Beast of Rest Stop Crag

Stuart Peak the long way.

Got a camera for my birthday, which means y'all can expect far more regular posts. Over the 4th Sarah and I decided to skip out on the war zone like celebrations you could expect from Butte, and head into the Rattlesnake. For all the time, I've spent putzing around in the recreation area, I'd never actually made it to the wilderness boundary. 

The plan was to bikepack to the Franklin Bridge, camp and fish, then stash our packs bike to the wilderness boundary and hike the back way up stuart peak. It actually worked pretty flawlessly (with the exception of the fishing) though, I will admit to underestimating the overall milage given our short time window. 

 Sarah trucking in on the old forest service road. 

 Some hardman's cabin, 15 miles from the trailhead. 

 Monching, on the dam at the first lake. 

Rattlesnake creek through a pretty cool chute. No idea if creek boaters run it.  

Lake Mckinnely.

Being my first experience with the new camera, I punted and did not charge the battery. Right about here is were it died. We did summit and the views towards the missions and swans were pretty awesome. 

4th of July has come and past, I'm now a crusty old man (25), and peakbagging season is on. Huzzah! 

May-lay

Whelp, semester is almost over which is excellent as my academic achievement seems to be inversely related to sunny days and nice weather. Some interesting stuff to report since my last post. < <<

Due to some weird spring weather i decided to spend my Saturday scoping some boulders, local Buttian Kevin Hutchison tipped me off about somewhere along the CDT. The patina face above was perhaps the prettiest of many nice looking lines.(Yes I pirated this photo from yall)<<<

Aside from the pretty boulders and scenery, the highlight of the day was coming face-to-face with one of these guys. Usually when I hear a little crashing in the woods, I assume I spooked a deer, so when a very large cougar popped out running in my direction, it took a couple of seconds to realize what I was looking at. I tried to snap a pic with my phone but was to busy peeing myself. <<<

This weekend marks the most gluttonous time of the year: Graduation Season. Spamblock's (pictured above)demands that I attend the festivities means that probably be spending the weekend in a collared shirt and khakis, pretending like I'm sober while talking to the relatives of random graduates.<<<

Hopefully I will be fueled by ample (and free) amounts of this stuff, which tends to run like water at grad parties.<<<

Which I hopefully will be able to overcome by Sunday, when flailing in the deep woods of Lolo. Every once in a great while I've seen noteworthy sends accomplished in dire states of hung-overdom... Here's to hoping.<<<

Then in short order Sarah and I will be heading here. No, not Austria but the next best thing (only a bit of an exaggeration): Washington.<<<

Rumored to be home to granite so clean it makes Lost Horse look like choss. (photo ripped from koan bouldering (cool blog worthy of peeping))<<<

The best part of this, is that we will hopefully be guided by these two goons. (Note: Due to an unfortunate fall, Sam now climbs in this very helmet.)<<< ...................................................Here is to three weeks of school free flailing!

LoHo and Lochsa

Don't get me wrong, Butte is a nice place... but every once and a while getting the hell out of Dodge is essential. So inspired by a beautiful looking forecast I headed west to Missoula for some fine granite, beer and culture. Boy oh boy did the pilgrimage par off. I had been itching to to return to Lost Horse for a while. On Saturday, after striking out looking for partners all morning long, I decided to head out solo with hopes of repeating as many classics as possible. It'd been a couple years since I'd climbed in the canyon, and it was a blast trying to remember old beta and reworking things I once had wired.

Highlight of the day was running into Ian "the tattooed gorilla" Carapoli, at John Wayne. After a year hiatus it was excellent to see Ian back outside, dispatching everything in a go or two. Ian happens to be the worlds best spotter which came in handy as I was pumped as shit by then, and was lobbing off problems with reckless abandon.

Thrutching. I had originally been planning to follow some folks up Shoshone on Sunday been when Kevin Barnet Called to invite me down the Lochsa I immediatly flaked like a bum. Big spring run off, 75 degrees, and and a solid and mostly inebriated crew made for ideal conditions.

Props to captain Stu for the master navigation.

No flips + Schmidts + sunshine = victory.

Merry Xmas Missoulian Pebble Wranglers.

Here is what I got you for Christmas...


...The Muskox.


...and she's featured.


Sarah in awe.


Another look, and another potential line.


The steep side, good looking holds all the way up. The frozen creek adds a certain x factor..


Zoomed out.


...And if your into this kind of thing.

Located up Bass Creek, which makes its even closer to Missoula than Kooter (though the hike is comparable to Sweathouse). Take a left when the trail forks. Sure I this was the only worthwhile pebble I saw, but, I am very confident it'll be worth your time. I'd guess between 5-6 problems. The steep side might only be climbable when the creek is frozen ...or some landscaping may be required.