OlegV

Hey Nick, glad to hear you've got your dose of ice this weekend! How did you come down from the top of Belmore?

great TR, nice pics! now i feel bad i didn't go out this weekend - sounds like superb condition. what were snow conditions like on downclimb to reid glacier?

You know Pete, I wasn't too much off in my comments. This trip was action-packed and required continuous decision-making. I agree, the last two days were less interesting in terms of ice (although I'm sure you've got your dose of adrenalin on melting Belmore) but had plenty of superb alpine experiences.

How come, we all climb LR leaving behind all other beautiful routes: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mowich Face, Willis Wall. I bet LR is overpublicized.

Climb: Lillooet, BC-Night N Gales and more Date of Climb: 2/19/2005 Trip Report: Misstep happened really quickly – I didn’t have time for fear and panic. Here I am, hanging over the steep edge of the Night N Gale’ ice cliff desperately trying to roll over and get myself arrested. Both - my partner Pete and the Russian ice screw - responded well to my slip, just in time to stop my fall into the abyss. Having experienced this, I immediately realized how short the transition between being and not being could be… The quality of ice at Lillooet was our biggest concern. Recent warm weather translated into very thin and wet ice making climbing conditions far from ideal. Pete and I decided to go anyway and try to get the most out of this place. We plan on spending three days climbing ice. The first easy day, followed by two harder days. We checked the guidebook and picked an “easy” Night N Gale climb graded as WI4+. I thought, this climb is going to be way over my head. The first pitch wasn’t too bad - easy semi-steep scrambling (WI3?) on wet half-frozen ice. The second pitch looked more interesting - nearly 60-m vertical ice cliff. The wall looked pretty featureless with very few steps and no rest stops, and as Pete discovers later, the middle section consisted of porous thin ice. Night N Gale: Pete is a fearless leader. I admire his skills and courage to lead this half-rotten ice cliff. Bombarded by huge chunks of ice continuously coming down from the route, I prayed for no fall. If he does fall, I wasn’t sure those screws would stay in place. Without a single slip, Pete completes the final semi-pitch without placing any protection. An hour later, Pete tops out and sets up an anchor for me to follow. This was the hardest upward climb I’ve ever done, and it was definitely over my head. No rest for your calves for an hour – pure front pointing. Rotten, very rotten ice, I wonder why it held. Halfway up there, I stopped feeling my left hand. That BD leash strangled circulation in my left hand. Use clip-on leashes, people! Somehow, I made it up to the top of the climb without any mishaps. It was getting late now, and it was time to go home. To get to the closest tree at the top of the climb, one has to cross a section of an angled rock covered with loose ice and snow. I went across this rock using my front points hoping for extra grip. No cracks, shit - I thought. And then immediately, I am sliding on my rear end down this rock, then down the ice curve and finally stopping right before the slope becomes completely vertical – thanks to Pete for saving my ass. We repelled down in complete darkness feeling very lucky: no body bags, no broken bones. Once on the safe ground and being warm, we had a few drinks and immediacy began planning our next adventure. The next day was an easy climb. I think it was The Tube (???) But, it could be something else in its’ vicinity. I don’t remember much of the climb - we went through some short steep sections of wet ice before hitting a big unconsolidating wall of ice and water. Here again Pete showing some acrobatics on this very thin stuff – the screws went in barely half a way. No place for protection. We needed more adrenalin. The Tube (maybe) Next day, disappointed by bad ice conditions, we planned a long 600-m climb that goes along a moderate ice gully. It looked like we’d have no problem getting to the base of the climb - only a mile or so of hiking through the woods. By doing that, we’d also avoid river crossing. We had an early start and hit the “trail” before dawn. The term “trail” is typically applied to a path, hole, or some sort of gap in vegetation allowing forward movement. We’ve encountered none of this whatsoever, nothing even distantly resembling the path. Imagine you are a fly caught in a spider web trying to free yourself out. And here we are, forcing ourselves through the brush, fallen trees, and tangled mess of tree branches. We loose each over a couple of times in complete darkness but fortunately are able to communicate by voice. After making a couple of dangerous traverses across the rock ledges hanging over the rough winter river, we finally see ice and are ready to play! It took us 2 hours to get through the jungle of trees covering only a mile in distance. I agreed with Pete, there was no way we were coming back into this brush – we had to come up with an alternative plan. Climbing was enjoyable and somewhat easy – plenty of chances for practicing basic skills. Time passed by and we were almost on top of the climb within 2 hours. After having a quick lunch, we slowly realized that the hardest part of the day is still ahead of us. We decided that down-climbing ice and setting up V-threads would be too dangerous in these wet ice conditions. Instead, we would traverse the mountain to the left – across the rocky buttress and the snow gully towards the trees. From there, we hoped, we can simply walk or rap down the heavily vegetated slope. And here again, we are doing this dangerous stuff walking across the half snow–half dirty rock slope looking for a good tree. Life repeats itself…but not to the full option. To make a long story short, we safely descended down to the river – our only alternative for retreat. At first, I was a bit skeptical about Pete’s suggestion to walk across the 100 ft river. It is rough (class II rapids), cold (the banks are actually frozen) and waist-deep. You fall in the middle of winter – you are a goner. There was no trees or any easy ground for crossing it. We reasoned we’d apply alpine tactics to do the job. Pete belayed me while I was slowly cramponing across the river getting my vital organs iced up. I had two sticks in my hands. One broke sending me out of the balance, but I managed to stay upright. By the way, GorTex doesn’t work well for these kinds of occasions. Now, it was Pete’s turn to battle the river, and my turn to belay him. Shortly after, we crawl out of the woods looking like divers with ice axes. Simply said, it has been one of the best trips ever. Continuos battle of men and the mountains... That long icy climb ]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/6323day3-4-med.jpg' alt='6323day3-4-med.jpg'> Gear Notes: 7-9 ice screws ice tools twin ropes plenty of slings and webbing Approach Notes: has to be invented on a spot

Hey Nick, It was great to meet you! I was wondering if we should stick around IR a bit longer and come up with the second plan of attack. I wish one of us didn't have to go to work this day. I am definitely coming back again. Oleg

Climb: Hood-West Side Date of Climb: 2/10/2005 Trip Report: Needless to say, recent conditions on Hood are not trivial. On Thursday, my friend Greg and I designed a quick plan of attack of the Sandy HW. The plan was to start hiking at midnight and be at the foot of Yokum Ridge by the time the sun is up. This would give us some light to cross dangerous ground of Sandy Glacier and climb HW in relatively cold conditions. We had to be back to work at noon of the next day. Skipping the boring slog, we got to the top of Palmer lift by 3 am, discovering that the weather is less than favorable - cold gusty wind and chill. We spent the next hour in the Palmer lift bunker re- hydrating, re-fueling and sorting our gear. We slowly started off towards Illumination Rock at 4 am. At the Illumination Saddle, we faced fearless wind and low visibility - billions of icicles flying around in the air. We hoped, by the time we drop on Reid Glacier, the weather will improve and the wind will cease. The next hour or so was fun. We started downclimbing the steep slope and discovered beautiful snow conditions - icy consolidated crust with patches of ice. Although we couldn’t see the way, we were making good progress and hoped to reach Reid Glacier within minutes. I turned around and saw a vague shadow of the lower Yokum Ridge - the line of our attack. I got exited. The conditions worsened. Visibility dropped to zero and I lost a sight of Greg who was climbing just above me. I was wondering he took a quick ride. Suddenly, the character of snow changed from ice to unconsolidating sugar. We saw little microavalanches flowing around us. Curiously, we felt emptiness below us and could feel the every movement on the mountain under our feet. The situation became serious. We traversed to the left towards Reid HW hoping to meet more consolidating ground - the same. That said, we decided to retreat... Aftermath: 1) In winter, this route is better done in two days with a daylight approach and night climbing. 2) Crevasses are filled in with funny snow powder - skirting around the outline of the glacier maybe a better idea than just cutting across. Skis would be helpful. 3) Head walls on the West side of Hood may have similar conditions we encountered at Reid. May require further consolidation. At Illumination Saddle Dawn Perfect morning Gear Notes: 8mm x 30m glacier rope 4 pickets 4 ice screws second tool

I feel like getting out tonight. Anyone interested in doing Hood? I've been thinking just getting on Leuthold Couloir and climbing through the night. I would also go with any other route - the weather is perfect. Oleg 503-332-9405

the best way is to go and check it out!

Thanks very much everyone!!

Being tired of carrying my bulky conventional camera, I am thinking of buying Canon PowerShot S500. The main criteria is picture quality, cold-resistance, size and price. Any advices? Thanks.

Grade III, snow and ice. Nearly 2000' of sustained 45-55 degree slope. Two or three short pitches of 70 degree or less ice/snow. The route is long and commiting and good when frozen. A couple of people climbed it las week and said it was in super shape. Lets watch the weather on Saturday. Alternative easy route is Devil kitchen headwall (grade II).

Anyone wants to climb Hood’s NF this Sunday? Could be prime conditions for this route. The plan is to hike up the Cloud Cap Cabin Saturday night or to camp out on Elliot Glacier; early start on Sunday. If interested, send me a PM or post.

Great TR, Nick! I know it's a silly question, but did you take a close look at the upper mountain? I am wondering about snow conditions on Nisqually route. You said there is lots of ice, which is a plus for long range climbs.

Climb: The Tooth-The South Face Date of Climb: 1/30/2005 Trip Report: Being tired of the recent warm weather, which makes you feel like a global warming is on its way, Justin RR and I decided to do something more fun than just sitting in the box and staring at another box. Even though I’ve been ignoring alpine rock for quite a while, Justin convinced me to give it a shot and do something meaningful other than just waiting for Hood to freeze. That said, we headed up the North Cascades to attempt the South Face of the Tooth. The conditions were just right - low avi danger, clear sky, no wind. We got to the end of the well packed Snow Lake ski trail within one hour, took GPS reading (glad we did it!) and headed down a broad talus field vigorously postholing knee-deep wet snow. We got to the base of the cliff pretty quickly and decided that instead of going around the cliff, we will climb a narrow gully (normal descent route) leading straight up to the Pineapple Pass. Justin had climbed this gully before when it contained real snow. Now the gully looked pretty sketchy - class 4 muddy rock mixed with flocks of wet ice and snow. We climbed unropped and with no crampons on using ice axes to anchor to the dirt. When we got to base of the first pitch, the place looked like a zoo, or more precisely spoken, like a four-lane highway in LA - climbers crawling up and down, ropes flying in all directions, people screaming here and there. Fortunately, the weather got much worse producing wet mist and annoying sprinkle, and killing everyone’s motivation to climb any further. Most of people were leaving anyway. By the time we got to the second pitch, we were along on the mountain. Justin led... This was his third attempt of the Tooth and it was finally succeeding - prior attempts failed because of bad conditions. We especially enjoyed the very end of the last pitch with lots of exposure - just like a photo from the book. Quite relaxed and already thinking of a hot tea and spaghetti, we repelled down two pitches and ... with one more pitch to go, we couldn’t continue any further... To our big horror, the rope got stuck while I tried to pull it off the repel anchor. The darkness fell and we didn’t have our headlamps with us. Precisely speaking, the lamps were down below in our packs. What an idiotic situation, indeed! The good news was we had enough of a single line left to make it “safe” to the ground. Until yesterday, I didn’t even know one can repel down on a single line. Justin did... I heard a falling noise - Justin!!! - Silence!!! - My heart sunk - Justin!!! - I am OK!!! Fuuck!, you scared the shit out of me! Imagine what happens next - Justin prusiks up a line bringing light and uneasy decision to climb up the second pitch unprotected and untangle $130 rope. . What’s the price of your life? By the way, the man wears Koflac Degree doubles all the time. You know, those you wear hiking on the Moon. The faith was on our side, Justin got his rope back. Getting back home was interesting too. I thanked myself for taking a single GPS point at the end of the trail a few hours earlier. Even though, we followed footprints in the snow, they often multiplied in different directions. We simply trusted the slope, the sound of the creek and our GPS. Here is our favorite talus field! We made it! It was a reasonable price to pay for a fun ride... Gear Notes: small alpine rack

...this is how the real mountain experience should feel like...

My wife is a long distance runner. She experienced chronic compartment syndrome after too much training. She recently got more serious problems with her legs - microfractures from continious mechanical stress while she runs. Check with the doctor, do MRI, rest for two weeks, drink electrolites while climbing and do calf exaecise 5 times a week.

Looks like another Pineapple express is on its way: http://nwac.us/~nwac/products/SABNW Say "good bye" to NF! Shit, what's wrong with weather. Global warming?

I was driving on I-84 another day, and saw lots of frozen waterfalls at exit 35. Any ideas if they are doable?

No we didn't go. Avi forecast looked kind of marginal. I did hike up the Eliot next day to check on snow conditions - soft powder up to 8000 ft. Both gullies are snowed in. You never know before you try it.

I've been toying around with an idea attempting Sandy HW in January. Anyone have been out there recently? It seems to me avi conditions are high.

We didn't use snow shoes, and didn't feel like we needed them. We encountered lots of deep snow on the sections of Cowlitz-Gibs (before getting on the ledges) and at Cadaver gap (getting down). It felt almost too steep for snowshoes. The upper section of the mountain didn't have much snow - all well frozen crust. You might need snowshoes to get to Camp Muir though. When are you planning your attempt? We might attempt Nisqually Icefall this weekend.

Two weeks ago the route was in a superb shape. One concern though, in some places we had to swim in VERY deep snow.

I would hike Cloud Cap ski trail instead of driving (2.5 hours to Eliot). If you climbed NF, how were route conditions?

Looks like good conditions on Monday: very cold and clear. I am up to some interesting climb on Hood: NF, Sandy Headwall. Anyone interested?