kurthicks

well, my car is now at the shop. They won't get it done until Friday, but i did find a partner and will be able to salvage the next 3 days.

So there I was, 15 miles out of town with the intent of climbing the next 4 days and my car started screaming from the rear axle. w00t is that I though? My christmas present to myself is now a fixed car (taking a week & going to cost me $300+). everyone else has gone home for christmas and I'm stuck. This is so suck.

check your PMs.

partners found. thanks all. EDIT: Scratch that. I'm available still, but am carless and now stuck in Pullman. Come pick me up and we can hit something up in Idaho/MT/Canada...

I am neither. Most of that stuff was from posts and various websites. I've got some more stuff at home, but am still looking for more info...pass it along if you've got any. Kurt

this isn't my most recent version, but here you go. ---------------------------------------------------------- Wallowas Hurricane Creek Drainage Note: All climbs mentioned here have huge avalanche danger Falls Creek Falls Elevation: 5,000’ Grade: WI3-5? M 4/5? Length: ~50 ft Approach: about 3/8ths of a mile from the Hurricane Creek trailhead. Follow the sign on a tree that says “Fall Creek Falls.” Couldn’t be more obvious. Alternately, continue on the main trail until you reach the creek and walk up the drainage. Time ~ 10 minutes Unnamed Falls Elevation: About 5,200’ Length: ~35’ Approach: Across the canyon from Falls Creek and up the hill. Slick Rock Canyon Falls Elevation: 5,760’ Grade: WI2 for the first steps, above unknown Length: 2 small steps (15’ each) with what looked like a longer pitch above Approach: about 3 miles from Hurricane Creek trailhead, about 150m from 2nd switchback) Time ~ 1-1.5 hours Wallowa Lake Climbs BC Creek Falls Elevation: About 5,600’ Grade: WI2-3 Length: ? Approach: From the Wallowa Lake TH, take the West Fork Wallowa River trail. At the Chief Joseph Mtn. Junction (0.3 miles), turn right. Follow the trail for 1.2 miles to the falls. Time ~ 30 minutes Boy Scout Falls Elevation: ? Grade: ? Length:? Approach: ? ---------------------------- Central & Eastern Oregon Three Fingered Jack SE Couloir Grade: 45-65 degrees (from Oregon High) Length: 800’ Season: Jan-March. Usually, by the time the trailhead melts out, the route is out of shape. Approach: From the Jack Lake TH, follow the trail to Canyon Creek Meadow. TFJ is obvious. Middle Sister Ice Hose / NE Face Direct Grade: WI 4+ Length: 2 pitches. The rest of the route was 55-60 deg neve to the top. Approach: just to the left of the NE Face route as shown in Oregon High. Paulina Falls Elevation: 6,200’ Grade: WI4-5 ? Length: 100’ Approach: From US 97, drive 6 miles north of La Pine and turn east onto Paulina Lake Rd. Drive 10 miles to the unmarked parking lot. Hike along an old jeep road at the end of the lot. After 0.4 miles, turn left (west) and hike for another .6 miles. Strawberry Lakes The Strawberry Range has excellent ice opportunities. They are spring fed and form every year. Season: ice begins forming in late October at the high elevations and is usually filled in by Christmas. Snow melt throughout the season can form twice the number of climbs but is usually ephemeral at best, thus hard to predict Strawberry Falls Grade: half a dozen routes up to ninety feet mostly pure some mixed. (wood finishes on a few!) Length: 90’ Approach: about 3 miles over pretty moderate terrain. The big issue would be getting your car to the trail head Little Provo Grade: WI4-5 Length: 1 long pitch Approach: the west of the lower lake Honey Pot Elevation: ? Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: East of the upper lake amongst the island of trees The After Image FA: Feb. 1996, who? Elevation: ? Grade: V, WI5+ Length: 120m Approach: drive as far as the county plows, usually to the timber just below McNaughton spring. The After Image is obvious above and south of strawberry lake. Note: “This grade v wi5+ is a serious alpine endeavor. It consists of 120 meters of steep ice in the middle of a 420 meter alpine north face. The overall grade depends on timing. Later in the season when the cave pillar touches down, it’s a bitch to approach, often bad depth hoar. Early season it can be a cruise to get to it but, the overhanging climbing pumps the technical grade.” Camp at the trail head campground or find a bivvy at house rock adjacent little strawberry lake. The crux pillar on “after image” usually does not touch down until the upper sixty meters fills out. This route is best done late in the season. ----------------------------- PDX Area and Gorge Climbs: Ainsworth State Park Grade: WI 4-5 ? Length: 700’ Approach: take I-84 east from Portland to Exit 28 (Bridal Veil), and follow highway 125 for about six miles past Multnomah Falls and Ainsworth State Park entrance. Crown Jewel Elevation: ? Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: ? Sheppard's Dell Elevation: ? Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: ? Mt. Hood Eliot Glacier Moraine Season: October-May Approach: From the Tilly Jane Campground, hike up the Timberline Trail for a mile. Holly Falls Elevation: ? Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: ? Illumination Rock “March Madness” Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: Walk uphill from Timberline Lodge. Ski Bowl Grade: ? Length: ? Approach: to the right of the main ski run at Ski bowl Pete’s Pile Elevation: ~3500’ Grade: WI4+ and up. Most are TR able with bolts at top. Length: Mostly 1 pitch, some 2 pitch Season: They will form when the Gorge does, and stick around a little longer. Approach: a steep 10 minute hike from pull off on Hwy35 to main crag. They are visible from the road. Note: Find a copy of "Portland Rock Climbs" by Tim Olsen -----------------------

Cascade. occasional avys though. Professors. same. longer approach We'll be up there the same time if, say, she wants to go ski and you want to climb... Kurt

aaron check yo PMs.

Goals: more solid as a 10/11 trad leader lead harder ice routes: Liberty Ridge ice FAs in Idaho Enclosure Couloir OS/Orbit linkup Hood, NF (skunked 2 years in a row) Eldo, NE Couloir must stop: climbing the Beckey route on Liberty Bell bitching about weather spraying...

I'm looking to get out this weekend & early next week. Banff for ice would be my preference, but Cascades alpine would work well too. I'd like to get out all 4 days (Saturday morning - Tuesday night). PM me or post... Kurt

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.