kurthicks

Three sisters slogging - Deschutes Brewery...

what do you have in mind? I could be interested... PM me. I could be down there late Friday night and have to be in Spokane on Tuesday.

Aaron, I'll be in Banff from the 28th-6th. Let me know if you want to hook up or if you'll be in the area. Kurt

i talked to someone at North Cascades Mtn. Guides today and they said that WADOT was leaning towards just leaving it closed for the winter.

This fall I found an almost new .5 camalot, and older #1 camalot, and two new stoppers on Castle Rock in the span of an hour. What a day.

dean has been very forthcoming with beta for me in the past. I have his e-mail around somewhere if you want it. I might be interested too. The elephant's perch didn't seem to know much about snow/ice/mixed routes last time i was there.

there was some WI forming along the roadcuts at WA Pass a couple weeks ago. they might be good to go now considering the recent temps. Everything else up there (SEWS, etc) was an unconsolidated wallowfest or didn't have enough snow/ice to make it intersting on 11/19. Banks Lake won't be in either. like alasdair said, give it a couple weeks and pray for cold temps.

Climb: Liberty Bell-Beckey Route Date of Climb: 11/19/2004 Trip Report: A little late, but whatever... After a failing to leave the parking lot on our attempt on the couloir on Eldo due to fresh snow, I headed up to WA Pass with Willow (no avatar) on Friday Nov. 19 to do something we could handle with the gear we had. Due to a lack of a guidebook, we though the Beckey route or the SW Rib of SEWS was in order. We started from the parking lot with no real objective at 7AM and it took almost 3 hours to get to the start of the Beckey route due to deep freshies. The approach gully was filling in nicely and is probably a good ski by now. not enough snow to ski in most of the other places up there (the Birthday tour, i think), but enough to cover the approach slabs (and the ice that is on them). We racked up and I lead the first 2 pitches up to the slabby 3rd pitch. There is a stuck #7 stopper on the first pitch if anyone wants to go get it. The chimney was the crux of the whole route. Patches of ice allowed for one decent tool placement in the chimney, with the rest being either dry-tooling or desperate hand jams with gloves on. The rest of the route was dry, except some snow of the first half of the third pitch. Willow dispensed the slab in fine form, considering that we were climbing in mountain boots and gloves. The one move 5.7 slab was surprisingly easy in boots and we were on top in about 4 hours. No speed record, but a good outing considering the conditions, climbing with 'pons for the first couple pitches and a lack of gear. There was ice forming on the road cuts on the East side of the pass, but nothing else that we saw. Probably some good skiing and ice up there by now. Pics to come in a day or two. Kurt Gear Notes: small rock rack (5 nuts, 4 cams to 1") 1 half rope snowshoes 2 tools, pons Approach Notes: trail was packed then. 4" of snow in the parking lot.

i think they're good to 8kn, but it's all placement. I had a friend pull a blue one this summer and almost deck...

We ended up down there just after that storm. It was crazy walking around in 10" of melting snow with it being 60 degrees outside. Awesome climbing weather though... my highlight was the Hobbit Roof, awesome route

I was out there about a week ago, before the cold came, and there was a distinct lack of water on a lot of the climbs. Zenith, for example, had no water coming down it at all.

partner found.

I've got some time off and am looking for something alpine later this week (thurs/fri/sat). I'd like to swing the tools, anybody interested? PM me. Kurt

saturday: worked all day Sunday: pulled choss at Vantage...

a friend of mine said that the season started in Hyalite a couple weeks ago, but according to montanaice.com, it's suffered from the warm temps recently. It's getting colder now though, so they're probably going to get better soon.

definately considering it.

That book is a great insight into all of the complexities of this dam issue. everyone in the west should give it a read if you haven't.

what are the odds of finding some of those climbs in condition say around Thanksgiving? it seems possible with the altitude, but they are pretty far south...

there was an article in Backpacker about this a couple months ago. It'd be a fun trip to check out those canyons right now.

check the other thread too, i posted a lengthy response there . Jake is right on about being willing to drive. perhaps the most important thing to bring then is $ to pay for gas... FYI the Alpine Club meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at the ORC. their website is http://cub.wsu.edu/wsualpine/

Ah Pullman, so far from anything, but so close to everything. After being out here for 5 years, Pullman can be a bit frustrating, but if you're willing to drive, it can be manageable. for example: winter rock climbing - Frenchman Coulee/Vantage 2.5 hours or Smith - 5.5 hours winter alpine climbing - Leavenworth 4 hours or Snoqualmie Pass 4 hours BC Skiing - Wallowas 2.5 hours Ice - Banff 7 hours or Hyalite 7.5 hours Resort skiing 2-3 hours Pullman doesn't get as much snow as people think though. It typically snows and stays for a day or two, then melts off...only to snow again. it does make for good XC skiing at times though. check out the WSU golf course for that stuff. ice doesn't typically exist out here either, with some exceptions (Bluewood, Chilco Falls). there is some easy dry-tooling at the local choss-crag though. most of the road cuts freeze a couple times a winter, but Johnny Law doesn't seem to like that too much. resort skiing is the best bet for reliable winter activities, but it requires about 2.5 hours to get to a decent resort. Schweitzer is the best, with Silver being second, IMO. Vantage/Frenchman Coulee is the "best" for winter rock, but at that it is still a choss-fest. Smith Rock is great too, if you're willing to do the drive. WSU has a good bouldering gym on campus and UI has a good lead wall/tower that costs $5/day if you're not a student. If it were me, I'd probably just bring BC ski gear and basic climbing gear if I was coming from Europe. There are enough people and resources out here if he needs anything. check out the Outdoor Rec Center at WSU for stuff and the WSU Alpine Club is a good place to meet people. PM me if you need more info. Kurt

I climbed Grotto, his/hers, junkyards, lady wilsons, etc last year in early Nov. and it was a "late" start to the season. pro was purely psychological... go get it.

good times Ivan. We pretty much lost motivation after getting stuck and with the conditions as they were, so we did a little skiing on the south side. the conditions were totally different, lots of icy snow and good cramponing. beautiful night though, full moon and no wind. nice pics

the weather was awesome and so was the moon, but the freezing level was high. the road is snowed in around 5200' and both of our cars got stuck. Ivan and Shred went for it, let's wait for their TR.

I think guiding fits the bill. Also, running the climbing portion of an outdoor program at a university. climbing and getting paid for it.