Dru

some quality pack walking? let me guess you tried something big and bailed and now you want to keep it secret until you can get back on it

ReviveX

I am a competent 5.6, WI2, A1 leader. I can usually second 5.9 without falling off.

Are you suggesting Adrian would manipulate his ice site so as to reduce potential crowding on routes he plans to do? How diabolical

Just like any one else guides will lie when its in their best interest, like for instance when they want to give their clients an easy out. I think it's funny how the westcoastice.com conditions report for Shannon says -" Update January 14 - that's it for the season" and reportedly half a dozen parties climbed it on Saturday anyways.

I hold the lid on my rubbermaid of climbing gear with a bungy cord.

Simone Moro is a guy.

Did you find any giant quartz crystals? That area is real popular with rockhounders. The band of quartz goes through about 50' up the falls.

what did you climb eh?

quantum teleportation of beer molecules from inside bottle to mouth. astound your friends with the sealed but empty bottle.

does someone do that in a bond film?

i saw a guy in a bar in chetwynd pop out his glass eye and open the beer in his eyesocket

but what did you climb yesterday?

It nearly worked too

Portraits and landscapes aren't still lifes

Tell it to Don, it was his offhand comment in the Vancouver Sun c. 1996 that set up this arbitrary and difficult-to-fulfill requirement

The maps do have it as Thacker Creek. I suppose it could still be called Thornton Falls though

photo topo.

If I'm not mistaken Jordan's photo is of your route?

i like that picture better than jordop's

w00t Now you can call yourself a "true Coastal climber"

Yeah that is it. Map

No, that is Hell-O Kitty. This is the next gully right of that, most of it is hidden from the parking lot, but you can see the final curtain high above everything else. Steve supposedly has a good photo topo, mine is a bit dark.

Subject: Wal-Mart Stung in $1.5 Million Bar-Code Scam By Evan Schuman January 5, 2005 In a scheme that leveraged a little technology but relied on inattentive cashiers, Tennessee authorities have arrested two couples on charges that they used bogus bar codes to steal at least $1.5 million from hundreds of stores--some belonging to Wal-Mart--in 19 states. The group is slated to appear in court Wednesday. Although the accused are said to have spent a lot of time and effort organizing colleagues in various parts of the country, the technology portion of their scheme was quite simple. They are accused of visiting a retailer and purchasing a low-priced item. The group would then scan the bar codes and simply print out duplicate bar codes, said Thomas Dean, the assistant Sumner County (Tennessee) district attorney who is assigned to the case. The accused--Michael Poore, 29, and Julie Marie Simmons, 35, also known as Julie Poore; and Dewey Howerton, 39, and Laura Howerton, 39--would then go back to the store, tape the duplicate bar code on a higher-priced item and purchase the more expensive item at the lower scanned price, Dean said in an eWEEK.com interview. One of the accused, according to the police complaint, would then remove the bogus tag and try to return the item to the store for the full purchase price. Instead of cash, the defendants would often ask for gift cards, Dean said. "Wal-Mart will more quickly put it on a gift card than hand you cash," he said. ... the criminal mind is always inventive.

Climb: Fraser Canyon Ice -Hells Gate-FA of Cerberus (600m, 160m of ice, WI4) Date of Climb: 1/15/2005 Trip Report: Stemalot, Bogen and I left Chilliwack around 8 AM Saturday morning heading for the Fraser Canyon. Our goal was a big curtain of unclimbed ice located behind the Hells Gate tramway high up in the next gully north of Hell-O Kitty, where Fern and I had climbed last week. With a freeze forecasted to end on Sunday this might be the last chance of the season to deal with some of the unclimbed ice around Hope. We parked at the pullout south of the tramway and hiked down the access road to the Fraser River, climbed over the barbed wire fences and across the bridge and hiked up the train tracks behind the boarded up tourist trap. A trail led from the tracks up and into the objective gully. The gully had knee deep snow with some short ice steps necessitating crampons. About 100m up the gully we hit the first real pitch of ice, a 30m WI2 that we all soloed. We didn't even know for sure that we were in the right gully to get to the big curtain but figured we could traverse across ribs to find it once we got high enough. Approaching the first WI2 step. Around a corner higher up in the gully we came across a pretty 35m WI3 step. steve soloed this and began regretting his choice of approach partway up. The ice was cracking and dinner plating and his crampon was making strange noises. It took him close to an hour to solo up this pitch. Adrian and I roped up for the pitch and I led up, I placed a few screws and with their mental security was able to climb it pretty quickly and bring Adrian up. Steve soloing p2 We started hiking up the gully above looking for our curtain. At a fork we took the right branch. The hiking consisted of waist to knee deep snow with downed trees, prickle bushes, short wI2 steps and thin ice over rushing creek water, which we broke through several times. We climbed out of the gully for a while and then dry tooled turf on a fun traverse in above the worst bush. It took us a few hours to slog up around a bend in the gully and finally see our curtain above, and another hour or so to make it to the base. The final curtain was a huge, fat, wide flow of green ice. Very nice and possibly even worth slogging to get to. Steve led the first pitch which was a full 60m of WI3, and ended on a good ledge about 20m below the final pillar and cave. Steve starts up p3 with Adrian belaying Steve finishing p3 I got to lead the last pitch which was 20m of WI3 to a 15m two-stepped WI4 column. Some creative stemming thankfully was found, I might have pitched off otherwise, as there was an awkward section where you climbed up to a cave and then had to pull around big fragile icicles to get back on the main pillar. I did get a fat lip from clearing icicles. Well by the time steve and Adrian joined me on top it was about 5 PM and headlamp time. We rapped 50m down the left side of the flow and built an Abalakov, it was at this time i found the hook on my hooker had broken off, good thing Adrian had one. We made another 50m rap to the base of the falls and while pulling the ropes on this one the rope stuck Adrian had to lead up to the last anchor and untangle the knot that his rope had tied in itself and then rap back down. Another hour gone. We were all cold and fully soaked by now from wet ice and snow. Around this time Steve was the first to mention the E word "Is this an epic yet?" Well we slogged all the way back down the gully, downclimbing what we could and rapping the WI3 and wI2 pitches, and with Steve's ITB syndrome acting up in his knee he was hobbling pretty bad even with all the painkillers Adrian dosed him with. Crossing the bridge and slogging back up to the highway was a blur of tedium with a major blizzard starting up to add spice. We got back to the car at 10:30, to hope at 11:30 PM and home to Chilliwack at 12:15. I was out of beer so I had a shot of rum and went to bed. We named the route Cerberus (600m elevation gain, 160m of ice climbing, WI4) after the three-headed dog who guards the gates of hell in Greek myth. Gear Notes: All the usual ice gear Approach Notes: Highway 1 to Hells Gate then access road, bridge, barbed wire, prickle bushes and postholing.