The Red Lobster Journals for 1981

Little Smoke Bluffs, Castle Crags, Fairview Dome, The Bugaboos, Center Creek,
the Stanley Mitchell Hut

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Outer Space - Snow Creek Wall - Leavenworth - Washington State

	Outer Space is a great route on Snow Creek Wall. The upper part is very steep but littered with chicken heads and hand sucking cracks. In the picture here, Chuck is leading on the upper part of the climb.

Castle Crags - Northern California
Chuck, Terri, and I packed our gear into the Volkswagon van and headed for California. We had phoned the ranger's station in Jackson Hole, and found that the Tetons had fresh snow, so Grand Teton was out. We thought we would head for California. On the way, we did some climbing in the Castle Crag area of northern California. Mt. Shasta is in the background of the picture above.
	North Face of Fairview Dome Yosemite - Tuolomene Meadows - What other "50 Classic Climbs" could we choose from? I seem to remember that Peter Croft extolled the virtues of Fairview Dome, especially the part about it not being that hard. I liked that idea. :-) In the picture to the left, I am at the base of the climb
	The valley itself was too hot for serious climbing (not that I do serious climbing) so we went up into the Tuolomene Meadows. The route on the north face of Fairview Dome was spectacular. The first pitch was as hard as any other, being awkward to go from the initial crack over to the one you had to continue on. Protection was always good and the rock solid. It was also good to be the first on the climb in the morning.
	I did my usual great job of seconding. Chuck did his normal great job of leading. The middle part of the climb is quite steep, but the cracks, chicken heads, and ledges were a pleasure to climb. A highly recommended climb. This picture is taken just after the short overhanging section and where it starts to ease off.
	What a sense of accomplishments. It was very nice that we had got an early start and had been the first on the climb, even though it was very chilly to begin with. The walk off the backside was very easy.
	Chuck had done his usual great job of making the challenging parts look easy, and I had thoroughly enjoyed belaying him. We had a great sense of achievement. Top of Page

The Bugaboos The bugaboos contain some of the best climbing in North America. The rock forms huge pinnacles with cracks and faces that utterly humble you when you walk beneath them. The hut a few hours from the parking lot can be a crowded conglomeration of people speaking a wide variety of languages, either recounting their recent climbing tales late into the night, snoring up a storm in the dead of the night, or getting up in the wee hours throwing the last of their climbing equipment into their packs, the clinking and clinging of hardware piercing the still air. With all the attention directed at climbing, it's easy to miss the simple beauties of the place. On this trip, we climbed or attempted to climb something. I only remember some of the sounds and smells. Top of Page

	Center Creek Explorations A number of us had done some exploring up Center Creek, but Dave Harris and I did a lot to hack out a trail to the base of some slabs in the lower right hand corning of this picture. No guide books existed of this area, except for the major peaks of the Rexford group, so it was fun to feel like we might be the first to be climbing on the rock. We also did some exploring of the slabs on the south side of this bluff - the ones in the sunshine in this picture.
	Chuck and I did some climbing as well on the lower slabs. We didn't get all that far, but that didn't really matter to me. The fact that we were exploring new ground and had to make decisions on our own was reward enough. It was an interesting mind game to head out on a slab not really knowing what to expect. I had to really be in control of my head. That is one of the most appealling aspects of climbing to me, the balance between the physical and mental. So much of climbing is the mental game. Lost control of that, and you are in trouble.
	Another appealing thing about areas like this was the fact that no one else was around. I was like being in Squamish, before any climbers had arrived. Dave and Corina and I also did a bit of exploring on the north side of this large "bluff". A road went up into an area on the north side of it, giving good access to some slabs, and a steep east face.

The Stanley Mitchell Hut We packed up Chris Cooper's Volkswagen van once again and headed for my first trip to the Rockies in the winter. Chris Espinel, and Chris's brother Simon also joined us. The ski into the hut is a long one. We got an early start, but still didn't get to the hut till well after dark. I remember having a brew up at the top of the switch-backs and feeling rejuvinated. Just before we got to the hut, we found a small group of skiers sleeping in a thicket of trees because they felt they weren't going to be able to reach the hut that night. It wasn't till the following morning that they discovered they were about 100 meters from the hut!

This was my first introduction to bottomless sugar snow. When we dug a pit, we discovered this coarse sugar-like snow that didn't support anything. Perhaps that helps to explain the little slide that the two Chris's set off!

The ski out was a long one as well since a lot of it was fairly level. You can see the bridge on the Trans Canada Highway in the upper right hand corner, about three kilometers east of Field, at the base of the big hill. You can find some good information on this area from the The Alpine Club of Canada if you click here.