coldiron

Also, the access road had grown over a half mile from the trailhead, so we cut the brush there too. The trailhead is once again fully accessible.

Brian, Joe and I recently put about 25 man-hours into clearing the Lion's Head approach trail. We probably cut out close to 100 logs and used machetes and even a cordless hedge trimmer to return the trail to its original condition. It's an awesome trail once again! The trail is impossible to lose now... a literal stroll through the forest. 16 years ago, a group of hard-core Spokane climbers had put many hours of upkeep into that trail. I used to see these guys out at Dishman climbing every night after work. Lawn chairs and a cooler of PBR's, smoking dope and crushing old-school 11's and 12's. They had good style and climbed hard... it was cool to continue some work they started long ago. Dishman Dave and Tug are the only two I remember. Does anyone know if any of this crew is still climbing? Lion's Head is a bad-ass, massive chunk of alpine granite. You should get out there and check it out! On a sunny day the Southwest Wall would be great climbing even through October. Route descriptions and beta are being added to Mountain Project. Go get some!

I'll be in Index tomorrow through Tuesday- looking for a partner. Would like to do Davis-Holland, Lovin' Arms, Slow Children, Thin Fingers, Heaven's Gate... or whatever climb you have your eyes on, provided I can thrash my way up it. Text me at (509) 847-8404.

I was there again today with Joe. Zenith is in! It looks a little heads-up at the thin pillar, but looks do-able. H2O2 could probably be climbed now, although a little thin where the pillar touches down. The Cable has not changed. Lots of fat ice at Punchbowl, PeeWees, Brush Bash, More Banks Ice... Banks Lake ice is building fast this week, although the warm weekend will hurt. I think if it cools off next week things will fatten up nicely. Today was nice and cold and stayed high 20's all day despite the forecasted warm temps.

Climbed Banks again yesterday. Ice is building up and getting better. I also took a drive South to Blue, Park, and Lenore Lakes. Nothing was in, and anything East facing is non-existent. Banks is still worth climbing though. Go get some while it's there!

Devil's Punchbowl is in, complete with deathsicles. Zenith?

We climbed at Banks on Saturday, the 4th. Here is what we saw: The Cable is 30 feet from touching down. H2O2 needs a lot of filling in. Lots of good ice in PeeWees playground. I climbed here last week and it was great- took good screws. We climbed Brush Hell, I think? and a nice steep pillar to the left that has a cave behind it. Both climbs were good and protected well. There are some really steep fun moves off icicles over the steep roof in this picture.

The new Canadian Rockies ice guide looks nice, they were selling at Bozeman ice fest. I could only find it online here: Ice Lines: Select Waterfalls of the Canadian Rockies

Ice and mixed partner wanted Dec. 2,3,4,5 I was thinking Hyalite or Canmore. If you're from the West Side, just get to Spokane and I can do the driving from here. The Cascades are also an option if conditions are right (would like to do Pineapple Express, Gerber-Sink, Cotter-Bebie... -Scott

Yes, still lots of mixed steps and ice is forming nicely. Also, I ran up the trail today to below the lake and it was quite warm- lots of melting going on. I'm not sure how warm it was up high, but I think there's a good chance it may have settled out that wind slab. I couldn't tell much about TC conditions yesterday, but the Cotter-Bebie route on D-tail right across from me had lots of early ice forming up.

The road to the TH is open, with packed snow and decent conditions as of Saturday night. The trail is snow-covered but fast up to the lake. Travel above the lake is slow; it's at that intermediate stage where the rocks are somewhat covered, but lots of slippery rock underneath and big holes to step in. Skis will not help you anywhere, unless you're going up just to ski the glacier. Watch out for windslab in the couloirs. We observed whoomphing and fracture propagation in the Colchuck NBC yesterday. It was scary enough that we pushed a couple mixed pitches up the side to avoid the snow and eventually bailed. Lots of wind-loading looks to have occurred over the week- some extreme wallowing was endured!

Just got down from Colchuck. Road is definitely open, about 4" of snow, decent traction. If you're going up high, watch for windslab in the couloirs. Scary whoomphing and fracture propagation in NBC today. Also, plenty of wallowing!

count me in. Scott 509-847-8404

Anybody free on Tues or Wed? I'm down for climbing anything that's in decent shape. Scott 509-847-8404

I'm driving up from Spokane and staying at the Alpine Club hostel in Canmore. Looking for a motivated partner for some or all of that time period. I'll lead WI5+, M7. I'm interested in doing some of the bigger, steeper routes. call or text: (509) 847-8404 Scott

Banks Lake ice is in and looking fat! Anyone want to go tomorrow? I've got all the gear and am happy to lead. Text is the best way to teach me. Scott (509) 847-8404.

Climbed Banks yesterday. I believe we were in the Peewee's Playground area. Lots of ice is coming in. A few things are in now, with a lot of climbs wet or almost touching down. With continued cold temps I expect it should be fantastic this weekend. I'm going out again tomorrow and will post an update. H2O2 looked climbable, but a bit discontinuous and thin. apparently it got climbed Sunday and there was a fatality.

I recommend the BD Firstlight. It goes at 3 lb. 5 oz. and is really close to 3 lbs. if you leave the stakes at home. I hear that some cut the mosquito netting out to save even more weight, but I want to use it as a summer tent as well so didn't go down that road. There is a company that sells carbon-fiber poles for the Firstlight that save another 7 ounces. They can make one as an avie probe which should save another 6 or 7 ounces and some space in your pack. I have the 2012 Firstlight with the new Nanoshield fabric, and I've been really happy with it. The tent comes without sealed seams, so I seam-sealed it. I stayed a week in the Bugaboos, it did great and handled high winds, hail, and rain. The Firstlight seemed to do better than most of the tents at Applebee camp. I had plenty of room to spread my gear out, sit up, read, etc... Using it as a two-man tent I've done one winter trip and one summer trip in the Cabinet and Selkirk Ranges. With two guys its a little harder not to brush against the sides of the tent, and not as much room to spread gear around, but still do-able, especially for just a couple nights. The last trip was a week ago and involved a day of pretty hard freezing rain- everything inside stayed dry. An optional vestibule is available, and I'll probably get one for future two-man trips.

Weather is looking good for this weekend and lots of stuff is in. Check John Frieh's TR for Polar Circus conditions. Sat. and Sun. forecast is partly sunny and temps in the 20's. I am off work till Nov. 29. Based in Spokane. We can take my car from here. email and text are the best way to reach me: coldiron12@yahoo.com (509) 847-8404 Scott

The Big Hose on South Howser Tower is in good conditions now! BigHoseTR Anyone want to go climb it? My schedule is flexible, and I can drive from Spokane if you can meet me here.

I'd be down for doing this route again Kevin, let me know if you need a partner.

I want to climb Rebel Yell on Tues. or Wed., but I'd be down for any (hopefully south-facing)objective that you have in mind too. I have plenty of gear and am comfortable leading at the grade. email or call me. Scott 509-847-8404 coldiron12@yahoo.com

Trip: Lion's Head - Lion Tamer Date: 10/1/2012 Trip Report: Brian and I climbed Lion Tamer on Monday. We had been up last week, but took the long approach and didn't have time to do the route, so just climbed the chimney pitch and bailed. At the time, I found the first pitch a bit spooky with some hollow flakes and committing moves in the top section. This time, it seemed quite safe, and it's definitely a bit cleaner, as we trundled lots of the loose stuff. Still a good idea to climb with caution on the first pitch, but the rock improves greatly for the rest of the route. Lion Tamer cuts a striking line up the middle of the imposing north face of Lion’s Head. It seems the 5.10b/c grade is right on, but it definitely feels spicy in a couple spots due to position, protection, or balancy, funky movement. Rarely are you jamming up a vertical, continuous crack, but the climbing is always varied and interesting. I think the route is really starting to clean up nicely. Friends that climbed it earlier in the year ran into some wet rock, but we found the entire route dry and pretty clean. We camped on a bench high in the talus field, just minutes below the route, finding a perfect tent site with water, great views, and decent wind protection. It’s a great route, and you should head up and do it! Here are pu’s notes, which seemed pretty accurate, with some additional notes: 1. 55M of 8 and 9 Chimney climbing. The 9 chimney protects well and is a tad easier than the Stanley Burgner chimney but it has a way more dramatic finish with a 10 hand crack exit and a couple more 10 boulder moves to the belay. **belay is obvious- 3 pitons with slings and a couple rap rings (top piton is loose, but the other two are bomber) 2. Goes straight up the obvious groove and has a nice 9 layback at the end that deposits you on an ample ledge. **Look for slings on trees, your choice of a couple good belay spots. 3. takes you up some more wide but awesome 9 maneuvers and puts you directly into some 10 thin hands and laybacks. After this little crux another 50 or so feet of 8 will set you on a giant mossy ledge. 4. Fun 9 laybacking up a wide crack to an awkward mantle. Some easy face climbing and a finish behind a wide flake. ** We combined pitch 3 and 4 5. Laird describes this as easy climbing on ramps. Kittel calls it 10 fingers and a 10 hand traverse. I agree with Kittel. Climb the easy chimney. Go straight up a thin open book with 10 maneuvering. Exit left via a hand traverse, more 10. Zig back right to a large mossy belay. ** I found the thin crack in the open book to be the crux of the whole route. from that point, It looks very hard overhead, but move a little higher and you see a perfect, bomber hand rail traversing left under the roof. 6. Now an easy exit right will get you close to the top. Low fifth. ** From the large ledge belay, there is an easy corner topped by a dirty, loose-looking 10-ish off-width that exits the big roof directly overhead. I recommend going up the corner 15 feet or so, then look for the easy hidden ramp around the corner to the right. Walk 30 feet right along the ramp, look around another corner, and you’ll see easy slabs with one pitch of low fifth scrambling to the summit. Descent is due south via two slabby raps with one 60. ** First rap station is in a bunch of trees directly over the South Face Slab route. To find 2nd rap station, drop directly down the South Face. with 10 m of rope left, you’ll rap over a bulge, land on a small ledge and scramble back up 8 feet to slings and a big cable around a good-sized tree. From the base, look for the easy ramp that will take you up to the West shoulder. From here, there is another easy ramp down the North Face that will take you almost to the base of the route. Gear Notes: -single set of C3's from 0 to 3 -double set of C4's from .4 to 3 **We did not feel a #4 was necessary, and I did sew up the crux sections. -Brought a set of nuts, but used them only a couple of times. -10 alpine draws -2 double length slings -one 60m rope **snow field at the base is not an issue this late in the season, but according to Zickler, an ax may be handy in early season. Approach Notes: Follow the pink flagging up the hill, but only for a few minutes. That route will take you too high and you'll travel over a lot of extra ground. It's almost twice the vertical, twice the distance, and twice the time. From the hairpin turn on Road 44, follow the ATV trail until the flagged climbers path takes off uphill to the left (obvious, about a 5 minute walk). At one point, the trail will go straight up the creek bed. Soon after this section, watch for a large tree across the path. Turn right before the tree. We travelled uphill for 13 min. (at an easy pace) to the turn. It's not obvious, so look carefully. Now follow the somewhat overgrown, but good climbers trail, it will trend right and uphill for about ten minutes, then contour toward Lion's Head. You will lose the trail 3 or 4 times where trees have fallen across, but you'll find it again within 50 feet, just look a few yards uphill for the continuation of the trail.

Hey Kevin, I sent you an email. Scott Coldiron (509) 847-8404

I'm going to be in Missoula this weekend and would like to climb Blodgett, Kootenai, Lolo Pass or whatever you like. I'll have rope, rack, vehicle, etc... Would like to climb sport or trad in the 5.9 to 11+ range. I live in Spokane and travel to Missoula regularly (2-4 times a month), so it would be great to meet some Missoula locals. -Scott (509)847-8404