Doug_Hutchinson

Nice work Michael and Eli! Visionary to remove the need for the pesky Polish's dagger to be in. I'm giving you permission to upgrade it to WI4+++ but, this being Washington, no way can you call it WI5- 🙂 I fear for the aspiring moderate alpinists who attempt some of the WI4+/M5 routes put up in the last several years without knowing that WI4+/M5 is the new 5.9+/A2.

SOLD

Size 43.0 (US 10) Phantom Techs. Used about five days but too small for me. No nicks, cuts, or signs of noticeable wear. Pick up in Seattle area for $350 or you pay for shipping.

Nice one guys, good on ya and all that, but no one reads cc.com or blogs anymore, and you lost me on the WI2 bit...no one climbs ice anymore, dry is the future in case you haven't heard.

Just like the title says, I have one brand new BD Ultralight 16cm ice screw for sale for $50. I live in South Seattle. Just received a few weeks ago This is the screw you want for your Cascade glacier adventures.

Thank you Jeff and Priti, for doing it so now we don't have to!

@kukuzka1 thanks for sharing, so cool. TR soloing a high alpine route in 2010 seems really ahead of its time. We did see two anchors that made no sense for an ascent, so thanks for solving that mystery. I really liked this route.

I climbed it last October so get ready for my TR in about two months...it's gonna definitely kick Michael's TR's ass

Hold on Michael, people actually climb during the long shoulder season known as summer?!?

Following in the footsteps of Haireball, the OG ass conditions reporter; Tom Beirne and I went on the final Alpental valley ass scouting mission of the 2020-21 season yesterday. Not that Alpental is competing with the Icicle or anything, but a reported tiny avy debris pile of only 30 feet deep below the Funnel (can someone please buy Mr. Piton a camera and teach him how to use it?) is nothing compared to the 2,000' slide that started on Chair Peak that ran over and out of Source Lake: For a lackluster ice season, the big news in the Alpy environs this winter is the snow pack, it is huge. My memory is not good enough to compare to the '98-99 season, but it is deep as I have ever seen now. But deep snow, high sun, and warm temps are essentially shutting down the lower Snoqualmonix ice season. Somewhere in this photo is Flow Reversal (blue bleached white): Our plan was to climb Source Lake Line, but the ice looked too aerated, too top heavy, and there was still too much hang fire (cornices are huge now) to risk it: The consolation was climbing the aptly named Hot Line, which was in WI4+ condition (versus the FA WI6 pillar condition) - Tom Beirne pic: Kiddie cliff was basically buried too. There still may be some low ice to still swing tools into, e.g., I saw climbers on Stellar Falls a few days ago, but it is going to fall apart pretty quickly and any snice top out will probably be scary rotten. Time to move up into the alpine or dig out the rock shoes.

Haireball, you came so close to keeping all the ice conditions in the same place, and then that senior moment. Someone delete that Leavenworth thread... Both the skiing and climbing has been great over the last two weeks of awesome PNW winteryness, so here goes my attempt to recap recent waice conditions. The first legit cold snap of the winter hit from around Feb 10 to 17. The temps were decently cold enough to get lowland ice forming, but what was somewhat unique is the cold was accompanied by non-stop precip so tons of snow fell during this cycle. Avy conditions went through the roof so most of the ice that got climbed was the lowland variety (I assume). But this snap happened late enough in the season, that the higher sun will tear things down quickly. Based on daily drive-bys to Crystal, Skookum Falls looked climbable from maybe Feb 12 to 15 this year. Here is @moyboy 's Skookum TR from Feb 15th. The mighty and mysterious Snoquera did not form completely during this cold snap. By around Feb 17th, it became kind of game on at Banks. The lack of much snow on the ground limited which seeps were seeping when the cold arrived. Many of the usual climber suspects were out there over the last few days, but it was nice and empty as usual too. Tom and I had a successful quick hit visit on Feb 18-19, and like most Banks trips, things were the same and different than previous visits. For the first time I have seen, Children of the Sun was surprisingly in, not just a thin smear wilting in the sun; so that was our first climb. The golfing is not good now because of the recent snow, non-white golf balls recommended: Children was pretty wild and more three dimensional than it appeared from ground. Pic of Tom about 1/3 up - I built a belay about 2/3 up because I was not sure I could get to the telephone pole anchor (visible in pic above) at the top of the climb from the base, but it IS less than 60M from the base: The mega pillar on Clockwork Orange's P2 was still not touching, will someone please haul an extension ladder up there for future ascents: After such better-than-normal conditions to the south, I was excited to see the big boys on the Million Dollar Mile, but it was more hit or miss. The Cable's P1 was not touching: For the connoisseurs, check out P2 on Thursday (above) - probably climbable, but here is how it looked it looked the next morning: Based on the weather forecast, I assume P2's fate will befall most of Banks by Monday. Moving north, H202 was very in and very fun: With a name like H202, it was wet of course, but I have never climbed a dry Banks pitch: Moving north, Salt and Pepper - who wants to describe the beta for the approach, mixed pitch? This climb looks so cool: The spectacular Zenith not close to touching: The Pee Wee's Playground lines have never caught my eye before, but they looked all mostly climbable, depending on your tolerance for brush bashing topouts. We climbed this fun line, which I am calling Pee Wee 4: Shitting Razors does not deserve a picture, the ice was not there enough to even call it shitty. Maybe the most noteworthy formations and ascents during this cycle where two big lines up and right of the Punchbowl, I have never seen these form before and don't think they have names. To avoid and/or add to future confusion, I propose Twin Towers Left and Right for these climbs, with TTR being the right-most line pictured (the one that has it's own twin flows - confusing, huh). The pillar just right of the Punchbowl was not touching down and not climbed, I assume, and I've named it the Devils Deathcicle, AKA Trotsky's Terror (all Banks lines need at least two names). On the way home, we climbed the classic Champagne which was much less fat compared to my two previous ascents in years prior, and there was a surprisingly thick jungle to bushwack/ice climb through to top out (which either grew really fast or is usually much more buried), but I still love this climb, one of the best in WA because of it's Cody-like ambiance. As seen from the walk off: Starting up P2. This pic shows a close up the condition of most of the Banks ice we climbed (going, going, soon gone...): How long will Banks be in? Let's just say if you are not there now, I would hesitate heading out after the weekend without some very current beta. Some shorter climbs came in and were climbed near the Railyard crag rock area. Based on old tat I have seen stranded on the west facing wall, I have often wondered about how often these, or climbs around Merritt falls, or even some of the south facing gullies on Nason Ridge come in. The Hidden Lake ice on the north side of Nason was in a few weeks ago and is probably still good, but again, the avy conditions remain sketch so no one should be up there now. Haireball, please add these areas to your future ass-clamming missions.

Great TR, thanks for the best Skookum beta I've seen. +1 Temres 282-O2s and steel screws.

Here is the the Climb Ski Rip edit of Post Nasal Drip. If climbing does not feel as serious as a heart attack, you are doing it wrong.

Since the CC.com cert has expired again, here goes another update for the two people that may risk lurking this page. This cold snap will help form some ice, maybe we'll actually hear about things getting climbed outside of Snoqcompton (redact! redact!). A third hand source reported that Banks is still not in, not enough snow was on the ground to melt before the temps plummeted. The Rap Wall action has been so hot lately, I am surprised that the ice there has survived. The first shot was fired by Kurt Ross last week who nabbed the second ascent of my homie's Roger Strong's ahead-of-its-time M11 test piece Ghost Dog, almost 20 years after the FA. Congrats! Yesterday, the Rap Wall sickness got way sicker. At the same time, Wayne Wallace redpointed his new, bolted M8+ test piece Bring da Ruckus, Tom Beirne was launching into the unknown on a ground-up, gear only, wild ice chimney - the 36th Chamber. We graded this fragile, overhanging line M5+, WI6 R. This was a two hour, intense lead on poorly bonded, thin ice - a proud freaking lead. Christian Junkar and Tom cleanly followed Ruckus, and me and Christian followed the 36th Chamber. This are two of the best mixed pitches anywhere. Rap wall overview, L to R, 36th Chamber (red), Ruckus (purple), Ghost Dog (yellow, approx location): Wayne low on Ruckus: And Ruckus is a little overhung: The 36th Chamber before getting de-daggered: Tom entering the 36th Chamber: Very three dimensional: It was a very good day: So much #waice awesomeness!

Some chick who decided to ski into a tree as her way to take over my bedroom for a few weeks