northvanclimber
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Posts posted by northvanclimber
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was on honeyman falls last weekend. right side was good! didn't go all the way to the top as the gusher up high was sending out quite the spray.
hit rambles right too and everything was fairly thin and/or small, but you could definitely get on stuff.
we often stay at the mile-O. it's okay...
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Taking the line to the right looks like some nice steps, whereas the left is a vertical shot to the top.
Lol, the foreshortening is quite deceiving in the photo. the mushrooms (especially on the right) were freaking huge and very challenging to get through with discontinuous and chandeliered ice everywhere. I bailed halfway up...
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Man Loose Lady looks completely different then when I got on it about three years ago. The upper pitch was all wind blown mushrooms to the upper section where it was solid WI5.
+1
Here's what it looked like when I was there in late 2010:
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the last two times i was at skaha, so was every other climber in the fucking universe. if looking for lack of crowds, try elsewhere
i've stopped going on the long weekends. just too busy. any other time in spring or fall is great though.
but, warning to our american drivers, gas is around 1.40/litre around here. I think that works out to over 5/gallon... and that's in canadian dollars. so, i think it works out to about 12 bucks american
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Not closed up by any means! New parking lot (note that the directions are different now), you don't have to pay anymore, and for better or worse, the new approach is shorter and has almost no elevation gain! get 'er done!
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definetly the first few Master's of Stone...,
Relativley newer movies-
-Progression
-The sharp end
-first ascent
those are great movies for a non climber and climbers too. Awesome productions.
-hard grit.
-E11
The first 3 movies should definetly go on the library list.
no argument here
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nice work dude. nice to see that some people are still willing to go have an adventure.
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munters definately have their time and place (like after you've lost/dropped your ATC). Twice now i've had partners either drop their device or just discover it's missing right before starting a series of raps. I learned to multi-pitch using a munter and while it works just fine, the convenience of an autoblocker can't be beat.
speacking of which, I really like my BD guide. but then again i typically use either a 9.8 or half ropes and so like the extra friction. my old reverso developed a knife like edge on the top after a couple years of wear. scary...
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many areas along the duffy lake seem remarkably dry this year. anybody able to speculate why? seems odd since it's been reasonably cold and (compared to last year, where the fall was very dry) I presume there would have been plenty of water available for freezing up.
the upper tier of rambles center was bone dry the other day when i went up there...
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the rates at the mile-o have gone up: 75/night with climbers discount i believe. still a bit cheaper than other places...
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did the climb on thursday and i'd say the first pitch was a 5.9 that feels like a 10a. The crux moves come early in the pitch when you're still a little sleepy and haven't had a chance to really warm up. At least the new rating will give climbers a heads up that the first pitch will require some effort, which you might not be expecting from a 5.8...... at least it protects well!
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We are flying in from the East in September so bringing our bikes is out.
The approach across the glacier to the bottom of the climb can get pretty chewed up by September. I've done it in both July and August and early/mid july was certainly easier, especically under the darkness of night.
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I’m with Matt, keep it simple with one signal. You can anticipate what’s going on when the bulk of the rope is out (lead reaches the belay ledge.) Progress suddenly stops for several minutes (lead is building an anchor.) Rope suddenly feeds until you come tight (lead is taking up all the slack and putting you on belay.) Signal comes… and as you progress slack is taken in as you move forward (you’re on belay.)
yeah, 99% of the time this is exactly how things progress, so as the second you can pretty much guess with good confidence what the leader is doing. still only a guess, but what else are you gonna do, wait for a sign from god?
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So what's up with the Sleese Creek Road these days. Your TR says that it was locked at Chilliwack road. does anyone know if its permanently locked these days to keep out the riff raff or can you get a key??
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Great TR and pics!
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Thanks... Certainly got a work out slogging up the hillside. On the plus side it was a great day to be out and we still managed to get a nice afternoon of climbing in at Hell Creek. We didn't go all the way down to Nite n gale, but we did notice that Old Dogs, New picks was non-existent, and Jade falls looked OK, but perhaps a bit smaller than when we did it a couple years ago. Drove by IcyBC on our way to Oregon Jack on Sunday and all three tiers looked sweet. It's certainly been cold up there (it was -11 in town when we woke up saturday) and i would presume a lot of climbs are in right now. Hopefully it'll stay that way for a bit longer.
Heading up what we thought was the Capricorn drainage. Rock wall looming above...
Hell Creek Falls area:
Nice photos of Suicide Bluffs! Think I'll have to go check out that tyrolean sometime...
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Capricorn final pitches were definitely there. If anything its been plenty cold (perhaps too cold) and was overcast every day for most of the day, but there is absolutely no new water feeding the routes so the ice is getting old.
A couple weeks ago I also saw the large flow of Capricorn from the road and made a mental note to come back and climb it sometime. So this last Saturday I went back with a buddy to go climb it and started up the approach in the early light. The approach looked pretty straight forward from the road, and we made our way through some fresh snow up the treed area to the left of Plan b, occasionally seeing some blue flagging. We then headed further left (and passed a little ways underneath Like a Rocket) and entered a distinct gully that (aside from forcing us to wade through waist deep powder) contained a couple short WI2/2+ steps. Thinking we were almost at the climb, we were suddenly faced with an impassible 30-odd foot rock wall at the top of the gully. The guidebook mentioned overcoming a short WI3 step, but this had no ice on it. we tried going around it, but with more rock on the right and very steep forest on the left we evenutally gave up, unsure if we'd gone up the wrong gully, or if the WI3 step that the guidebook mentions had simply not formed up or if the afternoon sun would send all the fresh snow down on us in some massive avalanche. Any one else done the Capricorn approach? Any of this sound familiar? Would like to head back up there sometime so any advice is appreciated.
Ended up hiking out and going into the Hell Creek area. Was good fun.
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i like how in the opening sequence for their reality show they go out of their way to say that they don't approve of their children watching much tv. can you say hypocrisy???
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Trip: Quit Yer Job! Sumallo is IN! - Grim Reaper - Box Canyon
Date: 2/14/2009
Trip Report:
Marc Le Clerc, Robert Nugent, and I headed up to Box Canyon, thinking the altitude ought to have kept the ice nice, and that the settled snow ought to make for an easy approach - and, boy, were we right! There is a snowshoe track already set up the valley (a moderately popular, totally safe, rather spectacular daytrip winter hike option), and while there's a bit of wandering cuz the low snow has not fully buried all the alder and boulders, it's just wandering, nothing unpleasant. We were at the route in 40 mins, moving at my pace - young fast guys could be there in 30.
The route was in superb condition. I'd call it 60m 3+, 60m 3, and 40m 4 right now. Every pitch has a unique character, with the long flow in the middle of p2 being the highlight - superb! Raps are set off trees: climbers left at top, then left (a bit of uphill traverse to get to this one), then right. We were 9-3 car to car.
Thanks for posting the conditions on the Grim Reaper. Went up yesterday to go climb it and it was great! The climb is still in good condition, but a little drippy in spots. As Don mentioned, the climbs on the right wall have mostly rotted out and began crashing down as soon as the sun hit them.
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Cool, this is exactly the kind of info i was looking for. thanks everyone!
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This topic seems to come up every year, but out of curiosity, how've people been getting over to synchronicity these days? Last year people reported that the log crossing was gone but with the low snow pack this year, the alternate approach via the scree slopes on the north bank of the cayoosh doesn't seem appealing.
Is it possible to wade the creek where the log bridge use to be? Ideas?
Cheers.
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lol.. okay point taken
just tryin to emphasize that not having a reservation doesn't mean you have to hope that someone else doesn't show up so you can get on. that happens sometimes, but from my experience, mainly on long weekends. if you've got a laptop and internet access you can see how full the ferries are on their website too. k, i'm done, almost time for Lost.
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you're not on "stand by" and don't need a reservation if it's not a busy sailing. if the boat's not full and you show up while they're still loading, you'll get on. that being said, if it's busy a reservation is nice peace of mind and pretty much mandatory on long weekends.
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From alpinist.com:
Alpinist Re-launched by Owners of Backcountry, Telemark Skier Magazines
Jeffersonville, Vermont — January 16, 2009 — Height of Land Publications (HOL), owners of Backcountry and Telemark Skier Magazines, closed on a deal today that lays the groundwork for the resurrection of Alpinist Magazine.
Alpinist, a premium quarterly celebrating mountaineering and the climbing life, closed its doors this fall, just prior to the release of Issue 26. The new owners, HOL, plan to release Issue 26 on March 1, and will honor all current subscriptions.
"Alpinist fits perfectly into our family," says HOL president and publisher Jon Howard. "We feel climbers, mountaineers, and backcountry and freeheel skiers all share the same DNA. It's, at times, about being bold; at times about being cautious. Kind of like how we do business."
And at HOL, they feel it's a great time to be bold.
Jon and HOL partner and Backcountry editor Adam "Howie” Howard are currently in negotiations with the editorial staff at Alpinist to determine who will be at the helm.
"We've asked Christian Beckwith to stay on as Editor," Adam says. "I reached him in Mexico where he's doing some non-profit work. After seven years of grinding, he's enjoying some relative downtime. But he's genuinely excited that we're carrying his creation forward. We'll be meeting in person in the next few weeks. Should he not come on full time, Alpinist readers can be assured that someone of comparable skills and pedigree will fill his shoes."
Readers can also look forward to the same quality of paper and a large format size.
"We want to honor what the Alpinist team has done," Jon says. "It's a piece of art. And we plan keep it that way."
Stay tuned to Backcountrymagazine.com and Alpinist.com for more information.
—30—
To subscribe to the new Alpinist at the SPECIAL re-launch price of only $30 for one year, call 888-424-5857.
Media Contact
Adam "Howie" Howard
Editor, Backcountry Magazine
60 Main Street
Jeffersonville, Vt. 05464
p 802.644.6606
f 802.644.6328
howie@holpublications.com
Publishing Contact
Jon Howard
Publisher, Height of Land Publications
60 Main Street
Jeffersonville, Vt. 05464
p 802.644.6606
f 802.644.6328
jon@holpublications.com
[TR] Slesse - NE Buttress Bypass Direct 8/28/2014
in British Columbia/Canada
Posted
My buddy and I were just up there the last couple days. I'd say you'd want a vehicle with decent clearance for the drive it as there are some pretty good water bars along the way... But for what it's worth, my forester got right up to the trailhead no prob. Was cold last night. probably lows around 2 celcius at the memorial.