Don_Serl

yah, my suspicion is that bob was actually up to the Blotter scoping... (good choice!) cheers,

best info to date is that Dave Leahy and Jeremy Allyn climbed Cruel Pools complete on Sat Jan 8/05. any prior claims to the fame and glory that goes with this astonishing piece of advancement in Coastal ice climbing? (but seriously, when it comes in, it sounds like the House of Sky of the Fraser Valley, and a great alternative to the Mousetrap) cheers,

tee hee hee. that's what headlamps are for... ain't it so amazing how painfully s-l-o-o-o-w everything goes once the lamps come on, no matter what the terrain? beats a nite out, tho! cheers,

good going. persistence pays. as for the crossing, i'm thinking cable, next summer sometime... great climbs when they come in. didn't Crunchy Frog look superb? (at least, i guess that's what it was. fit the description: 2p steep, then an easier pitch...) cheers,

many thanks, all you guys. you're all splendid! cheers,

yah, let's hear the details... cheers,

Fromage and 3 others climbed Cruel Pools southwest of Hope Sat Jan 8/05, discovering that it offers about three times as much fine easy climbing as i describe in West Coast Ice 2. turns out Bob Koen and Darren Melnychuk only did the lower sections. so, there's a historical detail at issue here - who will i credit with the first complete ascent in the third edition, due in about a decade? a pair from Bellingham immediately preceded Fromage and party - who were they? pls lemme know, either by replying to this post, with a PM, or direct at dserl@telus.net. and if anybody out there did it earlier than Jan 8, lemme know that too pls! tks, and cheers,

what a superb photo... it might not be a decade, but it doesn't come in very frequently, and this makes me wish i'd gotten outa bed early friday to solo it before work. a missed chance! congrats, cheers,

yup, that's the one. we found lots more ice. p1 went to the angling ledge (belayed in centre of flow). for future interest, there were big drools off the lower left end of the slanting ledge, almost reaching the ground. would make a fine 35m WI5 pitch to the tree if it filled in. there's also a short (say, 15m) column in the main drainage at the same point. cheers,

oops. yup, it's Thacker Creek, therefore Thacker Falls. will edit... the mind is slipping... (as for Carlsberg stacked on Carlsberg, somebody has got to learn to read ice from a distance...) cheers,

Climb: Hope Ice Route-Thacker Falls Date of Climb: 1/15/2005 Trip Report: executive summary: general incompetence and blundering (plus a "little black book") yeilds a new route and a fine day out. Robert Nugent and I went out to Hope, but couldn't "put together" the river crossing at Sumallo, despite guidebook assurances. we walked a shaky log (in crampons, with ski poles). I ended up breaking the ice supporting one of the balance poles and had to make a splashing exit. then we discovered we were on an island, with a bigger channel beyond! (this was just upstream - west - of the Buszowski-Kippan). we came back to the highway (splash/dash ford at a riffle), drove back and forth looking, went down to the riverbank in a couple places, and never did discover a reasonable place to cross. so we abandonned Sumallo Bluffs, turned the heater on high to dry out, and headed back to Hope. cuz i had an idea... see, there's this fine waterfall on the right wall of the chasm of Thacker Creek, immediately south of Exit 173 at the east end of Hope. you don't see it eastbound, but it's briefly visible westbound. and it seldom freezes. plus you don't want to be in the chasm if there is any avvy hazard at all. we drove as far as Flood to get some photos (2 cars at Mousetrap), then came back and parked halfway down the eastbound exit ramp at the creek drainage. there's a short spur road left of the creek, then open bushwhaking to the chasm; then it's up the drainage - 70 mins to the base. the climb lies out of the main drainage, on the right wall. it's a broad, steppy flow: two 55m pitches at Gr3+4- (wld get the lower grade with better ice). first pitch is a bit steeper, the second featured somewhat funky ice. we belayed and rapped from a convenient 6" cedar on the right at the top. and then the fun started (or resumed). Robert had forgotten his headlamp (no trouble, i had a spare in the car), but while i had tucked mine in my Blitz Crag, Robert had left his at the base. and the day was wearing on. plus Rob's belay plate was at home with his climbing gym gear - no problem belaying with a Munter, but rapping damp stiff ropes that way wasn't too appealing. so, i rapped first, to the first station (which Robert had left in) to set the Abalakov, then Robert pulled the plate back up on the rope. the V-thread did not go well, and i had to try 3 times to get something satisfactory in brittle ice. meanwhile, Robert arrived, clipped into the belay and then muttered "ahh, fuck, i left my tools up above"... stuck in the duff above the cedar! luckily, we'd rapped direct from the tree, so Robert took the headlamp and my tools and re-climbed while i Munter-belayed around the tree from below. poor tree... in the end, he finally regained the belay, and we finally regained the ground, but there was certainly a lesson to be learned that even the most experienced of us can push ourselves into "epic" circumstances when we slip up on minor details. good route, btw. watch for it... cheers, Gear Notes: headlamp belay plate Approach Notes: left of drainage halfway down eastbound exit 173 at Hope

Yup! Andrew and I spotted some intriguing ice up the gully right of the Plum, beyond Rocky and Bullwinkle. Problem is, it's a long way up (just over 900m elevation gain - I carried an altimeter to check it), and the snow-covered rocks were not very suited to easy ascent, so we were 3 1/2 hrs to the route. (Mighta been better following the drainage, which is how we descended.) Soloed a 20m Grade 2 step, walked up snow gully another 15 mins, then climbed 2 pitches of Grade 3 (55m + 35m). Very pleasant ice, but not quite what we hoped for. Also cold, blustery, and spindrifty most of the day - up into the wind zone. Long descent by headlamp, so we were too "used" to hit it again Sunday. We went up again today tho, and climbed Nocturnal Emission, on the cliffband above the Birkenhead River bridge 9km east of Mount Currie townsite. I've watched for this one for a long time - it hardly ever comes in, cuz it's low, and it faces SW so it gets a lot of sun. Today was perfect! Hovering around -10ºC, no wind, bright warm sun, superb views down Lillooet Lake to Cloudraker (?) and west to Mount Currie, etc. And the ice was magnificent - it stayed cold enough that there was hardly any flow during the day, and there is lots of entertainment - not very hard (1st pitch Gr3; 2nd with a cpl 5m Gr 4 sections; 3rd and 4th Gr 2+), but really interesting climbing, excellent placements, solid screws ( a few to the rock). One of my "funnest" days of ice climbing ever. I highly recommend people get on this line while it's in. (btw, we walked up the little road that climbs from just east of the bridge rather than following under the powerline back from further east - 20mins up the road (to beyond the powerline), then angle up thru the forest back right to the route - 45mins total - pretty casual.) cheers,

more info for updates on westcoastice.com - i've got it in WCI2 as 140m, i.e. 3 pitches. were your pitches fairly full ropelengths? sounds like Darren and Bob either didn't climb it all, or the upper sections weren't frozen, or maybe it'd get snowed in if it dumped? i'll do some checking. it also sounds like really good value - good work. cheers,

here's one to bookmark. adrian burke sources info beyond what gets posted here on cc.com, and the site is focussed pretty much exclusively on WCI conditions and guide-related info, so it's a quick way to get the latest beta. i'll add info on corrections and new routes as it becomes available. cheers,

update has the guide being delivered to the publisher January 10. direct order info as above. cheers,

that's how Jia and Co got there. the road must not have been active and plowed that winter... cheers,

the books arrived in a warehouse in Coquitlam today, Friday January 7, and should be delivered to the publisher in Squamish on Monday Jan 10th. provided they don't arrive right at the end of the day, they should actually be available in the climbing shops in Squamish late Monday. MEC in Vancouver should have them by Wednesday or Thursday. (it's not yet clear whether there will be books ordered for direct delivery to MEC North Vancouver as well...) i doubt the Bellingham - Seattle area shops will get their books before the Jan 15-16 weekend, unless they specify some higher-speed (and higher priced) delivery method). just about... cheers,

there appeared to be no ice at all on BMOR when we came thru on monday evening. maybe that'll change now that there's some snow on the slopes and ledges... cheers,

Don, hope you don't mind if I ask - are the sarkens you are using of the spirlock variety ? btw I was looking at the sarken frontpoints the other day and thinking, 'do I really want to use these huge t-sections for cold brittle vertical ice ?' But the secondary points look like they would offer a lot of support. yup, spirlocks. effective enough, but i've got some complaints too. (nothing is perfect, is it! and not all change is "progress".) first off, it's kinda tricky getting the heel to slot properly into the rear bail, especially in deeper softer snow - and i find i have to do that bare-handed, which ain't the best when it's dead cold. call me conservative (or paranoid), but while you can manage OK below an ice route, i don't think i'd want to be dealing with this on a multi-day winter alpine route, Denali, the Himalayas, or someplace equally serious. i could imagine the choices being dying because you couldn't get your crampons on, or freezing your hands to do so. the sidelock looks like presenting the same problems. but that's just worries, not experience, so maybe there's no issue... second, i generally try to avoid any/all kinds of strap systems - they are noticeably colder than pure bail clip-on systems, especially with leather boots, and that's true for the sarkens too. as well, i find the plastic toe thingie difficult to get to flip back over the boot toe - the rings kinda jam in the loops at the top of the posts and resist rotation. this is worse when it gets colder and the plastic stiffens. but the points work brilliantly. i haven't found any problems with the T-section - i reckon if the ice is hard, you're probably not penetrating that far, and if it's soft, it doesn't matter. and the secondaries are sharp, well positioned, and highly functional. so are the rest of the points. i think they'd be brilliant with the leverlock heel and the sidelock toe (i.e. wire bail). this combo isn't available from Petzl-Charlet, but it could be "assembled". maybe i'll try to do so... cheers,

i know, i know... i'll update as soon as i get info from kevin. meanwhile, there's lots to do everywhere - just go, it's good... p.s. how was Quebec? fill us in; do a TR thread... cheers,

it's called: s-n-o-w-m-o-b-i-l-e...

plan ahead... most rooms are booked already. cheers,

Bogen, it may just be the angle of the shot or an object (tree?) blocking the view, but to me it looks like the first pitch is quite a ways from touching down. could you see that it was complete from a different angle of view? cheers,

Cal-Chek usually would be in during cold snaps like this, but i don't have any first hand reports - you'll have to go looking. closer to town, by this weekend there ought to be lots of little ice flows around Murrin Park, left of Shannon Falls, and heer and there in the Smore Bluffs. cheers,

i'm on the same wavelength. altho i did enjoy the G-14s in mono mode most of last season. the first few days out this year have been very cold by Coastal standards, and I'm finding the monos insecure. i've had several placements rip thru brittle ice, and i don't like having to keep the point razor-sharp to get it to punch into "fingers" of ice, rather than deflect off into the groove between 2 fingers (where it risks breaking out). ironically, for exactly this reason, i think you have to kick harder with a mono to get an accurate placement, and that's nasty on delicate ice. oddly enough, when i'm alternating out of the G-14s, i'm using a pair of sarkens (pretty low-tech) and while they feel and sound like they are plastic toys on your feet, they are performing really sweetly. best feature so far is that the geometry of the front-points and secondaries allows you to cock your foot sideways about 30 degrees and angle it outwards (supinated) about the same to kinda "crab onto" funky surfaces with the inner front point and its neighbouring secondary. just cuz u got 2 front points doesn't mean u gotta use them! cheers,