verticalwanderer

Yeah I was just looking at the new access "rules" in the Ghost. Having never been there though, I had no idea how far it is from the magic marker #39 to any of these climbs?? Any ideas? Also, I read several stories about people getting stuck back there. How gnarly is the 4x4? Hey Nick, ready to break-in your shiny new Tacoma? _________________________ Stop Living Like Veal

Yeah......I was looking at that...one climb that really caught my eye back there was "This House of Sky." Have you been on it??

I am headed up to Banff for 5 days in the end Nov/beginning of Dec. It will be my first winter climbing trip up there. I just picked up Waterfall Ice: Climbing Rockies Guidebook, and feel a little overwhelmed with the options. I lead solid WI4 and WI5 if my head is on right. Anybody out there have a Banff top 10 list? Cheers _________________________ Stop Living Like Veal...

Thanks for the suggestions......I think Improbable is going to be the mission for next week........How is NE Buttress of Chair in the summer? I climbed it last Feb. and it was great, but seemed like there was a lot of loose rock then and that is when everything was frozen? Keep the suggestions comming. Cheers....

After several failed attempts at sneaking out of work early, we finally took advantage of a diversion caused by the carpet cleaners and were out the door at 3:20 in the afternoon, heading for Ingalls Peak. Nick & I had ticked off a few “work-night” adventures, the tooth, aid at index, etc, but this would be the most ambitious yet. The usual recipe entailed leaving our boring-ass 9-5 office job, climbing something, bivying somewhere interesting, and rolling into the office stinking the next morning. Its our “white collar” version of the dirt-bag climber scene. After picking up a “homeless” teenage hitchhiker who talked on his cell phone most of the way to Cle Elum, a quick stop for supplies and gas and a few wrong turns, we were on our way up the trail towards Ingalls pass at about 6:30. I started to worry a little bit about time and daylight as the sun started its slow creep toward the horizon, but despite Nick’s gazelle pacing, I refused to set any land speed records and got to the lake around 8:15. We quickly dumped the few amenities we had on hand (the heaviest of which were the PBR tall boys,) and headed towards what we were pretty sure was the base of the climb. Lucky for us we guessed right and at a little after 9 we were roping up as the sun was setting. Nick lead out, and between the 70m rope and a bit of simul-clibing we quickly reached the 3rd belay where our meager rack finally gave out. I joined Nick at the belay, quickly passed the gear back to him for another lead citing my wet approach shoes as the excuse d’jour. He jumped on the last pitch and I was surprised when he ran out of rope. I yelled up and when I didn’t receive a response, I started climbing. It turns out that he had missed the last belay and was tied into the summit block, where I joined him at about 10:15. After spending a few seconds enjoying the bright stars of the moonless night, we stared our decent planning to down-climb to the 3rd belay. Fortunately, just after coming off the summit slab, I ran right into the last belay (I am not really sure how we both missed it on the way up??) and we started our pitch black rappels. After making our way down the route, we got a little “off route” in our decent back to camp, but eventually found the lake, and after a little more searching found our gear cache. The cold PBR was a pleasant welcome back, and we drifted off for a few hours before waking up at 5am to start our hike back so that we could make our 9:25 meeting this morning. As for the route, it was all in good shape, with very little snow, but still plenty of water to drink all over the place. There is certainly no need for boots or ice axe, and sleeping without a tent was quite pleasant as the temperature dropped enough to keep the mossies at bay during the night. Lastly, we are now in search of our next work-night adventure, something moderate that we can fire off after work and get in at a reasonable hour the next day. The drive to Ingalls was a bit on the far side (we work in Woodinville) but the length of the route was about right. Anyone out there have any ideas??

SLC climbing is awesome......I just moved up to Seattle from there so I am a little partial. You could easily fill 2 1/2 days of climbing really great routes without driving more than 30 minutes out of the city, so minimizing driving isn't an issue. I would stick strictly to the cottonwood canyons (Big & Little) and if you are looking for Trad, spend more time in little. There are loads of fun multipitch trad lines that fit your criteria. A few that I would check out up little cottonwood are: -Pentapitch, 5.8, 5 Pitches (While you are up there climb Sasquatch, 5.9) -Schoolroom, 5.6-5.12a, A1 depending on the variation, about 5 pitches, again depending. Also pretty much anything you end up climbing on the Gate Buttress will be fun. -The Thumb, 5.8, about 9 pitches, I like the indecent exposure variation best. This is a full day, but is awesome. Big wall and big exposure. Be sure to climb the summit pitch....first move looks scary stepping over 500' of air, but it is only 5.5....lots of poeple skip this pitch for some reason.......maybe 5.5 seems too easy to be fun? Up big cottonwood you will find mainly sport routes, but the are some notable Trad exceptions: -Steort’s Ridge, 5.6, 3 pitches of great fun -Anything on Mule Hollow wall, 5.6-5.8, 4-5 pitches, about an hour approach, but you will have the entire wall to yourself -Goodro’s Wall, 5.10c, one of my all time favorites -Touch of Teflon, 5.10ish, 1 bolt near slabby start, all the rest gear…..Lots of good sport near there too. A general note, climbing grades in LCC are stout....about like Index Town Wall grades....hardcore old dudes put them all up back when the grading scale stopped at 5.10, so start on something a few grades below your limit to test the waters......BCC is pretty standard as far as grades go. Let me know if you need any other info…..

Nice.....Have a great weekend....Cheers

Also, comming from Seattle, it looks faster to go through Hope and up the 12 instead of the 99. Is this right?

Sweet.....thanks much for all the beta. You going to be around up there this weekend? I would like to buy you a beer as a small token of thanks.

That sounds like a damn fine plan.....what was that $20 motel you mentioned DH? Can you drive right up to where you camp in the canyon? Anybody going to care if we have a fire?

mmmmmm......I havn't been up there before and am driving up tonight.....Looking at the guide book, it seems that Marble Canyon is the best bet for a full day of varied climbing...leadable WI3/4 and topropable WI5. Then maybe hit Rambles on the way home? What do you guys think?

I was thinking more AFTER I stumbed out of there.....

Anybody know of good places to camp up there? What about near Rambles? Cheers

Just added more detail to my plea for help....hope it ring a bell to someone out there. Cheers.

EXTENDED WEATHER DISCUSSION FOR THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A high amplitude upper ridge extending into southeast Alaska through the extended period will result in north to northeast flow aloft over the Pacific Northwest. This will produce generally clear and cold weather Wednesday over the mountain areas. A strong surface high pressure center is expected to move southward from Alberta to southeast B.C. Thursday with an arctic front expected to move across the region Thursday night or early Friday. This should cause increasing easterly winds, especially at crest level and through the Cascade passes with a chance of a little light snowfall. The frontal passage should also usher in the coldest temperatures of the winter. Be prepared for bitterly cold temperatures, especially when considering wind chill factors. Mountain temperatures are likely to fall below zero Fahrenheit on Friday. Continued cold and clear weather is expected Saturday with winds diminishing and temperatures moderating slightly but remaining well below normal for the region.