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Trip: Big Four - Upper North Face Date: 12/5/2009 Trip Report: Justus_S drove up to the Mountain Loop Highway before work this past week, and took some photos of the N Face of Big Four. It looked like it could be in climbing shape given the great snow conditions and clear weather, but we weren't sure about the portion down low, so we were intent to check it out ourselves. Justus, therunningdog, and I left Seattle at 1:30AM this morning and drove to the parking area for Big Four Ice Caves. We walked out and looked at the North Face, basking in the bright moonlight. Although the upper portion of the face looked great, the lower face where polished slabs guard the way was absent of snow. We decided to check out a route up Dry Gulch that crosses over into the bowl below the upper half of the N Face. This would enable us to bypass the tricky lower portion of the face in the dark. We arrived at milepost 27 off the Mtn Loop at about 3:15AM. After 30 minutes of packing up our gear and remarking how cold it was, we were off. We headed downhill to cross the River, 'schwacking through brush in the dark. Once at the river, we could not find a suitable crossing right away, and so we headed up stream to find one. About a half mile later, we stumbled upon a suitable log (albeit iced over). Carefully, we made our way across without incident. From the river crossing, we headed up the hill in slide alder and devils clubs (still dark), aiming for the waterfall. Once at the waterfall, it was very tough to see the route, especially since the moon was crossing over the top of the peak and out of view. We poked around for about an hour or so, trying different variations through iced-over cliff bands, but eventually gave up and waited for sunrise. When the sun came up enough for us to see clearly, we spied a gully to climber's right that heads up into the basin below the Dry Gulch route. We climbed this gully about 600' to a leftward trending diagonal ramp. This ramp was great, because it offered us practically the only route up into the basin. Once in the basin, we traversed climber's left, then straight up into an avalanche cone coming off the E Face. From there, we cut right up another steep, diagonal snow ramp that enabled us to gain the bowl below the upper N Face of Big Four. We had not heard of anyone going this way before, but Justus spied it in hi-res photos and we figured it would go. The ramp leads into some very steep terrain (65 degrees) with very large drops below. The snow was perfect though, and so we felt fairly comfortable through here. Perfect styrofoam! At the end of the ramp, we cut straight uphill and gained a large saddle below Pt 4720+. From here, we could see the remainder of the route. 1500' of steep, beautiful ice leading right up to the true summit. We didn't belay any of the final pitches, but rather did running belays with me leading (tied into the middle of the rope) and Tim and Justus following (tied into the ends, staggered). I placed a total of 8 screws on the entire 1500', and slung about 4 trees. Other than that, all the sticks were bomber, so we felt pretty good about things. We topped out at 1PM, just as we had guessed from the get-go. We made our way over to the true summit, ate some food, re-hydrated, took some photos, then headed down to find the Dry Gulch route and descend. The descent was steep in places, and we had to down-climb one vertical WI pitch (15'), and several 80 degree WI pitches. We didn't make any rappels. Again, the placements were all very solid, so it was very confidence inspiring. We finally made it back to the car at 5:15, 13.5 hours after we left. What a great day in the mountains, one I will remember for a long time to come. Thanks to Justus and Tim for being such great partners. Big Four's East Face at sunrise. Tim happy to be out on such a beautiful day. Justus starting up the access ramp. Justus halfway up the ramp. Pt 4760+ The upper North Face of Big Four in stellar conditions. More of the upper North Face of Big Four. Justus and I heading up to the first pitch. Justus and I starting up the first pitch. Views from mid-pitch. Me on the first pitch. Zoomed out. Icicles on the North Face of Big Four. Looking up to the remainder of the route. Justus and Tim somewhere on the North Face. More ice! Tim, all smiles. Mountain Loop peaks in the distance. Nearing the summit of Big Four. Shadow of Big Four from just below the summit. Vesper, Sperry, and beyond from the summit of Big Four. More summit views. Tim and Justus traversing the summit ridge. Me on the summit of Big Four. Weather moving in? Me downclimbing from the false summit. Justus and Tim downclimbing to the notch. More downclimbing. The last of the downclimbing. Parting shot from the descent.

Trip: Banks Lake, WA - Zenith, Emerald, Cable, Razorblades plus others Trip Date: 03/03/2019 to 03/14/2019 Trip Report: With reports of an incredible season at Banks Lake, my partner (Joe Peters) and I decided we needed to get over there. We drove over on March 3 to find a good place to set up a camp. Joe had to finish a couple things at work, but my wife Trisha came out to climb for the 1st two days until Joe got back. Then Joe and I were able to spend another 9 days climbing some of the wildest ice I have ever been on. Banks lake is that good!! I didn't list any grades in this trip report. Banks is a funny place and I found that grades were tricky to judge. In the end I decided that Wayne Wallace was right when he said..."Grades don't matter, everything here is hard." We camped in Joe's tipi tent which is pretty luxurious complete with stove for heat and drying gear. The best spot we found to camp was right across from Salt and Pepper. Camping limit is 15 days, it was free, and there was a toilet. We were able to sit in camp and stare up at Salt and Pepper every evening. Evening light in our camp. The view of Salt and Pepper from camp. (photo credit Joe Peters) Living it up inside the tipi. With that stove we could be sitting around in a t-shirt. It was absolutely essential for drying out boots and other wet gear after climbing every day. Here is a brief overview of our trip. 3/4 - Peewees #2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 3/5 - Climb below Emerald, Trotsky's Folly and Trotsky's Revenge (also called Phase Transition) 3/6 - Peewees #1 and 5 3/7 - The Emerald and Satan's Panties (also called Absent Minded Professor) 3/8 - Tea 'n' the Sahara 3/9 - The Cable and H2O2 3/10 - Unnamed climb Butch Cassidy in Moses Coulee 3/11 - Bombs over Old Baghdad (the climb across Banks lake at MP3) 3/12 - Shitting Razorblades 3/13 - Salt and Pepper 3/14 - Zenith I will just let the pictures tell the rest of story with a few captions. Peewee's Playground. I referenced these from right to left starting with 1 and ending with 8. Me leading Peewee #4 on the 1st day. A great place to start getting used to Banks ice! (photo credit Trisha Thorman) Craig Pope had just put up this line which he thought was probably an FA. It transitioned from the ice through the rock and out to the hanging dagger. It is Peewee #2 and he named it Turn the Page. This is a couple guys from MT climbing it on TR in the beautiful afternoon sun. The next day Trisha and I climbed this little flow. It was fantastic steep climbing that eased off about half way up. It is right off the road at the Emerald Pullout. It is amazing to me that there are so many of these lines that don't have names. Anywhere else and these good pitches of ice would all be named! Trisha doing a TR lap on Trotsky's Revenge. Day 3 Trisha headed back home and Joe arrived. Here Joe is arriving at the top of the fantastic Peewee #1. This is Satan's Panties (also called Absent Minded Professor). Rumor is that it hasn't come in for multiple years. It was a really fun multi-tiered climb that was a great warmup for the bigger climbs at Banks. The Emerald sits tucked up in a small valley above the main Banks Lake proper. It was a fantastic steep pitch of excellent climbing. It even faced north so it didn't get any sun to ruin the ice! Me leading the Emerald. (photo credit Joe Peters) Joe topping out on the Emerald at the end of a great day! With a cloudy day we decided to brave the lake and head across for some of the bigger lines. Thankfully the lake ice was thick and solid with no noises. The climb directly above me is Tea 'n' the Sahara. The one to my right is unknown.....it never came in this year unfortunately (or at least the dagger never touched down). (Photo credit Joe Peters). A closer view of Tea 'n' the Sahara. This was definitely my favorite climb of the trip. It consisted of 4 steep pitches each about 90-120 feet in length. The ice was typical Banks with plenty of excavating but the position and length of the climbing make it a classic for sure. Joe climbing the final steep 4th pitch. Looking back up at pitch 4 of Tea 'n' the Sahara from rappel. We were able to rappel the entire route with 2 rope stretching 70m rappels......take 70m ropes! (photo credit Joe Peters) The Cable....it is such an amazing, steep, crazy, gymnastic, different route. An absolute must do at Banks. Here Brian Williams is a little past halfway up the long pitch. Me leading the Cable. It is so good......just go do it! (photo credit Joe Peters) The Cable in the setting sun. Next we went to climb H2O2. Here are a couple of unknown climbers on it the night before. Yet another great pitch of climbing right next to the road. Here Joe is putting up H2O2 in the evening sun. The following day we drove over to Moses Coulee. Unfortunately Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were pretty wrecked by the sun. This is an unnamed climb on the same road about 1/2 mile before Butch Cassidy. After reviewing the guidebook and talking with several other people this is actually Butch Cassidy. The climb between Butch and Sundance Kid is unnamed (although climbed). The WA ice guidebook has the wrong mileage to these climbs. Looking up at Unnamed route Butch Cassidy was awe inspiring. There were so many hanging daggers through the steep upper roofs. I gave it a go on lead but ended up sitting on a screw in the roof. I found out I wasn't fit enough to lock off on a tool and clean hanging daggers for that long. Still an awesome experience! Me approaching the large ice roof of hanging icicles. (Photo credit Joe Peters) The next day was cloudy so we headed back across the lake. This climb is right across from MP3. It isn't in the WA ice book and nobody seems to know what it is called. After staring at it disappearing into the fog above we decided to call it Stairway to Heaven. (Edit: sounds like it is called Bombs over old Baghdad) Here is Joe leading up pitch 2. The next day was time to get on Razorblades. This is a climb that had been on my list to do for a while and it didn't disappoint. Some years the first pitch isn't in or so thin that you can't protect it well. This year it was fat! Me leading up the crux first pitch of Razorblades. I don't think I have ever climbed ice by pulling on ice mushrooms with my hands instead of swinging my tools into the ice....fun but funky! (Photo credit Joe Peters) Finally after staring at Salt and Pepper every night for a week, we decided we needed to go and do it. The guidebook made the 1st pitch sound hard and scary. It climbs the loose rock on the left and traverses up the snow ramp to the ice. It was loose, but I found a decent pin and a couple cam placements. You definitely don't need a #3 C4. I would take a couple of KB pins and a set of cams from BD .3 to #1. The crux step of rock is easy 5th but it is loose and a fall would be very bad. Joe climbing up the steep ice of Salt and Pepper. It was a fantastic climb with big exposure. This is looking straight down for about 300 feet. We wrapped up our trip with Zenith. A fitting end to a fantastic trip. It was very fat this year but still steep and long! (Photo credit Joe Peters) Joe and I on Zenith. Being a roadside crag, many times a few people stop and watch. Sue Tebow was one such person but she was kind enough to leave us her contact information so we could get a couple pictures she took. It is always a treat to get both the leader and the follower in the same picture. Thanks Sue! (Photo credit Sue Tebow) A final parting shot of the huge deathcicle above Zenith. It was so fascinating to look up at but we wasted no time in getting out of there. It consisted of a thin hollow tube of ice that extended 30 feet or so below the cliff. Out of the center poured a huge amount of water. (Photo credit Joe Peters) Gear Notes: Ice screws and 70m ropes Approach Notes: Short and easy unless you are crossing the lake!