Justin Busch

Nice-That route tops my alpine favorites in the Cascades!! Highly recomended-

Trip: Commonwealth Basin - Little Late For My Eleven-WI4 Date: 2/11/2014 Trip Report: Doug Hutchinson & I were able to sneak out before work yesterday to try and track down some nice blue ice that I had spotted while skiing the Kendall trees last Friday. An early start, climb a quick pitch and a ski back out would have Doug back in time for his usual meetings... Here is what we found... Some snowfall since last Friday had covered up the lower half of the climb and there was some cleaning involved. The upper was awesome! Doug on the fat blue of the upper pitch... The heavy snow in and out of the basin made things go a bit slow and we both did our best to stay upright on the down with our climbing packs. Not sure if anyone has been on this before-it is such easy access. It should at least have a name for reference! Since Doug was sending emails from the basin that said he was going to be "a little late for my 11:00", we thought that funny and apprpriate! Here is a map to get there... This one gets lots of sun exposure so cold/cold temps are in order for it to form. Another one to add to the Commonwealth Basin worthy ice climb list! Gear Notes: Two 60's will get you down from the nearest tree above. Approach Notes: see map

Excellent! And next time you go up you can add another pitch of ice to your day-this one is a 5 min walk to the left.

Thanks for digging that out of the archives-I wasn't having much luck finding any info on this. My guess is that the recent inversion helped fatten this one up.

Trip: Commonwealth Basin - Superbowl Ice Date: 2/2/2014 Trip Report: While on my way up to ski Red Mtn last week, I was pleasantly surprised to come across this bit of ice... I was hoping to get back to climb it before the snow fell knowing that it would be at least partially buried. Doug Hutchinson & I made it out yesterday for a little pre-game outing. Here is how it looked a week later... Someone had been on it before us (Saturday??) I must have my head in a hole cause I was surprised to have not heard about this one. It's a worthy little climb by Snoq Pass standards and is only an hour drive from sea level and a quick ski or walk in. It has obviously seen some ascents based on the old (and newer) tat. Here is Doug representing our local bird yesterday before the game... We climbed it in two pitches. The first being slabby ice and the second pitch going at WI 3ish. I thought I would throw this out there to add to the Snoqualmie Pass circuit! Gear Notes: We did two raps with a 70m although I think a 60m would have done the job. Approach Notes: Approach via Commonwealth Basin. Once at the log crossing in the basin, head directly uphill (don't cross the creek) for 20 mins or so.

Here are some follow up pics to Doug's post/report yesterday... 1st pitch 2nd pitch Upper pitches More upper...could have used some snow pickets on this one! Doug had a cold shower belay on the last pitch. Nice to have finally climbed this thing! Thanks to the folks who gave us some tracks to follow on the dark approach. This weekend may be it until the next cold snap.

I have someone looking at them today. If that doesn't pan out I'll let you know. Thx

BD Spinner Leash. Used a few days last year-still in great shape-$25 firm. Local pick up in Seattle

Sent a pm your way

OK-I think I got the photo up now. It's in the For Sale section of the Gallery

1st generation Black Diamond Cobras. The usual scuffs and scratches but lots of life left. I have added upper & lower pommels that can be taken back off very easily. As you can see in the photo, there is another hammer you can throw on in place of the adze, a wrench and 5 picks (2 of which haven't been used). Great intro tool for water ice and alpine. $200 firm-thanks for looking. I'm in Seattle/Ballard and would prefer a local transaction over shipping. Photo http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=82492&title=bd-cobras-for-sale&cat=516