Plaidman

More pics. Lost Cam Kenny on first pitch

Trip: Ainsworth Left - Columbia River Gorge Date: 12/8/2009 Trip Report: Full Trip Report on the way. Ainsworth left was in on Monday 12/08/2009 We got two pitches up. Rick got up to the crux and placed two screws and lowered off. Kenny top roped it. I finished the first pitch up to the piton anchors. And belayed Kenny and Rick up. Then Rick led the 2nd pitch. I came up and tried to push further up but saw no anchor. We rapped off a V thread. Having problem with the photo engine on CC.com will post more pics later. Rick Mcdonald's Video Rick McDonald Climbings Ainsworth Left Rick, Kenny,and Plaidman taking the Video Rick's Comments Ice Climbing Ainsworth Left With Scott and Ken. Very marginal conditions. Some of the ice was butter and some bulletproof. Got Pieces in where I needed it, I guess. Never had to test it. Thank Frank. Just after I turned the camera off we experienced about 15-20 Seconds of terrifieng Ice fall, exploding all around us. I told my mates don't look up as I grabbed for the anchor. First Pitch

Great questions. Anyone got the data?

Ainsworth was seen yesterday the on 6th.

We will see. Ice or no ice we are going to look at it and if it is in pounce!

That picture of the ridge looks sick. Awesome shot. Nice job getting that done.

Photos 12/05/2009 Mist Falls 3/8 inch ice. A little thin. I think. Ainsworth Left 12/06/2009 Ainsworth Canyon

No shit? Thank for clearing that up. I suspect many Oregonians would have no idea That would be correct. Most people are clueless. Just trying to add more information that seems pertinent. Glad you are so well informed as to not need the extra information.

Photos on the way.

I can say it ain't ready yet a lot while I am ready to pounce on the first icicle that will hold my weight. Going out in the morning. RRRRRRarRRRRRR. Plaidman

TR posted under Oregon Cascades - Searching for Gorge Ice Going out tomorrow morning. We will get on something. Plaidman

Nice job. I haven't seen that click in a long time. Very cool. Plaidman

Trip: Searching For Gorge Ice - Mist Falls - Ainsworth Left - Warren Creek Date: 12/5/2009 Trip Report: Searching For Gorge Ice 12/5/2009 It was cooling down in the Columbia River Gorge. I could see ice forming on the upper water falls on both sides of the river. Rick McDonald my ice climbing partner was just itching to try out his new ice tools. So a reconnaissance was in order. Mist Falls is the first ice to form normally in the Gorge as it is North facing and has a misty fall, hence the name. This mist falls from about 200 feet above the lower cascading section. The upper portion of the cliff is undercut and the headwall juts out from the face, so this allows the mist to blown about like a big sprinkler. It was really early in the season to expect that ice had formed but I could not tell from the road. The falls are located just West of Multnomah Falls and there is parking just below Mist Falls on the Old Columbia River Highway. The approach is short so taking a look would not require too much effort. On gaining the cascade at the bottom of the falls the ice was about 3/8 of an inch. Not much to look at. The mushrooms had not even started forming. As the ice builds it billows up into mushroom and pillows of ice. Layer after layer build as the water mists from side to side. So at times the sloping cascade will be a series of steps up to the rock face above. With a 70 meter rope the rock face can be reached where there are bolted anchors to rappel down off of. But there would be no ice climbing today. I made my report to Rick and he suggested we go out again the next day and look at a few other sites of other ice flows. Rick picked me up at 8:30 am and off we headed to check out Ainsworth Left. This is an ice waterfall that is near St. Peters Dome East of Multnomah Falls. We has never been up to see it but it is on the tick list of a friend of ours Ben. So with some sketchy directions and Tim Olson’s guide to Gorge Classic Climbs I was able to discern the approach to this climb. We proceeded up from the Ainsworth camp ground. The trail starts from the parking lot on the East end and crosses a bridge. After .2 miles it joins another trail and we proceeded West to the first large rock filled gully/stream bed. Then it was straight up to the bottom of the ice flow. Ainsworth Left is left of a large canyon that ends in an amphitheater. Rick walked up left of the canyon to the bottom of the ice flow. This thing is huge. The first and second pitches look doable. With think we can make it up at least 4 pitches, as there are definite steps and pools to rest and set up solid belays. But the upper section is going to require a real mean experienced ice climber. That can be Ben’s pitch. Don’t know if it has been done in the past. The upper section looks real burly and long. In looking at the whole flow I think that the climb could go in not less than 5 pitches. We will see. Rick and I ran down and got lunch and headed to look at Cabin Creek and a flow just West of it. I thought the flow would come in as it cascades over rocks and could build into WI2. WI stands for waterfall ice. Here is a link to the grading system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_climbing#Waterfall_ice_grading We looked at it but it seemed to be only 30 ft tall and the water fall above comes out of a man made tunnel. We were not sure why the water was diverted but it is definitely man made. The tunnel is directly across from the O.D.O.T. weight station just West of Starvation Creek. Starvation Creek is just East of Cascade Locks on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. After looking at the disappointing possibilities we decided to explore the trail #414 which goes from Starvation Creek rest area and proceeds West passing Cabin Creek and goes up to Mt. Defiance. We were hoping to solve the mystery of the tunnel through the rock so up we hike the trail We came to a split in the trail and turned left. Proceeding East we were taken up to a prominent ridge and after realizing the trail had taken us well above the fall we did not feel up to bushwhacking above the falls to solve the mystery. On our return moving West and from the ridge we could see what turned out to be Warren Creek. We were very excited as it was one that we had seen from I-84 many times. From the split in the trail that we had turned left on previously we went straight west and passed the split in the trail. We did not walk far maybe a ¼ mile. Warren Creek had some ice forming and it looks like when it is in it will be a good one. WI2 maybe WI3 would be the grade for the lower section near the trial. We could see at least 2 or three steps and pool sections from the trail. I wanted to see higher so we moved up and climbed the hillside to the left of the water fall. There is a split in the cliff face that allowed us to gain the upper section of the water fall and we were standing next to and slightly above the upper section of the water fall. WOW! It looks great and the ice was already forming on the cascading sections. The pool we were standing above had a cascading section of WI3 with a good rest before starting a section of WI4. We had a great day of getting ready for the up coming season which can be short in the Columbia River Gorge. So you have to hit it hard and fast if you want to get some. Videos: Mist Falls Columbia River Gorge checking out the ice. Early season ice climbing Bad wind. Turn down volume before watching.

almost whacked this one with a gold camalot but then thought better of the idea... That's the one. Rat bastard scared the crap out of me.

This rat could have feed the whole family. It was about the size of a small turkey. Working on the trip report now. Will be posted later today.

Whuhh he said-on the money....hey, I was just thinking of this the other day. Once, when rock climbing - I made mention of the voluminous mass of crap gear you were carrying. Man, you had extra slings, biners, rappel rings, all kinds of other unnecessary fliff flaff hanging on your waist. You assured me that it was all practical and good, training: in fact necessary in the event of an emergency etc etc. Yet I was wondering just the other day....on the 28 hours to do Snake Dike...how much crap stuff were you carrying? Did you in fact blow off my advice, then pay the price for ignoring me, but we haven't caught up to this idea yet??? Cause my wife says I give too much advice. The last advice I gave was to Adams belay partner. She ignored me on 2 critical points (as did he), then within min. of me leaving while belaying she dropped him. Hard. Now - I'll be out with Adam tomorrow, and I ain't gonna bring this up. But my point may be this -don't blow off free advice when your ass is on the line. It rarely comes around twice. Read Ivans words, he's been getting out there. Thanks Bill. Advice noted.

Rick's Video of The Reid: Rick's Report

It looked steep. I think it goes at 50 to 60. The South route gets a 1 and Yocum Ridge gets a 5. Leuthold's Couloir and the Reid get a 2 in Jeff Smoots guide. It looked serious to me. No snowshoes needed. Firm snow on Weds.

Trip: Lookie Lou at the Reid Headwall - Mt Hood - Reid Headwall Date: 12/2/2009 Trip Report: Lookie Lou at the Reid Headwall – 12/02/2009 Videos: Rick's Report We really did intend to climb the route. The Reid Headwall had been on our tick list for sometime now. Rick McDonald and I took off from town at 11:00 pm on Tuesday night and started climbing at 2:00 am. We made good progress up to the top of the Palmer ski lift at Timberline. The moon was full and we did not even use our headlamps. It was so bright the moon was casting shadows. This would be our first mountaineering climb of the season and Rick’s hardest climb to date. I am still learning the ropes of the mountaineering thing. The weather was stellar. Perfect conditions with a little more wind than I would have liked. The wind helped keep us cool during the slog up. Rick had skis and skins and was able to ski up the mountain. Skins allow forward progress when wearing skis. More info on Climbing Skins: http://www.alaskamountaineering.com/Info.cfm?id=5&d=11&c=0&s=0 http://www.alaskamountaineering.com/Product.cfm?id=1275 . Getting the layers correct is always difficult, but I was wearing all synthetics so the sweat would dry quickly. The high temperature at 9000 ft. was going to be 31 degrees. We made it up to Illumination Saddle just before daybreak and I was in for a real treat. The route we chose required a bit of walking the saddle down on the rock ridge. The exposure was a bit much all in your face all at once. The traverse required mixed climbing tottering around on crampons on rock. Good training I think. Rick said he ran down it. I think he was lying. It scared me. Once of the saddle we had to kick step in a down angled traverse. This is an awkward technique that I have not practiced much. It requires being confident and trusting the snow to hold while balancing with your uphill hand planting your ice ax to act as a self belay in case of a fall. If that you do fall and the self belay fails you need to self arrest. It was quit a bracer so early in the morning on the first climb of the season. Kind of like a slap in the face. The snow was firm and we were able to stomp/kick our way across. The got to a thin spot and Rick started front pointing facing the slope. I followed and looked at the potential fall and was very nervous about this move. Climbing up is always easier than down climbing. I was getting the full treatment all at once. We made all those move and I looked over and Rick was sauntering at a quick clip along the slope. My confidence was building and I moved along also. We met just to the left of the start of the Reid Headwall and looked at the gullies. I looked at the top of the Headwall and saw a lot of rock with little snow plastered on the rock. Not a good sign as when the sun hits the rock the snow and ice sloughs off and crashes down the gullies. While we were watching we saw another party of two climbers moving up the gullies. They were about halfway up. Not good for us as climbing below them would be a potential for meeting head on a rock or chunk of ice. We knew that once we started we were committed to the climb. To back off before the summit would not be prudent. We were both tired after making it to our position in 5 hours. We made decent time for a couple of 47 year olds. Considering all of the conditions, our energy level and the state we were in. Oregon I am fairly sure. We decided to bail and head back over the ridge. I led back and had much more confidence in the movement and the snow. We had some rock and icefall on the traverse and moved quickly across back to the saddle. Rick made to back to his skis and offered to take some of my equipment and I took his skins down for him. I dumped out my most of my water. On my last accent of the mountain I took 6 litters of water up and only drank 2 and carried all of it back to Portland before I realized I was carrying all that extra weight. I thought maybe I could sell it as summit water. Never did find a sucker for that. The slog down that mountain is always painful. Next time I am bringing skis. While descending I have a peculiar situation with my boots, socks, or skin. I am not sure. But most time while descending I get this wrinkle under my left big toe. When I step down on this wrinkle it feels like a red hot nail being driven through my toe. I take off my boot and feel around nothing. I check my sock nothing. I am not imaging it as it is really quit painful. It may be that my skin just buckles under all that downward pressure. I am going to tape my toe next time. I got back to the truck and was whipped. I took a day of recuperation before I started planning my next outing. I am heading out to Beacon Rock to bivouac on a ledge we call The Land of The Little People. Sometimes you just have to go out and do things to see if they are fun. A bivouac on a ledge in early December with a 20 chance of snow may qualify. Gear Notes: Too Much gear - 4 pickets, several ice screw, 2 ice tools, 1 mountaineering 70 cc ax, two angle pitons, 4 liters water, warm clothes, extra socks, extra hats, belay jacket, waaaaay too much gear Approach Notes: Easy to scary and then easy again.

Hey no offense but I always cringe when I hear about people practising self arrest. Its really is not something to rely on and most times wont stop you from sliding if the surface is steep and icy. I see folks in the canynon testing their skills on warm, wet 25 degree slopes but never on the slopes that really matter ie cold, dark, icy 45 degrees with a backpack on...oh and by surprise as well. Focus on climbing well not self arresting well. Good advice. Since it is called climbing. Not falling is a good idea.

Ditto. To the max. You guys are even crazier than I am. I sat on a ledge at Broughton's waiting to get rescued this morning. We were on the Scickle. It was a mock rescue for PMR. Fun in the rain. I am waiting to get my kayaking paddle jacket before I aid in the rain. Plaidman

You may want to read this for sure. Unless your girlfriend it into bushwhacking and an Alpine adventure I would not suggest the West Chimney on Crown Point. Unless you would like her to be your x-girlfriend or you are trying to find out if she is made of the right stuff. We did it on the hottest day last August. It may be a friggin freezer in there now. The climb is good but getting off the damn thing was a bitch.

It is easier to have Ben lead it. But that is an option that I have thought about. Thanks

Loose caulk. Not a caulk ball. don't you mean chalk? O.K. you caught me. I can't spell, but I can climb. I think.

I always thought for 5.10bish that is was not super easy, that little spot above the tree is a bad for big hands, #1 size always feels like work for me. That is because it is 10.c It's like 5.6-7 on the lower Dods proper p1 which starts around the corner to the right from FFA and above or to the right of the third tunnel. I believe they intended to aid the upper pitch. No. I was just going to have Ben lead the upper pitches. It is easy for him. On top rope I can follow it I am sure.