ryland_moore

Make sure you go counter-clockwise! Oh, and don't forget to go to El Chalten while there and take the Navimag ship back up to Puerto Montt!

If you are traininf for lock-off power, screw using a metal ladder and build one out of rope and PVC pipe. Much cheaper and easier to move/adjust

Like I said, "To the right just below has let go..."

The guy who was hit does not use this board. Plus, he is back home on the East Coast now for Christmas. I talked to him on the phone the other day and he is still on pain killers and stated that he was still pissed off. I don't think his comments of I will kick his ass if I ever see this guy again were meant to be "passive agressive." My partner has had this happen to him before, and although it was not caused by another climber, he was hit by Icefall while leading The Yellow Wall on the Diamond and smashed his face in. So, he is pretty sensitive about icefall. Furthermore. We knew there was a decent by walking off, but did not know where it was and figured we could rap before they started the second pitch. Again, we did choose to rap inadvertantly below another party, but the fact remains that they should never have started up it in the first place. How my buddy and Jonathan deal with it is out of my control.

Yup. To my knowledge, PG have never let go. To the right just below has let go and to the left, S. Side alt. route has let go, but staying right on the psuedo ridge, no, not to my knoweldge. Anyone else have better beta?

Rarely does it ever slide on S. Side of Hood. It has happened, but is extremely rare. Still, you should know how to read snowpack whenever venturing off in the snow, so take it for what it's worth....

TreeToad, I would have to disagree. I lived in Costa Rica for a year and was in Guatamala and Nicaragua for 6 months. Yes, maybe it is more western in the popular areas, but if you get off the beaten path, there are BriBri Indians that are almost as old as the Mayans. I would say visit the Guanacaste Peninsula and stay in remote areas. One cool place is a Biological Reserve that doesn't even have any signs. A college dorm matron told me about it as she lives part time in TN on a college campus and part-time in MonteVerde Cloud Reserve where she founded and runs Escuala de Creativa. To get there, tale the ferry from Puntarenas over to the peninsula and head to Paquera. From there is a biological station by bus about 20 minutes SW of Paquera. You can stay in ocean front cabins, hike the beaches (all to yourself) shower outdoors (romantic) and take sea kayaks to three beaches. Monkeys all around! SUper remote. We were the only ones staying there when I was there and it is 3,000 acres. Also check out the dry lowland forest around Tamarindo and North. Big surf spot and Playa Naranja and Negra. Skip Papagayo as it is very resorty and nothing to do. Tortugero National Park is amazing on the N. Carib coast and very remote. Most places you will need a water taxi to get to. You can also volunteer to go out on patrol for sea turtle nesting and count turtle eggs as they are laying them to protect them from poachers. You go out at night and it is amazing. The most amazing place in the country is by far the Osa Peninsula. It has the most biological diversity where the scarlet maccaws live, two species of sloth, and the largest raptor in the world, the Harpy Eagle, which is 4 feet in height. From a climber's perspective you should not miss hiking Mt. Chirripo, the highest peak in Costa Rica at 12,500', you can see both the Pacific and the Carribbean. Also, going to Arenal volcano and watching it erupt in pretty cool. You can go to the cheesy and fake Tabacon hotsprings in the late afternoon, bring headlamps, play in the hot springs, and then in the evening, hike outside and uphill from the resort area into the lava fields. Don't obey the signs about it being dangerous and hike up about 20 minutes. You will soon be alone, and if it is clear and you can see the mountain, you will soon see lava blast out of the top and hot molten rock rolling down the flanks. You can also head up to MonteVerde, the cloud forest. Settled by Quakers in the 60s, they started a dairy and the ice cream is awesome. Very english, but will remind you of the Pacific Northwest except for the poison arrow frogs, scorpions, and crazy birds like the resplendant quetzal. Hire a guide at the entrance of the Park to look for one of these rare birds. You will never have a chance of seeing them. A friend of mine owns the El Sapo Dorado hotel, but I think they are on the higher end. Stay down the hill outside of the town of MonteVerde where it is cheaper. Finally, head to the Southern Carribbean tip town of Puerto Viejo. An afro carribbean culture that did not have electricity until 1987 due to prejudice of blacks in Costa Rica, it is a huge surf spot and you can either watch good surfers surf at Salsa Brava over a reef break and 20 ft. swells from the Reggae Bar, or rent a board and head down to Beach Break which is fun. You can also rent beach bungalows for as low as $100/month (roughing it!) right on the black sand beach north of town. Check out www.fincachica.com for rental houses. There is not a single paved road in this town! This was my second favorite place only surpassed by the Osa but the afro carribbean people were really cool! If you can find transportation, have someone take you south to Punto Mono or Monkey Point. Truly breathtaking and no one lives there. You can also ask one of the local fishermen to take you out in their dug out canoes with cheap motors and handline fish. We caught all types of craqzy fish. Much more cultural then heading out on a 50 ft. Hatteras (which don't even exist down there). My final rec. is to buy a Costa Rican bird guidebook. You will probably be able to get it down there cheaper, but although I was never into birds, and don't pursue it in the States, every time you see a bright colored bird or hear a weird sound, you will want to find out what it is. So pick up the book by Gary Stiles and Alex Skutch called A guide to the Birds of Costa Rica and find the elusive three wattled bell bird or the squeaky gate bird. Have fun! Oh, and be careful in the Coca Cola bus station in San Jose. That is the only place I ever had trouble with pick pockets. Once outside of San Jose, you should be fine!

Hey Blake, looking at that pic, did your calves hurt after ice climbing? If so, lower your heels, let the crampons do all of the work. I am still guilty of this, but it will improve your technique as well as save energy when you start getting on steeper lines. Way to get after it! You are hooked (no pun intended) now!

Dru, pic of the route is in another tread under ice in the Gorge. It is called Crown Jewel, 90m WI3.

Dru, the route is fairly wide and they could have chosen a line to the right, but did not do this I assume becasue the right side is more difficult and there are no fixed anchors like on the left side for the top of the first pitch at 30 meters. Also, catbird, I put a prussik on my rap line below my breakhand, but was having trouble with it jamming as the twin ropes were really iced up....

Good points all around. Kepp 'em coming.

To answer some of the questions: We were not climbing below anyone, they started the route while we were on the second pitch. My buddy was hit while rapping past the leader of the second party as he had rapped to the right sie of the flow to avoid knocking any ice dowen on the belayer of the second party when he was hit. We were unable to communicate with the group as they were too far below us and the wind would not carry our voices. We did not know if they were waiting at the top of the first pitch or not when we rapped. Once the first person rapped, the second went. You could not see down to the top of the first pitch until you rapped about 75 feet down. There was no way to communicate back up at the top that someone was leading the second pitch and so you should wait until they were finished. As my buddy rapped, he passed the guy leading up the second pitch and therefore had to continue down as fast as he could. I do not know if my buddy said anything to him on the way down, but there is no way the guy was going to stop climbing while on lead. Both people were not inexperienced, only the guy seconding. The leader appeared to be decent. I would not feel any differently if they were two expert climbers or a soloist. The fact of the matter is the party should have waited for us to finish the climb, knowing that we would be rapping soon and then get on the ice. I still feel they put themselves in danger, and us in danger. This would have all been avoided if the second party had waited and been patient. I should add that a party of two from cc.com showed up in the morning as we were about to begin. Seeing us there, they decided to wait and go elsewhere.

Thanks Jason for your comments. Yes, we may have played a role in this by deciding to rap. One of my partners knew right off who would be more experienced just by looking at the two on the ground. We never talked to them until we were rapping because they did not get to the top of the first pitch until we were already up climbing the second. The only time I talked to the guy was at the top when I was rapping off. I guess the newbie also got an earful from my partner, whether warranted or not, at the belay on top of the first pitch to let him know what he thought of his partner. Usually, accidents do not occur from one incident, and this may be the case here. We did not know where on the route they were when rapping the second pitch, could not call down to them in 45-60 mph winds, and wanted to get down as fast as we could because of the winds. Would you ever climb directly below someone on an ice route?

So, this morning while climbing Crown Jewel in the Gorge, there was a party of two from Portland who came, racked up, and started climbing the first pitch while we were heading up the second pitch. Being in the direct line of fire while we were climbing, I was worried that if we knocked down some ice on the leader, we could cause a severe accident. Being that me and my partners climb ice several times a year and can lead up to WI 5, we know how to read ice and take care not to knock down ice unnecessarily. To make a long story short, after we topped out and began to rappel, my partner rapped past the other team, now leading the second pitch. When he was almost down to the anchors of the top of the first pitch, the leader above knocked down a huge chunk of ice about the size of a small microwave. He yelled ice but it was greatly muffled by the wind (I heard it as he was only 15 feet from the top where I was waiting to rap). My partner was only 15 ft. above the first pitch, so the ice fell over 100 feet before smashing my partner in the helmet, chest, and left arm. He was seriously injured and very lucky that the ice didn't hit him on his brake hand or knock him out or cut the ropes, where he would surely have fallen to his death. We thought he fractured his wrist and were able to get him on rappel so he could lower himself to the ground albeit without the use of his left arm. I've been climbing ice since 1999 and rock climbing since 1992 and was the least experienced of the 3 of us. I have always known it to never climb below someone on ice or climb on the other side, which these two did not do. Does this not seem like an extremely poor call in judgement, ice climbing ethics, and overall lack of common sense? Plus the "leader" brought out a guy who seemed to barely have been on ice, just by watching his technique and pick placement. I am not picking on a guy with less skills here, but making the point that the more experienced climber should have known not to climb until we were down and put his partner in a dangerous position without the newbie even knowing he was in one. I think the guy's name was Jonathan and he drove a red Subaru with stickers from New Hampshire but lives in Portland. Anyone know him? My partner wants to kick his ass! I also write the details of this person, becasue if he is on this board, he needs to learn a serious lesson here, and for those of you on this board who may receive a pm from him to climb, you will know a little bit more about his "ethics" and safety issues other than I climb this grade and have done these routes..... My partner went straight to the hospital and got an X-Ray which came back negative on the fracture, but does have a "severe hemotoma" on his left forearm that may have to be drained on Tuesday if the swelling does not go down, and a bruised chest. Plus this asshole screwed up our plans to actually climb some better and more challenging lines near Ainsworth later that day. It put a damper on an overall amazing day, all from a lack of consideration, safety, and not only putting us in danger, but he and his partner. Am I wrong to get mad or do I have reason to be upset? I am not saying that the ice falling was this guy's fault, as ice comes down when we least expect it. I am saying that this guy should have never started climbing beneath us, because we could have severely hurt him or his partner and by him pushing on the climb, inadvertently knocked ice off which could have easily killed my partner if the ice fell a few inches closer to his head. I see this as one of the worst examples of mentoring and lacvk of climbing ability I've ever experience, and that is even compared to the gumby situation that occurred on Hood several years ago (that I wrote the Climbing article on, for those of you who've been reading cc.com that long ago to remember....) Sorry for the rant, but I would like the group's opinion. And I may just be hot-tempered and wound up right now as a 50ft. Hemlock just crashed through my fence and my neighbors in my back yard and instead of climbing tomorrow, I need to work on neighbor relations and get the chainsaw out to cut it up and explain why their dogs can no longer hang out in the back yard without a fence.....

PRG is way overpriced for what you get, although the lead walls are definately the best in Portland. Check out the new bouldering gym, The Circuit on SW Macadam.

Yeah, I came back through the Gorge last night and it was cold! Not as cold as south of the Dalles where I was working all day, but alot colder than the day before! I watched CJ for a while @4pm and it looked in a lot better condition than the day before. Ice at Ainsworth seems really promising, plus there just seemd to be more consolidation all around. It should be a good weekend! Now don't everyone pile up in a few areas. The further east you go, the better the ice gets! I found some potential first ascents on some remote BLM land yesterday and one has two free-hanging pillars each about 40 feet in height. They have both touched down, and with temps last night in the low teens in its location, it should be good to go this weekend. There is so much ice out there, go get it! I will post about these areas I found after this weekend. It will be around for a while, it seems.

I'd agree with what Marcus and others have said. I spent from noon -3pm today scouting ice in the Gorge. I watched a large block fall from the upper left side of Crown Jewel (about the size of a bike) and could see water running underneath the lower right 1/3 of the falls. Smaller debris about the size of a softball came down regularly. The upper falls is thin with a lot of exposed rock and visible water running. It did not freeze in the Gorge last night and so has been melting continuously for over 24 hrs. Tonight is different as the colder temps have returned and the east wind is back now. There was no wind in the Gorge today. There is less ice in the Gorge than last Friday when I scouted. I hiked up from the Ainsworth campground and up the stream gulley to some climbs and saw what Maecus saw. It looked solid up higher but down low was not continuous. If the colder temps last a little longer and go back to what it was doing this weekend and late last week, then the ice will continue. I think I am going to postpone my climb until later in the week to assess the ice as I was pretty spooked when I saw the large block fall today on Crown. Especially since it was on the left side. Have fun out there but be safe. The ice will come to the Gorge again!

Did you do the second pitch or just the first?

Hey AFIVE, did you do the second pitch of Crown Jewel and did you have any trouble finding the anchors on the left side for the top of the first pitch??? Also, do you just rap off trees at the top of the second pitch, set up a V-thread, or what?

I'd call 6F seriously cold for Cascades - it stay like this for a week. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/i...;lon=-121.70625 Oleg, You were saying????? I am sorry to say, I told you so, but at least you got to play around on Reid....... I will trust general weather reports to NOAA but when it comes to site specific temps. I look straight to actual readings on the mountain and there was an inversion up there, meaning no ice or rime on Yocum....

I tried to post some on Friday as it was thin, but in. I am going out tomorrow and Wednesday, so I will try and get some more pics. Will climb hopefully Wednesday morning, so will have pics from that as well. This cold spell will be around, so this weekend, it should be really nice and not nearly as wet.

Was out there this morning to the Dalles and ice is forming up well. Driving back through this afternoon, it didn't change too much. Not climbable yet, but if we can get cold temps for another week, it might just go. I will post pics later as I took some on the drive out. There does appear to be some lines'in' on the WA side up high just across from the Bonneville Dam. Have no idea how to get up there, but freezing level was there as the trees were all encrusted in snow/rime below these lines. All of the main flows were still running water on the Oregon side and the other seeps just looked very thin and spicy, like chandeliers.

No way on Yocum....That thing needs to be seriously frozen uo with rime and with a temp. inversion and freezing levels up to 10,800' I'd say get some skiezin' in.

Ryland Moore of Team "Rednecks On Ice" Denali expedition walking around Kahiltna Basecamp after a successful summit bid, asking French climbers how long it took to walk up to the top, if the views were nice, and if they wanted a shot of bourbon.

No. You need a bill, which your mountaineering boots do not have. Instead, buy a pair of AT bindings like the 500s or 505s that will take a mountaineering boot. Keep in mind, if skiing with mountaineering boots, it ain't easy and with no cuff support, you won't be ripping up the steep n' deep. I'd recommend getting a pair of AT bindings and Boots and climbing in your AT boots. My climbing partner summitted Denali in AT boots and you can climb anything around here with AT boots as long as you do not need to French technique anything. You can also climb ice in AT boots as well.