Rapping off Dragontail

John trying to stay warm on route

NE Face Couloir Dragontail Peak

John Frieh, Dave Burdick and I were going to head out to Montana / Wyoming for some ice goodness, but due to the weather we decided to stay at our local NW crag and do some climbing on the NE Face of Dragontail Peak just outside of Leavenworth Washington.

Dave drove to Levenworth (2.5 hrs) while John and I drove together from PDX (5 hrs) we encountered cheep gas prices $1.77 which has been very nice.  We all met up at 8:00 pm and headed to the trailhead to sort gear and grab a few short hours of sleep.  Temps at the trailhead where nice and cold in the (20's) and clear skies.

3:00 am my alarm sounded, I love alpine climbing!!  We brewed up some water for drinks and choked down some food, usually I am not that hungry at 3:00 am so it is always a forced breakfast.  We hit the trail at 4:00 am and blasted to the base of the route by headlamp in 4.5 hrs.  We started into the couloir at 8:30 am for some good climbing.  As we stared with some M(fun) mix solo climbing the route just got better and better as we ascended.  As we made our way up we found everything from fun ice pitches, high quality mixed climbing and waist deep wallowing.  We reached the summit col at 1:00 pm for a easy 70 meter rape onto the glacier.  Once on the glacier (south side of Dragontail) we headed down to Asgard pass for the final and most loose / slippery descent which seemed to never end.  Getting back to Colchuck lake at 3:30 pm.  We gatherd our gear that we stashed at the lake and headed back to the car arriving at 6:30 pm, 14.5 hrs on the go.  Just another good weekend...

View a Trip Report here at Cascadeclimbers

View all photos in our Picas web album.

Daniel

Peru Trip 2008

Ok so finally I post about our PERU trip- better late then never. I wanted to get all of my pictures up on picasa first. My dinosaurus computer kept freezing up, it can't handle even the slightest bit of strain on it's memory. Soon we will get a new one! This one wants to die.

October 21st we set forth on our journey at noon after I had worked 5 nights in a row. Super crappy! Daniel snuck me a benadryl and I slept like a baby. After many a layover We arrived in Cusco at 9am on the 22nd and hit the ground running. We spent 3 days in Cusco acclimitizing and exploring both inside and outside the city. We each got diarrhea once and took cipro, which cleared things up in a heartbeat. I think we each were affected by the altitude a little bit, first I had a bad day and had to go pass out for a while, then it was Daniel's turn the next day. Mr. Pukey visited me for a day and a half from the altitude, but none of our ailments ruined our trip in the slightest. Actually, I think it was good because we each got some alone time.

Then on the 25th, off for the Inca Trail for 4days, 3nights. Our group was great. This was our favorite part of our trip for sure! We spent an extra day in Machu Picchu and hiked up Wayna Picchu to get a better view the 2nd day, well worth it. The next day, the 30th we took the IncaExpress bus to Puno and saw some sights on the way. On the 31st We took a boat on Lake Titicaca and toured some the floating reed islands, did a homestay on Amantani Island, and toured Taquile Island on the 1st. Important lesson learnt by a certain individual: do not get drunk at 13,oooft elevation in Puno, it will result in continuous vomiting down the side of a bus with your head hanging out of a window on a 6hr ride to Arequipa while your husband laughs at you. Not exactly sure why that one had to be learned the hard way. Anyway...moving on! The 2nd-3rd was spent exploring Arequipa. On the 4th we went on a tour of the Colca Canyon. The night of the 5th at 8pm we boarded at flight home. Once again, after many a ridiculous layover we arrived home at 4pm on the 6th.

Check out Picasa for all of our pics http://picasaweb.google.com/TeamHarro

Here are some highlights!

We......

saw tons of churches:

Stayed in some really cool hostels:


Explored Amazing historical cities, colonial architecture, and what remains of the Incan Empire. Absolutely amazing what the Incans accomplished, and how much still withstands today:

Rode horses to ruins outside of Cusco:

Ate way too much good food:

Hiked the Inca Trail:

Made some good friends:

Got attacked by sandflies:

Experienced Machu Picchu:

Spent way too much time on a bus:

Spent way too much time on a boat on Lake Titicaca ;-) It was slow!

Spent time on an island made of floating reeds, Uros:

Did a homestay with our "mama" Valentina on Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca:

Saw condors:

And the deepest canyon in the world:

Kissed an Alpaca

And participated in odd road-side attractions:

And went a little crazy, with each other at times, with our inability to speak but a few words in Spanish, with our first time traveling....but overall had a wonderul time, really, truly nothing go wrong, came back with great memories, and both of us wishing we were back!!!!