fredrogers

Had a great time at Alpental this AM with the 40 other folks who were there. 7-8" of fairly light powder at 9, then up top after Chair 2 opened at 10... sadly, the sun shone through and turned it to mostly mush by noon. Never more than 4 people in front of me in line all day. Lots of loose sloughs and major pinwheels going on today- not a good day to hit the wrong slope.

Okay Tim, I found a couple for ya in 11worth: In the Icicle: Carnival Crack 5.10d gear to 8" In Tumwater Cayon: Gym Roof 5.10a on Tumwater Tower Super Crack 12c on Midnight Rock Raft Crack on Raft Rock, 5.10c Pro to 5"

Just spent 5 days at The Big Mountain in Whitefish, MT. 1 day of sun and slushies, 3 days of 20 degrees, snow and fog with sunbreaks and one day of 20' visibility and rain. If you bring a pass from any other ski area, tickets are $39- not a bad deal for such a great mountain. Sorry to hear about the knee, Iain. Glad you could blame it on a boarder.

Just a reminder that the World Cup will be at Crystal this weekend. This is a great opporunity to watch the best telemark racers in the world, as well as compete yourself on Thursday. If you haven't seen these guys and gals race before, I highly recommend it (even this snowboarder can appreciate it). Come help us cheer the Americans on... Thanks also to the good folks at Second Ascent, Vertical World, KAVU, Leedom, K2, Scarpa, Garmont and BD for their generous support. For more info: http://www.skicrystal.com/telemarkworldcupfinals.cfm

I was up at Alpy with 3,000 of my closest friends today (fortunately, the Pass was closed Eastbound for a while or it would have been a total cluster cluck). Snowed 5-6 inches in the 4 hours we were there, but getting gloppy by the end. Upper part of Chair 2 was light and worth it (tho' the light was super flat), even the 15 minute wait at the bottom. I was talking to a patroller in line (yeah, hard to belive a boarder would talk with a patroller and he wouldn't cut the line), and he was predicting they'd be open to mid-April- take that for what it's worth. From the forecasts I've seen, sounds like Tuesday will be the better day, since freezing levels are supposed to bounce up to 5,000 on Wednesday. Regardless, today was the best snow that I've had alll season. Go for it.

With any luck, tomorrow and Thursday. Oh, wait, I'm unemployed. I'll be there both days. Maybe Friday, too.

Dave, granted both us us should be doing something more productive than posting here on a Friday night (oh, wait, I'm drinking too), but I'm glad I could amuse. It's my firm belief that Leslie Miller is Tony Ventrella's secret love child , and that Steve Poole is THE man and should have a battle cage grudgematch with Jeff Renner. Or, perhaps better yet, those two should tag team against the Wappler's (although, frankly, Larry Schick is da man when it somes to ski forecasting). But, damnit, I'm thread drifting and that's wrong. Sorry Mike and Matt, I still think you guys kicked some serious ass.

so much for your credibility. our chopper has been in the shop for three days -- you COULDN'T have seen it up there. Umm, well pissing matches with the local media aside, nice fawkin' job gents. Glad you made it back safe and under your own power. I'm impressed. My own feelings about the casualty-vampiresque reportage of the media aside, one does have to give minor props to the 2 folks at King5 who try (emphasis on the word TRY) to keep their talking heads straight. No word from KOMO, KIRO, or god forbid the KCPQ mutants on this board, eh? But maybe that's for the good of the world. More lost kittens at 11. Fred.

Timbo- we came up Toketie Creek- not Rat Creek. And it sucked, hard. JayB- I checked my photos and I don't have any of the wall- I was fighting off the worst leg cramps I've had in my life at that point and I guess I didn't shoot the wall after all. It's a bitch, but go for it- you'll have the place to yourself. The S face of the Mole (or any of the other longer routes) would be easy from the lake and a nice addition. As bad as the approach and deproach sucked, it's kinda cool to look up from the Icicle and scream "never again f&%ker".

Bump. Okay, skiers and boarders- here's your chance to help out a good cause, ski for free and watch the best tele racers in the world. We rode the course yesterday it will be an exciting race to watch. If you help out, there's some schwag and a lift ticket in it for you. And the probability of some free beer (although don't quote me on that). For you freeheelers, if you're interested, the course will be open for you to compete on Thursday the 13th. Please send my pal Charlie an email if you can help one or all of the days.

Jay- I may have some snaps of the the Wall from when we went past it on the way into the Mole. I'll try and dig them out and PM them to you. Looks sweet- a much better objective than the Mole. Also ask Captn. Cavedude- I know he's climbed there. The approach is a hands-down bitch. Even if you find the right trail.

I uploaded some photos for your viewing enjoyment. Unfortunately, I have them in reverse order- so start with page 2! Thanks to Kurtis at Spindrift Productions for the use of some of his images from this House of Sky. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showgallery.php?ppuser=501&cat=500&thumb=1

David- We were in a 4x4 Toyota pick-up, which didn't appear to have any major lift or other aftermarket conversions. We didn't chain up at all, although I bet the driver had mud/snow tires on... None of the rivers were frozen (or if they were I didn't see them from the bed of the truck) and were maybe 2-3 feet deep. We were following a monster truck that took some deeper crossings, but you could drive around and find a shallower place to ford. We drove all the way to the end of the road- about a 10 minute walk from there to the start of This House of Sky. There was a 80's vintage Subaru Wagon parked at the same spot we did when we got back to the car, so I guess it's possible in a non-truck if you know the way. I'd take the 4-Runner over the Forester, just because the river crossings were so deep and it's really rough terrain once you get to the bottom of the Big Hill. Dale's experience might also suggest going in on a weekend, so that other folks will be around to help if you get stuck (if nothing else to give you a ride to the road).

Dale- We got lucky also. Without Kurt, Chris and Angel, Tim and I would have climbed nothing and probably had to walk out to get a tow. I saw in the guidebook that access via Waiparious Creek is suppossed to be more difficult than the Ghost, so I can't imagine what it's like... nice shot of the tow truck company's name. The Canadians have a nice subtle sense of humor, eh? Look forward to the story.

Here's a TR- with photos to follow as soon as I get them scanned: TimL and I just got back from a 6 day trip to the Canadian Rockies last night. Thanks to Tim's over-sized right foot, excellent driving conditions and a lack of Mounties and WA State Patrol, our driving times were sub-10 hours each way. Which left of plenty of time to climb: Friday we climbed Lady Wilson's Cleavage on the Icefields Parkway after determining that our first choices, the Finishing Hammer and Sniveling Gullies, were not in the best shape. Given the route’s reputation as a terrain trap, it wasn’t without some trepidation that we started up the nice broad ice sidewalk to the first pitch of ice. That was almost forgotten as we get involved in the climbing, which was nice short steps of 2+/3- interspersed with smaller steps of WI 2 and some snow walking. As Tim topped out of the final ice pitch, I got to play dodgeball as the sun began sending some rock down into the gully. The final ice pitch to the Wilson Headwall was mostly snow and slush and, along with the falling rock, we decided it was time to bail. The route was set with Abaklovs and the final two raps were off bolts set into the rock. You could get off with one 60M rope, but having twin 60’s was nice. Go early, so that you our out of the gully by the time the sun starts hitting the slopes above- also be very aware of avalanche conditions, as you would be f*#ked should anything come down the gully with you in it. All in all, a great way to spend my second day on ice. After having car trouble Friday night and Saturday morning, we spent the afternoon climbing in the Icefields Parkway again, this time at the Balfour Wall. Beautiful sunny skies led to some impressive views of the Reality Bath and the East Face of Howse peak, as well as some incredibly plastic ice. We shared the wall with a really cool group of folks from Red Deer and all had a great time climbing. Much to recommend about this spot, not only the position, but the range of difficulty available (2 to 4+ and a couple of mixed lines) and the ease of setting up TR’s. It’s a nice place to climb without the crowds at Haffner or other areas closer to town. It was also cool to watch avalanches and seracs rumble down the faces of the peaks across the way as the afternoon wore on. We packed it in early, since we decided that our Sunday objective was This House of Sky in the Ghost Valley. Sunday morning saw us up and out the door by around 4:30, as we expected to leave Tim’s Golf (AKA Tuffy) at the top of the "Big Hill" which guards access to the Ghost, and hoof it in to the base of the climb. Leaving early turned out to be a good thing, as it took us a while to find our way to the access road, including an accidental trip into Calgary. We chained up and started motoring our way down the 16km to the top of the Big Hill. Aboot 2/3 of the way there, one of the chains broke. So we pulled off and were trying to figure out what the hell to do, when a truck pulled up and asked us if we were okay. After talking to the folks in the truck (Angel, Chris and Kurt), we discovered that they were also headed in to do the route and they told us to jump in the back of the truck and we were off into the Ghost. A note on accessing the Ghost: don’t even consider it in a 2WD with low clearance, like a VW Golf. Also, it’s a long way from the top of the Big Hill to any of the climbs, which involves at least 3 river crossings. I would go in a high clearance 4WD, with chains, a tow rope and a bunch of people to push, although we did see one group in there in a vintage Subaru wagon. I don’t have any driving beta, as both Tim and I were trying to stay alive in the back of the truck and not brain ourselves on the top of the camper shell. We soon found ourselves at the parking area for the route and after suiting up, headed out the 300M or so to the first short step of ice. Tim and I headed up first, with Angel, Chris and Kurt (ACK) right behind us. We took one of their radios and agreed to bail when they wanted to leave, as their plan was to just climb a couple of pitches and have Chris shoot some photos. A couple of small steps of WI2 led to the first pitch of "real" ice, which consisted of a picked out, thin layer, formed on top of a crude wooden ladder. Tim led it in fine style and I quaked my way up after him, uncomfortable with hooking after bashing myself in the face with a tool while learning how to hook. This was followed by a long bit of walking, with some small steps of ice and rock climbing over melted out sections. We arrived at the next pitch of WI3, which was also pretty picked out, but sported a nice log on one side for some great Canadian "mixed" climbing (one tool and crampon in the log, one on the ice). Tim managed to get a couple of screws in on this pitch, but I don’t think either inspired a great deal of confidence. This lead to more rambly sections of 2-2+, with the ice quality improving the higher we got. I think we belayed maybe 2 more sections of 3 or 3-, with lots of short steps of 2-2+ in-between. Meanwhile, it had begun to snow pretty hard, adding to the really cool, alpine feeling of the route. Tim and I topped out in the bowl below the final pitches and began to rappel the route, thinking that ACK, climbing with 2 pairs of tools between the three of them, would be moving slowly and want to bail. Another team came up and said that they weren’t far behind, so we re-climbed the last pitch and had a bite to eat. I wandered back to the top of the last pitch and saw Kurt climbing the second to last pitch below, followed shortly by Angel and Chris. I lowered my tools off the last pitch so that they could climb it faster and escape the Germans that had been climbing up and over them for several pitches below. After they came up, the group made the decision to bail, rather than attempt the last couple of pitches (which looked to be the best). We walked off the route, all the while marveling at the folks who had sniffed out this descent in between cliff bands and grateful for the flagging leading the way. We did fix one handline for a steep and really slippery part of the descent, and ended up with the Germans and half of the Canmore Alpine Club using the rope too… My patience was at an end when the three last members of the CAC decided to rap instead of using the rope as a handline, but I was reminded by Kurt that we didn’t have to go back up and rescue any of them and that was worth the small inconvenience of waiting. Or, in his words, it was "a good introduction to being Canadian." I had to agree. We tossed our gear and ourselves in the back of the truck and we were happy when we powered our way up the Big Hill and arrived back at Tuffy. Here, Chris and Kurt again came to our aid and managed to fix our chain with some bolt cutters and vise grips. We made the mistake of thinking we could make it without chains, and after the first hill and a botched tow job, put them back on until we reached the main road. This House of Sky was truly an amazing route, offering enough mixed and varied climbing to be interesting, yet not a total ass kicker for this relative newbie. Combined with the remoteness of the setting and the good folks (ACK) who made our access to the route possible, this was definitely one of my best days in the mountains. Tim and I have both vowed to back and finish the last 2-3 pitches of the route. Monday morning found us moving a little slowly and me with badly blistered feet from my plastics, so we opted for a day of cragging close to the road and headed to the Haffner Creek area after hearing a friend extol its virtues. Following the short approach, we entered the Smith Rock of the mixed climbing world, complete with lots of bolts, barking dogs and Euros climbing leashless while smoking cigarettes and too many people in tight pants. We met a couple of guys from Calgary who agreed to throw a rope up on an M7 after they were done, as well as giving us some beta on the other routes around the creek. Tim took a couple of laps on the route, while I belayed and marveled at the people on the really hard mixed routes around us, as well as the woman who led this thin, free hanging icicle and curtain in amazing style and only 2 screws. Tim then led one of the only pitches of ice left in the canyon, a showery, wet pitch of WI4 that gave me a run for my money when I followed. We both took another lap on it and decided to pull the plug, as we had had enough of the scene and intended to climb the following morning. Haffner was a huge contrast to the Ghost the day before, and while I’m sure it has its devotees, I’m not sure that I’ll be going back anytime soon. All in all, it was a great trip and a good introduction to climbing in the Rockies. I can’t wait to go back, for more ice and for some alpine routes after seeing Yak Peak (yes, I know it’s not in the Rockies, but on the way there), as well as Mt. Sir Donald’s NW Arete.

A friend asked me to post this for him: Wanna see the best telemark racers in the World? Wanna ski for free - and get a voucher lift ticket? Wanna drink free beer and win great prizes like K2 skis? Wanna eat a big sack lunch and drink hot tea? Or race yourself? March 13-16th @ Crystal Mt. Go to: http://www.skicrystal.com/telemarkworldcupfinals.cfm Or email me: cdresenfish@hotmail.com

You can also get them for $60 at 2nd ascent- saving $15 over Marmot...

I thought they used frozen haggis or pounded Brits into the ice and tied them off.

Anyone ever used the new DDM screws? Saw them at 2nd Ascent for $39.95- seem like they have a fairly decent drive handle... but wondering if anyone has used them in the field.

Slothman- As of yesterday, your biners and sling were still on 10%... better hurry, though, after making an announcement like that on this board.

Erik- with that kind of editing, I suggest a career in the local media.

I'll bet it's been warm enough that if you found rock that faced south like at Peshastin or dare I say- vantage you could comfortable rock climb right now. It would be nice if winter would go out with little bit of a bang. I recently got the worst base shot on my alpine skis. Anybody else destroy their skis? Vantage sure was nice this weekend. Minimal litter, minimal gapers and temps in th 60's at Sunshine Wall. Addedbonus: we were one of 4 parties camped in the ghetto- an all time low.

They're pulling the bridges because they have "exceeded their useful life." For the story, click here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/

Hello all. I was just prowling around the Deforest Service web site and noticed that they plan on pulling the bridges that access Stuart and Colchuck lakes on July15th. This was originally scheduled for last year, but was shelved due to the costs of fighting fires. From the sound of it- even access of foot will not be permitted.

And if you do climb at Exit 38- don't leave anything in your car. That area has the dubious distinction of being a very high car prowl area- the vast amounts of shattered auto glass at the parking area will testify to that.