OlympicMtnBoy

Trip: Strobach - Strobach D Approach Pitch Trip Date: 02/09/2020 Trip Report: It was my first time in there, figured it was a long shot but maybe still the best chance for ice last weekend. Skied in the long road approach towing a pull with my overnight gear with my buddy Mike on Saturday. It was a long slow ski. Camped at the end of the road with tasty pork chops and plenty of wine. Got up in the morning and did some crappy tree crashing on skis to get to the climbs (lots of knee high blowdown). Stuff was mostly out but there was lots of water flowing and it was below freezing so it seemed like things might come back. A few things probably climbable for someone with more balls or less rusty ice tools. We finally settled on a consolation of the easy approach pitch on “Strobach D” which I think has a new name and an ascent now (last flow on the right side of mother lode). The actual pillar was a tiny bit thin for us in the middle but I bet is great now. We also had fun TRing the mixed corner right of the approach slab ice. Here are some more pics, you all should get on it! Also that approach was long both ways and too flat to ski down easily for half of it. You could probably drive the road except for the signs saying it’s closed to all vehicles except registered snow mobiles. Might be more snow this weekend though. Maybe the other approach is better in these conditions? I didn’t see any flagging or anything and the forest after the road end sucked with little snow. Gear Notes: Ice gear, camping gear, skis Approach Notes: Ski five miles up the road as in WA Ice, then crash through trees for a half mile.

My wife found her single mountaineering boots, 6.5, on Sierra Trading Post, ordered several sizes to find the right one and sent the rest back for free. Might try that option for doubles. I also might look at back country ski boots. The new ones climb just as well as old plastics. Might have better luck finding small sizes locally as well since the bc ski market is bigger.

Wow, 7 years! I have some old approach skis and salewa tour bindings if you are looking.

Sorry! I just wanted to share the info for the future. I guess we've all taken our tools for a long walk in he bushes though, it's a Cascades passage but bummer on the phone. I'd head back in this weekend if anyone wants. Not sure how it will all fare though.

Doh! We did your same scoping from the road and a few mins down the creek on Sunday. Then we drove to the end of the road and did a fun 3 pitch wi 2-3 next to the demon mine. Might get snowed under and rained out this week though.

Found some fun moderate ice below Lennox Mtn! About 3000’ so may be getting rained on and the road may no longer be easy to drive. Low snow made avy danger a non issue this weekend.

Wildsnow.com had some detailed Denali ski planning posts from 2018 and 2019 that might be worth reading, sounds like some like bigger boots and some made due with 40 below overboots or similar. It does depend on your feet, overboots won’t help if you don’t have enough circulation.

Cool, that looks great!

Wow, that’s a 9 year old FS ad! Better luck posting a wanted ad!

Link doesn’t work.

Suwheet!

What great pics! Thanks for making this a better Thursday!

Another option is to get some like 1” inside diameter clear flexible tubing from the hardware store and shove a 6” piece of that over the pick and teeth. Just make sure you take it off before it gets cold outside as the tubing gets harder in the cold and can get stuck in there. cardboard and tape is just about free though and works! I also pack on the bottom of my duffel, pick flat against the bottom.

Nice work, cool map too. And not a single selfie!

I found a historical fire layer map in my Gaia app that was super handy for this. We used em in the Pasayten last year and it was pretty spot on.

Woot! Thanks Jon.

Anyone else having trouble loading the home page? I try on my iphone and just get this with safari or chrome. If I go to a sub page it loads just fine.

Yikes! But glad it worked out!

Sold! Thanks.

I got these used a few years ago and really haven’t used em much. Gravel Racing crampon fronts bolted to old Sportiva mountain boots with custom heel spurs (also comes with the Grivel heels). Boots are beat up but worked, size 10 or so. There is finally ice, go climb some hard shit for me! Meet up near Seattle or $10 shipping. PM or call text three six O -301 twenty five eighty five.

Grrr, why'd I have to go and break my wrist mountain biking two weeks ago?!? Go get it folks and post TRs for me!

Here is the route we took, now I'm one step closer to a TR! I think Martin's route started farther right towards the snow patch and angled up those ramps to catch up with the last few straight up pitches we did. The obvious point Kuckuzka pointed out looks like the best rock and probably fun climbing but with little natural pro as far as we could tell, but that isn't the summit. We had another 15 minutes of ridge scrambling once we topped out in this photo.

I love that area too, thanks for sharing your TR!

Nice, I love this that time of year. I camped on the ridge between buckhorn and marmot pass once in late November and watched the clouds fill up the valleys in the evening with the sun setting on clear skies above. Amazing!

Teaser shots: