Castle Crags And Mount Thielsen

Go back to Oregon Cascades.
Go back to NorCal.

Shirley on the summit of the Six Toe Rock.

In late June of 2004, Shirley & I drove south back to Castle Crags. We had bigger ideas but in the end scrambled up the 4th class route on Castle Dome and did the short but nice Six Toe Crack (5.8, 3 pitches) on Six Toe Rock. Very nice climb. Thought it was just as good as the classic Cosmic Wall on The Ogre. Many hikers in the area. Nobody else climbing. Slept in the truck at the overlook the evening before and were awakened by the continuous sound of a car horn coming up the one-lane road. As it turned out, it was some crazy old man driving up towards the overlook parking lot and honking away. WTF?? He rolled out of the car, went to see the overlook, got back in, and started rolling back down the road once again horn blaring!!! Just when you think you’ve seen the stupidest of the stupid tourons a new low is established! Crazy old bastard.

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Mount Thielsen.

Saturday night we headed back up to Oregon not sure of what we’d do on Sunday. Ended up heading for Mount Thielsen trailhead. Woke up to see the famous bus in the parking lot and ran into the owners, Eric & Lucie, on the way down from Thielsen. We chit chatted for about two hours having found much in common (i.e. similar outlook on life). We would later (couple years?) run into these guys in Cochise and even get the chance to hang out for a week in Portland. A cool couple in our book!! Oh yeah, West Ridge of Thielsen was a fun, scenic outing too.

Photos

Six Toe Crack At Castle Crags

Shirley on the approach hike to Castle Dome (June 2004).

The south face of Castle Dome as seen from the Dome Trail (June 2004).

South face of Castle Dome. The scramble route (4th class) follows the southwest face on the left (June 2004).

Six Toe Rock as seen from the Regular Route up Castle Dome (June 26, 2004).

Shirley scrambling up Castle Dome via the Regular Route. Mount Hubris is in the background (June 26, 2004).

Mount Hubris as seen from the summit of Castle Dome. The south face seen in profile is home to the classic Cosmic Wall (5.6; June 2004).

Six Toe Rock as seen from the top of Castle Dome (June 26, 2004).

The southernmost buttress of Six Toe Rock as seen from the trail just below Castle Dome. Six Toe Crack (most of it is not visible) goes up this face to the buttress summit visible in center of photo (June 26, 2004).

Beginning the lead of P1 of Six Toe Crack (June 26, 2004).

Almost done with pitch 1 of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

Starting pitch 2 of Six Toe Crack belayed by Shirley (June 2004).

Shirley belaying me on pitch 2 of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

Shirley following pitch 2 of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

Shirley on pitch 2 of the short and wide pitch 2 of Six Toe Crack (5.8; June 2004).

Shirley atop pitch 2 of Six Toe Crack (5.8; June 2004).

Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 3 of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

Shirley following the easy pitch 3 of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

View of other Castle Crags from summit of Six Toe Rock. On the far left is Battle Mountain; Mount Hubris is on the far right. In the foreground are the other two summits of Six Toe Rock.

Shirley nearing the top of Six Toe Rock via the third pitch of Six Toe Crack (June 2004).

Shirley on the summit of the Six Toe Rock after climbing the nice 3-pitcher by same name. South face of Castle Dome in the background (June 2004).

Yours truly atop the Six Toe Rock after climbing the 3-pitch route by the same name (June 2004).

West Ridge Of Mount Thielsen

We slept in our truck at Thielsen's trailhead and woke up to a familiar sight in the morning. Our first random run in with our future friends Eric & Lucie (June 2004).

A big wolf hiking up the West Ridge of Thielsen (June 2004).

Blondie high up on Thielsen's West Ridge route (June 2004).

Shirley on the hike up Thielsen's West Ridge route. Diamond Lake in the background (June 2004).

Shirley and Blondie nearing the summit pyramid (June 2004).

Blondie near the base of Thielsen's summit pyramid (June 2004).

Bomber dinner plates (June 2004).

Shirley on the summit of Mt. Thielsen. Mount Bailey and Diamond Lake are in the background (June 27, 2004).

A gendarme seen from above (June 20014).

Blondie at the base of the summit horn on Mount Thielsen.

Shirley and Blondie starting the hike down (June 2004).

Shirley and Blondie descending the scree just below the summit horn of Thielsen (June 27, 2004).

Mount Thielsen (June 2004).

Blondie seeking out some air conditioning (June 2004).

Blondie resting on the snow after our climb of Thielsen (in background).

Relaxing at the bottom of the West Ridge route following our climb of Thielsen (summit spire in background). Our dog is cooling her chasis on the snow (June 27, 2004).

Go back to Oregon Cascades.
Go back to NorCal.