• The Dog Ate My Topo 5.7, Chen Liang led, Yinan and me followed. Very nice bolted friction slab.
• The Scene is clean 5.8, I led, Chen Liang and Yinan followed. A very delicate friction, very much sustained 5.8 though some guide books rate it 5.9.
• Loaves of Fun 5.8, I led, Chen Liang and Yinan followed. It was a bit tricky to locate this route. The description in Weekend Rock Washington is not quite accurate. Its base is not exactly at the big boulder but rather 15 feet left of it. The rappel is also not quite 200 feet unless you are willing to jump the last 4 or 5 feet.

Yinan and I drove to Mt Erie on a sunny weekend and spent the day climbing at Summit Wall. All routes can be TRed and it was quite fun.

Day 1. Misc routes at Brogan Spire complex. We began with Cave Route. The guide book by Alan Watts is quite out-dated. The first pitch is now bolted. There are at least 2-3 boltes routes to the left as well. I lead an overhand left to the standard route to the bench on the top of the first pitch. Second pitch begins by passing through the big cave and then up the gully. By the time we got to the base of the third pitch, the clouds are rolling in and I decided to bail. We rapped down to the bench and it was shining again.

We then climbed a route on the south slab to the top of Opossum. It’s a two bolted mid class 5 pitches, not in the book. From the top of Opposum, we traversed to The Tail and rapped down the the saddle between The Tail and Brogon Spire, which is the base of the 3rd pitch of Cave Route. We redid that pitch to finish Cave Route. It is pretty much a solo with some reasonable exposure.

We then TRed a couple overhang routes from the base to finish off the first day.

Day 2. We started by doing Sky Chimney. The first pitch begins with a somewhat awkward chimney followed by a steep face. The whole pitch is bolted. I led the second pitch which is a short and fun lie back pitch. On the top is a “belay hole” as describe in the guide book. It’s quite awkward to set a belay anchor and find a comfortable belay position. I wish there were bolts here. The third pitch begins with a very exposed step out of the hole and climbing up the crack. The lie back is a bit longer and more consistent than the 2nd pitch. Once you are on a ledge with scree, step to the left looking for webbings around a chockstone. Climb up the chimney right to the chock stone to finish the pitch. Walk to the top to find a bolted rap station. Do a double rope free hang rappel to get to the top of first pitch. Another single rope rappel brings you to the base.

After lunch and some rest, we split the party. Yinan and I headed over to Red Wall to climb Super Slab. We arrived around 4pm which is a perfect time for this route. The east facing slab is now in shade. There is a pair in front of us at the base of the 3rd pitch when we started. The first pitch is more tiring than I remembered, it didn’t quite flow. The second pitch is a mental challenge as usual. When we are at the base of the 3rd pitch, the pair in front of us are already at the top. They are nice enough to wait up for us before rappeling though. The 3rd pitch is very smooth and effortless. I waited for the other party to rap off before bringing in Yinan. Two rappels bring us to the base at 7pm. I have confirmed that the second rappel could be done with a 60 meter rope provided it’s evenly placed.

Day 3. Misc routes at Student Wall. Spring Break, Flunked Out, Cram Session, and Fist Fight. All are very stiff for their grades.

On June 27 - 29, Tian and I climbed Mt Jefferson via Jeff Park Glacier route. This is the hardest climb we have done so far and a very memorable one. Here is a brief account of the climb. Mount Jefferson is the second highest mountain in Oregon. However it can be rarely seen from Willamette Valley and it has mostly kept its anonymity even to avid climbers. We were not able to find many trip reports. It is a quite remote mountain. There is no road to its base. Its mysteriousness however doesn’t conceal any bit of its beauty.

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On 7/3 and 7/4 of 2009, a team of 5 of us climbed Mt Rainier via Emmons Glacier Route, 3 of whom haven’t climbed Rainier before. It’s quite a nice experience for each of us. Here is a brief account of the climb.

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This is almost an epic climb. We have experienced almost all four seasons in 15 hours.

We started from the trailhead at about 5:15. The trail disappears in snow after about 1000 vertical feet. We arrived Long Pass before 8 and cut across to the base of E Ridge. We found a boulder where we dropped our packs and continued scrambling on rock and snow to the base of the first pitch. Time was about 10. By 11 we were on the top of first pitch. We can see clouds from northeast of Stuart. They don’t seem to be moving fast so we pressed on.

All 6 of us topped out at around  3 and began rappeling the south ridge. We did a double rope rap from the top. The clouds were moving in but we still had time to get to the base. However, Murphy’s Law applied at this worst time. Our rope got stuck on the top! We put a couple of people’s weight on it and still can’t get it move. Now it started drizzling. We decided that the only way to get the damn thing down is to climb it. Liang and I quickly put on our rock shoes and took out our rack. Doug flaked the rope while we were doing all this. Liang led out the first pitch placing only 3 pieces. The rock was now totally wet and it was hailing and the wind was blowing. Thunder and lightening were hitting around us.

I followed the first pitch and led the second pitch placing another 3 pieces. The rope was stuck on a very small edge. I literally shook it with two fingers and freed the rope. I was surprised a little by myself how calm I was leading the second pitch. I even took a note what gear is needed for the route for future reference (for anyone who is interested, it’s a Metolius #6 cam and a set of nuts). I then rapped back down to where Liang was and we did another double rope rap (this pitch is longer than 30 metres and we needed to do a double rope rap) down. Now everyone was soaked and cold. We did another two raps down and started to traverse to where we dropped the pack.

Shit always happens twice. The last rap station is behind a big rock so the rope is running on the surface of the rock, plus the rope is now wet and heavy. It got caught again! Now everyone has left for their packs, it was just Steve and me. I didn’t hesitate for a second and climbed up while prusiked on both strands of the rope. I freed the roped and downclimbed it (it’s mostly a class 4 scramble, maybe a couple low class 5 moves). Finally we were back to where we dropped the packs. 40 minutes later, we were back to Long Pass. Time was about 6:30. Although still cold and wet, but we knew we got through all this.

The hike out thankfully was smooth. We were back to trailhead at 8pm. Everyone was tired. It was a tough climb. However, I think I have learned more than what an uneventful climb could offer.

After getting soaked on Ingalls on Saturday, we decided to do some cragging at Vantage on Sunday. We went to Feathers area again, explored a couple new routes in addition to the old ones.

• Shin Smasher 5.9
• Uprising 5.8. This is really a fun one despite the first bolt being too high. The crux is the traverse on the small ledge to the right. It really fits my style.

I climbed this route again with Tom Nims, but as a rope lead this time. I was signing up assuming we were climbing Adams. But I wouldn’t mind climbing Baker again since it’s such a nice and pleasant climb. It was a fun and uneventful climb. If you have read my last year’s TR, there isn’t really much excitement. We had pretty much the same weather this time, only a bit nicer. It drizzled a little on Saturday but didn’t really rain. We were astonished to find out how many cars were there at the trail head. It’s really crazy.

We took off at around 2:10 from the camp (~6000′, about 500′ lower than where we camped last year). Tom decided to go with only three ropes because everyone was obviously very strong and we didn’t see any reason anyone would be turned back. So I led the first rope and Tom followed me, since I am the only one except Tom who has done this route before. I kept a moderate pace of ~1100′/hour and we took three 5-min short breaks. We summitted at 7:15. We were above the clouds (pretty much the same as last year) and couldn’t see any peaks around us. It was however not very windy on the top, at least to Baker’s standard. We were back to camp at about 10 and took our time to break camp and left at 12. We were back to trail head before 3.

• Midway direct
• Sabre
• 5.8 overhand on Jelly Tower

• Midway, swing lead
• Sabre, swing lead