September 7th 3FJ / French’s Dome Trip report
I had three fingered jack posted for 9/6 or 9/7 depending on weather. The team was set and everyone was excited. The week prior the forecast didn’t look very promising but Sunday 9/7 looked like our best shot so I made the call Thursday to make our attempt on 9/7.
The morning of 9/6 the forecast worsened with a chance of rain in the morning and chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon so I looked for alternatives. The forecast around Mt. Hood had improved with a slight chance of precip in the AM becoming clear in the afternoon so I made the call to cancel 3FJ and spend the day at French’s Dome.
French’s Dome is no 3FJ so naturally we had some team members opt not to join us on the alternative plan.
We (Jeff Easter, Frosty Gill, Andrea Ortiz, Deeshi Donnally and myself) arrived at the TH at 7am with patchy fog and walked down to the rock to assess conditions. It was surprisingly dry and in good shape.
To simulate an alpine(ish) objective I decided to set two fixed lines up the Giant Staircase (5.6) route for the team to follow and rappel off the backside. Frosty belayed me up the first pitch then Jeff Easter followed on a prusik and belayed me up the second pitch. Jeff remained at the anchor and Frosty on the ground to make sure Deeshi and Andrea tied in correctly and transitioned to the second pitch safely. As Frosty climbed the second pitch (cleaning on his way up) a big hold broke off on a short traverse which sent him swinging off the rock causing him to lose one of his approach shoes! Luckily he was unharmed and had his climbing shoes in his pack which he put on and finished the pitch. We snapped a pic and then all enjoyed the short free rappel.
Luckily we recovered Frosty’s shoe. At this point the sun was breaking through and the crowds were showing up. We had a lunch break then set up a top rope on Strawman (5.7) for everyone to lap. By 2pm we were enjoying a cold beverage in the parking lot before making the drive home.
It turned out to be funtastic day with good weather and great people! Thank you to the whole team for being flexible and getting outside!
Respectfully,
Gabe Starr