arentz

Thanks for the Trip Report Dave. I love that area. That route is one of the best 5.5 climbs I've ever done... and the colors are amazing this time of year. You should also check out "Little Fingers' (5.5) at Lake George (probably better in summer) and 'Gamesmenship' (5.8 but really only 5.7 after the crux start) at Poke-O-Moonshine if you haven't already. Both are classics!

Trip: Leavenworth - Outer Space Date: 9/29/2012 Trip Report: Peter and I went to Snow Creek Wall last weekend for a quick trip up Outer Space. Got to hang out with a few cool people and climb a great route. Really a great climb with some crazy crack/chickenhead climbing up top. I don't think I've previously been up anything with chickenheads like that. I know that there have been a lot of reports out there, so I'll space you the details and just make a few observations. 1. I didn’t think the crux traverse was any harder than 5.9, just strenuous. There are good feet at the crux if you take the time to look for them. 2. We found that the last pitch in the Nelson guide was really more than a full 60 m rope length to the top. I suppose you could have scrambled the easy 5th class stuff to the summit, but I didn’t feel that was safe. We belayed about 20 feet from the top, but a 70 m rope would make it much easier to set up a good belay and still limit it to 1 pitch. 3. The descent was well marked with cairns. If you don’t see them, you’ve gone down the wrong/early gully. Gear Notes: We brought a full rack to a no. 4 with doubles of the no. 1 and no. 2, which helped on the last two pitches of hand crack. Approach Notes: It took us about 1.5 hours to the wall at a leisurely pace. There are plenty of cairns to mark the way.

Trip: WA Pass- Spontaneity Arete & E. face of Lexington - Date: 8/1/2012 Trip Report: We spent two days up at Washington Pass last week during the heat wave. On day 1 we arrived late and only had an afternoon to do a warm up, so we scrambled up Spontaneity Arete on Le Petit Chaval. We climbed up the three fixed lines on the approach and were to the base of the climb by 1:30 (45 minute approach at a reasonable pace). Although this is listed to have some 5.7 climbing, we simulclimbed the whole thing and I didn’t feel as though anything was tougher than 5.6, with a lot of 4th class/3rd class. Maybe we were off route, although we tried to follow the most difficult line on the ridge. Definitely a much easier outing than the West Ridge of Forbidden. Topped out in about 2 hours. The descent involved a combination of downclimbing the route and scrambling down the gully. Awesome work by everyone who maintained the trail and fixed lines. Thanks for making the approach/descent route very easy to follow. It would be a great first alpine lead. On day 2 we climbed the East Face of Lexington Tower. We crossed the snow with approach shoes. The moat was easy to cross and we approach the 2nd pitch (the 5.7 run out) by traversing left on the ledge. I found the 5.7 run out on pitch 2 was the psychological crux of the route. Definitely a couple of long stretches with mediocre gear, although there may have been a different line that would have been more protectable. I linked pitches 2 and 3. The climbing improved considerably here, and pitches 4-7 were super fun. Pitch 4 was fun hands, and pitch 6 was short but involved a few fun 5.9 traverse moves around a roof onto a fun flake. Pitch 7 was easily protectable with an (old) no. 6 camelot. I thought pitch 6 was probably the crux of the route, and the off width was not bad, with two bolts that made it very safe. However, I was pretty tired by the time I reached the top of pitch 7 (I suck at OW). A few more easy pitches got us to the summit, I think it took us about 8 hours from the car to the summit. The descent down the backside gully was very straightforward by cascade standards and involved unexposed scrambling and 1 rappel. We were back to the car by sunset for some PBRs and dinner. This was a great route for the grade and I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately for those of you wanting photos (and fortunately for my partner), J is in the Bugaboos right now. I’ll try to post a few more pictures when I get them off his camera. Here are the ones I have. Gear Notes: Too much for Spontaneity. Singles of stoppers and 0.5-2 cams would have been fine to sew it up. We brought a lot of big gear on Lexington, but would have been fine with a set of stoppers, singles to a no. 4 and one no. 6. I didn't use the no. 4.5 or 5 on the OW.

Nice TR Bcrook. We did the West Ridge car to car on Sunday, and also descended the East Ledges. The various descriptions of the descent we read said 5 or 6 rappels. We did 6 which also works out fine, and we traversed out across to the gendarme with little down climbing. We encountered 1 section of snow, but climbed/descended in boots which made it easier.

Thanks

cool, thanks

Likely heading up this weekend and would appreciate if anyone has insight into the conditions of the couloir to gain the west ridge route. I'm presuming there will be plenty of snow but any first hand info is much appreciated. Thanks! Arentz

Not new, but I thought this should be in the recall thread as well. BD avalung recall

I'd second that... and I'd put Polar Circus on the short list for your next trip.

He embodied a lot of what I value in mountaineering and in medicine. Cheers to a life that inspired many.

Thanks. Much appreciated. Arentz

I'm considering going up the sulfide with some very fit friends this Friday. They have modest glacier experience so we should move at a fair pace but will not be setting any speed records. Since I have obligations this weekend, I wanted to do it in one day (or at the least, get back early Saturday). If you've done it in a day, how long has it taken? Also, if anyone has info on what kind of shape the sulfide is in, it would be appreciated. Cheers arentz

Strike that last comment, looks like ampitheater wall (where fear of flying is) has been closed for a while. Anyway, it was fun when it was open.

Wow, what a blast from the past... I lived in Chicago during my grad school days. The Mississippi Palisades were one of the few climbing areas outside of Chicago worth going to. You should climb Fear of Flying, if you haven't yet.

Thumb Hook.

I have Sat/Sun off, and my usual partners are out. I'm hoping to still take advantage of the weekend, if the weather is good. I can follow you up 5.10, and lead at a grade lower. I'd also be up for alpine/mountaineering routes. Can't leave 'till Friday night. Pm if interested -Arentz

Trip: Franconia Notch, New Hampshire - The Black Dike Date: 2/11/2008 Trip Report: After spending most of the winter backcountry skiing, I headed back east in the beginning of the month to ice climb with a good friend of mine from New Hampshire. It was a great week of climbing, drinking great beer (Long Trail and Shed Mountain Ale are two of my favorites) and eating good food. I spent time doing many of the popular routes in Willougby, Smuggler’s Notch and Franconia Notch in addition to a few I hadn’t done before. Somehow, while I lived in Vermont, I never got a chance to climb the Black Dike at Cannon, so Jordan and I headed out early on the 11th to climb it. We were the first to arrive in the lot at 7 am. After about 90 minutes of post holing through the previous night’s snow, we arrived at the base of the climb. The second pitch started out with about 40 feet of 5.7 rock climbing (M4) to traverse left to the ice runnel. The traverse was interesting, even to follow, and involved a combination of dry-tooling and gloved climbing on poorly protected rock. After the traverse I reached good ice and headed up an amazing flow in the corner system that the dike follows up cannon cliffs for another 100 feet to the next belay. This was one of best pitches I had climbed all week as the ice was exposed and challenging but protectable with a combination of short screws and rock pro. This pitch has been rated M5/WI5-. I would say it was more like M4/WI 4 when we climbed it. Looking up pitch 2. The climb heads across the rock to the left. The third pitch was more WI3+ climbing for another 150 feet or so to the top of the cliff. It was another great pitch of climbing. It took 16 and 19 cm screws in places and allowed for solid pick placements. Heading up the start of the third pitch. We descended via the path to the (climber’s) left. Another hour of glissading and sliding got us back to the car. Overall, this is one of the best ice climbs I’ve done in New England. The combination of exposure, length, ice quality and scenery made for a great day of climbing. I wouldn’t recommend climbing the route if there is any one else on it above you, given the issues with icefall, but if you wake up early enough it will be all yours, and you won’t be disappointed. We did a bunch of other climbs while I was in New England. If you are headed out east and need recommendations I can give you plenty. Willoughby was fat (and cold) as usual and Smugs was the usual blizzard conditions. Gear Notes: 2 x 10 cm, 2 x 13 cm, 5 x 16 cm, 2 x 19 cm, Purple, green and red camalot, slings, 2 60 m 1/2 ropes.

I have a pair of Grivel's, which I'm really pleased with. I have a climbing partner who also raves about his bd crampons. I'm not sure the two brands are all that differents (mine have pretty aggresive secondary points as well). And I agree with the other post... stemming is your friend. cheers

I know one tool was mentioned, but top roping with no tools, using ice features for your hands, forces you to use your feet in a very different way. Almost feels like rock climbing, which has helped me a lot on steeper ice. I also learned this year in Alaska that climbing ice with a heavy pack rapidly improves your footwork. I share your broad experience with different crampons (i started out with vertical dual points, switched to vertical mono's and now climb exclusively on horizontal dual points). All of them work, but I like the horizontal points most on mixed terrain. They seem more stable to me. Here's to a good ice season

sugar... I meant I have a pair of silvretta 404's, not 440's

I got a pair of Silveretta 440's used on ebay for 80 bucks. Work great with my ice climbing boots and have decent up and down performance. I have used them for long ice climbing/mountaineering approaches and have been pretty satisfied. Have fun up north. cheers

I would like to see a "conditions" section in the ice climbing forum. There is a website, neice.com, that i used to use back east. They did a great job with this. Just updated contditions reports seperated by location (lworth, baker, snoqualmie, rainier, etc.) . No spray. I be happy to bring a camera and contribute during the winter months, and It would make those long drives worth it more of the time. arentz

check your pms matt

Good to hear you are doing better. Not to belabor the point, but there is data for both vitamin C and asprin if taken for the first 5-7 days after frostbite exposure. A drug called pentoxifylline, which is only available by prescription in the states, might also be worth asking your doctor about IF you keep having problems in that limb every time you are out in the cold. Probably helps most with more severe frostbite, but overall it decreases the area affected. Also might be true for ibuprofen and other stuff you can buy at a drug store, but I don't think the data is as strong for that. Frostbite is much more common at altitudes over 5000 meters/17,000 feet, so be extra careful on those big climbing trips to asia. Lastly, if you ever see blisters, especially bloody ones, bypass your doctor and go to the emergency department. I'm a physician. I've done high altitude research and been an expedition doctor over in Nepal. If you want a recomendation on a local doc that knows more about high altitude/mountaineering problems, pm me. cheers, arentz

pm sent arentz