Retrosaurus

Colin, Negative, on that guess. And further query to my sources indicate that this had been climbed back in the ?70s? by J.Y.,former rock jedi of Leavenworth fame. It is a splendid route on the Entiat River Road, and the name that I had chosen was "What DO Ardenvoirs Eat?" Please respect the property rights of private homes along the road in relation to parking and crossing to get to the climb. Get scared, don't die, Have fun. Ardenvoirs eat at the cafe in Ardenvoir. I hear it's excellent.

Saturday, 2/10/1, I did what I believe to be a first ascent. From mile marker 24 on ****** River road you can see a striking free-standing column of ice across the river on the hillside. We crossed the river on thin ice and beat it up the hillside to the climb. We should have stuck closer to the right margin of the actual stream course. (These things are so often painfully obvious on the descent.)The new growth timber as thick as the hair on a dog's back. We felt like ants crossing a lawn. The fresh snow on the trees made sure that we were thoroughly soaked before getting to the climb. But even blowing the approach as we did, it only took an hour to get to the base of the route. The first pitch was ~125'; about a third of which was cauliflower cone that was crusted with 2" of snow and then shice. The rest of the pitch was up a vertical tube of ice. We could hear the water running inside and for the last 15' of climbing, We could actually see the water running on the inside of the clear tube. At the top of the pitch a 5" diameter fir is growing out of the left side of the cleft, that now has a blue sling on it. I only got really, really, REALLY SCARED!! once. And had to resort to hooking my left tool over the pick of my right to scamm a few moments to recover a scrap of coordination. About 200' beyond the first pitch, we found a 2nd pitch of WI 2-3, depending on which side you climb it; short yellowish pillars on the left and longer, wider slabby ice on the right. We soloed the pillars on very friendly plastic ice, and rapped from a small fir. We got real scared and didn't even died. What could be more fun? Oh, the name of the route: What DO A********'s Eat? WI 5. I'd tell y'all where it is, but there is other obvious ice in the area. Maybe after I climb it on Thursday? Besides, it's a little out of the way for coasties. Any guesses? Get scared, don't die, have fun! [This message has been edited by Retrosaurus (edited 02-12-2001).]

I agree that lexan shovels are a joke and contend that the Voile is also. I bent mine on the very first trip that I used it on. The only way that I'll use a steel hardware store scoop shovel, is if my partner will carry it. What I did was to make my own. You go to the farm supply store and buy a #12 aluminum grain scoop with a "D"handle, cut the handle down as far as you can and remount the "D" handle as close to the aluminum scoop as you can and then cut down the scoop to about 13" in diameter, carefully rounding off all of the corners and removing burrs with a file. This little jewel moves snow like no tomorrow, is nearly as light as the Voile and has durability only approached by steel scoop shovels. I have used mine for years and would not think of going in to the winter back country with anything less. But hey, if you'd rather pay 3x as much for a disposable shovel, have at 'er. Mitch