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I'm a glutton and actually enjoy the approach. Done it a few times now I like how you avoided the pitchy tree on the rappel.

Anyone been in there in the last week? Any smoke lingering about? Is the snow melted out all the way to the base (of the standard route)? Domo

Trip: The Tooth - Standard Date: 5/31/2014 Trip Report: The winter approach is still in ok condition. Snow was firm enough early morning but post holed a fair about through the basin on the way out. No big plug at the top of Pineapple Pass and there was even a nice tunnel to crawl through (or go over). There's still a fair amount of snow on the back side of the pass so we were forced to go lower than normal. No biggie though, since there were good steps. The rock route was snow-free and dry. Two single rope raps from the base of the rock got us back to mellower than normal snow in the basin. There's a bundle of webbing w/link on climbers left at the base of the first rap. Fun day out and had the route to ourselves till the last rap. Sure got hot on the way out though...oi. I twisted my leg up pretty bad post-holing between two boulders in the basin and now my knee is twice normal size. Doesn't seem to hurt though...unless I bend it too far. I brought an ice ax and used it on the backside of Pineapple Pass. Partner did not and seemed to do fine.

Post back and let us know.

I'm all about efficiency Thanks.

I've used the Yates Rocker for years. For those who have used both, what are the significant differences between the Rocker and the Ushba Basic? For weighting the rope, a 1 liter water bottle works well for me.

It used to take a pink nicely but last time I went up there, a pink wouldn't come close to fitting either.

I'm curious where you got on and off the ridge at on the way up. We dropped directly towards the lake then over flattish snow and up the same gully you went up. From the summit me decided to try to stay on the ridge coming down and managed to downclimb the on ledges and hidden chimneys to a col then decided to drop from there towards the lake on steep scree and snow, bypassing much of the ridge. Nice pictures. I agree - turtle.

We did the West Ridge route and wound up doing an unexpected bivy on the decent too. It was well below freezing and we had an emergency blanket that saved our butts...barely. I always carry an emergency bag now. Yeah, that green valley sure is nice after something like that

Thanks Dane. I'm holing up in a room at Seaside in Feb. Should be a good time to bring a good read.

My fingers freeze off at 65 degrees so I stick to the summer routes - not sure about the river freezing

Is anyone here familiar with Split Peak; east and a bit north of Kootenay Crossing? I'm looking for beta of any kind...approach, route, best nearby burger joints.

Not much, as we found out when stuck near the summit several years ago. Lesson learned: better to have an emergency bivy sack. Or better yet, not enyoy the rock so much

Seems lots of stuff comes tumbling off that area below Dragontail.

Nice pictures and a good description of the route up NEWS. "Take the easier left gully, as the right does not have good pro and takes some committing moves. Continue working up and left over easy terrain. Do not go straight up or right unless you want to deal with offwidth pain." Brother, you go that right. My partner led that in tennis shoes because his toe was hurting. We thought we'd finished off the harder moves until he went right. He spent a looong time on that off-width, skating and shaking and with one piece 10' or more below him said "I think I'm going to take a break here." LOL. We put on quite a show for the peeps on top of SEWS. Good times.