in 1982, did it many times after that. The hike to the summit of Higher Cathedral Rock is well worth doing, the view of El Cap is spectacular. I've sometimes lowered down a bight of rope and hauled the pack up the OW section, then left it clipped to some gear while I finished the pitch, just to save the second having to carry the pack up that stretch.
|
Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : The Outback : Steve Canyon Area : Steve Canyon : ... : Deflowered (5.7)
By: mark felber When: Apr 8, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: Definitely not 5.6, solid 5.7 and getting good pro can be a little tricky.
|
Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Split Rocks : Isles in the Sky : Dolphin (5.7)
By: mark felber When: Apr 8, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: An excellent climb and a great place to learn OW technique. Walking the last cam (#5 Camelot) up as you go makes the last bit very safe. I only lost a little skin around my ankle, which is pretty good for a J-Tree offwidth.
|
Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Split Rocks : Isles in the Sky
By: mark felber When: Apr 8, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: We couldn't find a rap off the Bird of Fire ledge, so we continued on the approach to Isles Corridor, went through the Corridor and out the other side and down to the trail. Very adventurous boulder hopping and tuneling.
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : Indian Peaks : Devil's Thumb : Devil's Spiral (5.4)
By: mark felber When: Aug 25, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Great location, so-so route except for the last move or two.
The rap anchor was looking pretty scrappy, I chopped out the two worst slings and put in a new one.
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Long's Peak : Upper East Face : The Beaver (5.5)
By: mark felber When: Jul 27, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Excellent scramble, the down climb into the Notch is very entertaining. Gorrell's Traverse is especially good, so don't miss out on it by rappelling.
|
Location: WY : Wind River Range
By: mark felber When: Jul 28, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: I just got back from the Winds, the mosquitoes were not quite up to Alaskan standards but definitely a force to reckon with. I treated my clothes with www.rei.com/product/751264 , used copious quantities of 100% DEET and kept the bites to a minimum. The mosquito population drops off dramatically after you get past 10,000' or so and get deeper into the range.
Trails End Campground (outside Pinedale, for folks heading up to Titcomb Basin) has running water and charges $12/night, Big Sandy ... more >>
|
Location: WY : Wind River Range : Cirque of the Towers
By: mark felber When: Jul 28, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: For Kurt Montgomery, I got back from the Winds today, an ice axe no longer looks necessary for Wolf's Head (I was on Pingora). That part of Wyoming had an impressive heat wave last week that reduced the snow pack to an insignificant level.
For all, there is a new (2008) guide book to the Cirque of the Towers and Deep Lake by Steve Bechtel: www.firstascentpress.com/cirque-guide.html . Very detailed and well written.
The Big Sandy/Cirque of the Towers area seems to have been discovered by... more >>
|
Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : Shirt Tail Peak : Gambit (5.8)
By: mark felber When: Jun 24, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: An excellent climb. P2 and P3 go together quite nicely, although I did give myself a bit of rope drag by not using a long enough sling just below the pigeon shelf. I must say, a little rope drag was a small price to pay for not having to smell all the pigeon droppings while belaying on that stance.
|
Location: CO : Black Diamond Robbed Overni...
By: mark felber When: Jun 15, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Why would the manager fire you? He probably wanted you there in case the Samoans came back!
|
Location: CO : Golden : Clear Creek Canyon : The Canal Zone : Made In The Shade (5.9-)
By: mark felber When: Aug 27, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Very well bolted, a very good climb for a new leader.
Lowering my partner, I reached the (knotted) end of the rope when her feet were just above my head and I had to climb up a ways so her feet could touch the ground and she could unweight the rope and untie. Being quite a bit heavier, I got to the ground on rope stretch.
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : Blanca Peak : Little Bear-Blanca Traverse (5.0)
By: mark felber When: Jul 19, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: I did this 5 years ago and came back for a repeat a few days ago (7/16-7/17). Bivying at Blue Lakes and going up the NW face lets you avoid a lot of the crowds at Lake Como and rockfall that I've heard about on the West Ridge. There are existing bivy sites at and around Blue Lakes, so no need to trample the vegetation, just use an existing site.
The Lake Como road seems to be losing its appeal to the 4WD crowd, more people were parking passenger cars at the bottom trailhead and walking the len... more >>
|
Location: CO : Colorado Springs : Red Rock Canyon Open Space
By: mark felber When: Nov 8, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: Soft rock and soft ratings, but you can still have a good time here. This would be a good place to take a beginner, a good place for someone's first lead, and a great place to take a small child climbing. Good place to focus on your footwork, too.
|
Location: CO : South Platte : Pine Area : Squat Rock
By: mark felber When: Aug 17, 2006 | view comment >> |
Comments: Went there today, there are "no trespassing" signs everywhere that state that Squat Rock and Sphinx Rock are off limits. The signs specifically prohibit climbing and hiking. I was told by a local that the owners are concerned about liability issues. Time to get caught up on my Access Fund dues.
|
Location: CO : Alpine Rock : Capitol Peak : Northeast Ridge (Knife-Edge...
By: mark felber When: Jul 30, 2005 | view comment >> |
Comments: I stayed fairly high after reaching the Capitol-Daly saddle, staying on the ridgeline itself and dropping down below the cliff band would have been a better option. Using the summit of K2 as George Bell and others suggest is also a good option, worked well for me.
This is an excellent one day outing from the Capitol Creek trailhead, physically challenging but no real route finding issues or technical difficulties. Staying high along the entire summit ridge from the Capitol-Daly saddle to the su... more >>
|
RSS Feed
