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I haven't climbed Mailbox Peak, nor have I done Glacier Peak in a day or the Bulger List but I did climb some ice in Banks today. Most routes are not in but we found good ice on the Corner Route at MP 9. Left MBI 1 was also in. The cable and H2O2 are trying but not really close. We climbed U1 and U2 at MP 14. Peewee #1, 4, and 5 all looked in. Zenith wasn't even close although it is trying. Most other lines were either non-existent although a few of the brush routes were trying.

Trip: Columbia River Gorge - Various Ice Routes Trip Date: 01/19/2024 Trip Report: Snuck in some final pitches on Friday 1/19 and Saturday 1/20 with Damon and Angie before the rain came. See pics below... Starvation Creek area Archer Mountain area Ainsworth area? Rapping off trees to avoid tedious down climbing on hard rain ice. Climb near Archer Driving home was super fun... NOT! Gear Notes: screws... stubbies not needed! Approach Notes: AWD w/ chains

Drive by Choss-Fest or "Did Somebody Call a Wahhhhmbulance?" Shredder and I enjoyed a fine day of choss climbing Saturday in the Gorge. We settled first on Rooster Rock, the pinnacle protecting the nude beach. We parked in the park lot and walked across a field past a culvert and down to the base of what we thought was the pinnacle. 20 minutes of thrashing around in blackberry vines made us reconsider. As we doubled back we saw a couple of what appeared to be climbers (you know the look) walking back towards the park. Well, maybe we didn't walk far enough along the highway. So we follow a small trail further west and bingo we find the 'trail' leading through the blackberry vines into a cool, shady grove of willows. The trail wound around and up steeply until ending at the base of the west side of the pinnacle. We put on our harnesses and decided to forego the rope on the lower section and ascended some easy 4th class terrain with packs. Above this was a bolt that marked a traverse over to the gully proper which Shredder led in fine style solo over 5.3-5.4 ground. We made the summit and enjoyed the outstanding views of the ambulances roaring to a stop just outside the park about where we had been thrutching around before finding the true trail. We kicked back, took a few hero shots and then set off on the scary ass rappell back down. We had to down climb some of the lower 4th class sections but nothing too serious. We then decided to climb Crown Point via the Alpenjager route. The Dodge guide describes this route in relatively favorable terms and hell, we're a couple of adventurers. Had we any idea what we were in for we might have left that one alone. We had to park alongside hwy 84 and hike along some railroad tracks to find a small trail leading towards the base. It soon waxed out and we were thrutching around through undergrowth again. We waded through lush fields of stinging nettles. Did I mention I was wearing shorts? Much groaning, crying and whining found us clinging to the rock with absolutely no sign of a trail and no route indications. We're both a bit sketched out as we don our harnesses while clinging to choss on 5.3 terrain. I get a feeling we're again in the wrong spot so traverse further east to discover, yes we are in the wrong spot again. While no trail existed, this gully leading up was clearly easier than where we had started from so I yell for Shredder to come and join me as I start off on the lower 5.4 sections. Before I know it the climbing has gotten harder and the exposure is crazy but I am committed. I see a piece of bail-off webbing and start to think about using it. Above me though I spy two pitons and what appears to be a relatively new bolt and hanger so I continue towards safety thinking I can at least rapell from here more safely. I clip in, say a few silent prayers and look over my shoulder to see how Shredder is doing. Oops--he's got the rope. He's coming along nicely and accept for one spot that has him stymied briefly he arrives at the belay without incident. We both agree we will never do anything like that again. Little did we know that was nothing compared to what lie ahead. We pulled out the rope, tied in and I grabbede rack. We were both climbing with packs on again. Shredder put me on belay and off I went. The route goes up directly from the belay then follows a series of fixed pins along an open book to a chimney where the real fun began. Dodge describes it as a stem fest in his book. We both agreed it was not only a stem fest but a scare fest. There was a number of fixed pins along the way and a full-on belay station with a rusty, spinning 1/4" bolt backed up with two pitons that ended the second pitch. Rockfall was unavoidable but not that bad on the second pitch. The third, exit pitch was another story. Alpenjager splits completely from the main Crown Point buttress and is seperated by a chimney that goes from fist sized at the bottom to big enough to accomodate my fat ass with a pack at the top. I followed the chimney up and as it arced back south I stayed inside of it stemming out the entire way. Pretty easy climbing but there was no more fixed gear and I saw nothing solid enough to take any passive gear. So I slung a chickstone and ran it out. When I reached the apex of the arc I tried to ascend to the true summit of alpenjager but it was not to be. It was covered in a thick pelt of moss over large stones that were no more secure than gravel. I got about 20 feet up this crap when it started peeling away and I was sliding backward clinging to that choss heap like a cat on a shower curtain. I slowly and very methodically downclimbed. Did I mention I was scared? As I did so I released a torrent of dirt and rocks that rained down the chimney but thankfully avoided shredder. Then I continued my stemming ways to the south side of the chimney and terra firma. Shredder followed but because of the rope catching on a piece of choss up above he was suckered into trying to climb the moss as I did until I yelled to him to avoid it. We gave up trying to achieve the true summit of alpenjager in favor of wading back through the nettles. All in all a great time and truly adventurous climbing. I highly recommend Rooster Rock as an easy outing but I would discourage anyone from trying Alpenjager unless they truly want to experience Columbia River choss at its finest. As a sidenote, apparently there was a shooting in the parking lot of Rooster Rock while we were climbing. Hence all the ambulances. Rooster Rock 2 pitches of 5.3 climbing Alpenjager 3-4 pitches of 5.4/5.5 climbing, one pair of ruined underwear. No rock pro used on Rooster Rock. A light rack would suffice for Alpenjager. I'll defer to Shredder's masterful computer skills for picture posting.