Jens

Trip: Rockies - bombs, beer, blood,& brutes Date: 1/1/2007 Trip Report: Chris Stephenson & I decided to head up to the Canadian Rockies for some follies on whatever we could find. Day 1 started at Field with some fun. Carlsberg: We decided to close out the day at Louise falls. The appeal of a nice horse drawn sleigh ride,a blanket, and a cappucino while being delivered to the base of our climb was to great a temptation for us. No sooner had we jumped in a vacant seat at the the Chateau Lake Louise when the tour queen scrambled to ensure that dirtbag climber types like us were not to board the sleigh. Despite having to walk over dried horse poo on the approach, we enjoyed the ice. Day 2 was filled with more excitement as I was part way up the 1st pitch of Bourgeau-Left Hand when a chopper buzzed over us and dropped a huge bomb right on the slope above us and about 200 yards to our right. Shit! Chris- let's get out of here! The whole mountain shook! Mockingly enough the chopper cicled around over us again (he could have read the labels on our clothing) and dropped 2 more charges on top of us! We bailed and went ass over teakettle down the slope as fast as we could. The avy report said "moderate" for our zone, no snow had fallen for a few days, wind depostion was not huge, and the ski area lot was full of cars. Since we started way late in the day, we figured no one would be stupid enough to bomb directly above a full parking lot. All other bombing in the world is done before the crowds show up. After all the comotion, we eventually found our way to the junkyards and eventually some beer. The next day we climbed mixed master and found about a 20 foot long streak of blood set into the ice! Maybe the chopper pilot had decided to hunt some more climbers up the parkway? The last pitch was awesome. The next day sported some Haffner fun with lots of hangdogging and other assorted monkey business. On the way home we hit an elk directly head on at about 45mph. The car was nearly toast but we managed to limp it home by stopping every 25 minutes and filling up the radiator. We got pulled over four times because chris' vehicle looked so mangled! One cop in north Idaho had a shoulder length mullet. All in all, it was a circus of a trip but lots of fun! Gear notes: beer I know TR's of ice trips not in the cascades are lame but I'm really bored.

Whatta you like? (I've never tried this icebreaker stuff but want to get some) weight? stretch? smell? dry time? warmth? breathability? stop go activties? bivies? high areobic activities?

My plan is to grow a beard and lay low.

I'll bite. Just to play devil's advocate: It was said that "Rheinhold Messner was the best rock climber on the continent of Europe at one time. Rheinhold learned to ice climb and became the best technical ice climber on the continent of europe at on time. Rheinhold then turned his sights to the highest peaks in the world." you know the rest. Many of the ascents of the 8000m peak no one else was on the mountain an he postholed the whole way. Also to play Devil's advocate, I'll agree with many of the nominees on your list but some of those on the list are out of their league.

You will probably get a nicer response for sure, but the knowledge base here is much greater. The approaches to the cascade peaks are so rugged that climbers hike everywhere hikers go plus a whole lot more places than even the "Michael Jordans" of off trail hiking.

About 10 years ago, some dude told me about climbing it free in winter. He rated it (M5).

Be careful, even Bachar says they are to hard on the joints!

Thanks for the update tazman. Now this wouldn't be a typical Friday night post to keep the hoards of 206'ers off the ice for the weekend post like we've seen on cascadeclimbers.com a lot since the site was created? Since cc was created, I'd wager that 85 percent of the ice reports are real and 15 percent are put out to keep the delicate ice intact.--Just joking. Happy Holidays to all.

ouch pink!

Thanks for the info. What is 100 mile house? It looks like the Washington Desert has much fatter ice than Lillooet. That's pretty rare! -------- My fingers are to sore to type. I just got back from a 5 hour gym session.

Man Raindawg you are the funniest poster on this site! How about some Liberace pics to go with the Simmons pics!

Why has it been so warm up their the last two weeks? Here is why I ask: Lytton is always a bunch warmer than Lillooet and Lytton has been as cold or colder than Lillooet a lot this last month and Clinton is showing way way colder temps than Lillooet (normally a bit lower but not THAT much). I was thinking of heading up Friday-Sat. but now might bail. Any reports anyone?

We didn't pull over or even look at chilrden of the sun but it looked like it had taken a serious beating by the sun.

The "deathcicles" were way smaller and less in number than almost any other year. But ironically, they were falling much more freqently than other years. Perhaps it was beause it had been above freezing all week and was just starting to get cold when we were their. Somebody needs to bring a gun, hike around and clear them. If someone is guiding or taking a big group and would be on the puchbowl for a good portion of the day, a gun would be prudent.

I've never led it but topropped it a bunch in the 90's and I distinctly remember that when I first topropped it in 92' there were fewer holds then when I toproped it in 95'. In 95' theholds were not only numerous but some of the newer ones were much better. ----------- Interestingly enough, many of the overhanging entablature sport routes have gotten harder than when they were first put in.

Eiger Dreams is my personal fav Walter Bonatti's book was good.

Once one of these in down to 300 bucks, I'll buy one.

An old timer told me a story about a dude in the alps who fell and his rope caught on a horn above an overhang and his body was not able to be recovered for several years. The old timer saw the body swinging in the wind for quite a while. All the Mt. Hood banter got me thinking...... Are their any places in the cascades where you couldn't be rescued or recovered even in perfect weather? Anyone care to post scenarios about places you've been that might fit the above? When I was climbing a short AI2 section about 300 feet below the "traverse of the angels" on Willis Wall I had a rock hit the top of my backpack at terminal velocity, I thought later, who would come up here and give me First Aid (had I been hurt)as it was July and the whole face was a shooting gallery every few minutes. Another possible scenario: Two climbers are roped together from the top of little Tahoma standing on the summit in winter. One slips over the north face and yanks the other with him. Their rope snags on an overhang. They end up cutting the rope and free falling another pitch to a steep rock face above a huge overhang not on any route. How would a rescue be conducted if it was not possible to lower in and climbing a new route to get to them might be only posible for a couple people in this whole state because of the overhanging drytooling (and the choss might be unaidable)? Any other places or scenarios? -Johannesburg comes to mind as their are canyons that can't be flown into. I don't mean any disrespect to the Hood folks.

If you don't end up finding many ice partners: Show up at Banks Lake, WA Devil's Punchbowl area or Marble Canyon at Lillooet, BC on a Saturday and you'll find plenty of people to climb with. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest.

Headed out to Banks Lake with Mizuki today. We weren't going to go because it has been above freezing for much of the week and it was 37F for most of the day yesterday. Roads: Very good shape Route Conditions: On the way in, after seeing champagne and the cable, we were very depressed and thought it would be a dry tooling only day (lame) but it turned out to be a stellar day of ice. First the bad news: Champagne: Has fallen down-all bare rock except for about 25 feet at the base. Cable: Disconnected smears of ice with long stretches of bare rock. H202: Has snapped off -------------- Now the good news: We climbed around and rapped in and climbed the upper half of Zenith. It was as perfect as ice gets. Not brittle, not wet, not arrerated. Steep perfection. The Lower portion that we bypassed has snapped off. We then each soloed the Devil's Punchbowl. On the right side it was good ice and not to wet. Lots of ice here -this climb has enough volume to survive any heat wave until spring. We then climbed Phase Transition. OK sticks but screws were psychological only. Felt the upper pillar settle while I was leading. The water table seepage patterns at this place are radically different from year to year at Banks.

I'd try: West of the cascades: Anything from Seattle to the Canadian Border near or east of I-5. East of the cascades: Leavenworth, or Twisp. If you've got a drill, their is a lifetime of new virgin lines to be had in the greater Twisp, Winthrop, Mazama area. Shoot us a pm when you arrive if you want to sample some climbing.

I'll agree with you for sure on the media circus bit. Friends are coming up to me and asking me about this. As for your second point, I would have to respectfully disagree with the arguement that this new public policy maximizes the rescuers chances of stumbling into a needle in a haystack. More technical climbers enjoying the only "real" alpine peak in the whole state of Oregon can only mean more eyes. I personally don't agree with the arguments that have been made earlier about how it would make it so hard for the rescuers if anyone else was climbing in the mount hood region. And I'll burn in hell for saying this, (don't read on if you are a sensitive viewer) but sadly with the exception of just a few indivduals, mountain search and rescue types here in the NW are just one small step up the food chain from the mounties and NOLS folks. I know this type of statement does not bring the greater climbing community together but ask around and the concensus will agree. This thread has had some very good dialouge and may indicate how future public policy may take shape when this plays out again in the future. Again sorry if I offended anyone here. I may delete this post. Moderators? should I?

It is interesting to note that the closure that was issued this afternoon may have very well been a result of this thread. The climbers have been gone since last weekend right? It is quite amazing when you think of who reads cc. I often forget that policy makers (NFS, NPS, etc.)keep tabs on our actions via this site. ______ Can you imagine the same scenario on Rainier? Someone needs a resuce, so no one may set foot on the mountain. I hope this does not set a precendent. It is poor policy in my opinion. I am not being selfish.

So what I've made of this thread Red Rocks for me would be * An amusing and enjoyable place to do some trad away from people ifi ventured up one of the remote canyons. * A sunny diversion from Seattle's rain if I happened to be on a vacation to Las Vegas and staying on the strip. * A good place to find a belayer if I was by myself and didn't care if I was neccerily at the Vegas' best climbing area or not.

I would have to respectfully disagree and instead go with weekendclibmerz on this one. If you were planning to climb hood, climb hood. It is no disrespect for anyone or any family. When I've climbed in chamonix, some days 5-6 different rescues would be going on on 5-6 peaks simultanously. If you stayed off all of the peaks that had SARS in progress, you'd be outta luck. Climbing is a high risk life pursuit. Don't step on the ropes of the SAR folks but pursue your life passion on your terms.