Vroom Vroom: Indy at Barber

We spent the weekend at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham. Friday we roamed the park scoping out the different viewing spots, before finally coming back to our old favorite under the trees (on the straight between turns 11 and 12).



Various car clubs gather at the races and park in "car corrals". My husband wished he could take one of these Vipers home with us.



Although not the headliners, two Grand Am series races were also held this weekend, and turned out to be a lot of fun, even though I didn't know much about them. I was surprised at how many of those racers' names were familiar to me though... Hubby loves to watch those "24 Hours of Daytona" type races, and some of it must have rubbed off on me.



Pirelli employee taking a break. (Tired tire girl?)



There was a "fan walk" for the Rolex Grand Am series on Saturday. You have to pay extra for a Paddock Pass, and we didn't have time to fully take advantage of it. But I really enjoyed being able to walk on pit lane. It's even narrower than it looks on tv.

The crews couldn't have been nicer -- we even saw them opening the car doors so little kids could look inside.



Hot Dog Boy was there on pit lane. I took the flyer, and still have no idea what that was about. But he was awfully cute.



In which I pretend to be part of the pit crew... I imagine that Fernando Alonso just sped by in his Ferrari. I held the pit board to give him vital info, since his radio was broken... (Never mind that he's in F1, a series that doesn't come within 1000 miles of this track.)


Marco Andretti demonstrates how to pass at Barber.

The one thing I really got SICK of hearing was how you couldn't pass at the Barber track. I must have heard it a hundred times, from Joe Schmoe in line at the Porta-Potties, to radio announcers, to some of the drivers themselves. (I saw Ryan Hunter-Reay by chance, the only time I didn't have my camera, and he was saying it too.)


Indy Lights drivers take turn 5 three-wide.

But it's really not true. There was not much passing, granted, and it may not be easy, but it is possible.

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Still more photos to process... more later!

NEW PA alpine route at Sunday School Crag

Tom Thomas engulfed in PA alpine sending this new line

Tom Thomas, Andy Shriner and myself decided to go out climbing. As per my last post conditions looked fickle at most SWPA ice areas. I didn't check Sunday School figuring its usually one of the first to come in. Neither Tom nor Andy have been to Sunday School making it agood choice as a first stop towards getting some climbing done. We had a fourth lined up for the day, but he bailed at the last minute making us an uneven 3 man team... Not the best way to go out when conditions have been so limited and everyone wants to climb as much as possible. We made the adventurous hike into the ice. It's fairly steep going and... well to make this readable, I'll just call it "alpine" in style.

Tom and Andy approaching our destination

Those that have been here know exactly what I'm talking about. After our approach, we stood before the ice laden walls. A little boney, but definitely climbable. In the recent years though, boney has become the standard, thus making todays conditions "in" I guess? Either way Tom was amped up and anxious as a high strung cat to start clawing at the walls. Understandably so having climbed here for 15+ years. How can't one get excited with all the various options of ice between chossy, usually protectable, rock sections. Its alpine climbing heaven (in an easily accessible, miniature form ;) I always find the climbing reminiscent of The Black Dike in NH. Not nearly as long, but harder, similar pitches in abundance and concentration. Tom racked up an arsenal of screws, gear and pins while Andy flaked the rope and set up to give Tom a belay. It was at that instant that I realized the predicament of having 3 climbers. Tom and Andy were paired up to have a go at a surely fun line. The reality that our ice climbing has been ultra limited and I could be picking a plum as well. It really bummed me out to say the least. I WANTED to be climbing too. May sound like a childish thing to some, if so, I guess our passions for ice climbing differ. Its pretty high on my list of fun things in the world... Here's one of a handful of days being wasted all because of a backed out partner. It made me realize how valuable my wonderful "better half" Laura really is. I can't stress how much of a trooper she is. I just wish she could've been there. We make such a great climbing team and having her there is priceless! So cutting my losses on climbing and being totally bummed about being partnerless. I decided to take advantage of the great climbing talent and work on some photograpic opportunities I seldom get. I started hiking and worked my way up around to the return of an adjacent cliff to click off some shots from different angles, hopefully documenting a first ascent.

From a distance, Andy is in blue at the base of the climb

The route looked awesome and Tom did a great job leading it for a first visit to Sunday School. He described the opening rock section to be quirky as do most other climbers. I found it took a few seasons to learn to read this odd style of climbing. The rock isn't as friendly as other local rock for hooking, etc. Slopers are the norm with some odd fractures here and there for a "thank god" moment every so often.

Tom enjoying the opening moves

Either way after a quick introduction he was into the business and working up through the rock to a steep snowfield which appeared to be in good condition.

Snow covered choss

The snow led to the base of a vertical ice section that offered some reasonable ice screws and three dimensional climbing around thin columns.

some ice...

Then more ice...

The ice ended at a steep rock cleft that offered up a piton placement before another snow ledge. Another section of ice was above, but extremely poorly bonded.

The rock cleft finish

Tom wisely opted to end the route at the base of this ice. He built an ice screw anchor and Andy followed the line in fine style. He seemed to be enjoying himself the whole way up, pulling his first "legit" pin and getting some V-thread practice in lean conditions. I snapped quite a few photos of all the action. Here's my photo highlight recap of the guys in action on this new unamed line at Sunday School Crag. Congrats go out to Tom and Andy on the great new addition.




Here's Andy in action seconding...

Sunday School partial crag overview

Andy starting up the ice

Tom belaying below the delaminating upper section

Crazy Angle, could be rotated 90 right?

Andy Shriner enjoying a wonderful day in PA

My artistic attempt

Blue in the Garden

Spring Blue, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Those containers filled with California native wildflowers are starting to bloom now. After fairly slow growth due to about 2 weeks of continuous rain, they are now sending out flower buds and leaves in every direction. This flower is a baby blue eye, Nemophila menziesii.

Multi-purpose gifts

Dear in-laws, we thank you for the fruit!



And so do the cats.

George especially. She sits in the box and seems particularly content, at least until someone starts flashing a camera around.

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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

Changing Seasons

So if you haven't already heard, summer is fully upon us here on the Mountain. Since the beginning of this month we have had thousands of climbers and skiers coming out to play on Rainier. Looking around the mountain last week from the side window of a Chinook helicopter we saw evidence of people climbing and skiing almost everything around. There were ski tracks down all the standard routes, plus a good many down some more technical non-standard routes. This was pretty amazing considering all of it was happening in mid to late July, a time of year people usually put away their skis and stop attempting routes like Mowich Face and Liberty Ridge.

With all of the beautiful weather we have been blessed with over the past few weeks our large snowpack is starting to morph into its usual mid-summer condition. This means that while most routes on the mountain are still in very good shape and holding lots of snow, climbers may start to encounter some ice poking through the snow in steeper areas, and some crevasses opening up forcing climbers to do a little more routefinding and endrunning of large cracks.

Over the past week Climbing Rangers have been out climbing Mowich Face and Ptarmigan Ridge along with all the standards like the Emmons and DC. Reports have been of excellent conditions in all places. Want to get an early August ascent of some steeper west side routes? Now is the time! With great snow-free trail conditions making for fast approaches and snow still clinging to most everything above 10,000' the stage is set for some great climbing. Just be aware that with warm days rockfall and icefall hazard increases, so climb at night when it's cool and be aware of what and who is above you at all times. Ya know, like when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to climb and when to run. Speaking of running check out the fracture on Lib ridge below Thumb Rock! Although not normal at all for this time of year it is a testament to how much snow we have received and how warm the days have been.


Check out the new route updates and photos from the past week of climbing, training (always), and flying. Come on up and enjoy this seasonal transition with us here on Rainier!

CIC Opening

The Climbing Information Center is now OPEN! Please feel free to come on by and say hello--We've spent the past couple of days de-shuttering the windows, digging out pathways,and just generallyshining the place up. The entrance is somewhat hidden due to huge walls of snow, but if you walk toward the Paradies Inn you should see the plowed path to our front door.





We'll be open this weekend from 8AM to 3 PM Saturday and Sunday . The CICwill be closed during the week--and willopen full time (6 AM to 3PM, 7 days a week)for the season on May 12. Feel free to stop by or give us a call with questions--360.569.6641.




All climbers must register in the CIC if going above 10,000 feet during the hours we're open, otherwise look for the self registration boxin the Old Station. Don't forget to check out from your climb.

Gunks Routes: Phoebe (5.10b)

(Image taken by Anthony Baraff; I swiped it from mountainproject.com.)

I tried Phoebe the other day on top-rope and I have to say it is a nice little climb. It made Gunks 5.10b seem like a realistic possibility for the future, although I can't say I got the thing clean. My partner L. was able to do it clean on top-rope on her second try. I could do all the moves but I wasn't able to put it together without a hang. Maybe next time. Probably. Definitely.

The climb has two cruxes, one low, one high. The low one requires a right foot high-step while your left hand is pulling down on a mediocre crimp and your right is on a mediocre crimpy sidepull. The kid climber in the photo above is above the low crux; her body is hiding the bolt in the middle of the face.

The high crux comes after you move past the bolt to the tiny overhang above. You have to gently move right on poor, smeary feet and then step up to grab the undercling hold in the next small overhang. Then it's all pretty straightforward to the top.

I would like to say that I'd consider leading Phoebe one day after working the moves a bit more... but I don't think it'll ever happen as I don't see how you protect the upper crux. You could definitely get a cam in the undercling right AFTER the crux, but if you blew it on the smeary feet with only the bolt clipped beneath you, you'd almost certainly hit the block at the base.

So I think it will always remain a top-rope climb for me but I found it surprisingly enjoyable. it is certainly worth doing after a warm-up on the wonderful Ken's Crack (5.7). The setup only takes a few minutes; there is a wedged block at the top around which you can thread a cordalette; I also placed two cams in nearby cracks for a three-piece anchor. Next time I'd like to go back and try Charie (5.10a) and Fitschen's Folly (5.8R), both of which are easily set up using a couple of trees at the top of Charie, just a few feet to the right of Phoebe.