With a day off for NCMG owners Larry and Paul and the forecast for a glorious day in the mountains, the two decided to climb the classic East Buttress of South Early Winter Spire. After hiking up Spire Gully and scrambling to the base, out comes the rope and the climbing begins.  Here Paul cocks his head as if to say "put the camera down and start climbing Goldie". The climb is largely in 5.8 - 5.9 range with two crux pitches of 5.11 and a 5.10 pitch connecting the two. ...

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With a friend visiting from out of town, Paul Jennings wanted to show his buddy Reggie some of the best climbing Washington Pass has to offer.  They called Larry and arranged a day on South Early Winter Spire climbing the classic SW Rib.  This 8 pitch 5.8 route offers lots of great moderate climbing in a spectacular setting. The route iself follows the red line in this photo. With pitch after pitch of fine climbing and ample belay ledges, its easy to see whay this route is popular. ...

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In an effort to stay in touch better and get trip reports  posted in a more timely fashion, NCMG is pleased to announce the launch of its own blog.  Trip reports will now be easier to find and search if you are looking for a specific trip or want to see what a specific climb might be like.  There will some minor changes throuhout the rest of our site, but for the most part it will remain the same.  Please contact us with your feedback and feel free to sign up for the RSS feed to get the latest news from Mazama and around the world.

Cheers from NCMG!

In an unusual climbing competition, African style, Tim Connelly and Spanish climber Lucas Gonzales wound up winning the event.  Dubbed the Maxidash, the competition involves climbers climbing as many routes as possible in one climbing area, driving like mad on dirt roads (by any route) to the next climbing area.  Five climbing areas and 350 km of driving later, Lucas and Connelly came out in 2nd place behind the local reigning champions.  The next day after a recount that turned up a route that hadnt been counted, it turns out, the two had won. 

Tim had the battle scar to prove it as well.  The forgotten climb was called unlawful entry and Tim was stung in the ear by a wasp while leading the route - ouch!

Nice work Tim and Lucas!

For more details on the event, check out Tim's Blog.

    Jim Gardiner and Walt Talbot from Michigan joined Larry for an intro to Mountaineering and an attempt on the Sulphide Glacier route on Mt Shuksan. While the climb would take place over the summer solstice, the weather wound up being anything but cooperative.   ...

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      June has been a bit unsettled in the mountains this year with an unusual amount of thunderstorm activity. Lew Miller recently joined Larry for an attempt on the Fischer Chimney route on Mt Shuksan. They hoped the weather would cooperate.   ...

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      Paul Mascioli of Seattle recently joined Larry for 4 days of alpine rock climbing and skills training in an effort to improve skills and get warmed up for an upcoming trip to the Sierra. The weather was a bit unsettled and kept them on guard for thunderstorms for much of the time. While this is fairly unusual for the East side of the crest, it is...

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