Doug_Hutchinson

(Apologies for highjacking this thread, too lazy to start my own and your overview shot Dan says it all - thanks). At the recommendation of Dave (thanks Dave!), skied the Open Fly with Michael Adams on Saturday. What a killer line! Enters the NW Straight Chuter hall of fame with the Slot/Snot, the Zipper (Lane), Gunsight (Anthony Lakes), etc. Love these lines!! The upper 1,000 feet was windloaded with over two feet of new. Pucker factor was very high jumping in. Looking down the virgin-in-white from the entrance cornice (which required no mandatory air): It pinches/rolls to a 15-ft wide, 45-degree constriction where I was absolutely sure I would get see how well my Avalung worked, but it surprisingly did not release. Looking down the crux: Michael entering throat: Even with lots of new, ice runnels in the gut on the lower third seem to be unavoidable forcing a lot of high lining on the sides: It opens near the exit where debris dodging was required: If you like steep chutes, add this one to the list. Currently, need to climb nearly 2000 feet from the highway to the snowline but it is way worth it.

92% sure I will be there with one partner. I was there last year (for about two beers until headed to my cabin with my girl). Can someone email me the directions (again) at hutchinson.dj@gmail.com? I skied above Easy Pass and the Birthday Tour last weekend (with the horrendously stupid side ski of the SW Couloir on SEWS - now that sucked as a ski). Is it just me, or is there tons of avy debris mucking up most good lines in some way this year? The snow conditions were awesome but lower coverage is so-so and debris was dominant, but the coverage near WA Pass is good. Second observation = the alpine ice up there died before the hwy opened this year. Looks like no ice routes will be dispatched. Prime Rib is fun but very rambly and kicked back - the approach shoe suggestion is good beta.

IMHO, the best BD all around ski currently is the Justice - which is a scaled down version of the Mega with a much better (more normal) chamber, less (but more than enough) rocker, and weights 1-1/2 lbs less. The Mega is a good powder/crud ski but nowhere near as versatile and definitely very slide-y on hard pack (lives up to its "clown ski" rep. The Mega is a cult ski cuz it is the Big Daddy of the BD line (I like the Atomic Big Daddy a little better for that size) but I really think that 115mm underfoot (Justice) is more than enough and 125mm (Mega) is overkill and begins to work against you.

South facing climbs are essentially gone with still decent climbing on the north facing. Can still cross the South Fork on ice bridges near the Cabin Creek confluence but I assume, with more warm temps, the last bridge (about 1/4 mile upstream of where trail comes down) will be gone in a week = bring sandals. Did the classic two-day combo of Mean Green and High on Boulder in the more classic 3-1/2 day trip from SEA/PDX. The crux pitch of Mean Green was very wet and offered poor pro but was still in and felt maybe 4+/5-. However, this pillar could be out soon (like w/in two weeks tops). The upper slabs (we did the right) were still surprisingly hard/brittle. Crux pitch on High on Boulder was also very wet but fat. Went from Spring (day time highs above 40F) on Saturday, to Fall to Winter (4" new on Sunday morning) back to Spring in about 48 hrs. This was my first trip there. Not saying this to be a contrarian, but the approaches were simple (less than 90 minutes mostly on trails with little vertical gain), the grades were nowhere near sandbagged and the routes can be dispatched surprisingly quickly. Cody is definitely awesome but its rep somewhat exceeds reality IMHO.

Yes, that is the bowl. The coverage is a lot thinner in your pic so no cornices are visible and there are more trees/cliffs exposed in the upper headwall - so it does not look as tastey. I looked into from the top and it looked really cool - even the lower throat looked good. Only problem is you would end up about 1-1/2 miles east of the parking start point.

Feck- have you skied the big, steep bowl off Arrowhead facing directly north to the highway? If so, what is the entrance like (i.e., is there a non-cornice jump entry?). Doug

I wasn't the one that begged to hear "We Brave Bee Stings and All" (BTW - that is the name of your new favorite album) like 200 times. I really liked Massive Attack until Tricky started to date my dream girl Bjork and then the jealousy coupled with my graduation from elementary school made me move on. Pic of the Central WA's greatest portopotty graffiti Thanks for a fun weekend.

Falling in the Wenatchee is a rite of passage! The first half of the crossing is calm then you hit a strong current and things get really interesting fast. The part about starting in the dark is the crux - you can't see the current that will sink you. I am not a paddler and tried it once in a small kayak. Hit the current, got turned backward and decided to a do a wet exit in the rapid downstream. Amazing how warm the water can feel when it is 5 degrees out. Drury would have been a dangerous slush falls that day anyway.

Marcus, you can breath a sigh of relief. After a whopping three days of ice (gotta pace myself, I could hit double digits at this rate), I moth-balled the tools, grab the boards and had a silly good day of skiing at Stevens today. Why are you wasting your time with new scrap in the Gorge when there are still plenty of FAs on NoPo's high quality cottonwoods?

Your Hidden Lake routes looked really good but there was nothing really continuous between those (which are obviously way to the left of the enclove you are referencing) and Alpine Dropout. However, there were several much steeper single-pitch lines not that far left of our line (between 3000 and 5000 feet) but they are probably hidden by towers and not visible from the Lake. Complex terrain in this area. I always wanted to establish a long rock route here but, upon closer inspection, it would be discontinuous and ramblingly.

Trip: Lake Wenatchee - [FA] Alpine Dropout - 300m plus, WI3 Date: 12/12/2009 Trip Report: Ben Hargrove and I climbed a sweet new line on the north face of Nason Ridge - starting at Lake Wenatchee, topping out near Alpine Lookout and exiting below Round Mtn TH. The quality of ice, position and length of the route (over 1000 feet of ice, 4000 feet total ascent) made this unlike anything else in Leavenworth. Route overview (w/o lower 500 feet or upper 1500 feet to ridge): Started near the gravel pit and crossed the Little Wenatchee River which was barely frozen in one section (w/o the freeze this climb would end here since the river is too far to haul a boat too - unlike Drury's easy river access!). Ascended 1000 feet to the base of the ice. Route started with a 60m pitch of WI3. Ben leading P1: The climb then stayed in a slot surrounded by walls of the same high quality gneiss that is found at the Nason Ridge climbing area on the opposite side of the ridge. P2 was 60m of WI2 This lead to the crux pitch which was the only less-than-stellar pitch of the route since it was showering water and I got real soaked. We simuled the next 800 vertical feet with lots of great WI2 to WI3- sections up to 30m tall. Besides the cool feel of being high on a lonely north face, the views to the north of the Entiat Mtns and the Glacier Peak area was a nice change of scenery. After over 1000 feet of technical terrain, we dropped the rope and ascended about 2000 feet of snow to the saddle on Nason R just east of Alpine Lookout. The sting in the tail was the last 500 feet of deep snow pulling on trees while trying to not to victims of tree well inversion syndrome or collapsing cornices. We reached the ridge right at sunset. Homefree! A quick sprint for a about four miles east along the ridge, over Round Mtn and down 3000 feet to the second car on the road to Round Mtn TH. Not! Boot top breakable crust resulted in a five hour slog to the car. Actually, it was a calm, beautiful evening but too much calm, beauty is not healthy. Reached the car at 9:30 PM and Headwaters for pizza by 10:00. Stuffing our faces too much to join in the karaoke comp. Overview of our walkabout Bracing for the collective yawn and "oh boy, another WI3 in 11worth," this route is so much more unique than a typical Leavenworth dribble to nowhere. A 4000 feet plume line with over 1000 of quality ice ending on a remote ridge. Seemed similar to longer climbs in Lilooet or longer moderates in the Canadian Rockies. I doubt this one comes in much or is typically buried in snow. Name comes from finishing near Alpine Lookout and my rotator cuff surgery in May causing me to miss a complete alpine season for the first time in 17 years. Ouch, that hurt way more than the knife. Gear Notes: Screws only, GPS. Approach Notes: Need a frozen river or a boat. Do not traverse Nason Ridge over Round Mtn. Next time, I would try to drop the south side of the ridge somehow working around the cliffs which could suck too.

Went from Blue Lakes TH. At the rate this winter is going, the highway will be open for a few more weeks? They'll plow until the avy danger gets too high (bring the snow!)but that aint gonna happen for at least a week or two and plowing the occ few inches is easy now. The skiing was just barely in but at least turns could be had somewhere... The roadcuts had ice that was forming but is probably gone again.

Hey Reed - I do remember you. Can't wait to try your new route (although I moved to Seattle a few months ago so it may be awhile). The pin wasn't mine, but I do remember it. The pitches above were so dirty, I assumed they were unclimbed still and the pin was left from an early aid attempt and bail. I hear you about routes getting dirty. I had climbed Pumpin' (it's officially "Pumpin' 4 the Man" after the Ween song) this summer for the first time in 3-4 years and was horrified about the return of the plant life. I raved to my partner about how classic it was and spent my lead doing nut tool gardening too, and left bummed out. Actually, the whole freaking place is suffering from underuse. All the stairs, belay platforms, seats, etc. are basically fallen over. The exodus that happened with the opening of Bulo and Area 51, not to mention Pete's moving and the endangered plant listing, really killed both route development and marked the end of routes staying clean. Seriously, at the rate it is going, the place will be back to pre-development in a few years. The pic below illustrate what Pete's may be best for...

Nice! I started cleaning a route through the huge roof about ten years ago but got nauseous spinning around on my top rope below the roof which was tied off to the Ponderosas back from the top. That area is the longest and best at the Pile - always thought it should have more routes - except really cleaning those long routes well takes forever. Nice work.

The only data that I can provide is empirical - last month I was descending a snow gully coming off the Throne - Little Swizterland AK. It was the first sunny, warm day in weeks and the snow was turning to shit fast - like questionable about holding body weight when it got steeper than 55-degrees. Due to the deteoriating conditions, we down-climbed with a 2-ft MSR picket ever 50 feet even though you could almost push the pickets in by hand the snow was so soft. Shortly after I removed a picket, wet snow slides starting coming down the gully. After digging in for about 30 seconds and getting pummeled, a larger wet slide totally blasted me head over heels for a 100 foot slide down a 50-60 degree gully in a small avy. After I came to stop and climbed up to get the picket it was suprisingly solid. We were using a 7.7mm rope which is probably as good as a screamer and a full single rope. I cringe when I see Mazama/Mountaineer types using an 11mm rope with pickets.

How about the avy debris on the Elliot (from Copper Spur) below Tie-in-Rock? Right across my shortcut route on the ski circumnav to avoid losing elevation. I guess high temps in May really do make for good slides!

The descent is pretty obvious if you drop into one of two right drainages - the Sandy or the Muddy Fork. The harder part is finding a bridge or two at the right spot to get out of the river and onto the trails. You park at Lolo Pass Road at the end of the plowed area (maybe six ? miles from Hwy 26). If you have never been in this area before, you will get hopelessly lost. Nope, never done a complete descent. I assume it can be done for chest beating purposes but the turns from the summit to Queens Chair will always be awful, from Queens Chair to where we stopped will always probably suck too but could be done. Alright, nuff this thread. With another good weekend of snow, bring on the new TRs. I could write about skiing the Slot on the Crooked Couloir today, but I'll leave that to one of the other 47 skiers that hit the Slot today (fantastic line but seems to have gotten pretty used in the last few years...).

The cloud pic was taken in the trees down low around 4:00. It cleared after 1230 but then lenticulars moved in around 4:00 to signal the approaching storm. We got to the car a little after 5:00 for an 11 hour day but we spent tons of time chilling and discussing 'safety,' etc. on the way down.

Lowell- Thanks for the fantastic show! Your crest tour was inspirational and your work preserving the great old ski films is priceless. Man, I'm hungry, gotta go eat some Zoom. Thanks, Doug

The route to the summit looked fine for climbing and nothing was coming down the face, great coverage. The climb is really pretty mellow, just long due to the extra descent and traverse. Here is probably a better view of the climbing route that day:

Trip: Mt Hood - Sandy Glacier Headwall to Lolo Pass Road Date: 3/8/2008 Trip Report: Skied most of the Sandy Glacier Headwall (started skiing at 9800') down to Lolo Pass Road (1900') Sunday with Darren Schouten and Michael Adams. Including the 2000' descent from Illumination Saddle down the Reid, we had 10,000' of mostly sweet wind buff turns with less than 6,000' feet of climbing. Definitely qualifies as an northwest classic ski descent with a remote, big mountain feel. Overview: Climbing the Sandy: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/medium/IMGP27531.JPG' alt='IMGP27531.JPG'> At about 9800', the relatively open slopes of the headwall are truncated by rime-covered cliffs and the nightmarish (for skiing) conditions found near the top of most Cascades volcanoes, which was the logical place to stop and put the skis on for the descent. As we were gearing up for the descent, around 1230, the overcast skies gave way to blue bird. Since this section is up to 45 degrees and pretty firm, getting the skis on without losing one was the day's crux (we were all on tele gear, free from those cheater step-in bindings and too cool to use safety straps because of, you know, avalanches, yeah). The first few turns were stiff but the snow quickly got softer/deeper, we skied from shade into full sun, and the angle slowly lessened leading to thousands of feet of near-perfect skiing. First turns near top: Powder lower down: At the base of the Sandy Glacier, we chose a new route out (in lieu of the more standard lower Yocum to Ramona Falls deproach) and dropped into the upper canyon of the Muddy Fork of the Sandy. This section, bounded by Razor Blade Pinnacle on the north and an unnamed but incredible cliff on the south, holds some of the most scenic and highest quality ski terrain on the mountain if you don't mind the long commute. Upper Muddy Fork Canyon: Once we reached the flats of the Muddy Fork, we followed it, then the Sandy River mainstem, then snow covered trails and roads for about six (??) miles to the car at Lolo Pass Road. The fat snowpack made this section was mostly a kick-and-glide cruise except for the 77 times we had to cross one of the many channels of this heavily-braided river. Typical Sandy River crossing (AKA Michael fishing out a ski that the river tried to steal): In most years, we would have been hiking by the time we reached Ramona Falls (around 3,300') and parked at the Ramona Falls TH, but the good snow pack meant we could ski all the way to the car but added around 3 miles out to Lolo Pass Road (although longer, this way was much better than walking). A great day in the hills! Gear Notes: All three on the holy trilogy of Teledaddies, Hammerheads, EnergGs Approach Notes: T-line to Reid

25 - should be more by now but the allure of ice climbing has divided my attention somewhat. Who cares how many days, what about quality? Simply put, the last six weeks has been the greatest snow cycle that I have ever seen (here since '91). Back to back, cold 10-20" days! I don't get it why there isn't post after post about how incredible the skiing has been since mid-December. Three to four feet still to come in the next 5 days?!? I would love to hear from the old farts about better cycles cuz I think when this one is over, snow history in the PNW will need to be rewritten. 98-99 was Baker's seasonal world record I know with an 11" daily average in Feb 99, but the last six weeks on Hood at least feels bigger.

Nozel and I climbed at Banks on Friday and Banks/Frenchmans on Saturday and concur with Jens - decent ice is close but still needs a lot more cold. If anything, especially in Leavenworth, the ice has been deteriorating over the past few days. Now, I'll basically repeat everything Jens said with some photo documentation. Pic of Trotsky's and Devil's Punchbowl from Friday (1-18-08) which is good: Those deathcicles are not to be taken lightly! While waiting for Michael, I decided to quickly solo the Punchbowl. I was about 10 feet from the start and a few tons of ice few all over the route. We decided that Trotsky's was much "safer." After climbing it, we discussed decent options - either a v-thread rap of the route or the standard walk off below the deathcicles - I won the discussion and started to walk off just when another ton of ice rained over Trotsky's right where we would have rapped (a little right) of the climb. Great beginner's area except for the nearly constant threat of the ice dagger in the head... The most-in classic looked like Zenith which is touched down: Yesterday, we were the party that TR'ed the Cable which is about 20 feet from fully touching down (can't see the bottom in this pic): At about 200 feet of sustained WI5, that would be one proud lead! Since we climbed out Banks, we drove over to Frenchman's Fugs later in the day and had a great time climbing this fun route. The first pitch was plastic, hero ice: The second pitch was really cool - mushroomlined ice chimneys with stemming and hooking and good screws on top on the 'shrooms. The last five feet is running water so Michael built a three pin anchor at his belay. You can rap from this anchor to the base with two 60 ropes. Hopefully, with the looming artic system, someone will start a thread next week about how great the ice is everywhere but I think we climbed all the current worthy ice in WA Friday and Saturday. Has anyone mentioned lately how awesome the skiing has been this year?

Anyone know any shops in the PNW that stock this boot?

I do not know the current status of the log. It is hard to find the first time and at night, and hard to describe how to locate. It is slightly (100 yards?) upstream of the approach gully to the climb which is directly below the ice. Question - does anyone know the orgins of the log? It seems too perfect and appears to be the largest tree around that could have been felled by/for us climbers. If that climb isn't already classic enough, that log crossing makes it even better.