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On Friday Feb 17th, 2023, Tom Beirne and I skinned out to Snow Lake in snowy weather. Andreea Gabor was supposed to be with us, but unfortunately she was sick, otherwise she would have been with us! I started from the car at 5:45 AM and reached the Slot Machine base around 8:20 am. We saw two other skiers out there, enjoying the fresh snow, taking the N Slopes of Chair Peak. The line we were looking at starts to climbers right of the Slot Machine, climbing two pitches to a snow ledge that can be connected to the base of the ice climbing on Slot Machine. Tom had made an attempt on the line a couple weeks ago, in worse conditions, and he knew the first pitch had a good screw belay, albeit a hanging one. The base of the ice climbing is up a steep snowy couloir, which we skinned up as far as we could to avoid wallowing in chest deep snow. It was snowing pretty heavily. Tom offered me any pitch but I asked Tom to lead both the first pitch and the second pitch. The second pitch was the hard mixed crux, and I didn’t want to sit a double belay on a hanging ice anchor and get cold. Instead we would both belay shorter time periods to keep moving. Tom dug a trench up the snow to the base of the ice, traversing far left to avoid the randkluft/rimaye/moat that was about 2 feet under the snow, and pretty darn deep. When he got to the ice, he cruised up, finding solid placements in the ice under the snow. Typical PNW, the ice was kind of funky and harder than it looked. He build a belay with three bomber screws under the roof and brought me up. I raced up as fast as I could, knowing we were already running low in time, despite our 3:30 AM departure from Seattle. I didn’t even bother taking off my belay puffy or belay gloves. I was making tons of moves I’ve never do on lead, trusting the snicey sticks, but it was effective, I guess. Tom took over again for the next pitch, that started with a couple inch-thick ice smear exiting the roof on the right. It looked like the next belay would be fairly close at a big tree. Tom made some mixed moves, finding the ice that was solid, but the feet kept disappearing as they fell off with the snow. As always, it was steeper and trickier that it appeared. An apparently thick spot of ice provided bottomed-out stubby protection, and then some mixed climbing to the tree. The tree was directly to the right, but appeared to have died in all of the places that were reachable. It had the effect of a bunch of downward sloping fragile spikes barring access and preventing upward movement, instead of providing any protection. Tom hammered in an angle, and wished we had brought the lost arrows that we discarded in the car. Then he placed a .5 and and a pink tricam followed by a magnificent knife blade piton that I was unable to retrieve (so it’s still there!). There was another mini roof to pull around, after getting some dirt sticks and weaving through the tree roots. Luckily there was a nice bit of ice pouring around to the left, and it make it possible to pull around and protect with a very tight .75. As I was belaying in the protected roof alcove, bunches of snow, ice and dirt kept pouring down. We had radios, so I buckled down when I heard the tree was not a belay option. Then needles, twigs and branches started raining down. I was very glad I didn’t lead that pitch, despite the fact that it looked like it would be simple and icy at first glance. Past the tree was about 15m of deep, steep snow wallowing to the next tree belay. We were both slightly concerned about the slope stability, and wallow factor when we analyzed it from the ground, but on inspection of a side view of the slope, it looked climbable, while we also determined it is not accessible from the top, or by climbing around. Tom finally burrowed through the snow slope to the top and I was so cold by that point, I said I might have to turn around. He also was soaked and cold at this point, so instead of wallowing across to Slot Machine (where we would have to rappel the adjacent couloir and then wallow back up to our gear cache) we decided to rappel. We rappelled from the tree, leaving cord and a biner, and then made a naked V-Thread under the roof, making sure to pull it quickly so the rope didn’t get frozen in the wet ice. Back on the ground, the sun poked out a teased us for the first time all day. But knowing that we were running out of time and didn’t want to ski down in the dark, we abandoned the idea of climbing my project, the ice pillar next to Steppenwolfe. Slot Machine would have been cool to climb, although it is probably spicier than it looks. Fantastic day out there, thanks for the full on adventure out there, in worse weather than I ever go out in. Your stoke kept us going, if not keeping us warm. We have discussed the rating, and it is hard to rate things in WA because things are never in good conditions and probably this will not be in as good condition again. Steepness does not indicate the level of scrappy-ness or commitment you need. We gave Gambler’s Fallacy a WI4+ M6+ (protects well) Steep snow (X, no pro, would whip the whole pitch), 65 meters, 2 pitches. Gear: Note: Lost Arrow should replace small angle, making much better placement (not pictured: the knifeblade I left in place. I tried to take it out, but a mini rock roof prevented hitting it up and down. Please re-hammer it to ensure it is secure before using)

It is easy to judge from our keyboards.... However, having avalanched my partners out of a couloir in Canada a few years ago (both OK with bruises and broken gear), I definitely am more prone to giving folks the benefit of the doubt when accidents like this occur. The danger was "moderate" at the time of the slide..... It is not a safe hobby we practice, and we make decisions with incomplete information, on the fly. If we think, as the living, that we are the safe and smart ones, we are probably deluding ourselves. The full write up that NWAC produces on this accident will be good for all of us to read and learn from. Condolences to the many friends and family affected by this.

This TR is from March 2022. But it looks "in" right now (15FEB23) insofar as cascades go. I spent a few months attempting to reset my cc password then forgot about it. Use it or lose it I guess. Here’s the dirt. Kurt Ross, Tucker Merrill and Tom climbed a flow on the far west aspect of snow lake (Snow Lake West) for two pitches (WI3+ and WI4+), looked at Steppenwolf above us, then rapped 60m (on doubles) to walk down the steep gully back to snow lake. March conditions provided anemic looking ice enroute and some instability in the snow. P1 WI3,30m? was delam’d in places, moated from the rock lower down, and flowing slightly. Tuck took this opportunity to sing Pat Benatar lyrics to us while cruising up and right to a ledge belay (C4 #2, blue totem). P2 WI4, 40m? Steller with a tree belay after the lip. Kurt walked up this using his single position grivel tools, showcasing the limits of skill over gear. A hot few months post-operation on my elbows, I was grimacing the entire way. Topside we discover the absence of head-lamps and start rapping before a thick fog descends upon us. Before rappelling from a tree and walking down the steep gulley, we note the perfect condition of the lines above us: Dracula, Son of Drac, Steppenwolf, Squeeze Play, Vertigo, and whatever else is up there. Is it an FA? Probably not. But we’re calling it "Snow Lake West" as a reference point, pending any other information popping up. I’ve compiled most Snow Lake Ice routes on CC below; if you know of any lines not represented here please comment with source. Below: Kurt sizes up the proposed line. Tuck on p2: This shot is upper snow lake zone. The left side you can see steppenwolf. Dracula, Son of Dracula and Squeeze play should be on the right side of the arete, but doesn’t appear formed in this photo. Coldiron and friend put up a mixed line in the middle (right side of and leads to snow ledge). Not sure what the rest of the flows are, but according to legend, everything in the cascades has been climbed. I disagree with this for mixed lines and believe the alpine barrier has been about M5-6 until recently. Yes I am aware of Roger’s lines, but those are data outliers, an anomaly of the 2000’s and I've referred his case to Scully and Mulder. Upper Tier of Snow Lake: Steppenwolf WI3 (J Street 2011) Dracula (below) / Son of Dracula / Squeeze Play (right of circle around arete, WI4-M3 Street 2011) Squeeze Play WI4 (Street 2011) middle left flow below Matt ? and Jeff Street, “Vertigo” WI3 https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/85139-tr-dracula-wi-5-30m-and-others/#comment-1051667 And Coldiron Line (2011) - same elevation as steppenwolfe and dracula, maybe 200’ right. https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/84104-201112-washington-ice-conditions/page/3/#comment-1043719 Snow Lake Ice - starts at snow lake. Oompa Loompa, WI3 (2009) https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/64803-tr-snow-lake-oompa-loompa-wi3-212009/?tab=comments#comment-861563 Slot Machine 25m WI5 (2011, Street) https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/84911-tr-slot-machine-50m-wi-5/?tab=comments#comment-1050086 Gambler's Fallacy, WI4+ M6+ (2023, Tom Beirne & Priti Wright) https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/106079-gambler’s-fallacy-fa-wi4-m6/#comment-1167929 Right side line, follows the corner through two roofs, tops out via steep snow to a high tree. Photo is damn deceptive, I wouldn't have tried the line if I knew how steep the snow was.

Nice write up Priti! Glad we could do something mellow for our first line together. Recommended rack: 6-7 screws (red or yellow and 1x 22 fine), 12 alpine draws, 2KB (small&medium), 1 med LA, tricams, C4 .2-.75; double 60m ropes or single 70m might make the raps (2x). Conditions: This was at the end of a cold weather stretch. I had attempted the line several weeks prior (with Jason Niebler) and found the start of p2 roof to have running water under the verglas and wouldn't support body weight. So instead of pushing it, bailed in favor of the next cold cycle. The FA (this report) the verglass improved to 2-3inch thick! Perfect. Don't push it if you find conditions thin. Per the namesake, security gets worse the higher you go, graduating from tying off stubbies to connecting the syncopated ice with KBs in blank walls and turf sticks. But I think the movement quality is pretty high with the requisite existential questioning and bottomless bag of cascade climbing tricks. The protection is decent, and the p2 whips would be clean except for the snow topout, which would be a deck to the WI2/3 below the belayer on pitch 1 and above your skis. If this is pushing the grade but you are wicked clever with pro, I'd recommend this route. Bailing is possible back to the anchor throughout, except on the snow. The 2nd roof (just before the steep snow) offers one good .75, but is a house of cards otherwise. Definitely one of the more interesting lines for this zone, and a good one for the new guard of crushers.

We are getting a constant and consistent wave of spam in the forums. Me and the mods are knocking it down, but they keep coming. You can really tell when a forum isn't maintained as it just accumulates. Not here. I'm going to reach out to the software vendor to see if they have any tips for improving our ability to not have it. Thank you to those of you that report it and help us keep that crap off the boards.