8/4/06 - Anchor Replacement Project
The following anchors have been replaced:
"Prirates" (lower, bare)
"Bridge of the Gods" (lower, bare)
And that about wraps up the bulk of the Anchor Replacement Broject beyond a few odd / outlying stragglers, swapping remaining bright hangers for camo'd ones, and swapping earlier powerbolts for SS/316 bolts which will be on the agenda for late fall.
Adopt a South face column route!!!
Next up will be an effort to clean the South face column routes. In between "Bluebird" at one end to "Blood, Sweat, and Smears" on the other there are a lot of just great routes (free, aid, and yet to be freed) folks might want to consider getting on. If you have any interest in climbing any of these routes please size them up and adopt one for cleaning purposes. We have a tool suite available for cleaning I'll be going after the shrubs in "Takes Fists" and the trees in "Flying Circus".
Thursday, August 03, 2006
8/1/06 - Anchor Replacement Project
Anchors replaced to-date this year are:
"Pipeline"
"Double Dirty Overhang" (top)
"Excaliber" (lower)
"Grunge Book" (both)
"Borderline" (both)
"Blownout (both)"
"Pirates" (top, bare)
"Bluebird" (top, rap)
"Right Gull" (bare)
"Wrong Gull" (bare)
The "Right Gull" anchor was the worst anchor replaced to-date and some folks had wisely been using some backup slings/rings to rap from. This was a very old chain anchor and the lefthand hanger was on a severely rusted 1/4" bolt that broke simply under the weight of the breaker bar - there wasn't even a chance to apply pressure to it. The righthand bolt broke with next to no pressure as well, requiring only 20 degrees or so of rotation before breaking. Also, this isn't the best place to rap, but if you do it on a single rope then go to the anchor on top of "Wrong Gull" and rap again there versus using the single orange sling/ring lower down at the top of "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Old Warriors Never Die"; in general you're better off to just keep heading up to Grassy Ledges.
[Edit: Just returned from checking and reseting the pins above the belay on "Right Gull". The first pin, a small, shallow angle, came flying out with the first slight funk, the second pin, a lost arrow, was good. It's doubly lucky no one dove hard on that first pin given it is an awkward start off the belay there. Had someone fallen hard, pulled the pin, and tumbled off the column top the odds of the old anchor holding it was close to zero. ]
Hangers were replaced with camo'd ones or painted on the bolted routes around tunnel #1 and on "Old Warriors Never Die".
Dogs and Parvo
If you must bring your dogs out please make sure they stay leashed and also that they are vaccinated for Parvo which is rampant throughout the BRSP.
NW Parvo FAQ
Peregrine Monitoring
Peregrine monitoring has continued despite the early opening. It appears the Beacon pair were successful elsewhere, probably Hamilton Mountain, and had two chicks which have been very active out at Beacon for the past month until a week ago. What is believed to be the Beacon female was found dead on the road West of Beacon and the two ever-present juveniles haven't been seen or heard since Monday last. At that time one was seen in formation with a flock of seagulls out in front of the island and it was attempting to "nip at their heels" though the gulls were basically just scooting out of the way and shifting positions and ignoring it thus raising some concerns as to whether the juveniles can feed themselves yet.
David Anderson, the WDFW raptor biologist, said the male would feed them if necessary and that they mature very fast and then are forced to leave to find their own turf so the fact that we suddenly aren't seeing them isn't necessarily a bad sign, but possibly one of a normal course of events regardless of the fate of the female. Still, if you see or hear one of them please email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com, as the info would be good to have.
Anchors replaced to-date this year are:
"Pipeline"
"Double Dirty Overhang" (top)
"Excaliber" (lower)
"Grunge Book" (both)
"Borderline" (both)
"Blownout (both)"
"Pirates" (top, bare)
"Bluebird" (top, rap)
"Right Gull" (bare)
"Wrong Gull" (bare)
The "Right Gull" anchor was the worst anchor replaced to-date and some folks had wisely been using some backup slings/rings to rap from. This was a very old chain anchor and the lefthand hanger was on a severely rusted 1/4" bolt that broke simply under the weight of the breaker bar - there wasn't even a chance to apply pressure to it. The righthand bolt broke with next to no pressure as well, requiring only 20 degrees or so of rotation before breaking. Also, this isn't the best place to rap, but if you do it on a single rope then go to the anchor on top of "Wrong Gull" and rap again there versus using the single orange sling/ring lower down at the top of "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Old Warriors Never Die"; in general you're better off to just keep heading up to Grassy Ledges.
[Edit: Just returned from checking and reseting the pins above the belay on "Right Gull". The first pin, a small, shallow angle, came flying out with the first slight funk, the second pin, a lost arrow, was good. It's doubly lucky no one dove hard on that first pin given it is an awkward start off the belay there. Had someone fallen hard, pulled the pin, and tumbled off the column top the odds of the old anchor holding it was close to zero. ]
Hangers were replaced with camo'd ones or painted on the bolted routes around tunnel #1 and on "Old Warriors Never Die".
Dogs and Parvo
If you must bring your dogs out please make sure they stay leashed and also that they are vaccinated for Parvo which is rampant throughout the BRSP.
NW Parvo FAQ
Peregrine Monitoring
Peregrine monitoring has continued despite the early opening. It appears the Beacon pair were successful elsewhere, probably Hamilton Mountain, and had two chicks which have been very active out at Beacon for the past month until a week ago. What is believed to be the Beacon female was found dead on the road West of Beacon and the two ever-present juveniles haven't been seen or heard since Monday last. At that time one was seen in formation with a flock of seagulls out in front of the island and it was attempting to "nip at their heels" though the gulls were basically just scooting out of the way and shifting positions and ignoring it thus raising some concerns as to whether the juveniles can feed themselves yet.
David Anderson, the WDFW raptor biologist, said the male would feed them if necessary and that they mature very fast and then are forced to leave to find their own turf so the fact that we suddenly aren't seeing them isn't necessarily a bad sign, but possibly one of a normal course of events regardless of the fate of the female. Still, if you see or hear one of them please email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com, as the info would be good to have.
6/25/06 - Beacon Rock Update
Photos from 2006 Pre-Opening Work Session
Just a couple of shots to show what some of the fuss was about.
Here is a shot of where the rock fall occured on the SE corner ridge. You can see this view from 14 when approaching Beacon from the East:
Here's a couple of closer before and after shots of the remnants which were poised over the SE Corner route (along with much other shattered fragments below and a decades worth of loose rock on Grassy Ledges). It was cleaned up the day before the bigger Pre-Opening Work Session in order that it not slow down the larger crew:
And a great shot of the BRCA's Chairman Emeritus Jim Opdycke climbing the SE ridge ramp after the deed was done:
And one of Lisa Lantz, the WSP Southwest Resource Steward who was kind enough to come down and give a big thumbs up for the cleanup and early open, and Erik Plunkett, the BRSP Head Ranger who (along with John Ernster, Breanne Jordan, and Gabe Bailey) was also totally supportive of the opening.
Oh, and Jim Opdycke also wanted me to be sure and once again ask that folks going out please take 5 or 10 minutes to pick a small section of the base trail and clean it up so it doesn't look like such a war zone - it would be much appreciated and would definitely contribute to continued good relations with the BRSP staff.
Thanks and look forward to seeing folks out there...
Photos from 2006 Pre-Opening Work Session
Just a couple of shots to show what some of the fuss was about.
Here is a shot of where the rock fall occured on the SE corner ridge. You can see this view from 14 when approaching Beacon from the East:
Here's a couple of closer before and after shots of the remnants which were poised over the SE Corner route (along with much other shattered fragments below and a decades worth of loose rock on Grassy Ledges). It was cleaned up the day before the bigger Pre-Opening Work Session in order that it not slow down the larger crew:
And a great shot of the BRCA's Chairman Emeritus Jim Opdycke climbing the SE ridge ramp after the deed was done:
And one of Lisa Lantz, the WSP Southwest Resource Steward who was kind enough to come down and give a big thumbs up for the cleanup and early open, and Erik Plunkett, the BRSP Head Ranger who (along with John Ernster, Breanne Jordan, and Gabe Bailey) was also totally supportive of the opening.
Oh, and Jim Opdycke also wanted me to be sure and once again ask that folks going out please take 5 or 10 minutes to pick a small section of the base trail and clean it up so it doesn't look like such a war zone - it would be much appreciated and would definitely contribute to continued good relations with the BRSP staff.
Thanks and look forward to seeing folks out there...
6/19/06 - Beacon Rock Early Opening!!!!
Beacon Rock is open as of today...!!!
After a a couple of months of fantastic cooperative effort by Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife [WDFW] (David Anderson / Raptor Management Plans), Washington State Parks [WSP] (Lisa Lantz / SW Resource Steward), and the Beacon Rock State Park staff [BRSP] (Erik Plunkett, John Ernster, Breanne Jordan, Gabe Bailey) we are open almost a month early. This past Thursday through Sunday was a particularly strong push by everyone involved to make this early opening possible. The short story is a whole lot of folks, especially all of those above, went way out of their way and above the call of duty to contribute their time and effort to make this all possible. So what can you do to contribute now that Beacon is open? Well, the South face is now cleared of all significant threats of rockfall but the trail at the base looks like a war zone from the combination of the New Year's rock fall and our day-long trundling session. All in all several tons of rock came down. What would be a great help is if everyone who goes out could just pick and clear a short stretch of the base trail when you go out. If everyone would do this we'd have it back to normal in a week or two.
For a long version events and the gory details read on...
Timeline of 2006 events:
* Feb 1st / Climbing closure per the Peregrine Management Plan - Closure in Febuary, March, and Early April insures there are no external influences on the Peregrine's choice of the location of their scrape (nest). This is an imperative part of the plan as Peregrines are under much stress from mating and scrape competition such that they are highly sensitive to any of a myriad of influences relative to settling down onto a scrape to attempt to hatch and fledge young. Our not climbing during this period eliminates one controllable source in an otherwise highly stressful part of the Peregrine's mating / nesting cycle.
* April 1st / Active monitoring of the Peregrines begins - Last year, for the first time, the Peregrines did not use their usual Big Ledge scrape. The two Raven's nests above the parking lot on the high East face were likewise unoccupied. But the Peregrines did likely fledge somewhere on Beacon last year as they were consistently present and active there on a daily basis and the South face base, ledges, and column tops were strewn with much evidence of predation in the form of discarded wing sets and large feather circles on column tops and ledges - both from birds they had killed and eaten. We do not know either why they did not use Big Ledge last year or where on the rock their scrape might have been. We do know that the survey of the Big Ledge scrape last year in early July found the scrape completely engulfed by Cheat Grass and it is possible that had some influence on the birds decision to not use it; but we don't know for sure. My own monitoring had me convinced they were successful on the high East face in 2005, but I could never prove it with consistent observations. But, regardless, they did fledge a chick successfully in 2005 and after observing a parent take the fledge out to teach it to hunt we opened last year's season about a week early.
This year was a somewhat different story. Upwards of four Peregrines were active with courtship / pairing flight behavior in early April with a pair forming that attempted to nest on the Big Ledge scrape. Some time in early May David Anderson and other monitors observed that pair were no longer spending time on Big Ledge and in fact we now know the evidence from last Thursday's survey of the scrape was consistent with the pair abandoning the scrape about that time. Peregrines are known to sometimes require two attempts to fledge, at the same or a different location, so monitoring continued through May and early June in the hopes pinning down a second attempt. By early June, however, a pattern began to emerge of many sightings East of Beacon, often towards Hamilton Mountain. That, combined with less frequent perching and sightings around Beacon along with a complete lack of signs of predation along Beacon's South face base began to make it clear if the Peregrines managed a second attempt it wasn't taking place at Beacon. Coincidental to this, and for some unknown reason, the Ravens this year decided to return to their old nests high on the East face yielding a complete explosion of about a dozen young, manic, and incredibly noisy Ravens who completely dominate the East side of Beacon. Pretty much anything flying in their vicinity is fair game, lively entertainment, and mercilessly harassed. While not knowing if the Raven's presence this year made any difference to the Peregrines in general, there is some suspicion it may have kept them from considering a high East face scrape.
* June 7th / Understanding this emerging pattern of observations could signal a possible early open the BRCA filed a plan with the BRSP for a second annual Pre-Opening Work Session for 2006 to clear both a decade's worth of accumulated rock on the Grassy Ledges and the strewn results of the New Year's rock fall from the SE corner ridge. Last year we had three fairly close calls of significant rock fall in the SE Corner base and Tunnel #1 vicinity while climbers were present. The situation changed from one of concern to one of alarm after the New Year's rock fall which further showered the Grassy Ledges and indeed the entire SE flank with a heavy load of shattered rock hanging above the start of the SE Corner route.
* Thursday, June 15th / Armed with everyone's monitoring observations, David Anderson made the call that we should survey the Big Ledge scrape and based on what we brought back in the way of pictures, plant, and predation evidence he and Lisa Lantz gave WDFW's and WSP's approval for BRSP to authorize our 2006 Pre-Opening Work Session for the next day, Friday, June 16th. They further gave their permission to immediately rap down to the base of the SE corner ridge to survey the site of the New Year's rockfall to see if we were dealing with anything large enough to effect rail traffic. That was very important, because the railroad holds real power; it can and has fined the BRSP for interrupting rail traffic in the past. Had we found anything substantial, the railroad would have to be notified, the tracks closed, and railroad workers present during the work. All of which would be a big deal on a busy rail line and likely would have caused a long scheduling delay in our opening. Fortunately, no large threatening rocks were found in the survey, but a large quantity of earth mixed with rocks was found still hanging over the SE flank and the areas we wanted to clear debris from.
* Friday, June 16th / The BRCA's Pre-Opening Work Sessions have several pre-requisites:
a) Adequate BRSP staff has to be available to close the trail and monitor the overall effort
b) A WSP or WDFW biologist has to be on hand for a pre-work survey and to observe in case some event (plant or animal) occurs that would curtail the remaining work
c) BRCA must have someone to monitor both the climbers trail and the railroad tracks at all times
Unfortunately neither David nor Lisa were available on Friday to observe, and it turned out the weather was lousy as well, so a full work session wouldn't have been possible regardless. Instead, the ever-intrepid Jim Opdycke and myself tackled the main SE ridge rock fall site rapping down the slick ridge slabs on a wet fixed line left from the survey the day before. We established working anchors for Saturday's main effort and after rigging up a fairly elaborate aerial bucket line we spent six hours clearing the earth and rocks from the main rockfall working downwards from the top in two inch slices filling approximately twenty five 5-gallon buckets of material along with relocating numerous large rocks. This material was not dropped down the South face but rather lined down back away from the edge and deposited in a secure location and manner on the slope above the East face. This work would allow Saturday's main work session to proceed without the need to first clear this large hanging threat.
* Saturday, June 17th / Finally getting after it! We assembled an able work team consisting of Ranger John Ernster, Jim Opdycke, Ivan, Bill Coe, Jason Frick, myself, and brothers Kyle and Jeff (?). Erik Plunkett, the Head Ranger, graciously agreed to cover John's normal busy Park duties to allow him to work with us. But unfortunately our non-climbing trail / track observer didn't materialize causing us great concern about one of our crew having to observe instead. But on starting up the tourist trail we spotted Beacon old-timer Gordon Melz and a friend on the NW face and Gordon agreed to grab a radio and head down to the tracks with John to do the observing. Gordon's serendipitous contribution just can't be overstated and his help went a long, long way towards making the day as successful as it was. We split into two teams on the rock with Jim Opdycke's team of Ivan, Kyle, and Jeff tackling clearing the "Land of the Little People" ledge and starting work on the decade of accumulated rock on the Grassy Ledges.
Our team of myself, Bill, and Jason made our way back up and down to the site of the New Year's rock fall at the base of the SE corner ridge and rapped down to set up shop at the top of Young Warrior's p4. From there the three of us rapped and cleared the entire SE flank of both new and accumulataed rock hazards. After a couple of hours both teams met up on the Grassy Ledges and joined forces. Kyle and Jason took on the gnarly job of clearing both the SE Corner chimney above and the "blackberry rock jam" off below the Grassy Ledges while the rest of us focused on clearing and grooming the Grassy Ledges proper.
Unfortunately, a piece of the very first significant rock we tossed took out one of the railroad warning wires which resulted in all trains slowing to a crawl as they passed Beacon and delaying our work which stopped as they passed under us. This was a bit of a bummer but we needed the breaks to pace ourselves and eventually a guy showed up coming down the tracks in one of those convertible pickup trucks to scope out the situation. Both John and Erik jumped into explain the trains were never in danger, that we had track observers, and that we were trying to make Beacon safer. The railroad seemed to take their explanation in stride but didn't have the tools or ladders to fix the wire. So John had BRSP tools brought down, Gordon got his harness to climb the poles and between Gordon, John, and the railroad man they got the job done so we and the trains could all get back to work. All in all the work went faster than we expected and we got all the rock we hope to deal with cleared by the end of the day. We encounter few problems but did run across a remarkable number of scorpions, some of the mature ones had gray/black bodies about 1/2" in diameter and 2.5-3 inches long.
Everyone was pleased with the work, but also completely exhausted by the end of the day. Gabe was especially kind in volunteering to hump our very heavy haul bag out which was much appreciated. What got accomplished? Essentially the South face is now cleared of most all obvious and immediate rockfall threats of any significance. Does that mean Beacon Rock is now "safe"? Not by a long shot - it is much safer - but you have to be aware that objective dangers do exist out at Beacon and rockfall is still preeminent among them. Particularly walking roped across the Grassy Ledges you still need to be cognizant of every foot fall and your rope path. Jim Opdycke wants to remind everyone doing that traverse roped to not simply drag your rope on the ground but to try and drape it on the bushes and branches where possible to keep it off the loose rocks on the trail - even a small one could hurt someone and they are all aimed at the base of the SE Corner route and the often populous Snag Ledge. What else? Well, it's now safe to top out to the Grassy Ledges from Blownout and other climbs that top out on the Lower Grassy Ledges. The area around the top of Blownout has been well cleaned. This is a big improvement as a disasterous amount of loose rock barred all the ramps between the Upper and Lower Grassy Ledges. All-in-all it was an incredibly successful day, we all lived through it intact, and many thanks are due everyone who volunteered their time and energy to pull it all off, especially David Anderson and the entire BRSP staff.
* Sunday, June 18th / In our exhaustion we left three fixed ropes and a number of temporary anchors from Saturday's work in place and we needed to do a final check of everything and retrieve our work gear. Fortunately Rick Harrell, Doug Ward, and Reed Fee came out to lend a hand and with a one pair heading up to Grassy Ledges and another up Young Warriors we were able to both retrieve the ropes (which were tied both at the top Grassy Ledges rap and the top of Young Warrior's p4) and do a last survey of everything. Note, there are now three pitons on the SE corner ridge that were placed for the work session - one at the top of the ridge below the trees that Jim Opdyke and us concur should stay as there are essentially no good anchors at this spot - and two at the top of Young Warriors p5 in the notch that will be removed as soon as we get enough energy back to do so. Also, John kindly stayed late and swapped out most of the signs and closure barrier for this morning's open.
To top a great weekend off the Peregrines put in an appearance in what to me looked to be a parent teaching a fledge to enter and exit the strong ridge lift that developed above Beacon at day's end and they did about six loops between the top of Beacon and the strong thermal that develops above the Nature Preserve just to the East. It was the first [unconfirmed] sign the Peregrines were successful at fledging somewhere this year and that is great news.
* Today, Monday, June 19th / All WDFW, WSP, and BRSP paperwork and approvals are final. Breanne finished the signage and phone machine message changeover and we're officially open! Again, Get out and get on it!!!
And while you're out - please stop in at the BRSP ranger station, introduce yourself and thank them all for making this possible. Ditto if you run across a shady-looking WDFW wildlife biologist in a dark green extended cab pickup who is soon to become a climber as is Gabe from the BRSP staff. David Anderson and WDFW have been instrumental in making this evidence-based, early opening possible - our hats are off to him and many thanks are due him for all the extra time and effort he put in to making this possible. Lisa Lantz is also due a warm thank you for her continuing efforts at both protecting Beacon Rock's habitat and her generous and out-going efforts to help us with both this and last year's openings.
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NOTE (Edit): The cleanup is complete - please do not do any further trundling or tossing of rocks of any size at any time or place - someone was tossing way too close to Jim Opdycke on opening day! If you see any loose rocks of note please secure/stack them somewhere off to the side but again, please don't toss anything at this point - thanks. If you find anything amiss, missed, or needing attention please notify any of the BRSP staff and contact the BRCA at Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com - enjoy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beacon Rock is open as of today...!!!
After a a couple of months of fantastic cooperative effort by Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife [WDFW] (David Anderson / Raptor Management Plans), Washington State Parks [WSP] (Lisa Lantz / SW Resource Steward), and the Beacon Rock State Park staff [BRSP] (Erik Plunkett, John Ernster, Breanne Jordan, Gabe Bailey) we are open almost a month early. This past Thursday through Sunday was a particularly strong push by everyone involved to make this early opening possible. The short story is a whole lot of folks, especially all of those above, went way out of their way and above the call of duty to contribute their time and effort to make this all possible. So what can you do to contribute now that Beacon is open? Well, the South face is now cleared of all significant threats of rockfall but the trail at the base looks like a war zone from the combination of the New Year's rock fall and our day-long trundling session. All in all several tons of rock came down. What would be a great help is if everyone who goes out could just pick and clear a short stretch of the base trail when you go out. If everyone would do this we'd have it back to normal in a week or two.
For a long version events and the gory details read on...
Timeline of 2006 events:
* Feb 1st / Climbing closure per the Peregrine Management Plan - Closure in Febuary, March, and Early April insures there are no external influences on the Peregrine's choice of the location of their scrape (nest). This is an imperative part of the plan as Peregrines are under much stress from mating and scrape competition such that they are highly sensitive to any of a myriad of influences relative to settling down onto a scrape to attempt to hatch and fledge young. Our not climbing during this period eliminates one controllable source in an otherwise highly stressful part of the Peregrine's mating / nesting cycle.
* April 1st / Active monitoring of the Peregrines begins - Last year, for the first time, the Peregrines did not use their usual Big Ledge scrape. The two Raven's nests above the parking lot on the high East face were likewise unoccupied. But the Peregrines did likely fledge somewhere on Beacon last year as they were consistently present and active there on a daily basis and the South face base, ledges, and column tops were strewn with much evidence of predation in the form of discarded wing sets and large feather circles on column tops and ledges - both from birds they had killed and eaten. We do not know either why they did not use Big Ledge last year or where on the rock their scrape might have been. We do know that the survey of the Big Ledge scrape last year in early July found the scrape completely engulfed by Cheat Grass and it is possible that had some influence on the birds decision to not use it; but we don't know for sure. My own monitoring had me convinced they were successful on the high East face in 2005, but I could never prove it with consistent observations. But, regardless, they did fledge a chick successfully in 2005 and after observing a parent take the fledge out to teach it to hunt we opened last year's season about a week early.
This year was a somewhat different story. Upwards of four Peregrines were active with courtship / pairing flight behavior in early April with a pair forming that attempted to nest on the Big Ledge scrape. Some time in early May David Anderson and other monitors observed that pair were no longer spending time on Big Ledge and in fact we now know the evidence from last Thursday's survey of the scrape was consistent with the pair abandoning the scrape about that time. Peregrines are known to sometimes require two attempts to fledge, at the same or a different location, so monitoring continued through May and early June in the hopes pinning down a second attempt. By early June, however, a pattern began to emerge of many sightings East of Beacon, often towards Hamilton Mountain. That, combined with less frequent perching and sightings around Beacon along with a complete lack of signs of predation along Beacon's South face base began to make it clear if the Peregrines managed a second attempt it wasn't taking place at Beacon. Coincidental to this, and for some unknown reason, the Ravens this year decided to return to their old nests high on the East face yielding a complete explosion of about a dozen young, manic, and incredibly noisy Ravens who completely dominate the East side of Beacon. Pretty much anything flying in their vicinity is fair game, lively entertainment, and mercilessly harassed. While not knowing if the Raven's presence this year made any difference to the Peregrines in general, there is some suspicion it may have kept them from considering a high East face scrape.
* June 7th / Understanding this emerging pattern of observations could signal a possible early open the BRCA filed a plan with the BRSP for a second annual Pre-Opening Work Session for 2006 to clear both a decade's worth of accumulated rock on the Grassy Ledges and the strewn results of the New Year's rock fall from the SE corner ridge. Last year we had three fairly close calls of significant rock fall in the SE Corner base and Tunnel #1 vicinity while climbers were present. The situation changed from one of concern to one of alarm after the New Year's rock fall which further showered the Grassy Ledges and indeed the entire SE flank with a heavy load of shattered rock hanging above the start of the SE Corner route.
* Thursday, June 15th / Armed with everyone's monitoring observations, David Anderson made the call that we should survey the Big Ledge scrape and based on what we brought back in the way of pictures, plant, and predation evidence he and Lisa Lantz gave WDFW's and WSP's approval for BRSP to authorize our 2006 Pre-Opening Work Session for the next day, Friday, June 16th. They further gave their permission to immediately rap down to the base of the SE corner ridge to survey the site of the New Year's rockfall to see if we were dealing with anything large enough to effect rail traffic. That was very important, because the railroad holds real power; it can and has fined the BRSP for interrupting rail traffic in the past. Had we found anything substantial, the railroad would have to be notified, the tracks closed, and railroad workers present during the work. All of which would be a big deal on a busy rail line and likely would have caused a long scheduling delay in our opening. Fortunately, no large threatening rocks were found in the survey, but a large quantity of earth mixed with rocks was found still hanging over the SE flank and the areas we wanted to clear debris from.
* Friday, June 16th / The BRCA's Pre-Opening Work Sessions have several pre-requisites:
a) Adequate BRSP staff has to be available to close the trail and monitor the overall effort
b) A WSP or WDFW biologist has to be on hand for a pre-work survey and to observe in case some event (plant or animal) occurs that would curtail the remaining work
c) BRCA must have someone to monitor both the climbers trail and the railroad tracks at all times
Unfortunately neither David nor Lisa were available on Friday to observe, and it turned out the weather was lousy as well, so a full work session wouldn't have been possible regardless. Instead, the ever-intrepid Jim Opdycke and myself tackled the main SE ridge rock fall site rapping down the slick ridge slabs on a wet fixed line left from the survey the day before. We established working anchors for Saturday's main effort and after rigging up a fairly elaborate aerial bucket line we spent six hours clearing the earth and rocks from the main rockfall working downwards from the top in two inch slices filling approximately twenty five 5-gallon buckets of material along with relocating numerous large rocks. This material was not dropped down the South face but rather lined down back away from the edge and deposited in a secure location and manner on the slope above the East face. This work would allow Saturday's main work session to proceed without the need to first clear this large hanging threat.
* Saturday, June 17th / Finally getting after it! We assembled an able work team consisting of Ranger John Ernster, Jim Opdycke, Ivan, Bill Coe, Jason Frick, myself, and brothers Kyle and Jeff (?). Erik Plunkett, the Head Ranger, graciously agreed to cover John's normal busy Park duties to allow him to work with us. But unfortunately our non-climbing trail / track observer didn't materialize causing us great concern about one of our crew having to observe instead. But on starting up the tourist trail we spotted Beacon old-timer Gordon Melz and a friend on the NW face and Gordon agreed to grab a radio and head down to the tracks with John to do the observing. Gordon's serendipitous contribution just can't be overstated and his help went a long, long way towards making the day as successful as it was. We split into two teams on the rock with Jim Opdycke's team of Ivan, Kyle, and Jeff tackling clearing the "Land of the Little People" ledge and starting work on the decade of accumulated rock on the Grassy Ledges.
Our team of myself, Bill, and Jason made our way back up and down to the site of the New Year's rock fall at the base of the SE corner ridge and rapped down to set up shop at the top of Young Warrior's p4. From there the three of us rapped and cleared the entire SE flank of both new and accumulataed rock hazards. After a couple of hours both teams met up on the Grassy Ledges and joined forces. Kyle and Jason took on the gnarly job of clearing both the SE Corner chimney above and the "blackberry rock jam" off below the Grassy Ledges while the rest of us focused on clearing and grooming the Grassy Ledges proper.
Unfortunately, a piece of the very first significant rock we tossed took out one of the railroad warning wires which resulted in all trains slowing to a crawl as they passed Beacon and delaying our work which stopped as they passed under us. This was a bit of a bummer but we needed the breaks to pace ourselves and eventually a guy showed up coming down the tracks in one of those convertible pickup trucks to scope out the situation. Both John and Erik jumped into explain the trains were never in danger, that we had track observers, and that we were trying to make Beacon safer. The railroad seemed to take their explanation in stride but didn't have the tools or ladders to fix the wire. So John had BRSP tools brought down, Gordon got his harness to climb the poles and between Gordon, John, and the railroad man they got the job done so we and the trains could all get back to work. All in all the work went faster than we expected and we got all the rock we hope to deal with cleared by the end of the day. We encounter few problems but did run across a remarkable number of scorpions, some of the mature ones had gray/black bodies about 1/2" in diameter and 2.5-3 inches long.
Everyone was pleased with the work, but also completely exhausted by the end of the day. Gabe was especially kind in volunteering to hump our very heavy haul bag out which was much appreciated. What got accomplished? Essentially the South face is now cleared of most all obvious and immediate rockfall threats of any significance. Does that mean Beacon Rock is now "safe"? Not by a long shot - it is much safer - but you have to be aware that objective dangers do exist out at Beacon and rockfall is still preeminent among them. Particularly walking roped across the Grassy Ledges you still need to be cognizant of every foot fall and your rope path. Jim Opdycke wants to remind everyone doing that traverse roped to not simply drag your rope on the ground but to try and drape it on the bushes and branches where possible to keep it off the loose rocks on the trail - even a small one could hurt someone and they are all aimed at the base of the SE Corner route and the often populous Snag Ledge. What else? Well, it's now safe to top out to the Grassy Ledges from Blownout and other climbs that top out on the Lower Grassy Ledges. The area around the top of Blownout has been well cleaned. This is a big improvement as a disasterous amount of loose rock barred all the ramps between the Upper and Lower Grassy Ledges. All-in-all it was an incredibly successful day, we all lived through it intact, and many thanks are due everyone who volunteered their time and energy to pull it all off, especially David Anderson and the entire BRSP staff.
* Sunday, June 18th / In our exhaustion we left three fixed ropes and a number of temporary anchors from Saturday's work in place and we needed to do a final check of everything and retrieve our work gear. Fortunately Rick Harrell, Doug Ward, and Reed Fee came out to lend a hand and with a one pair heading up to Grassy Ledges and another up Young Warriors we were able to both retrieve the ropes (which were tied both at the top Grassy Ledges rap and the top of Young Warrior's p4) and do a last survey of everything. Note, there are now three pitons on the SE corner ridge that were placed for the work session - one at the top of the ridge below the trees that Jim Opdyke and us concur should stay as there are essentially no good anchors at this spot - and two at the top of Young Warriors p5 in the notch that will be removed as soon as we get enough energy back to do so. Also, John kindly stayed late and swapped out most of the signs and closure barrier for this morning's open.
To top a great weekend off the Peregrines put in an appearance in what to me looked to be a parent teaching a fledge to enter and exit the strong ridge lift that developed above Beacon at day's end and they did about six loops between the top of Beacon and the strong thermal that develops above the Nature Preserve just to the East. It was the first [unconfirmed] sign the Peregrines were successful at fledging somewhere this year and that is great news.
* Today, Monday, June 19th / All WDFW, WSP, and BRSP paperwork and approvals are final. Breanne finished the signage and phone machine message changeover and we're officially open! Again, Get out and get on it!!!
And while you're out - please stop in at the BRSP ranger station, introduce yourself and thank them all for making this possible. Ditto if you run across a shady-looking WDFW wildlife biologist in a dark green extended cab pickup who is soon to become a climber as is Gabe from the BRSP staff. David Anderson and WDFW have been instrumental in making this evidence-based, early opening possible - our hats are off to him and many thanks are due him for all the extra time and effort he put in to making this possible. Lisa Lantz is also due a warm thank you for her continuing efforts at both protecting Beacon Rock's habitat and her generous and out-going efforts to help us with both this and last year's openings.
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NOTE (Edit): The cleanup is complete - please do not do any further trundling or tossing of rocks of any size at any time or place - someone was tossing way too close to Jim Opdycke on opening day! If you see any loose rocks of note please secure/stack them somewhere off to the side but again, please don't toss anything at this point - thanks. If you find anything amiss, missed, or needing attention please notify any of the BRSP staff and contact the BRCA at Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com - enjoy.
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6/8/06 - Beacon Rock Update
Peregrine Monitoring Status
I wish. Sorry - just been really stacked with work at a new client. But I have been monitoring regularly, rather than climbing, so I'm way, way behind the eight ball as far as getting back in shape goes. At this point, no, we don't know where the nest is. There was a solid spate of nesting-like activity up on Big Ledge in April but none since. We are working with David Andersen of the WDFW and Erik Plunkett of the BRSP on the issue and have submitted plans for a second annual pre-opening work session. The entire focus of this year's session is cleaning the Grassy Ledges and SE Corner of accumulated loose rock from both long standing accumulations and early 2006 rockfalls.
For those that don't know, Beacon had a heavy ice load this year and significant rock fall on the both the SE and NW flanks. The NW face got solidly bombarded with a remarkable amount of rock in two events - the second felt like an earthquake over in the BRSP office. On New Year's day the SE flank experienced a rockfall from high on the SE ridge that, among other things, took off the largest branch from the SE corner tree. I only just located the origin of that rockfall yesterday. What came down turns out to be actually quite a surprise. I had been looking for a missing chunk off the side of the high SE corner ridge (the last high angle exit slab ramp on Young Warriors) but have not been able to see anything.
Turns out it was that first big slab on the bottom of the high angle YW exit ramp that forms the top of the SE corner ridge - right at the start of the ramp and forming the uphill side of the little notch where the leader belays the last vertical pitch. It unfortunately left a broad, sloping dish that looks to be filled with at least an oil drum or two's worth of predominantly baseball/softball-sized rock (I'm viewing at some distance) along with gravel all poised directly above the SE corner P3 ramps and the P2 belay below as well as the base of SE Corner route. This event basically rained a substantial amount of rock across the entire SE flank, took the largest branch off the SE corner tree, and blasted the main "blackberry rock dam" on the Grassy Ledges as well scattering that added rock load all over the ledges / column tops in the area between the base of the SE corner and tunnel #1. Just the accumulated loose rock load on Grassy Ledges was getting out of hand and now the addition of the YW slab cutting has pretty much has made for a disaster in waiting.
As for the opening - we don't have an official finding or opening date yet from WDFW for that (and hence for the work session) but I am increasingly optimistic we will see an opening before 7/15 - please remain patient and I will keep you posted as events unfold.
Peregrine Monitoring Status
I wish. Sorry - just been really stacked with work at a new client. But I have been monitoring regularly, rather than climbing, so I'm way, way behind the eight ball as far as getting back in shape goes. At this point, no, we don't know where the nest is. There was a solid spate of nesting-like activity up on Big Ledge in April but none since. We are working with David Andersen of the WDFW and Erik Plunkett of the BRSP on the issue and have submitted plans for a second annual pre-opening work session. The entire focus of this year's session is cleaning the Grassy Ledges and SE Corner of accumulated loose rock from both long standing accumulations and early 2006 rockfalls.
For those that don't know, Beacon had a heavy ice load this year and significant rock fall on the both the SE and NW flanks. The NW face got solidly bombarded with a remarkable amount of rock in two events - the second felt like an earthquake over in the BRSP office. On New Year's day the SE flank experienced a rockfall from high on the SE ridge that, among other things, took off the largest branch from the SE corner tree. I only just located the origin of that rockfall yesterday. What came down turns out to be actually quite a surprise. I had been looking for a missing chunk off the side of the high SE corner ridge (the last high angle exit slab ramp on Young Warriors) but have not been able to see anything.
Turns out it was that first big slab on the bottom of the high angle YW exit ramp that forms the top of the SE corner ridge - right at the start of the ramp and forming the uphill side of the little notch where the leader belays the last vertical pitch. It unfortunately left a broad, sloping dish that looks to be filled with at least an oil drum or two's worth of predominantly baseball/softball-sized rock (I'm viewing at some distance) along with gravel all poised directly above the SE corner P3 ramps and the P2 belay below as well as the base of SE Corner route. This event basically rained a substantial amount of rock across the entire SE flank, took the largest branch off the SE corner tree, and blasted the main "blackberry rock dam" on the Grassy Ledges as well scattering that added rock load all over the ledges / column tops in the area between the base of the SE corner and tunnel #1. Just the accumulated loose rock load on Grassy Ledges was getting out of hand and now the addition of the YW slab cutting has pretty much has made for a disaster in waiting.
As for the opening - we don't have an official finding or opening date yet from WDFW for that (and hence for the work session) but I am increasingly optimistic we will see an opening before 7/15 - please remain patient and I will keep you posted as events unfold.
4/19/06 - Beacon Rock Update
Peregrine Monitoring Status
The Peregrines are in very high, frantic, and ballistic courtship mode right now with at least one male consistently courting two females on Tuesday. At one point there were four Peregrines [biefly] interacting NW of Beacon - two courting, one nearby, and one to the NW looking interested in the activity. Most of the action is taking place on the near-Westside of Beacon in a narrow North-South band running from the island to the South and ranging quite far to the North. On their repeated returns to Beacon they often end up right above it soaring and gaining lift on the ridge of air Beacon creates. Overall they are generally staying in very close proximity to each other and to Beacon.
My total poser guess is they are very close to pair-bonding / mating with nesting and eggs very soon thereafter. Eggs are incubated for about 33 days and the fledge cycle from hatching to fledging is somewhere between 30 and 58 days with the middle being average. So realistically if they settle down to nest this week or next we're most likely looking at a fairly normal opening date. I would suspect from what I'm seeing it might open a week or two early, but probably no more than that if they nest on the South Face. If they nest elsewhere and we can confirm the location than an earlier opening is certainly possible.
David Anderson of the WDFW has monitoring staffed up with a small number of non-climbers this year after a training session that was run at the Audobon Society around the new year. He normally only wants a very few committed folks monitoring so as to keep the monitoring notes consistent. Bill Coe and I have a good relationship with David and while contributing to that overall monitoring effort we will be more focusing our monitoring effort on confirming the nest site so we can all have a better understanding of a likely opening date. Again, biologically speaking, things are looking fairly normal at the moment and we are determined to identify the nesting site this year. We'll keep you posted and will probably give a shout to a couple of you who expressed and interest in monitoring, though there is still no immediate rush as they are not nesting as yet.
And for those that venture out on your own, it's easy to confuse the Red Tailed Hawks and Peregrines. In general, if the bird is doing a lot of flat flying / soaring without a lot of wing movement, doing wide lazy turns with broader wings, and a fairly decent sized "triangular" or "fan" tail - then it's a Red Tailed. Also note the leading and trailing wing edge profiles are basically reversed between the Red Tailed and the Peregrine. The Red Taileds nest up under the roofs where the big East face roofs start turning downward hard up from the SE corner (by the sign post on the trail) - You can see it either from the upper picnic area or from a spot between the men and women's bathrooms facing South. The nest is, coincidentally, very reddish, fairly large / tall and looks sort of "Tibetan" in its perch and construction. Because of the nest location and type of prey they hang out flying a lot to the East, Southeast, and South, steadily soaring along in order to spot game on the ground.
Red Tailed Hawk
The Peregrines are a bit smaller, darker, compact and burly. Their tail and wings are narrower, wings more articulated back at the "elbow", and more pointed at the tips. They don't do a lot of flat, slow soaring because they don't hunt for things on the ground but rather are after birds in the sky. They will do the Redtail type soaring but usually only in very close to the rock or directly above Beacon. Otherwise they're generally either chilling on a SE or SW corner ledge somewhere or they have their mojo on and are cutting up the sky swooping about climbing, diving, and booking out in some direction. Again, they often come back to the ridge lift right above Beacon. Some times they do head out to the North a ways or across the river so you have to be patient. The best place to see them right now is from down by the boat launch while looking at Beacon, the ridge lift above it, and in the sky to the N-NW. Once you catch them in a wing-tucked dive a couple of times they become a lot easier to identify on a consistent basis. Again, the key is really more in their flight behavior than their visual appearance; once you have that behavior down you can tell it's them even at a great distance.
Peregrine Falcon
Worth a trip out as they are really lighting things off right now if you catch them while they're out and about. I caught them on Tuesday, which was a beautiful day, in the afternoon around 3pm. They were out solid for two hours and then disappeared like Cinderella...
Joseph Healy
Bill Coe
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Peregrine Monitoring Status
The Peregrines are in very high, frantic, and ballistic courtship mode right now with at least one male consistently courting two females on Tuesday. At one point there were four Peregrines [biefly] interacting NW of Beacon - two courting, one nearby, and one to the NW looking interested in the activity. Most of the action is taking place on the near-Westside of Beacon in a narrow North-South band running from the island to the South and ranging quite far to the North. On their repeated returns to Beacon they often end up right above it soaring and gaining lift on the ridge of air Beacon creates. Overall they are generally staying in very close proximity to each other and to Beacon.
My total poser guess is they are very close to pair-bonding / mating with nesting and eggs very soon thereafter. Eggs are incubated for about 33 days and the fledge cycle from hatching to fledging is somewhere between 30 and 58 days with the middle being average. So realistically if they settle down to nest this week or next we're most likely looking at a fairly normal opening date. I would suspect from what I'm seeing it might open a week or two early, but probably no more than that if they nest on the South Face. If they nest elsewhere and we can confirm the location than an earlier opening is certainly possible.
David Anderson of the WDFW has monitoring staffed up with a small number of non-climbers this year after a training session that was run at the Audobon Society around the new year. He normally only wants a very few committed folks monitoring so as to keep the monitoring notes consistent. Bill Coe and I have a good relationship with David and while contributing to that overall monitoring effort we will be more focusing our monitoring effort on confirming the nest site so we can all have a better understanding of a likely opening date. Again, biologically speaking, things are looking fairly normal at the moment and we are determined to identify the nesting site this year. We'll keep you posted and will probably give a shout to a couple of you who expressed and interest in monitoring, though there is still no immediate rush as they are not nesting as yet.
And for those that venture out on your own, it's easy to confuse the Red Tailed Hawks and Peregrines. In general, if the bird is doing a lot of flat flying / soaring without a lot of wing movement, doing wide lazy turns with broader wings, and a fairly decent sized "triangular" or "fan" tail - then it's a Red Tailed. Also note the leading and trailing wing edge profiles are basically reversed between the Red Tailed and the Peregrine. The Red Taileds nest up under the roofs where the big East face roofs start turning downward hard up from the SE corner (by the sign post on the trail) - You can see it either from the upper picnic area or from a spot between the men and women's bathrooms facing South. The nest is, coincidentally, very reddish, fairly large / tall and looks sort of "Tibetan" in its perch and construction. Because of the nest location and type of prey they hang out flying a lot to the East, Southeast, and South, steadily soaring along in order to spot game on the ground.
Red Tailed Hawk
The Peregrines are a bit smaller, darker, compact and burly. Their tail and wings are narrower, wings more articulated back at the "elbow", and more pointed at the tips. They don't do a lot of flat, slow soaring because they don't hunt for things on the ground but rather are after birds in the sky. They will do the Redtail type soaring but usually only in very close to the rock or directly above Beacon. Otherwise they're generally either chilling on a SE or SW corner ledge somewhere or they have their mojo on and are cutting up the sky swooping about climbing, diving, and booking out in some direction. Again, they often come back to the ridge lift right above Beacon. Some times they do head out to the North a ways or across the river so you have to be patient. The best place to see them right now is from down by the boat launch while looking at Beacon, the ridge lift above it, and in the sky to the N-NW. Once you catch them in a wing-tucked dive a couple of times they become a lot easier to identify on a consistent basis. Again, the key is really more in their flight behavior than their visual appearance; once you have that behavior down you can tell it's them even at a great distance.
Peregrine Falcon
Worth a trip out as they are really lighting things off right now if you catch them while they're out and about. I caught them on Tuesday, which was a beautiful day, in the afternoon around 3pm. They were out solid for two hours and then disappeared like Cinderella...
Joseph Healy
Bill Coe
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 4/4/06
=======================
Early Opening Rumors
Just got off the phone with BRSP staff - climbing on the South face is most definitely not going to be opening this weekend. We are just now cranking up monitoring efforts and will be working with David Anderson of the WDFW and the BRSP to open the South face to climbing at the earliest possible time. Will keep you all posted about both the monitoring and any news of a potential early opening.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon Rock Update - 4/4/06
=======================
Early Opening Rumors
Just got off the phone with BRSP staff - climbing on the South face is most definitely not going to be opening this weekend. We are just now cranking up monitoring efforts and will be working with David Anderson of the WDFW and the BRSP to open the South face to climbing at the earliest possible time. Will keep you all posted about both the monitoring and any news of a potential early opening.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 3/28/06
=======================
Early Opening / Peregrine Rumors
Just for the record. Peregrine monitoring has not yet begun and will only be formally initiated by David Anderson of the WDFW though we may start up on our own. This year's Peregrine's nesting status - both activity and location - are undetermined at this time.
Beacon is NOT opening early as of this time. That status may change if and when we determine the status and location of any Peregrine nesting or lack thereof. If, and that's "if", the Peregrines are proven not to not be nesting on the South face arrangements will be initiated with the necessary agencies to open it to climbing at the earliest opportunity after such a determination by WDFW.
For now the South face is closed and will remain so until either July 15th or until the WDFW determines otherwise. Thank you for your understanding, cooperation, and patience in this matter and rest assured we will be working to have the South face open as soon as possible.
Joseph Healy
Bill Coe
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon Rock Update - 3/28/06
=======================
Early Opening / Peregrine Rumors
Just for the record. Peregrine monitoring has not yet begun and will only be formally initiated by David Anderson of the WDFW though we may start up on our own. This year's Peregrine's nesting status - both activity and location - are undetermined at this time.
Beacon is NOT opening early as of this time. That status may change if and when we determine the status and location of any Peregrine nesting or lack thereof. If, and that's "if", the Peregrines are proven not to not be nesting on the South face arrangements will be initiated with the necessary agencies to open it to climbing at the earliest opportunity after such a determination by WDFW.
For now the South face is closed and will remain so until either July 15th or until the WDFW determines otherwise. Thank you for your understanding, cooperation, and patience in this matter and rest assured we will be working to have the South face open as soon as possible.
Joseph Healy
Bill Coe
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 1/24/06
=======================
No more $5 parking fee - YEAH!!!
Wash. Legislature repeals parking fees at state parks
Seattle residents and other people visiting Washington's 120 state parks will no longer have to pay daily parking fees.
On Monday, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill to repeal the fees that started in 2003. In a statement, she said the law helps keep the parks accessible to Washington state families.
Under previous parking rules, visitors had to pay a $5 daily fee or a $50 annual fee, according to the state parks system.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission had required these fees to help keep the locations open and to maintain them, said Rex Derr, state parks director. Around 2003, he said, the state was undergoing a financial crunch.
The parking fees, he added, raised about $4 million each year. Fees for watercraft launching and trailer dumping are still required.
State lawmakers still need to find a replacement for this source of money, Gregoire said.
"But this work is not yet complete. I look forward to working with the legislature to put forward an alternative revenue source that is ample, sustainable, and reliable during the next legislative session," she said
Peregrine Monitoring
We will be cranking up Peregrine monitoring any time now so if you are interested in helping out give a shout...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
Beacon Rock Update - 1/24/06
=======================
No more $5 parking fee - YEAH!!!
Wash. Legislature repeals parking fees at state parks
Seattle residents and other people visiting Washington's 120 state parks will no longer have to pay daily parking fees.
On Monday, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill to repeal the fees that started in 2003. In a statement, she said the law helps keep the parks accessible to Washington state families.
Under previous parking rules, visitors had to pay a $5 daily fee or a $50 annual fee, according to the state parks system.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission had required these fees to help keep the locations open and to maintain them, said Rex Derr, state parks director. Around 2003, he said, the state was undergoing a financial crunch.
The parking fees, he added, raised about $4 million each year. Fees for watercraft launching and trailer dumping are still required.
State lawmakers still need to find a replacement for this source of money, Gregoire said.
"But this work is not yet complete. I look forward to working with the legislature to put forward an alternative revenue source that is ample, sustainable, and reliable during the next legislative session," she said
Peregrine Monitoring
We will be cranking up Peregrine monitoring any time now so if you are interested in helping out give a shout...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 1/24/06
=======================
!!!Caution!!! SE Corner Rockfall
Went out to Beacon today and got my ass kicked after three months of sitting on it. But I went out to survey the rock fall that occured earlier this month. It's a good guess that the ice took down a couple of pretty good pieces of stone and on impacting high up above Grassy ledges one big chunk bounced again and blasted the biggest branch off the SE corner tree angling to the East and another went West exploding above the first pitch of the SE corner raining rock around the base and sending at least one larger rock down by the tracks.
On there way down they took out some natural gravel/rock damns and so the whole of the SE corner is pretty strewn with a pretty exceptional amount of loose rock. Because of this anyone going out there for any reason should treat it more like an alpine setting with loose rock. Be doubly careful with your feet and ropes and don't linger under anyone - especially at the SE corner start.
And of course it closes next Wednesday. Again, we had already planned to do a pre-opening work session focused on the build up of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges - this just added a substantial amount of work to that effort.
Dog Carcass
Also, a couple taking the trail up didn't leash their dog and it unforunately left the trail and fell. Nothing to be done about it but the carcass is still there so don't be surprised if you come upon it. This was the second dog of the season to run off the trail to a bad end. Dogs on the trail up should definitely be leashed both for their own safety and that of others on the trail.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
Beacon Rock Update - 1/24/06
=======================
!!!Caution!!! SE Corner Rockfall
Went out to Beacon today and got my ass kicked after three months of sitting on it. But I went out to survey the rock fall that occured earlier this month. It's a good guess that the ice took down a couple of pretty good pieces of stone and on impacting high up above Grassy ledges one big chunk bounced again and blasted the biggest branch off the SE corner tree angling to the East and another went West exploding above the first pitch of the SE corner raining rock around the base and sending at least one larger rock down by the tracks.
On there way down they took out some natural gravel/rock damns and so the whole of the SE corner is pretty strewn with a pretty exceptional amount of loose rock. Because of this anyone going out there for any reason should treat it more like an alpine setting with loose rock. Be doubly careful with your feet and ropes and don't linger under anyone - especially at the SE corner start.
And of course it closes next Wednesday. Again, we had already planned to do a pre-opening work session focused on the build up of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges - this just added a substantial amount of work to that effort.
Dog Carcass
Also, a couple taking the trail up didn't leash their dog and it unforunately left the trail and fell. Nothing to be done about it but the carcass is still there so don't be surprised if you come upon it. This was the second dog of the season to run off the trail to a bad end. Dogs on the trail up should definitely be leashed both for their own safety and that of others on the trail.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 1/2/06
=======================
!!!Caution!!! SE Corner Rockfall
Jim Opdyke got homesick and went out to Beacon Sunday and reported a significant rock fall has occured from very high above the SE corner. This rock fall spread rock from where the trail meets the rock all the way around and just short of tunnel #1. To spread in this pattern the rock fall must have occured quite high, possibly even coming off the SE corner ridge. At this time we do not know where the rockfall came from or if there is still more highly unstable rock up above. We hope to get out on a survey mission as soon as we get a break in the weather for a couple of days. If we do we'll also get photos and a more detailed study of the rock at the top of p1 on Young Warriors while we're at it. Remember, Beacon is a highly dynamic crag with a long history of large loose rocks coming down periodically. Until we know more about this incident be doubly cautious and alert if you are out there doing anything around the SE Corner between now and Feb. 1st when the park closes to climbing.
SE Corner Tree
After all our discussions of the SE Corner tree we will see how resilient it is as Jim O. said this rockfall took about 6 feet off of the main branch extending out to the South. If nothing else it will certainly lower its drag profile. Further, BRSP staff checked with the state biologists and habitat folks about the the SE Corner tree and the consensus back was do nothing to it and that settles that discussion as their word is final.
Dogs and Parvo
BRSP Staff wanted all you dog owners to be aware that there is a high incidence of Parvo within all boundaries of the park. If you have any questions about this please do drop in and talk to them.
NW Parvo FAQ
Peregrine Closure and Monitoring
2005 was a great year for seeing the falcons (and bears). David Anderson with WSFW is responisble for the Peregrine Management Plan and he really dedicated a lot of energy in to the monitoring Beacon in 2005 along with all his other duties which led to this year's early opening. But we never found the nest this past year but we do know they didn't nest in their usual South face nest/scrape on Big Ledge. Unfortunately, knowing where they are nesting is a requisite for any real early opening. To open the South face significantly early requires that we locate where they are nesting, not simply saying where they are not. We and Dave will be putting a lot of effort into locating their scrape this coming year and will keep you posted as that monitoring kicks in.
2006 Pre-Opening Work Session
We don't have a schedule yet but the proposed focus of this year's Work Session is cleaning up Grassy Ledges and above of loose rock. Some rockfall like what just happened we can't control, nor do we want to - we like Beacon wild - but the two decade buildup of rock on high traffic areas above the routes at the base of the Beacon's SE flank have to be addressed before there is a serious climber-initiated accident. We had quite a bit of rock come down this year on to the trail on busy weekends and we'd like to minimize this next season. This is particularly an issue on the lower Grassy Ledges from Blownout to Little Wing. We will also be doing more anchor replacements in this area during the session because it had too high a load of loose rock to work on it this past summer and fall while it was open. Setting up this effort takes a bit of coordination relative to dropping rocks down. We'll probably have Parks biologist/habitat folks out again and possibly others relative to determining the best drop zone for the rocks coming down. As of now it looks like the area below Blownout is a good candidate with regards to having a minimum impact on trees. We'll keep you posted on scheduling though it is almost entirely dependent on the Peregrine fledging and WSFW's approval to proceed.
BRSP Staff
Just a note to say that the BRSP Staff is highly supportive of climbing at Beacon as one of its many unique and distinctive characteristics as a WA State Park. We are fortunate to have them. I'd encourage all of you do drop by and at least meet them and say hello and introduce yourselves at some point in the season - you might be surprised at how nice and supportive they really are.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
P.S. Please extra careful on the ice and in all your alpine endeavors this winter and play safe...
Beacon Rock Update - 1/2/06
=======================
!!!Caution!!! SE Corner Rockfall
Jim Opdyke got homesick and went out to Beacon Sunday and reported a significant rock fall has occured from very high above the SE corner. This rock fall spread rock from where the trail meets the rock all the way around and just short of tunnel #1. To spread in this pattern the rock fall must have occured quite high, possibly even coming off the SE corner ridge. At this time we do not know where the rockfall came from or if there is still more highly unstable rock up above. We hope to get out on a survey mission as soon as we get a break in the weather for a couple of days. If we do we'll also get photos and a more detailed study of the rock at the top of p1 on Young Warriors while we're at it. Remember, Beacon is a highly dynamic crag with a long history of large loose rocks coming down periodically. Until we know more about this incident be doubly cautious and alert if you are out there doing anything around the SE Corner between now and Feb. 1st when the park closes to climbing.
SE Corner Tree
After all our discussions of the SE Corner tree we will see how resilient it is as Jim O. said this rockfall took about 6 feet off of the main branch extending out to the South. If nothing else it will certainly lower its drag profile. Further, BRSP staff checked with the state biologists and habitat folks about the the SE Corner tree and the consensus back was do nothing to it and that settles that discussion as their word is final.
Dogs and Parvo
BRSP Staff wanted all you dog owners to be aware that there is a high incidence of Parvo within all boundaries of the park. If you have any questions about this please do drop in and talk to them.
NW Parvo FAQ
Peregrine Closure and Monitoring
2005 was a great year for seeing the falcons (and bears). David Anderson with WSFW is responisble for the Peregrine Management Plan and he really dedicated a lot of energy in to the monitoring Beacon in 2005 along with all his other duties which led to this year's early opening. But we never found the nest this past year but we do know they didn't nest in their usual South face nest/scrape on Big Ledge. Unfortunately, knowing where they are nesting is a requisite for any real early opening. To open the South face significantly early requires that we locate where they are nesting, not simply saying where they are not. We and Dave will be putting a lot of effort into locating their scrape this coming year and will keep you posted as that monitoring kicks in.
2006 Pre-Opening Work Session
We don't have a schedule yet but the proposed focus of this year's Work Session is cleaning up Grassy Ledges and above of loose rock. Some rockfall like what just happened we can't control, nor do we want to - we like Beacon wild - but the two decade buildup of rock on high traffic areas above the routes at the base of the Beacon's SE flank have to be addressed before there is a serious climber-initiated accident. We had quite a bit of rock come down this year on to the trail on busy weekends and we'd like to minimize this next season. This is particularly an issue on the lower Grassy Ledges from Blownout to Little Wing. We will also be doing more anchor replacements in this area during the session because it had too high a load of loose rock to work on it this past summer and fall while it was open. Setting up this effort takes a bit of coordination relative to dropping rocks down. We'll probably have Parks biologist/habitat folks out again and possibly others relative to determining the best drop zone for the rocks coming down. As of now it looks like the area below Blownout is a good candidate with regards to having a minimum impact on trees. We'll keep you posted on scheduling though it is almost entirely dependent on the Peregrine fledging and WSFW's approval to proceed.
BRSP Staff
Just a note to say that the BRSP Staff is highly supportive of climbing at Beacon as one of its many unique and distinctive characteristics as a WA State Park. We are fortunate to have them. I'd encourage all of you do drop by and at least meet them and say hello and introduce yourselves at some point in the season - you might be surprised at how nice and supportive they really are.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association
Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
P.S. Please extra careful on the ice and in all your alpine endeavors this winter and play safe...
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 10/16/05
=======================
SE Corner Tree:
Slings and rap rings were removed today.
SE Corner P2 Anchor: Slings and rings were also removed from this anchor. This anchor on the first pass just had the hangers replaced. It will be redone shortly to bring the two hangers into closer proximity. How many of you actually do this rap or see folks doing it?
Grey Sling Swap Out: The gray slings on SE Corner and the main SE descent raps were swapped out for black webbing so they are not mistaken for 'weathered' slings by beginners.
General Issues
SE Corner P2 Slab Cam Removed: For those of you that hug the dihedral, the mangled cam is now gone. It came out fairly reasonably by manipulating all four cam tips at the same time with fingers.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 10/16/05
=======================
SE Corner Tree:
Slings and rap rings were removed today.
SE Corner P2 Anchor: Slings and rings were also removed from this anchor. This anchor on the first pass just had the hangers replaced. It will be redone shortly to bring the two hangers into closer proximity. How many of you actually do this rap or see folks doing it?
Grey Sling Swap Out: The gray slings on SE Corner and the main SE descent raps were swapped out for black webbing so they are not mistaken for 'weathered' slings by beginners.
General Issues
SE Corner P2 Slab Cam Removed: For those of you that hug the dihedral, the mangled cam is now gone. It came out fairly reasonably by manipulating all four cam tips at the same time with fingers.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 10/11/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
"Iron Maiden": Work on "Iron Maiden" is complete.
"Flight Time": Work on "Flight Time" is complete.
"Flying Swallow": Work on "Flying Swallow" is complete. The top anchor has now been outfitted with webbing and rings but some comments and precautions are in order relative to this route and rappelling it. First off, topping out to the tourist trail or going down "Flying Dutchman" are the best ways off the upper Grassy Ledges after doing any of the routes Between "Flight Time" and "Flying Dutchman". That said, the "Flying Swallow" top anchor is an excellent example of where equalizing webbing anchors are the deal; this anchor allows you to rap "Flight Time", "Flying Swallow", and "Iron Maiden" depending on what direction you leave the ledge - left, center, or right, respectively. But be forewarned:
- You need two ropes.
- Rapping center or right ("Flying Swallow"/"Iron Maiden") the rope goes over about 8' of rock and you will both need to pull very hard or bring a jumar and aider to pull the rope - one person can't pull it just with hands (and it more or less welds to the rock in the rain).
- Rapping left ("Flying Swallow"/"Flight Time") one person can pull the rope by hand, but you may still want a jumar to make it easier. That said, the rap down "Flying Swallow" is quite a journey in it's own right with those caveats. This is THE rappel to do of the three if you are going to do the rap.
Also, below and left on "Flying Swallow" about thirty feet from this anchor is probably the best bivy column top at Beacon; a truly spectacular spot. This ledge has no rappable anchor at the moment, however, so if you were going to do it you'd still need two 60's, rap off the left side of the top anchor ledge, and leave the ropes hanging during the night (and don't let those ropes go flying out of reach at any time).
P.S. Here is a shot of one of the FA anchors from "Flying Swallow" put up in '65 by Kim Schmitz, Earl Levin, and Dean Caldwell. The new anchor is immediately below this one and we left this classic for show and tell...
[Note of thanks to Jim and Larry for helping out on Sunday...]
"Flying Dutchman": Currently has a 9mm haul line fixed on it for the Anchor Replacement Project; if you rap or climb this route please make sure when you're done that the end of the haul line is accessible from the ledge of the lower of the two trees where you walk off the rap, thanks. The area at the top of the climb has been cleaned up a bit and the blue safety line from the big pine tree is cloved to the "Flying Dutchman's" old anchors; please clip this safety line if you are going down to check out or do the rap and please leave the safety line biner and clove hitch as you found them, thanks once again.
"Upper Grassy Ledges": There is currently a safety line across the top of the Upper Grassy ledges to allow us to safely traverse them with the haul bag during the Anchor Replacement Project; if you use it to go check out the upper ledges - great - but on returning, use it to come back down by the very small pine tree right where the trail ends at "Flying Dutchman", which would put it on the left, or West side, of a rounded rock outcropping. Do not use it to come down on the right, or East side, of this rock towards the line up to the "Land of the Little People" ledge as it is needed out by the edge for humping the haul bag up after the hauling.
"Next Up": We've replaced thirty four anchors to-date and there are still eleven anchors West of "Flying Dutchman" to do before returning attention to the stretch to the East on over the Lower Grassy Ledges to "Little Wing". This will take one or two more good days and then probably four or five work sessions for the fifteen anchors in that latter stretch to finish up the project. Some of these will be hauling jobs, some will be hiking up and rapping down from the tourist trail; as always, any volunteers are greatly appreciated.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall [repeating]: The recent rains have been bringing rocks down and the area at the start of the "SE Corner" has obviously taken multiple hits. We don't know where these rocks came from but we suspect the blackberry retaining chute that crosses the Grassy Ledges. Add this to last weekend's rockfall of football size rocks on both days onto the area just as you come up to Tunnel #1 and you get conditions that pretty well dictate wearing a helmet. As always - be extra careful of each and every footfall and rope movement when anywhere up on Grassy Ledges. For that matter just clip rock, bushes, anchors, or anything else if you're traversing the ledges roped - try not to let your rope drag at all...
General Issues
Central Columns Route Adoption [repeating]: We're working hard with the Anchor Replacement Project to set the stage for ressucitating all the routes across the columns in the middle of the South face. But there is a problem. After years of folks mainly climbing around the SW and SE corners, the columns have become badly overgrown. However, once the anchors are all set we should be able to safely clean out and restore the South face column routes. This will probably be the post opening thrust next year. All of you interested in climbing these classics, or freeing some of the remaining aid pitches, might consider working together on restoring these routes. If everyone adopted two or three lines, cleaned them up, and revisited them each year we could probably get this all done in a month and then just be able to relax and enjoy climbing these routes the rest of the year. Keep it in mind anyway and we'll probably put together a meeting over the winter.
"SE Corner" Tree Discussion: See post earlier in the linked CC.com thread and any continuing discussion in another "Oregon Cascades" thread titled: Beacon - SE Corner Tree Discussion , thanks.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 10/11/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
"Iron Maiden": Work on "Iron Maiden" is complete.
"Flight Time": Work on "Flight Time" is complete.
"Flying Swallow": Work on "Flying Swallow" is complete. The top anchor has now been outfitted with webbing and rings but some comments and precautions are in order relative to this route and rappelling it. First off, topping out to the tourist trail or going down "Flying Dutchman" are the best ways off the upper Grassy Ledges after doing any of the routes Between "Flight Time" and "Flying Dutchman". That said, the "Flying Swallow" top anchor is an excellent example of where equalizing webbing anchors are the deal; this anchor allows you to rap "Flight Time", "Flying Swallow", and "Iron Maiden" depending on what direction you leave the ledge - left, center, or right, respectively. But be forewarned:
- You need two ropes.
- Rapping center or right ("Flying Swallow"/"Iron Maiden") the rope goes over about 8' of rock and you will both need to pull very hard or bring a jumar and aider to pull the rope - one person can't pull it just with hands (and it more or less welds to the rock in the rain).
- Rapping left ("Flying Swallow"/"Flight Time") one person can pull the rope by hand, but you may still want a jumar to make it easier. That said, the rap down "Flying Swallow" is quite a journey in it's own right with those caveats. This is THE rappel to do of the three if you are going to do the rap.
Also, below and left on "Flying Swallow" about thirty feet from this anchor is probably the best bivy column top at Beacon; a truly spectacular spot. This ledge has no rappable anchor at the moment, however, so if you were going to do it you'd still need two 60's, rap off the left side of the top anchor ledge, and leave the ropes hanging during the night (and don't let those ropes go flying out of reach at any time).
P.S. Here is a shot of one of the FA anchors from "Flying Swallow" put up in '65 by Kim Schmitz, Earl Levin, and Dean Caldwell. The new anchor is immediately below this one and we left this classic for show and tell...
[Note of thanks to Jim and Larry for helping out on Sunday...]
"Flying Dutchman": Currently has a 9mm haul line fixed on it for the Anchor Replacement Project; if you rap or climb this route please make sure when you're done that the end of the haul line is accessible from the ledge of the lower of the two trees where you walk off the rap, thanks. The area at the top of the climb has been cleaned up a bit and the blue safety line from the big pine tree is cloved to the "Flying Dutchman's" old anchors; please clip this safety line if you are going down to check out or do the rap and please leave the safety line biner and clove hitch as you found them, thanks once again.
"Upper Grassy Ledges": There is currently a safety line across the top of the Upper Grassy ledges to allow us to safely traverse them with the haul bag during the Anchor Replacement Project; if you use it to go check out the upper ledges - great - but on returning, use it to come back down by the very small pine tree right where the trail ends at "Flying Dutchman", which would put it on the left, or West side, of a rounded rock outcropping. Do not use it to come down on the right, or East side, of this rock towards the line up to the "Land of the Little People" ledge as it is needed out by the edge for humping the haul bag up after the hauling.
"Next Up": We've replaced thirty four anchors to-date and there are still eleven anchors West of "Flying Dutchman" to do before returning attention to the stretch to the East on over the Lower Grassy Ledges to "Little Wing". This will take one or two more good days and then probably four or five work sessions for the fifteen anchors in that latter stretch to finish up the project. Some of these will be hauling jobs, some will be hiking up and rapping down from the tourist trail; as always, any volunteers are greatly appreciated.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall [repeating]: The recent rains have been bringing rocks down and the area at the start of the "SE Corner" has obviously taken multiple hits. We don't know where these rocks came from but we suspect the blackberry retaining chute that crosses the Grassy Ledges. Add this to last weekend's rockfall of football size rocks on both days onto the area just as you come up to Tunnel #1 and you get conditions that pretty well dictate wearing a helmet. As always - be extra careful of each and every footfall and rope movement when anywhere up on Grassy Ledges. For that matter just clip rock, bushes, anchors, or anything else if you're traversing the ledges roped - try not to let your rope drag at all...
General Issues
Central Columns Route Adoption [repeating]: We're working hard with the Anchor Replacement Project to set the stage for ressucitating all the routes across the columns in the middle of the South face. But there is a problem. After years of folks mainly climbing around the SW and SE corners, the columns have become badly overgrown. However, once the anchors are all set we should be able to safely clean out and restore the South face column routes. This will probably be the post opening thrust next year. All of you interested in climbing these classics, or freeing some of the remaining aid pitches, might consider working together on restoring these routes. If everyone adopted two or three lines, cleaned them up, and revisited them each year we could probably get this all done in a month and then just be able to relax and enjoy climbing these routes the rest of the year. Keep it in mind anyway and we'll probably put together a meeting over the winter.
"SE Corner" Tree Discussion: See post earlier in the linked CC.com thread and any continuing discussion in another "Oregon Cascades" thread titled: Beacon - SE Corner Tree Discussion , thanks.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 10/6/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
"Flying Swallow": The top anchor on "Flying Swallow" has been replaced, but it does not have webbing and rings on it yet but definitely needs them - this is not a rap for rapping off the hangers due to the friction when trying to pull the rope. From this rap you can get to various anchors with two ropes. The mid-point anchor for "Iron Maiden" is directly below on this rap and, in fact, you have to swing a bit to the left to get back to the mid-point anchor for "Flying Swallow". Work was rudelying interrupted by rain and work on the anchors in this area will be completed this Sunday.
"Iron Maiden": As mentioned, the mid-point anchor on "Iron Maiden" has been replaced and it will remain just hangers without webbing and rings which aren't needed on this anchor. The old bolts and hangers have not yet been removed but will be in the next few days.
"Double Dirty Overhang": The top anchor for "Double Dirty Overhang has been located and this aid climb has some issues. The route from the anchors up to Grassy Ledges proper or to the "Flying Dutchman" rap is severely overgrown making entry and exit from the anchors difficult. Further, the upper part of the route itself is now completely overgrown with bushes and trees. It will take a substantial cleaning effort to recover this climb; likely work for next year.
[Note of thanks to Mark (HillsHugger) for helping hump gear up to the Grassy Ledges and to Shane and Lee for helping hump it back out in the rain.]
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall: The recent rains have been bringing rocks down and the area at the start of the "SE Corner" has obviously taken multiple hits. We don't know where these rocks came from but we suspect the blackberry retaining chute that crosses the Grassy Ledges. Add this to last weekend's rockfall of football size rocks on both days onto the area just as you come up to Tunnel #1 and you get conditions that pretty well dictate wearing a helmet. As always - be extra careful of each and every footfall and rope movement when anywhere up on Grassy Ledges. For that matter just clip rock, bushes, anchors, or anything else if you're traversing the ledges roped - try not to let your rope drag at all...
General Issues
Central Columns Route Adoption: We're working hard with the Anchor Replacement Project to set the stage for ressucitating all the routes across the columns in the middle of the South face. But there is a problem. After years of folks mainly climbing around the SW and SE corners, the columns have become badly overgrown. However, once the anchors are all set we should be able to safely clean out and restore the South face column routes. This will probably be the post opening thrust next year. All of you interested in climbing these classics, or freeing some of the remaining aid pitches, might consider working together on restoring these routes. If everyone adopted two or three lines, cleaned them up, and revisited them each year we could probably get this all done in a month and then just be able to relax and enjoy climbing these routes the rest of the year. Keep it in mind anyway and we'll probably put together a meeting over the winter.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 10/6/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
"Flying Swallow": The top anchor on "Flying Swallow" has been replaced, but it does not have webbing and rings on it yet but definitely needs them - this is not a rap for rapping off the hangers due to the friction when trying to pull the rope. From this rap you can get to various anchors with two ropes. The mid-point anchor for "Iron Maiden" is directly below on this rap and, in fact, you have to swing a bit to the left to get back to the mid-point anchor for "Flying Swallow". Work was rudelying interrupted by rain and work on the anchors in this area will be completed this Sunday.
"Iron Maiden": As mentioned, the mid-point anchor on "Iron Maiden" has been replaced and it will remain just hangers without webbing and rings which aren't needed on this anchor. The old bolts and hangers have not yet been removed but will be in the next few days.
"Double Dirty Overhang": The top anchor for "Double Dirty Overhang has been located and this aid climb has some issues. The route from the anchors up to Grassy Ledges proper or to the "Flying Dutchman" rap is severely overgrown making entry and exit from the anchors difficult. Further, the upper part of the route itself is now completely overgrown with bushes and trees. It will take a substantial cleaning effort to recover this climb; likely work for next year.
[Note of thanks to Mark (HillsHugger) for helping hump gear up to the Grassy Ledges and to Shane and Lee for helping hump it back out in the rain.]
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall: The recent rains have been bringing rocks down and the area at the start of the "SE Corner" has obviously taken multiple hits. We don't know where these rocks came from but we suspect the blackberry retaining chute that crosses the Grassy Ledges. Add this to last weekend's rockfall of football size rocks on both days onto the area just as you come up to Tunnel #1 and you get conditions that pretty well dictate wearing a helmet. As always - be extra careful of each and every footfall and rope movement when anywhere up on Grassy Ledges. For that matter just clip rock, bushes, anchors, or anything else if you're traversing the ledges roped - try not to let your rope drag at all...
General Issues
Central Columns Route Adoption: We're working hard with the Anchor Replacement Project to set the stage for ressucitating all the routes across the columns in the middle of the South face. But there is a problem. After years of folks mainly climbing around the SW and SE corners, the columns have become badly overgrown. However, once the anchors are all set we should be able to safely clean out and restore the South face column routes. This will probably be the post opening thrust next year. All of you interested in climbing these classics, or freeing some of the remaining aid pitches, might consider working together on restoring these routes. If everyone adopted two or three lines, cleaned them up, and revisited them each year we could probably get this all done in a month and then just be able to relax and enjoy climbing these routes the rest of the year. Keep it in mind anyway and we'll probably put together a meeting over the winter.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 9/30/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
Next Up...: Next up now that "Ground Zero" taken care is the "American Death Triangle" on "Iron Maiden" which we'll be able to reach with a double rope rap from "Ground Zero". After that our attention will jog briefly to the "Pipeline" anchor before returning to come up with a [safe] work strategy for the anchors between "Little Wing" and "Blownout". Again, there are safety issues working on some of the lower Grassy Ledges given a decades' accumulation of rock. After that we will be taking a hard look at the overall steep ramp that runs across the base of the South face columns. This ramp/face has become overgrown and is littered with old pins and a few new ones. We will be doing a survey of this face/ramp and developing work plans for it, but those will likely be a project for next year.
"Ground Zero" and Rapping: Anchor replaements on Ground Zero is now essentially complete with the exception of one old bolt/hanger that still needs to be removed. But, unlike "Flying Dutchman" which you can get down with anything from a single 50m, "Ground Zero" is a different beast. You can do it with a single 70m in two raps, but only by tying a knot in the end and relying on rope stretch to get you to the mid-point anchor. To be really safe you have to do three raps with a single 70m. Other than that you'll need two ropes. Once again, "Flying Dutchman" is definitely the way to go...
"Takes Fists" Top Anchor: The top anchor on "Takes Fists" has been moved out onto the face to a much safer location. Jim Opdyke has asked that the old anchor back on the column top not be removed for history's sake and so it stayed. This anchor was originally placed in a location that was great for sitting while drilling, but definitely wasn't in a good place at all relative to rapping (pulling) or belaying. Again, for all these routes it makes a lot more sense to come back down and do the "Flying Dutchman" rap. As a reminder of that this is a bare anchor with no webbing or rings.
[Note of thanks to Ivan for helping out with work on the above two routes...]
Unknown Route Info Needed: There is a route between "Ground Zero" and "Takes Fists" that goes up to the broken off column roof just right and a little below the one on "Ground Zero" to two existing Metolius Rap anchors - one grey, one beige. Jim Opdycke said this route was put up by someone younger a couple of years ago; if you have any info on this route or the person that put it up please PM me or email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall: Well it turns out we had significant rockfall onto the trailhead/tunnel #1 area on both Saturday and Sunday. We still aren't entirely sure where from but are pretty damn sure it is from the main Grassy Ledges trail. The lower Grassy Ledges in that area have been inspected and given the infrequency of travel over them it is probably not the source whereas the main trail is littered. If we can't pin this down and if anymore incidents happen we will be proposing a brief (several day closure to clean the entire Grassy Ledges and the chutes that cross it. Please re-read the previous status update on this issue if this is the first time you are reading about it.
General Issues
Bird Bands: The Peregrines have to eat and we've found two bird bands on bones up on various column tops recently. One of these was from a Vancouver-based racing pigeon and the other has been sent to David Anderson, the WDFW Biologist chartered with managing the Peregrines, we'll keep you posted as to what it was when we find out. Please keep your eyes open for these and turn them in to the BSRP Staff or contact myself, Jim Opdycke, or Bill Coe and we'll get them passed along. As a side note we've seen the Peregrines on almost every trip out to Beacon this year - keep your eyes and ears open as the are a pretty amazing sight, particularly in a steep dive...
Bears: One of Mama's two year olds was idling along the tracks between Beacon and the boat launch yesterday. Looked healthy and happy as it clamored back down into the nature reserve along the river.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 9/30/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
Next Up...: Next up now that "Ground Zero" taken care is the "American Death Triangle" on "Iron Maiden" which we'll be able to reach with a double rope rap from "Ground Zero". After that our attention will jog briefly to the "Pipeline" anchor before returning to come up with a [safe] work strategy for the anchors between "Little Wing" and "Blownout". Again, there are safety issues working on some of the lower Grassy Ledges given a decades' accumulation of rock. After that we will be taking a hard look at the overall steep ramp that runs across the base of the South face columns. This ramp/face has become overgrown and is littered with old pins and a few new ones. We will be doing a survey of this face/ramp and developing work plans for it, but those will likely be a project for next year.
"Ground Zero" and Rapping: Anchor replaements on Ground Zero is now essentially complete with the exception of one old bolt/hanger that still needs to be removed. But, unlike "Flying Dutchman" which you can get down with anything from a single 50m, "Ground Zero" is a different beast. You can do it with a single 70m in two raps, but only by tying a knot in the end and relying on rope stretch to get you to the mid-point anchor. To be really safe you have to do three raps with a single 70m. Other than that you'll need two ropes. Once again, "Flying Dutchman" is definitely the way to go...
"Takes Fists" Top Anchor: The top anchor on "Takes Fists" has been moved out onto the face to a much safer location. Jim Opdyke has asked that the old anchor back on the column top not be removed for history's sake and so it stayed. This anchor was originally placed in a location that was great for sitting while drilling, but definitely wasn't in a good place at all relative to rapping (pulling) or belaying. Again, for all these routes it makes a lot more sense to come back down and do the "Flying Dutchman" rap. As a reminder of that this is a bare anchor with no webbing or rings.
[Note of thanks to Ivan for helping out with work on the above two routes...]
Unknown Route Info Needed: There is a route between "Ground Zero" and "Takes Fists" that goes up to the broken off column roof just right and a little below the one on "Ground Zero" to two existing Metolius Rap anchors - one grey, one beige. Jim Opdycke said this route was put up by someone younger a couple of years ago; if you have any info on this route or the person that put it up please PM me or email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Rockfall: Well it turns out we had significant rockfall onto the trailhead/tunnel #1 area on both Saturday and Sunday. We still aren't entirely sure where from but are pretty damn sure it is from the main Grassy Ledges trail. The lower Grassy Ledges in that area have been inspected and given the infrequency of travel over them it is probably not the source whereas the main trail is littered. If we can't pin this down and if anymore incidents happen we will be proposing a brief (several day closure to clean the entire Grassy Ledges and the chutes that cross it. Please re-read the previous status update on this issue if this is the first time you are reading about it.
General Issues
Bird Bands: The Peregrines have to eat and we've found two bird bands on bones up on various column tops recently. One of these was from a Vancouver-based racing pigeon and the other has been sent to David Anderson, the WDFW Biologist chartered with managing the Peregrines, we'll keep you posted as to what it was when we find out. Please keep your eyes open for these and turn them in to the BSRP Staff or contact myself, Jim Opdycke, or Bill Coe and we'll get them passed along. As a side note we've seen the Peregrines on almost every trip out to Beacon this year - keep your eyes and ears open as the are a pretty amazing sight, particularly in a steep dive...
Bears: One of Mama's two year olds was idling along the tracks between Beacon and the boat launch yesterday. Looked healthy and happy as it clamored back down into the nature reserve along the river.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 9/25/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
The Best Laid Plans...: Well, the plan to work East from "Flying Dutchman" towards "Blownout" has been put on hold after a survey the lower Grassy Ledges comprising the tops of "Blownout" and its neighbors and another survey of the tiers from "Little Wing" to "Blownout". We do have to consider the danger of potential rockfall during our work and, simply put, a sizeable loose rock load has built up across the lower and upper Grassy Ledges making work there problematic. Some of this work will have to be deferred to either next years pre-opening work session or a mid-week closure later this fall. So we've switched to the backup plan and have started working West from "Flying Dutchman".
"Ground Zero" and Big Wall Practice: Anchor replacements West of "Flying Dutchman" have commenced with "Ground Zero" which is in the middle of the South face columns. It is on the left side of the leftmost of a several broken column roofs when looking up from the trail. This is another spectacular climb and good practice zone for anyone considering going down to the Valley to do an El Cap route. The mid-route anchor is a classic valley anchor with four bolts in a row side-by-side. This is a perfect setting for a portaledge as the columns flatten out at this spot so the anchor is against a "wall" as opposed to in a notch between two columns. Setting up camp on a wall can be a challenge so use this route for practicing your bivy skills.
"Flying Dutchman" Rap: Once again we wanted to suggest you use this rap off the Grassy Ledges if you are a competent and experienced rappeller comfortable with intermediate raps that have no standing ledges. You can get down this rap with pretty much any cord from a single 50 meter on up and you can get down in one shot with two 60 meter ropes. Using this rap will minimize any log jams on the traditional SE Corner descent rap and so also minimize potential rock fall that rap can sometimes generate when folks aren't careful.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Issues: As we've been reminding you there is lots of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges and yesterday we had a pretty serious incident of a football-sized rock getting launched from the ledges from above tunnel #1. We don't have the specific details, if you do send me a PM or email the Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com account. Again, this is deadly serious business and you MUST manage every footfall and rope movement when up on Grassy Ledges. If you are going to traverse the ledges with a rope from the point you hit them from the "SE Corner" then watch your rope like a hawk and clip a tree, bush, or put in a piece to keep the rope off the ground to the degree possible. If traversing on past the standard descent rap on your way up to the "Land of the Little People" Ledge or the "Flying Dutchman" rap then by all means clip that rap anchor on your way by it. Do whatever you have to do to keep your rope off the ground where it can launch rocks and be very, very careful how and where you step traversing the ledges. Another incident of this nature will likely trigger a temporary closure so that Grassy Ledges can be cleaned before climbing can resume.
General Issues
Dogs: Many folks we like and regard as good climbers and great company have dogs and bring them with them to Beacon. Part of the point of the re-founding of the BRCA is to restore relationships with the various agencies of record involved with managing Beacon and we are heavily focused on clear communication and complying with both State and Park rules and operating transparently within the bounds of the Climbing Management Plan. Part of those rules pertain to dogs and clearly state that dogs must be leashed and further must be under the physical control of their owner at all times. Every climber we've seen bring a dog so far has clearly decided these rules don't apply to them or their dog[s] and that "their dog" would never cause any problems. This unfortunately is beginning to become an issue that is attracting more attention. Every dog owner no matter who they are in a climbing context needs to understand these rules do apply to them and their dogs. Also, be prepared to pack out your animal's waste as we've now had three complaints from climbers who've stepped in you know what. We understand it's a complete drag, but please comply with these rules if you are going to bring your dog out.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 9/25/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
The Best Laid Plans...: Well, the plan to work East from "Flying Dutchman" towards "Blownout" has been put on hold after a survey the lower Grassy Ledges comprising the tops of "Blownout" and its neighbors and another survey of the tiers from "Little Wing" to "Blownout". We do have to consider the danger of potential rockfall during our work and, simply put, a sizeable loose rock load has built up across the lower and upper Grassy Ledges making work there problematic. Some of this work will have to be deferred to either next years pre-opening work session or a mid-week closure later this fall. So we've switched to the backup plan and have started working West from "Flying Dutchman".
"Ground Zero" and Big Wall Practice: Anchor replacements West of "Flying Dutchman" have commenced with "Ground Zero" which is in the middle of the South face columns. It is on the left side of the leftmost of a several broken column roofs when looking up from the trail. This is another spectacular climb and good practice zone for anyone considering going down to the Valley to do an El Cap route. The mid-route anchor is a classic valley anchor with four bolts in a row side-by-side. This is a perfect setting for a portaledge as the columns flatten out at this spot so the anchor is against a "wall" as opposed to in a notch between two columns. Setting up camp on a wall can be a challenge so use this route for practicing your bivy skills.
"Flying Dutchman" Rap: Once again we wanted to suggest you use this rap off the Grassy Ledges if you are a competent and experienced rappeller comfortable with intermediate raps that have no standing ledges. You can get down this rap with pretty much any cord from a single 50 meter on up and you can get down in one shot with two 60 meter ropes. Using this rap will minimize any log jams on the traditional SE Corner descent rap and so also minimize potential rock fall that rap can sometimes generate when folks aren't careful.
Safety Issues
Grassy Ledges Safety Issues: As we've been reminding you there is lots of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges and yesterday we had a pretty serious incident of a football-sized rock getting launched from the ledges from above tunnel #1. We don't have the specific details, if you do send me a PM or email the Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com account. Again, this is deadly serious business and you MUST manage every footfall and rope movement when up on Grassy Ledges. If you are going to traverse the ledges with a rope from the point you hit them from the "SE Corner" then watch your rope like a hawk and clip a tree, bush, or put in a piece to keep the rope off the ground to the degree possible. If traversing on past the standard descent rap on your way up to the "Land of the Little People" Ledge or the "Flying Dutchman" rap then by all means clip that rap anchor on your way by it. Do whatever you have to do to keep your rope off the ground where it can launch rocks and be very, very careful how and where you step traversing the ledges. Another incident of this nature will likely trigger a temporary closure so that Grassy Ledges can be cleaned before climbing can resume.
General Issues
Dogs: Many folks we like and regard as good climbers and great company have dogs and bring them with them to Beacon. Part of the point of the re-founding of the BRCA is to restore relationships with the various agencies of record involved with managing Beacon and we are heavily focused on clear communication and complying with both State and Park rules and operating transparently within the bounds of the Climbing Management Plan. Part of those rules pertain to dogs and clearly state that dogs must be leashed and further must be under the physical control of their owner at all times. Every climber we've seen bring a dog so far has clearly decided these rules don't apply to them or their dog[s] and that "their dog" would never cause any problems. This unfortunately is beginning to become an issue that is attracting more attention. Every dog owner no matter who they are in a climbing context needs to understand these rules do apply to them and their dogs. Also, be prepared to pack out your animal's waste as we've now had three complaints from climbers who've stepped in you know what. We understand it's a complete drag, but please comply with these rules if you are going to bring your dog out.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 9/20/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
Flying Dutchman Anchors and Rap: The work on the main South face columns is now underway. The key anchor at the top of "Flying Dutchman" has been replaced as have the four anchors below on the route and on "Bears in Heat" next to it. All the bolts in all the five anchor sets were spinners and loose. "Flying Dutchman" is the route that tops out at the far West end of the Grassy Ledges trail past the large pine tree. For experienced folks that are totally comfortable with rappelling, rapping "Flying Dutchman" is the fastest, cleanest, and most interesting way to get down from any route that ends up on the Grassy Ledges. It also might open your eyes to some possibilities beyond the [classics] "Blownout" and "Blood, Sweat and Smears".
There is a blue safety rope attached to the pine tree that can be used to navigate down the last thirty feet or so of the Grassy Ledges trail to get to the top anchor of "Flying Dutchman"; set up on it like a rappel or use a grigri. The other end of the blue rope is attached to the top anchor of "Wild Turkeys" - don't go down there, but rather use the rope to follow the trail down and West where it ends at the column top and anchor of "Flying Dutchman". The rappel from this top anchor is spectacular and a pair of 60 meter ropes (with rope stretch) will deposit you on the walk off ramp just above the trail. 70m ropes will put you directly on the trail with about 15 feet of rope to spare. There are two Oak trees at the base of the route and the walk off ramp is at the lower of the two. Pulling your ropes on this rap takes next to no energy at all and if you just let the rope come down under its own power at the very end of the pull it will come down clean staying out of the tree.
ARP - What's Next: The next Anchor Replacement Project session will be working East from this rap towards Blownout. Later sessions will eventually finish up by "Wrong Gull" at which point the East Half of the South face will be complete. After that the routes West of "Flying Dutchman" between "Dirty Double Overhang" and "Steppenwolf" will complete the Anchor Replacement Project. Help is always welcome as there are about 40 anchors left to repair/replace, it's hard work with little climbing, but pretty damn rewarding in its own right - if it looks like you have a day free help out, email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com and let us know.
Grassy Ledges Safety Issues: Please be extra careful with your feet and ropes anytime you are up on GL as there are lots of loose rocks about and the ledges won't be cleaned up until next year's pre-opening work session. Also, the BRCA, along with John Ernster of the BSRP Staff, are going to be working through some [safety] issues relative to topping out on a number of the [column] routes that end short of the GL trail and come up with a permanent solution to replace the blue rope that is up there now. Our intent is to come up with a solution that will both service more routes and be a bit less conspicuous. We'll keep you posted as this work develops but we won't be doing either the survey or planning until near the end of the year.
Kudos to contributors: Thanks for helping out with the Anchor Replacement Project are definitely in order:
- Ranger John Ernster and the Beacon Rock State Park Staff have been absolutely fantastic in providing logistical support, guidance, feedback, and oversight of the Anchor Replacement Project. We wouldn't be able to get any of this work done without their being behind the effort 110% of the way. Thank a Ranger the next time you meet one out at Beacon...
- Jim Opdyke has been just utterly invaluable in lending his intimate knowledge of Beacon history and providing guidance to this effort so be sure and give him a pat on the back if you run into him out there. Or, for that matter as a Founding Father of the BRCA, take him for a beer up at Skamania Lodge or down in PDX some time and ply him for a tale or two.
- Bill Coe another BRCA Founding Father, Bill has also been instrumental in providing guidance, brawn, material, and tools to the effort.
- Brooke Sandahl / Metolius for sourcing their fabulous and beefy Rap Anchors.
- Gavin Ferguson / US Outdoor Store for sourcing the webbing and Fixe rap rings.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 9/20/05
=======================
Anchor Replacement Project
Flying Dutchman Anchors and Rap: The work on the main South face columns is now underway. The key anchor at the top of "Flying Dutchman" has been replaced as have the four anchors below on the route and on "Bears in Heat" next to it. All the bolts in all the five anchor sets were spinners and loose. "Flying Dutchman" is the route that tops out at the far West end of the Grassy Ledges trail past the large pine tree. For experienced folks that are totally comfortable with rappelling, rapping "Flying Dutchman" is the fastest, cleanest, and most interesting way to get down from any route that ends up on the Grassy Ledges. It also might open your eyes to some possibilities beyond the [classics] "Blownout" and "Blood, Sweat and Smears".
There is a blue safety rope attached to the pine tree that can be used to navigate down the last thirty feet or so of the Grassy Ledges trail to get to the top anchor of "Flying Dutchman"; set up on it like a rappel or use a grigri. The other end of the blue rope is attached to the top anchor of "Wild Turkeys" - don't go down there, but rather use the rope to follow the trail down and West where it ends at the column top and anchor of "Flying Dutchman". The rappel from this top anchor is spectacular and a pair of 60 meter ropes (with rope stretch) will deposit you on the walk off ramp just above the trail. 70m ropes will put you directly on the trail with about 15 feet of rope to spare. There are two Oak trees at the base of the route and the walk off ramp is at the lower of the two. Pulling your ropes on this rap takes next to no energy at all and if you just let the rope come down under its own power at the very end of the pull it will come down clean staying out of the tree.
ARP - What's Next: The next Anchor Replacement Project session will be working East from this rap towards Blownout. Later sessions will eventually finish up by "Wrong Gull" at which point the East Half of the South face will be complete. After that the routes West of "Flying Dutchman" between "Dirty Double Overhang" and "Steppenwolf" will complete the Anchor Replacement Project. Help is always welcome as there are about 40 anchors left to repair/replace, it's hard work with little climbing, but pretty damn rewarding in its own right - if it looks like you have a day free help out, email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com and let us know.
Grassy Ledges Safety Issues: Please be extra careful with your feet and ropes anytime you are up on GL as there are lots of loose rocks about and the ledges won't be cleaned up until next year's pre-opening work session. Also, the BRCA, along with John Ernster of the BSRP Staff, are going to be working through some [safety] issues relative to topping out on a number of the [column] routes that end short of the GL trail and come up with a permanent solution to replace the blue rope that is up there now. Our intent is to come up with a solution that will both service more routes and be a bit less conspicuous. We'll keep you posted as this work develops but we won't be doing either the survey or planning until near the end of the year.
Kudos to contributors: Thanks for helping out with the Anchor Replacement Project are definitely in order:
- Ranger John Ernster and the Beacon Rock State Park Staff have been absolutely fantastic in providing logistical support, guidance, feedback, and oversight of the Anchor Replacement Project. We wouldn't be able to get any of this work done without their being behind the effort 110% of the way. Thank a Ranger the next time you meet one out at Beacon...
- Jim Opdyke has been just utterly invaluable in lending his intimate knowledge of Beacon history and providing guidance to this effort so be sure and give him a pat on the back if you run into him out there. Or, for that matter as a Founding Father of the BRCA, take him for a beer up at Skamania Lodge or down in PDX some time and ply him for a tale or two.
- Bill Coe another BRCA Founding Father, Bill has also been instrumental in providing guidance, brawn, material, and tools to the effort.
- Brooke Sandahl / Metolius for sourcing their fabulous and beefy Rap Anchors.
- Gavin Ferguson / US Outdoor Store for sourcing the webbing and Fixe rap rings.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 09/12/05
=======================
Illegal Route Markings - We had an incident of two climbs being marked with arrows scratched into the rock. We'd like to make it explicitly clear that marking of any kind is forbidden by State and BRSP regulations and that route finding is both a required skill and an integral [and desirable] part of climbing at Beacon Rock. If you know the way you don't need arrows and if the person following you can't follow your rope [and chalk] without arrows they don't belong on the route. Please do not make markings in or on the rock in any way whatsoever [even with chalk] as a) it sucks and b) it gives Jim Opdyke seizures and we are trying to keep him around at least as long as the SE Corner tree.
Bad Fall on "Free for Some" - As noted elsewhere on CC.com, a groundfall was taken on 8/30 on "Free for Some". This accident was a bad fall where otherwise good protection failed under specific, induced conditions. The belayer did a great job and leader was placing good protection; but in the fall got their leg under the rope snagging their second piece of pro and pulling it resulting in a ground fall. It is miraculous how little this lucky climber was injured given the fall and the topology at the base of the route. We don't have all the technical details yet, but this serves to remind us all to be constantly aware of the relationship of feet to rope while climbing; that helmets are good; and that "taking" on a difficult [trad] leads may not necessarily be an option available to you. The climber in question has displayed a stellar attitude in the wake of this incident and is to be commended for communicating the experience so well - all our best to their swift recovery and return to the rock.
SE Corner Tree - As one step in a long term effort to preserve this landmark tree we have installed slings and rings on it. Please use these rather than the tree for a belay or rappelling anchor. Also, with regard to rappelling from the tree: this has got to be one of the lousiest rappels on earth; just continue up to the Grassy Ledges main rap or, if you must rappel after the second pitch, then don't go up to the tree at all. Rather, at the top of the second pitch slab, instead of going up to the tree ledge, just go straight ahead 15 feet to the second pitch anchors of Young Warriors and rap there (2 raps with a 60, 1 rap with two 60's - don't do this with one 50 meter rope)
Trails and Ledge Paths - Please take extra care and watch your footfalls when walking on both the climber's trail to the base and on ledge paths such as up on Grassy Ledges. All trails and ledge paths are taking a bit of a beating this year. On the main climber's trail to the base in particular please pay attention and try not to further erode the trail. On ledges please pay particular attention to loose rocks and stones - especially smaller ones when going by them with either your feet or your rope. Helmets are definitely recommended.
Anchor Replacement Project
- As noted above the SE Corner tree got slings and rings, please use them if you don't feel comfortable building your own anchor in rock which is how the that pitch is traditionally anchored.
- The broken Z-pin at the top of "Jill's Thrills" was replaced by a long fat Lost Arrow. The Z-pin was not all that well placed (too long for the placement) and pretty much came right out and the "eye" was also splitting off from the body due to folks stepping or hanging on it over the years. We tried to replace it with a shorter Z-pin but the only thing that worked [solid] was the Lost Arrow. The lower Bugaboo on the route is solid.
- The top anchors on "Flying Dutchman" have been replaced, but need to be tightened.
- Future efforts: we are onto the main south face columns with "Flying Swallow" the first to go and we estimate another 25-30 anchors need to be replaced across the columns along with a smaller number of fixed pitons. Many of the intermediate anchors on these routes will get just the large Metolius Rap anchors that can be rapped directly and will not be outfitted with rings and slings as they don't get nearly the traffic and basically none of the raps are multi-directional, they just rap straight down the column. We have the costs covered, but let us know if you're up for helping out in the work sessions. They can make for a long, grueling day of humping gear, hauling, and jugging without doing much of anything in the way of climbing per se. If your up for that, then send an email to Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com with "Anchor Project" as the subject line and we'll get in touch with you.
Peregrines - Healthy and screaching about everytime we go out - magnificent in a dive and you can see the remains of their feasts on many of the column tops across the South side and on SE corner ledges: Seagulls, Blue Jays, and Pigeons in broad circled splashes of feathers and discarded wing sets...
Free Parking Pullout - As always, park diagonally, head in to the Southeast in the free pullout to the East of the main lot - not parallel to the road.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 09/12/05
=======================
Illegal Route Markings - We had an incident of two climbs being marked with arrows scratched into the rock. We'd like to make it explicitly clear that marking of any kind is forbidden by State and BRSP regulations and that route finding is both a required skill and an integral [and desirable] part of climbing at Beacon Rock. If you know the way you don't need arrows and if the person following you can't follow your rope [and chalk] without arrows they don't belong on the route. Please do not make markings in or on the rock in any way whatsoever [even with chalk] as a) it sucks and b) it gives Jim Opdyke seizures and we are trying to keep him around at least as long as the SE Corner tree.
Bad Fall on "Free for Some" - As noted elsewhere on CC.com, a groundfall was taken on 8/30 on "Free for Some". This accident was a bad fall where otherwise good protection failed under specific, induced conditions. The belayer did a great job and leader was placing good protection; but in the fall got their leg under the rope snagging their second piece of pro and pulling it resulting in a ground fall. It is miraculous how little this lucky climber was injured given the fall and the topology at the base of the route. We don't have all the technical details yet, but this serves to remind us all to be constantly aware of the relationship of feet to rope while climbing; that helmets are good; and that "taking" on a difficult [trad] leads may not necessarily be an option available to you. The climber in question has displayed a stellar attitude in the wake of this incident and is to be commended for communicating the experience so well - all our best to their swift recovery and return to the rock.
SE Corner Tree - As one step in a long term effort to preserve this landmark tree we have installed slings and rings on it. Please use these rather than the tree for a belay or rappelling anchor. Also, with regard to rappelling from the tree: this has got to be one of the lousiest rappels on earth; just continue up to the Grassy Ledges main rap or, if you must rappel after the second pitch, then don't go up to the tree at all. Rather, at the top of the second pitch slab, instead of going up to the tree ledge, just go straight ahead 15 feet to the second pitch anchors of Young Warriors and rap there (2 raps with a 60, 1 rap with two 60's - don't do this with one 50 meter rope)
Trails and Ledge Paths - Please take extra care and watch your footfalls when walking on both the climber's trail to the base and on ledge paths such as up on Grassy Ledges. All trails and ledge paths are taking a bit of a beating this year. On the main climber's trail to the base in particular please pay attention and try not to further erode the trail. On ledges please pay particular attention to loose rocks and stones - especially smaller ones when going by them with either your feet or your rope. Helmets are definitely recommended.
Anchor Replacement Project
- As noted above the SE Corner tree got slings and rings, please use them if you don't feel comfortable building your own anchor in rock which is how the that pitch is traditionally anchored.
- The broken Z-pin at the top of "Jill's Thrills" was replaced by a long fat Lost Arrow. The Z-pin was not all that well placed (too long for the placement) and pretty much came right out and the "eye" was also splitting off from the body due to folks stepping or hanging on it over the years. We tried to replace it with a shorter Z-pin but the only thing that worked [solid] was the Lost Arrow. The lower Bugaboo on the route is solid.
- The top anchors on "Flying Dutchman" have been replaced, but need to be tightened.
- Future efforts: we are onto the main south face columns with "Flying Swallow" the first to go and we estimate another 25-30 anchors need to be replaced across the columns along with a smaller number of fixed pitons. Many of the intermediate anchors on these routes will get just the large Metolius Rap anchors that can be rapped directly and will not be outfitted with rings and slings as they don't get nearly the traffic and basically none of the raps are multi-directional, they just rap straight down the column. We have the costs covered, but let us know if you're up for helping out in the work sessions. They can make for a long, grueling day of humping gear, hauling, and jugging without doing much of anything in the way of climbing per se. If your up for that, then send an email to Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com with "Anchor Project" as the subject line and we'll get in touch with you.
Peregrines - Healthy and screaching about everytime we go out - magnificent in a dive and you can see the remains of their feasts on many of the column tops across the South side and on SE corner ledges: Seagulls, Blue Jays, and Pigeons in broad circled splashes of feathers and discarded wing sets...
Free Parking Pullout - As always, park diagonally, head in to the Southeast in the free pullout to the East of the main lot - not parallel to the road.
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 08/28/05
=======================
Free Parking Area - Yet again, please do not park parallel to the road in the free parking area East of the main lot, park diagonally facing the SE - Saturday was a complete parking disaster with all the first arrivals parking parallel sending later arrivals spread down the road. If authorities continue seeing cars spread down the road beyond the pullout we will be in very real risk of seeing this free parking area closed. It is small so please park diagonally and please leave notes for anyone you see who isn't.
Flying Dutchman Rap Anchor - And another reminder that these are currently gone and we will finish replacing it asap; darkness and reason intervened in the middle of the operation. The original anchors are still up and to the right and remain serviceable until we can get back to it; either that or simply walk 60 feet to the right and use the main SE rap. If you have any questions about the status of anchors email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
That's it for this update - park considerately, have fun, and play safe...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
P.S. It would really help if everyone would printout the slips below and leave them on cars they find parallel parked in the free pullout...thanks.
Beacon Rock Update - 08/28/05
=======================
Free Parking Area - Yet again, please do not park parallel to the road in the free parking area East of the main lot, park diagonally facing the SE - Saturday was a complete parking disaster with all the first arrivals parking parallel sending later arrivals spread down the road. If authorities continue seeing cars spread down the road beyond the pullout we will be in very real risk of seeing this free parking area closed. It is small so please park diagonally and please leave notes for anyone you see who isn't.
Flying Dutchman Rap Anchor - And another reminder that these are currently gone and we will finish replacing it asap; darkness and reason intervened in the middle of the operation. The original anchors are still up and to the right and remain serviceable until we can get back to it; either that or simply walk 60 feet to the right and use the main SE rap. If you have any questions about the status of anchors email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
That's it for this update - park considerately, have fun, and play safe...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
P.S. It would really help if everyone would printout the slips below and leave them on cars they find parallel parked in the free pullout...thanks.
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 08/22/05
=======================
BRSP Ranger John Ernester asked that I pass along that the female black bear with cubs from last year is still about and unfortunately now has an injured paw. If you do see her and her cub please give them wide berth. They often tend to travel from above the highway East of Beacon down across the tracks to a single track along the river and then head West of Beacon and the boat launch. Last fall we saw them cross the tracks repeatedly about a 100 yards East of the SE corner.
Again, give them plenty of room and please let them pass quietly, thanks...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 08/22/05
=======================
BRSP Ranger John Ernester asked that I pass along that the female black bear with cubs from last year is still about and unfortunately now has an injured paw. If you do see her and her cub please give them wide berth. They often tend to travel from above the highway East of Beacon down across the tracks to a single track along the river and then head West of Beacon and the boat launch. Last fall we saw them cross the tracks repeatedly about a 100 yards East of the SE corner.
Again, give them plenty of room and please let them pass quietly, thanks...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 08/05/05
=======================
Oh, a quick note - the rap rings and webbing are not on the anchor at the top of P2 on Young Warriors for a couple of days. If you need to rap at that point just thread your rope through the beefy Metolius rap anchors as that's what they are designed for...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 08/05/05
=======================
Oh, a quick note - the rap rings and webbing are not on the anchor at the top of P2 on Young Warriors for a couple of days. If you need to rap at that point just thread your rope through the beefy Metolius rap anchors as that's what they are designed for...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=======================
Beacon Rock Update - 08/03/05
=======================
Free Parking Area - once again, please do not park parallel to the road in the free parking area East of the main lot, park diagonally facing the SE - thanks...
A Little Consideration - leaving unleashed dogs at the base of multi-pitch routes and covering the entire area at the base with your gear is a complete drag for folks coming up after you who don't know your animals and need some room to "suit up" as well. So a little consideration please, leash your dogs at all times if you must bring them out, pack out their waste, and don't monopolize the entire base of multi-pitch climbs.
Young Warriors - the block you step around at the start of the second pitch is big, not solid, and is what's left after trundling its righthand twin last fall. It isn't loose as in 'moves when you touch it' loose, but it is perceptibly "loose" and should not be pulled on any more than absolutely necessary - particularly not out away from the cliff as you step around it. We all need to monitor the status of this rock closely and if it comes to it we'll have to coordinate removing it with the park staff. This is somewhat problematic as it is possible it is chocking the rather larger rock above it. Time will tell - be careful around it and let myself, Jim Opdyke, Bill Coe, Kevin Evansen, or one of the Park Rangers know if it ever does move significantly on you.
Grassy Ledges Rocks - while we did do a significant amount of high priority, pre-opening trundling/cleaning, there is still a large amount of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges, some of it fairly big. Cleaning it will be the focus of next year's pre-opening work session, but until then - please, everyone be extremely careful making your way across the Grassy Ledges (p3 of SE Face), especially watch your rope!!!
Main SE Descent Rappels - we are still logging lots of incidents of smaller rock coming down during some climber's raps, so again please be especially careful of your feet and rope movements on the uppermost two rap stations. And as always it's a good idea to where a helmet at the start of the SE Face, Little Wing, etc. if it is a busy day out there.
SE Face Tree - the big landmark tree on the corner ledge above the slab has been taking a beating for years now as both a belay station and as a rap anchor. Please do not ever rap directly off the tree; one, it's a "bad rap" in general and a lousy way down; two, you are far better off continuing on up to the main Grassy Ledges rap or downclimb 12 feet and then traverse right 12 feet to the p2 anchors on Young Warriors rapping from there. In fact, if you are planning on only doing the first to pitches of the SE Face, then don't go up to the tree ledge and instead, on topping out from the slab, simply continue straight ahead to that p2 Young Warrior anchor right in front of you. At some point we'll be organizing a work crew to haul enough soil/gravel to re-bury the main root structure; how we end up dealing with rapping damage to the tree itself will depend on how it fairs this year. In general we'd ask that you simply not use the tree at all and build belay anchors on the ledge instead - however, if you must, then please use webbing or your rope and not thin cord[elettes] as they damage the tree more. This will likely be another long term monitoring situation out there so please pass this on to folks you know and let see if we can't all work to insure this Beacon landmark is around for a long, long time to come.
Anchor Replacement Project - We've been out doing more work this past week including finally getting up to replace the top rap station for the standard SE Face/Grassy Legdes descent route. Along the way the anchors on the first two pitches of Young Warriors were replaced, all four bolts turned out to be spinners so it was about time for an upgrade.
Ground Zero Rap Anchor - it is currently gone and we will finish replacing it asap; darkness and reason intervened in the middle of the operation. The original anchors are still up and to the right and remain serviceable until we can get back to it; either that or simply walk 60 feet to the right and use the main SE rap.
Peregrines - they have been really active and you'll see signs of their predation all over the South face in the form of large swaths of feathers where they've fed and possibly bodiless wing pairs around the base below. And if you get out much you don't really have to be all that lucky to see them. Their cries, tucked dives, and close flybys are pretty spectacular.
That's it for this update - have fun, play safe...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
Beacon Rock Update - 08/03/05
=======================
Free Parking Area - once again, please do not park parallel to the road in the free parking area East of the main lot, park diagonally facing the SE - thanks...
A Little Consideration - leaving unleashed dogs at the base of multi-pitch routes and covering the entire area at the base with your gear is a complete drag for folks coming up after you who don't know your animals and need some room to "suit up" as well. So a little consideration please, leash your dogs at all times if you must bring them out, pack out their waste, and don't monopolize the entire base of multi-pitch climbs.
Young Warriors - the block you step around at the start of the second pitch is big, not solid, and is what's left after trundling its righthand twin last fall. It isn't loose as in 'moves when you touch it' loose, but it is perceptibly "loose" and should not be pulled on any more than absolutely necessary - particularly not out away from the cliff as you step around it. We all need to monitor the status of this rock closely and if it comes to it we'll have to coordinate removing it with the park staff. This is somewhat problematic as it is possible it is chocking the rather larger rock above it. Time will tell - be careful around it and let myself, Jim Opdyke, Bill Coe, Kevin Evansen, or one of the Park Rangers know if it ever does move significantly on you.
Grassy Ledges Rocks - while we did do a significant amount of high priority, pre-opening trundling/cleaning, there is still a large amount of loose rock up on Grassy Ledges, some of it fairly big. Cleaning it will be the focus of next year's pre-opening work session, but until then - please, everyone be extremely careful making your way across the Grassy Ledges (p3 of SE Face), especially watch your rope!!!
Main SE Descent Rappels - we are still logging lots of incidents of smaller rock coming down during some climber's raps, so again please be especially careful of your feet and rope movements on the uppermost two rap stations. And as always it's a good idea to where a helmet at the start of the SE Face, Little Wing, etc. if it is a busy day out there.
SE Face Tree - the big landmark tree on the corner ledge above the slab has been taking a beating for years now as both a belay station and as a rap anchor. Please do not ever rap directly off the tree; one, it's a "bad rap" in general and a lousy way down; two, you are far better off continuing on up to the main Grassy Ledges rap or downclimb 12 feet and then traverse right 12 feet to the p2 anchors on Young Warriors rapping from there. In fact, if you are planning on only doing the first to pitches of the SE Face, then don't go up to the tree ledge and instead, on topping out from the slab, simply continue straight ahead to that p2 Young Warrior anchor right in front of you. At some point we'll be organizing a work crew to haul enough soil/gravel to re-bury the main root structure; how we end up dealing with rapping damage to the tree itself will depend on how it fairs this year. In general we'd ask that you simply not use the tree at all and build belay anchors on the ledge instead - however, if you must, then please use webbing or your rope and not thin cord[elettes] as they damage the tree more. This will likely be another long term monitoring situation out there so please pass this on to folks you know and let see if we can't all work to insure this Beacon landmark is around for a long, long time to come.
Anchor Replacement Project - We've been out doing more work this past week including finally getting up to replace the top rap station for the standard SE Face/Grassy Legdes descent route. Along the way the anchors on the first two pitches of Young Warriors were replaced, all four bolts turned out to be spinners so it was about time for an upgrade.
Ground Zero Rap Anchor - it is currently gone and we will finish replacing it asap; darkness and reason intervened in the middle of the operation. The original anchors are still up and to the right and remain serviceable until we can get back to it; either that or simply walk 60 feet to the right and use the main SE rap.
Peregrines - they have been really active and you'll see signs of their predation all over the South face in the form of large swaths of feathers where they've fed and possibly bodiless wing pairs around the base below. And if you get out much you don't really have to be all that lucky to see them. Their cries, tucked dives, and close flybys are pretty spectacular.
That's it for this update - have fun, play safe...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climber's Association
=============================
Beacon Rock Update 7/25/05
=============================
Hi,
We've had two busy weekends out at Beacon since the opening and wanted to post a couple of points.
1) The free parking pullout to the east of the main [pay] parking lot has limited space, if you are the first ones out there on a weekend please do not park parallel to the road - park diagonally facing Southeast to make the most of the space.
2) The anchors with light gray slings are brand new with two independent 1" webbing slings slung in a figure 8 with two 50kn stainless rings through the X in the figure 8; this configuration allows them to equalize across both anchors and automatically adjust to rapping in any direction. They need no additional slings and cordage - and in fact, adding slings will just screw up the mechanism. Please do not add any slings or cords to the new anchors as it's a hassle to go remove them. If you have any questions about the anchors or see anchors you feel have a problem email to Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
3) The cracks around the belay stations aren't ashtrays, please don't fill them with your butts (to who ever was on Young Warriors Sunday at the top of the second pitch...).
4) Jim Opdyke has restored the lost arrow piton that was traditionally near the top of the first pitch of the Southeast Corner if anyone wonders where it came from...
5) There are lots of ledges and rap stations with smallish gravel at Beacon - especially so on routes all across the entire Souteast Corner and faces - please be cognizant of the movements of your feet and rope across such spots as it can really rain down on folks at the base. Even small stones can do damage so bring a helmet - particularly on weekends for sure or anytime you're venturing off the beaten track...
Thanks all...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association.
Beacon Rock Update 7/25/05
=============================
Hi,
We've had two busy weekends out at Beacon since the opening and wanted to post a couple of points.
1) The free parking pullout to the east of the main [pay] parking lot has limited space, if you are the first ones out there on a weekend please do not park parallel to the road - park diagonally facing Southeast to make the most of the space.
2) The anchors with light gray slings are brand new with two independent 1" webbing slings slung in a figure 8 with two 50kn stainless rings through the X in the figure 8; this configuration allows them to equalize across both anchors and automatically adjust to rapping in any direction. They need no additional slings and cordage - and in fact, adding slings will just screw up the mechanism. Please do not add any slings or cords to the new anchors as it's a hassle to go remove them. If you have any questions about the anchors or see anchors you feel have a problem email to Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com
3) The cracks around the belay stations aren't ashtrays, please don't fill them with your butts (to who ever was on Young Warriors Sunday at the top of the second pitch...).
4) Jim Opdyke has restored the lost arrow piton that was traditionally near the top of the first pitch of the Southeast Corner if anyone wonders where it came from...
5) There are lots of ledges and rap stations with smallish gravel at Beacon - especially so on routes all across the entire Souteast Corner and faces - please be cognizant of the movements of your feet and rope across such spots as it can really rain down on folks at the base. Even small stones can do damage so bring a helmet - particularly on weekends for sure or anytime you're venturing off the beaten track...
Thanks all...
Joseph Healy
Beacon Rock Climbers' Association.
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