Farrgo

Sorry the formatting is lost in translation but its in the 40s at 7k at least...

1-20-2013 Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center Top of The Magic Mile chair, Timberline, Oregon Wind speed out MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind PST F % Min Avg Max Dir 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' ------------------------------------------------ 1 19 900 43 20 0 1 2 9 1 19 1000 45 19 0 1 1 15 1 19 1100 45 26 0 1 1 26 1 19 1200 46 24 0 1 2 16 1 19 1300 45 25 0 1 2 338 1 19 1400 45 26 0 1 2 323 1 19 1500 44 25 0 1 2 23 1 19 1600 43 25 0 1 2 29 1 19 1700 43 20 0 1 2 31 1 19 1800 42 20 0 1 2 24 1 19 1900 42 18 0 1 2 21 1 19 2000 41 17 0 1 2 23 1 19 2100 42 17 0 1 2 10 1 19 2200 42 16 0 1 2 18 1 19 2300 41 14 0 1 2 21 1 20 0 42 14 0 1 2 21 1 20 100 42 15 0 1 2 22 1 20 200 42 16 0 1 2 23 1 20 300 41 18 0 1 2 24 1 20 400 41 18 0 1 2 25 1 20 500 41 18 0 1 2 25 1 20 600 41 17 0 1 2 28 1 20 700 40 18 0 1 2 35 1 20 800 40 21 0 1 2 36

True however he is still using time as the main determinate for the grades i.e., grade III and IV being long multipitch routes taking several hours to most of the day to complete and being modified by other factors. A grade V isn't a grade V just because its under a serac... its a grade V because it is "a long climb that requires a competent party all day to complete."

Ice grades are strange... just flip through JoJos Waterfall Ice book (which I will gladly sell for the going rate of $2000). The Sorcerer is a 3-pitch Grade IV and Whiteman Falls is a 2-pitch Grade IV. Those grades make are nonsense and in fact if use them as a benchmark then this climb is probably solid grade VI if not even VII! It's probably best to not even apply alpine grades to crag routes.

I can't point to any specific lune in particular but there seemed to be several couple pitch Scottish style climbs and some pillars higher up that might prove in shape. My camera dies in the wind and cold so unfortunately no pics.

It was an easy mod... I'm not sure it was five minutes but I was measuring in beers not minutes so the timeline isn't clear;) I've got seven days in the Can Rockies starting Sunday so I'll have plenty of time to break these in...

Multiple multi-pitch lines (I don't think the ones from the guidebook) look good across from Alpental today. Also, NYG and PE are looking icy. There is easy snow travel with floats to the climbs as well.

I thought there was an article as well but I lost patient after sifting through the 11th post about how his hammers are superior to petzl's;)

While I'm on a roll asking newb questions... can anyone help me with fitting CT hammers to Nomics? The bolt holes do not align and probably need ~2mm of filing to fit. Should I file the hammer or the pick... or neither? I'm not sure which generation CT hammer I have though I bought them last season and I have current generation Nomics.

Anybody know if you can safely interchange front bails between crampon brands? I'm thinking specifically of interchanging Petzl toe bails onto a pair of G12s. The standard Grivel toe bail seems to tight to fit the wider toe box on my Baturas and Spantiks. Anybody else run into this problem? Suggestions?

No snow last winter we didn't use flotation either time. No, I had my Alaskan camping trip in March! Weird it didn't make my top 5...

1. W Face CBR in January 2. NE Buttress Dragontail in February 3. Girth Pillar 4. Beckey-Chouinard 5. Freedom Rider

FWIW I wouldn't venture away from the top-roping circuit without knowing how to fire in a thread. There are pretty much only two ways to extricate yourself from a bad spot when leading ice and that is down-climbing or setting a thread. You won't be able to get far until you get basic ice skills down. If you don't know how to set a thread then figure it out whether that is on a frozen lake, at the base of a climb or with a block of ice in the sink. The only trick is figuring out how to angle the screws such that you don't make a 10cm thread with 22cm screws. Evaluating the quality of ice, etc. comes with experience and can't be replicated.

Here are some pictures from Strobach yesterday. It looks like things have been building since Colin and Bryan were in there but not enough. At the current pace it looks like we could be several more weeks from good climbing as there is still rock showing underneath the ice, very little ice formed on the slabs above pillars and mostly nonexistent top-outs. We saw one or two sets of recent tracks in the area. Obviously somebody didn't want the karma and will probably be reincarnated again as a PNW ice climber, which is presumably the least desirable station. Observations: Maybe: SCB, SCP, Ice Dreams, Bleeder, FOR Forming: Unholy, Dropline, Unnamed A, Ponderosa SCB->Dropline Unholy

Even the NPS report says as much. Regardless, you won't make it past MP21 if you even get there.

Nate Tack is in B.C., I'm the slightly less glamorous Tacoma.

Gated at MP 21 if your rig can reach it. http://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htm

Skis plus slowshoes is the best non-motorized approach method. Skis for the road and shoes for the 'shwack where skis are fairly hateful. They do groom the road for snowmobilers so it should only suck for the off-road section which isn't too long. I've been doing a fair amount of trail breaking lately and one should expect it to take about twice as long as normal due to deep snow. A three hour approach is pretty standard for the area even for the non-hardmen but can take a lot longer if you get lost. Also, I have gps coordinates for the motherlode area that I'll put up when I'm with my gps next.

I don't know, I feel that Pipeline is about a grade easier than Free-for-Some. I got Pipeline onsight but I only get FFS about half the time even after climbing it a ton... I guess its all about comfort on a particular terrain vs route.

Beacon has many sub tens for the new trad leader

Anybody up for some single day alpine in a close-ish proximity to Tacoma/Seattle?

I was looking at Ingall's area from Stuart yesterday. I was a little surprised how much snow there was lingering. I'm sure the climb is just fine but everything else including the lake appeared frozen.

I use a grivel alp monster. It's heavy but until recently was the only non-modified tool in the market that was short, had a hammer and would swing like an ice tool if needed. Other than the weight it's a pretty good little tool.

Yes, but not as much as I had heard. I went up a couple weeks ago when it had dumped all day and found that there were only a couple routes mid-12 and down that we're dry/or at least dry in the crux. I'd go if your excited, but if your short on time, spend it elsewhere.

Anybody know if its been climbed?