goatboy

Great pictures of a great place. Good beta on conditions too. We also ended up rapping over the schrund, it was GNARLY in July of 2003. Two tools were nice for the steep snow, I thought. Crampons not needed when we did it, though if it froze hard the night before . . . . Great work, Donn! GB

Great report and inspirational photos. I climbed the "lesser route" mentioned (that has since been skied) and would agree that it was both classic and ass-kicking. I believe I lost about 10 pounds on the trip. Thanks for the trip report!

NBC is interesting because you climb the couloir for awhile before shifting gears and traversing out onto the NW Face for the finish . . . It is a good climb because it is sustained at the "rating" -- moderate the whole way, in other words. There's definitely exposure involved, but depending on conditions, it's very reasonable and secure, I would say. Curious what other people think of the route?

Curious if you can drive all the way to the end of the road for the Easton Glacier (via Schreiber's Meadows) approach? Any beta on how snowy or snow-free that approach is right now? thanks

No problem at all!

Here's a picture of Serpentine and Backbone from that same day Also, a shot of us high on the NW Face (near the top of the route)

Climb: Colchuck-North Buttress Couloir Date of Climb: 5/15/2004 Trip Report: I have little to add to other trip reports other than my photos. This is a great, moderate route, made even better by the views and the exposure that one encounters in places. Kat and I left the trailhead at 4 AM and chased our headlamp beams over the little bridges and windy turns of the lower Stuart Lake trail, which was dry. Soon, it was light enough to see and we were past the bridge at Mountaineer Creek, where we began to encounter the first sustained bits of snow. To our pleasant surprise, it was firm snow, great for fast travel. 6:30 saw us at the lake. Here we encountered a soloist (Alasdair?) who went on up the moraine ahead of us while we ate some meat and bread. The couloir looked continuous and fun: It was mostly firm snow, with some patches of less consolidated in places. The couloir is about 40-45 degrees for the great majority, I would say -- perfect for two-tool dagger climbing and crampons. Kat used one tool most of the day, however, while I enjoyed the use of two. We descended the Colchuck Glacier, which had softened up enough to afford great plunge steps. I really recommend this route. We carried a rope and pickets and some rock pro and honestly didn't use or need any of it -- the conditions were very secure and straightforward, though fun! There was some minor rockfall that took place while we were in the couloir, so there's a potential argument against soloing, I suppose. But on the other hand, one can move faster unroped, often, which minimizes your time of exposure to rockfall ... anyway, there you have it. Gear Notes: No need for snowshoes due to early start. Some folks were in running shoes. Two tools and crampons were nice Rope optional, pickets would have worked nicely in firm snow. Rock gear seemed to be available for much of the route, should one want it. Approach Notes: See report

Have any of you climbed this route? I am curious what you thought of it. I will tell my story about it after I've heard a few responses. Thanks.

Thanks! It was a lovely day: Kangaroo Ridge from SEWS Summit:

I love the low-budget psychology test section. Great touch! I drove by Ross Lake the other day and slowed just a bit to gaze up at the Col by Colonial and Snowfield. Love to go up there sometime. Thanks for the inspiration!

Climb: South Early Winter Spire-SW Couloir and South Arete Date of Climb: 4/29/2004 Trip Report: Got up bright and early last Thursday and drove up to WA Pass drinking coffee, pre dawn. The early start really paid off in lovely sunrise light and crunchy, firm snow to walk on. Parked at hairpin and booted up Spire Gully, pausing for this photo at the top: Next, we traversed over to the base of the SW Couloir and it was still very firm, requiring several kicks to make a small platform for each step. Could have used crampons at this point, but chose not to. Started climbing the Couloir and easily moved past the big chockstone at the bottom, which poses more of an obstacle later when the couloir melts out a bit more. Conditions in the couloir were excellent: Soon, we were in the upper couloir and passing through several sections of rock -- fortunately, the loose scree was all frozen in place, and it was very easy to simply scramble over it all. The climbing at this point is more "interesting," but pretty easy and fun. Here, too, the snow changed into short sections of alpine ice, snow, intermittent frozen scree, ice, snow again . . . and so forth. All too soon, the couloir terminates just below the summit, where a magnificent cornice overhangs the east face: Above this point, it is an easy 5.0 rock move or two to gain the summit: Views from the summit were awesome. I may be able to post more photos later. We descended the S Arete, which was surprisingly snow-free for this early in the year. There were short, patchy sections of snow on some ledges, but nothing steep or sustained at all. Used rope to rappel the very bottom two pitches (the chimney and the first pitch off the ground). Standing/sitting glissaded all the way down spire gully. Summary: What a nice little route. It's too short, but still excellent and fun. Descending the S Arete makes for a fun alpine outing. Beautiful day with good people in a fantastic part of the range. Gear Notes: 1 Ice ax, 2 maybe useful but not necessary 1 skinny rope for rappels Crampons not needed, but could have been useful ski poles for approach Skis (optional) for descent Approach Notes: Snow and big steps kicked all the way from Hairpin to top of Spire Gully

Unexpected delight: 2nd pitch of Crack of Infinity -- glorious locking handjams on steep terrain (5.8-ish)

Hard to say -- looks like some patchy snow here and there . . . . may have more info soon!

Hey, thanks much. We went up there this morning and HOPED that our 7:30 start would give us some good snow to work with. Alas, the sun rapidly baked it to mush, and we SLOGGED up the right hand couloir. Near the top, the two couloirs merge somewhat -- we finished on the left-hand, steeper couloir which topped out at a knife-edge col dropping down to the NorthEast. The ridge above looked to be low-angle slabby, bad rock (as you mentioned) with a thin layer of snow on top. Looked yucky. We had a rope, had some pitons and pickets and tri-cams, and elected to eat sandwiches and enjoy the GLORIOUS day instead of vibrating out onto the ridge. Downclimbed couloir and boot skied whenever possible, only punching through to crotch level once. Back to a cold PBR in the car before we knew it. Beautiful day. Too bad we didn't summit -- but surprisingly, I don't really care! Thanks for the info.

Anyone out there ever climb the East Couloir on Whistler Peak? There are actually 2 parallel couloirs there, I'm referring to the climber's right, east-most couloir that goes to the lower col. Curious how steep it gets and what the ridge is like from the top of the couloir to the summit. Trying to decide whether to bring rope for any rock sections, or if I can expect mainly snow or easy ridge scrambling. Thanks!

Sorry to hear about your stuff. Probably in a dumpster by now. Bad Karma for the bastard thieves! On a positive note, the term "asshat" is fabulous. Congratulations on making something wonderful out of a bad experience.

Yeah, the beta mid is awesome. I actually now have a Beta-Light, the same design as betamid but made out of silicone fabric which is very strong and light. The whole thing weighs approximately nothing and could probably be stuffed into a Nalgene bottle if you drank a PBR while stuffing. I highly recommend it. It has weathered winds very well (as DanielPatrick said) and snow of a moderate amount. Check it out!

Any pictures yet?

Thanks for the reassurance -- you're now all officially "enabling" my beer consumption after climbing instead of steel wool and lubricant application! For that, I will be forever grateful. WC Fields said, "It was a woman who drove me to drink -- and I never even had the decency to thank her." I would like to demonstrate more grace and manners than he did. So Thanks!

Hey y'all, I was packing some things up for a long trip and noticed that my BD Cobras have spots of rust on the pick and adze and hammer area -- not major, but definitely obvious rust spots. Not enough use I guess!!! Anyway, I know it's not a GOOD thing to have rust, but is it a BAD thing? Do I need to be worried about that -- i.e. get rust remover or something -- is it that pretty par for the course? Thanks for any info.

Yeah, I see your point . . . Jim Nelson has a WHOLE LOT in common with REI. So WHAT if he wants to sell Camalots? It's probably because one million people came in asking for them, and he's providing an option. I would argue that the expansion range of a single camalot may make it close to worth it in weight versus carrying several other cams that cover that same range . . . another consideration is that many people know and use Camalots as a standard unit of measurement (i.e. "oh, that's a grim size, .75 " Or "Did you need a #4 for that roof?") and many people like to climb with pieces that they're familiar with, so perhaps he's just choosing to provide his customers with what they WANT and not just the most extreme cutting edge weight-conscious gear. I think he's always been very interested in getting people's opinions and feedback on gear and I imagine his choice to carry BD Cams comes from that feedback -- also, he can do that because he owns the place and can do whatever he wants to. Yeah, so I guess he really is just like REI, after all . . . . riiiiight.

Going to a website to state that you don't have time to post about your trip is like taking out an ad stating that you don't have time for ads and prefer to keep to yourself. I find that to be pretty funny. As for the NE Couloir route, I have looked at it and wondered about it in the past. Sounds like you encountered quite different challenges than Beckey mentions -- was it more than 50 degrees? What did the rock sections look like above -- 5th class, or easier? Thanks for the info! I love using this website to supplement what the guidebooks say. Thanks a lot.

What a positive attitude you have about something that many people would whine about. I went to New Zealand last year and severely sprained my ankle the 2nd day on the island. It was a major bummer, but I learned from it as you did. Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery! Thanks for sharing your accident and the lessons that can come from it. Steve

Finding yourself in this situation can be bleak, especially on steep ROCK. I have been in this situation -- a less-than-ideal anchor -- on steep snow/ice and chosen to kick a good platform, get a good stance, clip into the "anchor" as backup, and belay right off of my harness. My theory was that I could essentially hold my partner with my legs in the case of a slip (it was on varying 50-80 degree snow/ice) and he could reestablish himself and get the weight off of me pretty quickly, all without ever loading the anchor. As it turned out, he didn't fall and we climbed on. I think it's situational, obviously, but a good thing to consider and to have in your bag of tricks.

A cheap option in Mazama is the Lost River Resort Cabins. See www.lostriverresort.com -- nice little cabins with kitchen facilities inside . . . about $75 night for weekends A good Winthrop option, great deal for the price, is the Chewuch Inn, $65 a night including breakfast, very nice rooms and great place, also on the MVSTA ski trail system. I was just up there this past weekend investigating options for a fall wedding in the Methow . . .