AlpineMonkey

Anybody who has ever had Goats Beard on their radar, now is the time. This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. This climb has never seen a repeat since its first ascent over 20 years ago. The FA team rated their climb at Grade V, WI5+, 5.9, A2. We climbed the complete route at Grade V, WI5. With what I calculate as over 1375 feet (420 meters) of ice climbing, this is now the longest pure continuous waterfall ice climb ever completed in the United States, maybe even North America.

My wife and I decided to enjoy the first day of the year doing some exploratory climbing. We made what we believe to be the first ascent of what we are calling Alta Falls. Alta Lake is a beautiful little lake surrounded by surprisingly large cliffs. Perhaps this area may support rock climbing in the future. Approach took about 40 minutes. Exactly 35 meters of climbing. One rappel with a 70 meter rope left no room to spare. Off of the N. Cascades Highway, follow signs to Alta Lake State Park. (Located approximately 4 miles from the City of Pateros.) The climb is visible from the road due west of the first camping area.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/879060/Re_Snow_Creek_Wall_King_Kong_C I just remember lots of moss in my eyes.

The history there was kind of cool. That tunnel was not really railroad, but was built to contain a wooden water pipe ("penstock")that went to the Tumwater Dam to power the turbines. This project was abandoned sometime in the 1930's.

Trip: FA - Tumwater Canyon - The Penstock Date: 12/24/2011 Trip Report: Curt Haire and I did a new route up the Tumwater Canyon. It is across the river, immediately before Rattlesnake Rock. It was pretty fun. 3 Full Pitches, WI 2-3. I'll refer to it as "The Penstock." Approach through the tunnel. The first pitch was a short brittle step of WI3. After that we found about 120 meters of WI2. Fun day out. Approach Notes: Park at the pipe bridge just after leaving Leavenworth. Walk upstream, go through the tunnel for quickest access.

Looking for someone to climb Plastic Fantastic Lover and/or Comic Book Hero on Friday up the Tumwater.

Hmmm...I swear I saw them for 36 in that little mountain shop in town. I don't know what its called, but on the main drag. Must have read the label wrong. Either way, 49 is still beats 59.

I am not comparing the old turbo with the new express…The brand new BD stainless steal express screws are $36 (Canadian) in Canmore. Everywhere else in the states they are about $59.95. The new BD Cobra ice tools where I was were $300 (Canadian) whereas in the US they go for $335. I was told by a local that you can usually find them for about $270, but this was not the case where I was looking.

Black Diamond ice screws in the US are $60 (US dollars). I am up here in Canada and they are $36 (Canadian). Whats with the huge price difference? All BD stuff seems cheap in Canada.

http://villagehomesandproperties.com/featured-listings/154188 $7,000,000 I tried to find a larger pic of the developer map in the listing, but couldn't. This may or may not have impacts on Frenchman Coulee climbing.

Some of the people on this board talk of switching license plates, hiding VIN numbers and not paying tickets in protest of the forest pass. I haven’t bought a Forest Service Pass in the last four or five years either, but protest in a slightly more “legal” way. I just park below the sign and walk the extra quarter mile. I am interested in this new Discovery Pass thing…I was trying to find some information, but can’t find what I am looking for. (I know it does not apply to FS land) Is this a “usage pass?” or a “parking pass?” For example, Peshastin Pinnacles has been mothballed and gated. If I park on the street and walk in to the park, can I still be ticketed? Can I use the same “protest” for this pass that I have been using on the Forest Service pass and park outside of their boundaries? My last question is, what is this sticker usage thing for the discovery pass? I can’t find any information on the activity stickers mentioned in this thread.

Haha, that is really funny about the crampons. Those are John Frieh's from years ago. I can't believe that they are still there. That sling on the rock scar is from me in 2005. I climbed up there, couldn't go any higher, came back down and did the regular route.

I had some questions about Adams in my PM Box, so here is more info for everyone. I walked up the S. Side with my wife, who moves slower than I do. A strong party can improve times, but this will give everyone an idea of conditions. Drove to end of road and got there about 10pm. Started walking up road, found Cold Creek Campground about midnight and set up camp. (Walking distance on road was somewhere beteen 4-5 miles.) Woke up at 4:30 am. Snow was nice and hard, easy walking. Arrived at summit at 12:30 pm. By this time it was getting warm and started to posthole a little, but not bad. From the summit we arrived back at our car at 5:30 pm. We did this all walking, no skis or slow-shoes, nor pant wrecking glisading.

Kurt, It has been a few years, but other than some rock pitches I had to do, I think the snow/ice climbing is a consistent 45 degrees. I think if you were to pitch it out it is between 12 - 15 pitches? I think that is what we did, but some of our "pitches" were probably much shorter than a rope length as we meandered through some crux rock bands. Just from my memory, don't take anything I say to seriously. Good job guys, seems pretty late in the season for that route to be good still. Craig

Was up there yesterday. 5 miles of road walking to Cold Springs Camp Ground. Took me 2 hours one way. Mostly wet, sloppy snow walking.

Inspired by these pictures, went up there yesterday to climb The Chissel. We climbed pretty sweet tower that I believed was it, but from looking at your pictures now, this is not what we climbed. We left the Snow Creek trail right where there is kind of a water fall that goes over the trail and then climbed up a gulley all the way to the top of the ridge. At the top of the ridge we thought we found The Chissel below us and that we climbed too high. We made two steep raps down the ridge to this feature. It was a sweet pitch. You started in this huge chimney, climbed a hand crack and then cork screwed around the tower up another 5.8 hand crack to a big flat ledge load with snow. From there it was about 10 feet to the summit. We found no bolts like mentioned in this TR, so I threw a sling around a horn and we did about a 30 meter completely vertical rap to the bottom.

We stumbled into each other from time to time. My one memory was when my partner and I became disoriented and lost trying to descend Forbidden Peak. We were starting to get a little tense when out of the blue I heard someone yell from above, “Craig, is that you? It’s me Dan!.” I looked up and saw someone on the ridge about 200 feet above me and had to stop and think for a moment, "who is Dan?" We had only met once before this time. I have no idea how he remembered my name or even recognized me from so far way. He got us back on route. What a friendly person.

Where did you get the name "Austin Eats It"?

Matt, Reading your description of the route, jumping back and forth between present and past, was a great read. Thank you for sharing. Your descriptions are right on and really brought back memories of when Ryan Painter and I climbed it several years ago. This route definitely left an impression on us. Your descriptions of crap gear, run out, potential 40 foot falls...had me cracking up laughing. I thought of Ryan and I up there scared shitless on nearly every pitch. Yeah its hard and probably pretty dangerous climbing, but I think that is the appeal to the route. I say leave it how it is, no bolts.

They spent a long time up there getting ready to climb it and I think had a hard time on the wall. I think they were really desperate to get off the wall when they did. They ended up leaving a bunch of crap behind when they topped out in a snow storm. Couple of ropes got stuck, left hammock behind on wall, ditched some crap in a cave way up the wall, etc. I'm sure its all been ripped off the wall by now. That thing would be scarry to stand under, lots of rock fall. Loose overhanging rock. Would sure be impressive if someone else climbed it though. They spent lots of time planning it. They didn't just walk up their one day and send. I think they spent about a month getting ready for it and maybe a week on route. I would think that you would want to climb a route next to it first to get a good look and feel of the climb.

I drove out from Trinity after my wife and I bailed from trying Maude...it was some of the most heavy rain I have been in and I had to have my head out the window the whole time because my windshield wipers quit working. All the while there were large flashes and bangs all around me! I never climbed anything that looked that steep on Razorback either. Just read your old pm Kevin. I only got weekends open and am booked up for the next two.

If you look closely you can see a tent in the lower right corner of the picture. The Route: More detail: The mix moves were really fun!

Looks good! How was the traverse on the N. Side? Your pics make it look harder then I remembered!

Any thoughts? Could it still be too early with this years high snow pack? Has anyone been in the area and have recent pictures of the east face route?

I'm pretty sure Liz Ryen and I did the right hand crack around 2005. I remember staying right on the face the entire time and summiting slightly on the W. face side. These routes will get more traffic with the new book. Pretty pictures.