TrogdortheBurninator

I dropped the price down to $2000 and will still take it offers.

Saw that too. Sucks cause it's 1000-2000 today.

Alright Jens, what's the secret short cut? Cutting off to HWY 9 at Alger (not sure if this even helps for sumas, but it does for mt baker)? What other shortcuts could there be?

So skylark at 7:30-8:00??

I think you exchange the letters. i.e. Cat and Dog become Cot and Dag

I might attend this W. Seattle Pub Club, but that doesn't mean I in any way endorse future pub clubs in such inconvenient (i.e not N. Seattle) locations.

That place is pretty awesome. I can't wait to get back. Aside from the longer climbs, it blows away the rest of leavenworth.

Awesome work on both lines!! We looked long and hard at that last rites line when we were there, but Eric thought (rightly so) that it was just too brittle and underformed. It is a beautiful line. Here it is two weeks prior:

The X-monsters worked great as an alpine tool for a route like this. I debated for a while the night before whether to take them or quarks. I decided to save my quark picks and see how the monsters did. When necessary, they can actually be plunged pretty easily with their narrow shaft and fairly pronounced spike. The more I use them, the more I like them. Still, I refuse to admit they are better than my quarks that cost twice as much.

Trip: Mountaineers Creek - Various New/Undocumented Date: 1/14/2007 Trip Report: About two weeks, when it was really cold, Eric8 and I went to check out the NF of Index. At lake Serene we encountered deep slop and decided to bail. Much discussion about drive time, conditions, comfort ensued and ultimately we went to leavenworth. Driving up the icicle was a rather depressing look at nearly limitless thinly iced 40 ft slabs. Things were looking a little bleak, so we decided to check out mountaineers creek, where neither of us had climbed. Because we were planning an alpine climb, we didnt have a tent. It was really cold camping overnight (negative F), and it made it hard to pack in a wintry 12 hours of sleep. Approaching mountaineers creek the next morning we were pleasantly rewarded. First, the approach is easy, as in really easy. Much less than an hour to the creek, a few minutes to find a crossing (we crossed on easy frozen rocks, but there was a snowy log alternative), then maybe 15 min to the first climbs. There were ice lines everywhere (only a small glimpse shown): Lines extend from about a quarter mile downstream of the Mr Seattle area up to the Mr Seattle area. In addition a bunch more climbs are found uphill. The guidebook lists only of handful of climbs, but there are many more. After looking around slack jawed, we first tried the unled route left of Mr. Seattle, mentioned in "rumors of ice". Eric led, and immediately encountered climbing much harder than it looked from the ground. The single digit temps resulted in very brittle and very physical ice for all the climbs in the area. Ultimately we decided to just top rope the climb. It was pretty hard, but with more plastic ice it would go. Next we checked out a cool looking line we saw on the approach. I tried to lead it, but got scared at a section of thin brittle ice. Eric took over and styled it. It is about 60 ft of sustained WI3+ with cool exposure and a mixed finish. There is some good rock pro at the top for the exit moves. There is a great tree at the top to rappel from. We decided to call this route "Shorts Over Polypro". That ended the first day, but we were excited to come back. Sunday night was cold, but not as cold as Saturday. On Monday we checked out a few more lines. First we climbed this broad flow to the left of "Shorts Over Polypro". The ice was still really brittle and challenging, but based on the angle it can't really be considered any harder than WI 3. 60 ft of great climbing lead to ~25 ft of snow and another 25 ft WI 2 step. This lead to more snow and a huge belay tree. It is possible to walk off from the intermediate belay ledge, so you could get by with one rope. We however decided to do a 40m rap back to the base. We called this route "Nametag on Helmet." The lower section promptly received multiple TR repeat ascents from a nice couple who arrived as we were finishing up. Next we climbed a route immediately left of "Nametag" starting in a gully, ascending a WI3 flow, then finishing a sketch M2 slab. We decided to call this route "The Ten Essentials" (notice a theme). Finally we scoped out a gorgeous, but short pillar a 200 yards up and left of "Ten essentials". The climbing was great, starting in a groove, moving up to a rest, then moving on to the pillar. The pillar top had bomber rock gear, leading to low angled ice and a final awkward iced over downed tree. There are some small/dead trees just above the ice, but 40 ft up steep snow is a gigantic tree that makes a great anchor. We named this route "Gaiters on Slab" WI3+. I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of large numbers of unclimbed ice and mixed routes in this drainage . Gear Notes: Some screws, including stubbies, decent size rock rack is useful. Approach Notes: Relatively short and super easy. Walk up road until you feel like dropping in to creek. Cross on logs or frozen rocks. Climb whatever looks fun.

I dont think any ice melted (that would seem really unlikely given that it was cold all day Sat and Sat night). 1/4" was probably the norm (hence my comment about <1" ice). Turf was where the bomber sticks were.

Awesome!! Nice work.

The route with the fixed draws on bryant buttress is ghost dog isnt it? Something like M10-11 right alex?

Thanks. Originally I wrote 500 yards, but that seemed too far. Those lines have looked pretty nice this year. Anybody get on them?

More pics from Eric:

Alex, Is bryant buttress right the same as flight to mars on the cover of the book? Does hotline form on this same cliff? So, is flow reversal one of the longish flows 200+ yards to the right of bryant buttress up the avalanche gully?

Snow conditions are super variable right now at the pass and depend a lot on aspect, elevation, and amount of sun. As long as the temps drop below freezing overnight (not a guarantee with this inversion), I'd imagine you'll find a nice hard weight supporting crust on exposed S facing slopes. In the afternoon expect conditions to vary from great step kicking to knee deep slop.

If anyone is looking to get on this route, now seems like a great time to do it. We were a little worried about the temperature inversion, but it never got above freezing. If this current weather keeps up I can only imagine things getting better.

Trip: Mt Snoqualmie - NY Gully Date: 1/27/2007 Trip Report: Eric8 and I climbed NY Gully today. The route was in great shape. Some of the most fun (and occasionally scary) climbing I've ever done. Mixed climbing was encountered on every pitch, however there was a healthy amount of ice for sticks (Usually < 1" thick though). Every pitch was challenging and interesting. The route is pretty easy to find and follow. Colin's description in this thread is spot on: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=3&Number=127804&Searchpage=1&Main=9678&Words=%2Bsnoqualmie+%2Bgully&topic=0&Search=true#Post127804 We approached it like this: We approached via the source lake trail, cutting off right in the obvious clearing. This led to a pretty long and steep snow gully that eventually forks. The right fork cliffs, so we took the left fork. Ice tools were used for this gully, and I chose to use crampons. From atop the gully we made a right trending snowshoe traverse until we found a suitable descent gully off the shoulder of the sub peak. A short rap (15') over some rock and we were able to down climb the gully, then traverse back up into the approach gully for the climb. We climbed it like this: I lead a long simul pitch from the approach gully to the dead snag. Expect run out climbing and some loose rock. Lots of fun though From the dead snag, Eric lead the box gully in two pitches. The first pitch has some tricky climbing past fixed pins. Eric belayed at a fixed pin backed up with a 2nd pin and a cam. The next pitch seemed like the crux. Committing and physical climbing for maybe 40m. Next, I lead up a corner with good turf and ice sticks. From here I moved right to a low angle slab, then up to an obvious chockstone. I belayed atop the chockstone, just below the "off width" (actually a 3" crack that quickly tapers to 1-2") Eric lead the offwidth with some aid. This thing is much harder than it appears from below. I was able to follow free on TR, but it was pretty physical. Placing requisite pins on lead would be pretty challenging. Eric belayed at the highest trees. From here I cut over to the right and traversed loose rock and snow until above the slot couloir. Easy down climbing on steep snow brought me into the couloir. More easy deep snow led up the other side. We simuled this section, but it might be better to just unrope, or at least shorten up. The rope drag was horrendous. We descended down and right to retrieve our snowshoes, then descended back left towards alpental falls. All said, about 12.5 hours car to car. Gear Notes: Cams: Purple TCU - Red TCU, Both Link Cams, Silver DMM Cam (#3 camalot size) One set of nuts Two tricams (red and black, but dropped red at the dead snag) 5-6 Pins (Mostly blades with a lost arrow and an angle) 4 screamers 6 Slings 1 Stubby Screw (not used)

Awesome, thanks!!

I'd be surprised if that stuff was in. Those are pretty cold weather climbs. The alpental valley proper is probably a better bet. You can always climb at the rap wall if there isnt much real ice.

All experiences with ticks are bad. They are disgusting anytime they get in your skin.

Speaking of the 76, the other day the guy at the counter suggested the 7 layer tortilla pie, and it was pretty awesome. I'd recommend it as a cheap eat if the dogs aren't available.

Hey Kurt, you could buy it and pay bug to tune it for you!!

It looks pretty warm everywhere in washington this weekend. Maybe Mazama will stay cold enough.