Alex_Mineev

So, Hannah is the only sole solo champion this winter, huh?

You better ask how was the snow By the time we finished postholing to Muir it was clear that just two of us would not be able to posthole upto the summit and back in a day. So we decided to join another party that was going Gib ledges thinking that four excavators is twice better than two. Well, next morning we got to the ledge in two hours, the other party bailed at this point and we proceeded digging up the ledge. The ledge was even more loaded with cold weist to neck deep powder. So after a long discussion of how would it be to exit the ledge in this conditions without possible pro, we bailed from 12k. Give it one-two days to settle down and all routes will be in superb conditions!

Hi Mike, what's the beta for Mowich lk road? June?

I've heard that road to Ipsut is closed few miles before TH due to washout, check with rangers

Good job nice pics I am sure you guys will make it next time

Alpental Falls. I didn't pay attention on the kiddie cliff

Just got back from Alpental. Alex and I climbed the WI3 route this morning. W2 pitch is thin wet and unprotectable until the belay station below the WI3 step. WI3 step is in, but not so fat. WI2 above is covered with snow and whatever below the snow is thin wet and unprotectable. It was warm at 7-8am. Now its quite above freezing. Other WI2 routes are in similar conditions.

Hi Ade we had a version that you were some sort of a guide with clients and did not want a crowd around What did you climb that day?

Climb: Lillooet-Carlsberg (attempt) / Rambles Center Date of Climb: 12/3/2005 Trip Report: The trip was planned couple months ago as the way to save the weekend of a corporate party. The assumption was that Whistler was close enough to the vast majority of ice routes and early December could be the right time for early ice. So the problem was to find a partner who would agree to climb during a day and enjoy amenities of stay at Fairmont Chateau at night, free food, spa and massage included. Well, after a few weeks of hesitation Oleg agreed to be the poor victim. So we met late Thursday at the bus stop in Seattle. Oleg arrived on a Grayhound. This evening we sorted gear, had some Russian brandy and watched Touching The Void. Left for BC around 7am, passed Whistler at noon and proceeded north all excited to see the ice and climb couple short WI3s and get back for the evening party in the hotel. Well... There were lots of road side ice. Some of it was thick. The farther we drove the more we thought we'll get some climbing soon. The first ice we clearly saw and stopped to scope out was Carlsberg. It was steep, thin, WI5, but it existed, good sign. We proceeded to the second spot visible from the road - Wet Lady. This one was not so steep and was unformed. Perfect for mixed. We kept going north in hope to find some short WI3. We saw nothing. Passed Lillooet around 3pm. At this point we knew the day was gone and we decided to spend the rest of it to find at least something to the north of Lillooet. Well, surely we got lost in the mire of unsigned local roads and simply kept driving north till 4pm. No ice could be seen from road. We turned back, with a strong taste of disappointment. "Dru was right, its too early"... Crap. It got dark, very dark, we were carefully driving back to join the party. "Wanna take another look at Carlsberg again? It's the only thing with ice we saw today" "Sure" Good thing Oleg took a GSP point, otherwise we'd miss it in the darkness. We pulled in, put on crampons, headlamps, rope in the pack and headed towards under the little notch in the skyline that we could clearly see in the starry night. Then was this severe nighttime bushwhacking in crampons. Couple cougars or smaller kitties crossed our way. We were trying to find that freaking ice. We knew we were close, but every time we thought it was ice - it actually was another snow-covered tree. Fuck. So we wandered like two idiots for couple hours. Night was awesome, though. Crispy, not so cold. Like those each of us experienced many years ago in Russia. So I guess we just enjoyed the settings When we got back to the car it was clear we missed the party and the dinner. Ok, we'll have our own with French brandy and Cuban tobacco. So we did. Next morning we headed back to Carlsberg. Did not matter that it was WI5 and thin, we were going to lead as much as we could, then may be top rope and run laps. On the way in we stopped by two cars parked near the road and people filing their tools. Oleg asked if they were going to climb ice and what was the route name and if there is any climbable ice around. The guy replied "we gonna may be climb something, do not know what, there may be some ice around he does not know where exactly bla-bla". Yeah yeah, it did not look like full truth, but we did not want to take a chance. We proceeded towards the Carlsberg. This morning we saw the route clearly and we hiked in 20 minutes. The ice looked beautiful, wet and thin in places, but it still had some good spots. Oleg leaded the lower part to a little cave. Above this point things looked very serious. Oleg could keep leading but ice was not thick enough for screws or vthreads, so he got me up. We spent about 10 minutes cleaning the cave looking around and trying to decide if we want to make top rope here or try to get higher. At this point water dripping turned into a full-scaled shower. All those thin and long icicles few dozen feet above were not looking like fun any more, so we rapped from a vthread and an ithread. We still had some time before the scheduled massage so we wanted another chance. Either unformed Wet Lady or get back and check out what those guys were going to climb. Memories of them filing tools convinced us there was some ice. We followed their tracks and around 3pm we saw the ice. Looked like thick awesome WI3. Ok, if we climb the first pitch in an hour and get to the car in another hour we can still make it and get the free massage... I started leading, there was easy WI2 step and followed by WI3 step that ended in vertical curtain. Ok, if I put screw in a thick side here and try to traverse there may be some easier ground around. The screw went thru and into the air in the place where I thought ice was thick. Not good, I tried couple other places lower, it worked, but confidence left me. No no, this does not look like easy WI3. "Oleg, you will have to lead from here". Changing leads took some time. Oleg climbed the step pretty quickly, then got off my sight and rope stopped moving. Then followed curses bundled with chunks of ice flying around. Speed of sound was higher, so I had a chance to hide in the small cave every time the other chunk followed another curse. As it turned out at the exit was mixed climbing that required some cleaning. We topped after sunset. The rope we had was four feet short of the beginning of WI2, so rappel was fun Oleg went first, then I; when I got to the knot it was dead frozen. I had to chew it for couple minutes before I could get off the rope. The rest was trivial, of course we missed the massage, of course we compensated it with a good dose of brandy with a cigar when we got down to the car.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515642196227308929

sporty means thin ice no pro, right? How are the road conditions? I'll be driving RWD, got chains. Any particular spots where I should not even try going?

BTW, which route is on the picture?

Skis, snowshoes would work

Climb: Lane Peak-Zipper (attempt) Date of Climb: 11/25/2005 Trip Report: Eiji and I decided to checkout the Lane peak. Since there was lots of snow in previous weeks we thought at least the Fly would be in. We left Narada Falls parking lot before 10am. Although I brought snowshoes we kicked snow on the parking lot - it seemed strong enough so we did not take them. We climbed directly up to the Stevens Canyon road in waist deep wet snow. After descending to the valley Eiji followed GPS since we were in whiteout and did not see farther than few trees ahead. We crossed the clear area mentioned somewhere as a good camping spot and in few minutes entered snow covered boulder field where each of us plunged into holes up to the neck few times. Few minutes after noon we finally reached the slope at the base of the Lane peak. Lovers Lane was bare wet rock. We kept going up staying mostly on hardcrust of avy debri. Entrance of the Zipper looked good and we could not see far into the Fly because of whiteout, so we decided to give the Zipper a try. We climbed below the first rock step. It looked wet and slippery. The snow would not hold pickets anyway and we did not feel too exposed so we decided to proceed unroped for a while. We drytooled the first step. Then was some not-so-steep snow over wet rock towards the second and third rock steps, which we also drytooled. Cleaning dirt ice and moss from cracks for pick placements took some time, but overall climbing felt terrific At the top of the third short step we could see the exit of the Zipper which was a cascade of 3-4 steep steps of rock with almost no snow on them. The Zipper at this point forks and there is a 50 degree couloir going up and to the right. Exiting the Zipper safely would take us another couple hours and it was already 1pm and Eiji had to be at home early and we did not want to downclimb what we just climbed so we decided to checkout where the right couloir ends. Another hundred feet of fun steep climbing and another vertical step at the top. After spending few minutes to figure out the awkward move we reached a little notch with a couple trees from which we could rappel into the Fly. Two rappels and we got in the Fly couloir. While Eiji was doing the second rappel the Fly released a small slide, which made us run down very quickly. Lovers Lane is bare rock. Zipper is fun and spicy, regret we did not have more time to finish it properly. Fly is in, thick snow. Gear Notes: Take something for floatation. Otherwise you'll waste a lot of precious time on approach.

Have you seen any snow in the North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck?

Yeah, Barry, do it! And then we'll climb some rock as you promised

Post pictures On what side of the crater rim did you find those vents? I bet columbia crest knob is melted out. Did you see any bivy sites there? On what altitute did you see the rappel gear on Turtle? Also, that fork on upper DC on the way down where one of the options lead to the crevasse, which option was it - left or right?

this pic was made on Sunday: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=12503&size=big&sort=1&cat=500

This article is from 2004. So I believe no dead people this time.

Any opinions/experience with Black Diamond Lightsabre Bivy?

Thanks! How was the snow/ice wall on the north face of Observation? I think going there tomorrow. So far everything sounds very promising

Did you guys hike thru Knapsack pass? How much snow is left? How much time did it take you to top Observation Rock? nice pics

North face of Pyramid may have a short steep couloir, but it is too much of hiking for a training trip. Something in Tatoosh range may have what you want. Look thru TRs like Lane peak etc

how bad is the cornice on the left at the exit?