bigeo

You might ask on TAY. There was mention of skiing the W face in a recent thread about the Lost Marbles Couloir

That's a VERY understanding partner considering how good the conditions were anywhere in the Stevens Pass vicinity yesterday.

I climbed that when I was in high school (about 40 years ago). I took a 30' fall (unroped, thank god) and landed in a soft, deep pile of snow. I was unfazed, but my partners were sure freaked out.

Pretending you"re Ueli Steck seems like a bad idea.

You guys nailed it. Nice work!

To paraphrase a saying commonly (but probably erroneously) attributed to Mark Twain: Ice climbing is a good winter hike spoiled.

Strong work lads! While it seems like you had things well in hand, second guessing your decisions, even after a successful outing, will help to make your alpine careers long and productive.

I've been thinking the same thing. PMed you.

Not that helpful Mr Berdinka, since it only gets you partway through pitch 5. Did you even climb/finish the route?

Buy that pass. https://cliffmass.blogspot.com

Muy bueno. Muchas gracias Senores!

"If" I don't profess to know and was making a point about risk in general versus risk on the individual level.

If the objective danger hasn't changed over time, then the risk to a given individual/party isn't greater simply because more people are climbing the route (other than the risks imposed by those sharing the route with you).

This brings up a question that I have long wondered about. I have been carrying snow "flukes" rather than pickets since I was a teenager climbing with my dad. They are a lot less awkward to carry and, based on intuition, l believe they have greater holding power in a wider variety of snow conditions. I have weighted them when set as an anchor, but never subjected one to a fall-type load. Does anyone have experience or know of any testing that indicates how flukes stack up against pickets? Found this, but it doesn't really answer the question: https://www.msrgear.com/blog/gear-archives-diving-deep-evolution-msr-snow-fluke/ and there's this:

Having eyed the flows above Melakawa Lakes while doing the Chair Pk circumnav on multiple occasions, I would say they form often, if not every winter. I believed they would offer some fun climbing, but, being a bit long in approach for a day trip in the short daylight hours of winter, and the prospect of hauling camping gear and ice climbing kit seeming like excessive effort, I contented myself with admiring them as I skinned by. I might have to reconsider. Hats off to you guys for getting after it.

Well played gentlemen. Thanks for the stoke.

Positively excellent! Thanks for the report. Just got my Nexus card and BC is my new backyard.

Spectacular! I want to do that.

It would be a lot safer to camp where you cross the broad lower end of Curtis Ridge. If you're skiing the approach, this won't add substantially to the time/effort on your summit day and getting on to the base of Lib. ridge in the early morning hours makes sense to me. I've done it in the late afternoon on a warm day and it was a shooting gallery. There is plenty of flat terrain on lower Curtis and you might even find running water. Good luck!

Very cool. My dad got me started in the climbing game as an early teen. It was one of the greatest things he did for me.

I like your style. Well played!

Thanks! Just what I needed to know

I like it! Thanks for posting. How far up the road past the gate were you able to drive? Did you see any activity up there to account for it being open?

Nice work! I love that climb

Amazing!