There's a two-pitch column that sometimes forms up on the granite crag in Renton, on the left near the descent gully. Not sure if it is cold enough to have formed yet, though. Take pics if you go.
Wrap the rope or cord in masking tape (not duct tape or scotch tape) before you cut it, cut it with scissors (not a knife) to get a super clean cut. Then just torch it with a lighter. Super clean trimmed cut with no $150 cost or ugly melted blob of polypro on the end of the rope.
I beat on the ice leading down to the big ditch with Jesse's lumberjack axe, and he shoveled gravel and sand on the beat-up ice. After 15 minutes of that, we could get through without sliding.