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esugi

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Posts posted by esugi

  1. Trip: Hyalite Canyon - Various

     

    Date: 1/24/2010

     

    Trip Report:

    As my wife and I are expecting our third child in March, free time to climb ice is hard to come by these days. Got kitchen pass to go on a short trip so Lukic and I flew into Bozeman. Over the last two years, we’ve been to Cody almost exclusively and having never been to Hyalite, we were eager to check it out. With the Winter Dance book in hand, we were ready!!

     

    From the time we landed in Bozeman on Friday evening to Sunday evening, it snowed consistently. The roads were sketchy at times but we managed to get in and out without any problems. Having 4WD helped.

     

    First day, we got little late start so we headed up into Genesis area and first climbed Hang Over (WI3), then traversed over to G2 (WI3+), then rapped down into G1 and top roped the right side (WI 4+), then climbed G1 left side (WI3).

     

    Hangover.jpg

    Me leading Hangover

     

    Genesis_II1.jpg

    Genesis 2

     

    Picture_004.jpg

    Lukic leading G2

     

    Second day, got much earlier start and hiked back into Dribbles area. Took 1 hour on the trail to get to the area where we get off the trail. Another 30 minutes to wade through deep powder and we were at the base of Dribbles (WI4). Fun route….even though Lukic stole my crux pitch! He accidentally combined the 2nd and 3rd pitch as described in the guide book! The second pitch was so short, that he just kept going! It’s a rope stretcher but good lead nonetheless.

     

    Snow_pic.jpg

    Approaching Dribbles

     

    Picture_012.jpg

    Climb looks PHAT!

     

    On the hike out, we saw couple of teams on Mummy Cooler II and The Scepter. They looked Phat too! It’ll have to wait till next time.

     

    Hyalite was fun. Good ice conditions right now and for the most part, there are places you can go that’s low avy danger and still get a good workout. I’m sure I’ll be heading back there next year but for this year…one last trip to Cody to finish off Moretorium and maybe Mean Green?? =)

     

     

     

  2. Climbed NF Saturday with my partner. There were maybe 7-8 parties climbing or lining up to climb NE Butt. We skirted around, got on the NF and had the route to our selves! First pitch little thin at the start. Second and Third pitches were a cruiser! Started from parking lot around 9:30am or so and back to the car at 4:30pm.

     

    Of course, now the new snow so all bets are off for a little while atleast!

     

    Gear Notes:

    3 screws (13cm)

    Cams to 1.0"

    1 fluke (used)

    1 picket (used)

    Had pins but never used

    Had set of nuts but did not use

    single and double slings

    1 60m rope

     

     

     

  3. Rod, what a story. Remember we almost got hit by rock fall (6 years ago??) in the cleaver area? Courtney jumped to the left, I jumped right, and the helmet size rock went right between us. Lucky for us, you saw the rock coming down....or else we would have been toast.

     

    Glad you are ok. Hope we can get out for alpine rock soon.

  4. That approach to/from Mtn Crk TH to North side of stuart has got me all confused (and I am not talking about the trail to Stuart Lake). I've gone in there twice now (Ice Cliff and SGC), and both times, I ended up in the terrible boulder field high above, rather then ending up on the faint trail next to the creek. By the time I realized we were too high, I didn't want to lose elevation so we just stuck with following the terrible cairns through the boulde field!

     

    On the way out, we would drop down to the creek..and everything goes fine on the tail...until near the end, where the trail seems to disappear and you're left to bushwhack and look for the log crossings. This last time, we crossed the creek back over to find the trail and ended up in a swamp, where we got attacked by 100's of mosquitos.

     

    Am I the only person having hard time with this approach/hike-out? Any insight is appreciated.

     

     

  5. Chimbo, we met you guys at the TH. Glad to share beer with you guys. We were on Ice Cliff Glacier when that storm moved in on us. We were close to topping out on the couloir but decided to bail due to weather and not sure how long it was going to last.

     

    Not an easy route to bail as we ended up with multiple raps off nuts, deadman, v-thread...

     

    About 20 min. after we got out of the ice cliff glacier proper, either avalanche or serac fall swept the same slope we were on!! Yikes, certainly was an adventure.

  6. We did the Eldo approach. All snow from about 4500 - 5000 ft. Basically, the first boulder field is snow-free. Then above that, we got on the avalanche debri field on the climbers right, which was hard and compact, then at about the 5000 ft level, mash potato....hit it early in the morning or later in the evening, unless you plan to bring flotation.

     

    The route will be in. In the ice pitches, I sunk 13cm screws no problem and even 16 took in few times I used it.

     

    I remember the sun hitting the upper parts...above the ice pitches at about 11:30am. That was the first ray of sun while in the couloir, so the route stays in the shade most of the day.

     

    Good luck!

  7. Trip: Southfork of Shoshone River (Cody, WY) - Stringer/High on Boulder

     

    Date: 1/30/2009

     

    Trip Report:

    Second trip to Cody this year. This time, I had specific climbs in mind that I wanted to finish and do. For one, I only climbed the first pitch (WI3) of Stringer last time. This time, I wanted to check out what's beyond the first pitch. The second pitch was nothing more then tiered WI2. Then, I coaxed Lukic into slogging another 20-30 min (?) in sometimes deep snow to the last pitch (WI3). Good warm-up day.

     

    Stringer

    Stringer.jpg

     

    Lukic looking solid on P1

    StringerP1.jpg

     

    Slogging up to P3

    StringerSlog.jpg

     

    Me having fun on P3

    StringerP3.jpg

     

    Rapping off this mother...

    Stringer_Rap.jpg

     

    These guys did not want to move for nothing....so we did

    BigHornSheep.jpg

     

    Next day, we were eyeing the uber classic High on Boulder (WI4).

    HighOnBoulder.jpg

     

    HOB is on left...the right hand fork is called Moonrise (140m, WI5). The left hand variation at the top of second pitch is called Save It For Later (50m, WI3+)

    HighOnBoulder_Moonrise.jpg

     

    Next objective...maybe next year. The lower pitch and upper pitches of Mean Green (Winter Dance book calls it one of the top ten routes in N. America).

    MeanGreen.jpg

     

    Getting an early start, we were the first ones to the base of High On Boulder. Crossing the river turned out to be pretty easy as we found areas of solid ice...but just in case, I was prepared with flip-flops (and Lukic with his tenni's). An hour and 15 min later, we were saddling up for the climb. The main flow is climbed in three pitches. Lukic led the first 50m of WI3, which meant that I would be tackling the 2nd WI4 pitch. At the top of 3rd pitch, we contemplated for a bit whether to hike another 1/4 mile for the last 20m curtain (WI3+). What the hell, we are up here already and have tons of daylight...so I start off with an another slog fest. Lukic confidently lead the last pitch and we called it a day.

     

    Lukic P1

    HOB_P1.jpg

     

    Me approaching the headwall of P2

    HOG_P2.jpg

     

    My arms tired...my calves are aching!!

    HOB_P2closeup.jpg

     

    After topping out of the main flow, I semi-relax and take in the beautiful scenery across the valley.

    Looking_across_valley.jpg

     

    Almost to the fourth pitch...I can do it, I can do it...

    Approaching_P4.jpg

     

    Lukic on P4

    HOB_P4.jpg

     

    If we were actually good climbers, we would have climbed the last pitch. The Pillar of Pain (WI5) was technically a part of the first ascent but it is seldon climbed today...therefore considered a separate climb all together.

    Pillar_of_Pain1.jpg

     

    This place is awesome!!

    walk_across_Shoshone_River1.jpg

     

    Man, what a fantastic trip. We were originally planning to climb 3 days but since we climbed our asses off in two days, we elected to catch a earlier flight back to Seattle and catch some of the Superbowl game....actually, I need to do more pull-ups and squats...I was pretty much wasted after 2 days!! :(

     

    Approach Notes:

    lots of snow this year! But finally, the avy danger seems to have subsided.

  8. Billbob, were you on the mountain Saturday? My friend and I drove down, hoping to do Reid or Devils Kitchen..but we started late (5:20am). I ended up meeting Oleg and his female friend up at top of Palmer. We ended up doing the route that traverses left from top of hogsback...what is now the more popular route then Pearly Gates?? Is it called the Old Chute? West Crater??

     

    Not much snow and good amount of ice up there. Glad I had two tools for downclimbing the route. Since it was noon-ish, we were dodge-balling chunks of ice coming down from above. Got hit in both legs and one arm....took tiny ones off of the helmet.

     

    Good training for me and especially for my partner (who lugged a 60m rope all the way without once taking it out of his pack).

     

    Cheers!

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