Jens

Pat & I found that climbs at Banks are definitely filling in and I-90 was surprisingly good today. The unclimbed pencil a few feet right of Champagne was coming off the rock but would be awesome if it was a little colder and a guy had a pair of brush shears for the end. It'd be like the last pitch of mixed master. Their looked to be a party that had rapped in to the uppper part of zentih to toprope it. The salt and pepper rock start looks mellow, just reeeaaaly time consuming.

What is that line to the right in one of those pictures. It looks radical.

Brutal on the regulations! I hope you had some fun Bucaroo.

ice, ice, baby

Is the mammut one 90 bucks?

When I lived back in Ellensburg as a young college student, I remember climbing Frenchmen's once a bit after Ellensburg, WA made the news as being the coldest town in the lower 48 states of America for five days straight. I think it got down to -26F one of the nights. Frenchmen's was still hollow at the top and running underneath. With that kind of cold and lots of irrigation runoff, Eastern Washington was so huge, that you'd never even contemplate going to Banff or Norway.

I saw a party toproping some ice left of Frenchmen's falls in the mid nineties but my memory is a bit fuzzy. I've seen lots of smears come in right of Frenchmen's Falls that have seen some action also. As for names, and ratings, Jim Yoder might be one to ask. He's ice climed out their a lot over many years.

I took my girlfriend in today to the place and climbed for a few fun hours after snowy roads changed our plans. The Franklin Falls cirque definitely has some mixed potential(although I think bolts might be a bad call with all the professional photographers that frequent the place) and some nice ice lines. No floatation was needed for the approach. Dual points bit in to the young ice a little better. If it stayed cold for another two weeks, this place could fill out like a mini Johnston Canyon in Banff. Somebody could make the mother of all rope swings off the underside of the highway, walk uphill, and launch off a snowy knob.

Do any of the big brands (Julbo, Bolle', etc.)make a pair of real glass glacier glasses? I hate all the polycarbonates and the like. I can't find any of them anywhere. I don't want ones that look like Poindexter glacier goggles and if they are under a 100 bucks that would be a plus. Anyone in the know?

What I like for climbing is something that rides well on steep rock and is tube like enough to allow swinging ice tools. Sweet: Millet Mammut Deuter North Face Lafuma Suck: Dana Mountainsmith Gregory BD

With the recent extended cold snap, I've got to think that the Mickey's gulley and Hey Mikey, he likes it routes have got to be huge. Has anyone been in to check them out? Mickey's gully isn't visible from the road.

That step is about the fattest I've seen in 14 years of going to Lillooet!

I personally find that I can't spin the grivel 360's in my palm. The petzl/charlet sonics rock for hard ice climbing when the clock is ticking.

You'll get a million different opinions. I personally like the petzl/charlet sonics the best. I like BD 2nd. I think all the grivel screws suck for WA, OR, and SWBC because they don't have enough float. We get such funky ice our here that your frequently have to do some chopping to finish screwing them in all the way. More float= less chopping. Also the Petzl/charlet sonic screws start the easiest. Also racking grivel screws for easy access on stout steep lines sucks.

Best approaches in N.A. -- easier than the weeping wall in Canada!

I doubt anything will set up well.

Index in winter always reminds of Howse Peak on the parkway.

That cross fit stuff is kind of silly. Twight is quite a dude though. I can think of no one better to train our special forces in mt.skills.

My memory could be fuzzy, but in checking ice conditions, a weather station had it at -1F early in the moring.

Way to get after it Jesse! It was certainly cold!

As for the AF sign, I took it down, relaminated it and hung it back up about 4 years ago. I haven't been out their in 3 years since moving in to the City. The place (spy rock) actually has quite a history. And for you sportos, their are eliminant problems up to V6.

Sad to hear about the cops. ------------- cascadeclimber & I hit banks for a little bit also yestertday. It certainly needs another week of cold. We soloed the punchbowl and then later I led phase transition. The ice was good on both routes. There was a party TR'ing the Trotsky's Folly down low in the trees. We then walked in to go try Zenith but it was spraying way to much for us. A lot of the routes are really close but are exfoliating away from the tops of the cliffs. We saw a group of TR'ers that had set up a rope on the Cable. H202 is leadable but in 5+ or 6- shape but bogus screws. Salt & pepper looks in with the rock start. Shitting razorblades is not getting hardly any water this year. The PeeWees Playhouse area climbs looked to be coming along. --------------- It is really sad to think that the weather people say we are having a slightly colder than normal winter with way more snow then normal and it is already late January and the Washington ice hasn't really kicked in yet. As I get older, The Washington ice season gets shorter and shorter and sometimes only prime for 2 weeks or less.

Well spoken.

I saw a hand drawn topo at one of the gyms a long time ago for the lake boulder. ---- In my humble opinion, most of the rest of the north bend bouldering is a pile of sh@#. -JK.

Sweet climbing by the young honemaster! _______________________ my favs of the year. Las Vegas Limestone or Mixed Master final pitch on the Icefields Parkway (ice).