shannonpahl

Tried the NR last week-end. There was lots of deep unconsolidated soft snow. We wallowed up the couloir but bailed once we reached the ridge - the gulley on the left of the gendarme would be dangerous in these snow conditions. If it was much colder and solid snow/ice, it would make a fantastic climb. Instead, we bailed and did the east ridge. Will need to try again in better conditions. http://picasaweb.google.com/shannonpahl/PinnaclePeak

Any more ideas?

ok, WA or OR will do. Good stuff so far, keep them coming ...

I'd like to get a list of mixed / drytools crags and routes in the state. I know of 4 crags: Issaquah, Exit 38, Snoqualmie and Mt Baker ski area (more details about each route in those crags would be great), ok and maybe Stone Gardens :-). Any other crags? What about good mixed routes (with ratings)? (e.g. Pinnacle peak N ridge in MRNP - M4?, NY gulley ...)

i use the 64cm venom with a regular ice axe (on easy alpine ice routes) and the 64cm venom with an aztar/ex (for more moderate climbs, eg ice cliff glacier) and I really like the combo - the venom doubles as an axe and a tool and handles alpine ice very well. you'll be hard pressed to find an alpine ice route in the cascades that requires more than the venom+aztar/ex combo (ok, maybe colfax peak).

Hi, yes, that was us. There were still some nice long overhanging seracs so I'm sure you had fun either way. Its going to be snowing now, but we'll keep a look at conditions to give the polish route or such a go.

Trip: FAs: Mt. Baker - Roosevelt Ice Circ Date: 12/10/2009 Trip Report: FAs? Baker-Roosevelt ice circ Jeff Street and myself went out to Mt Baker on Wednesday and Thursday this week to see what we could find to climb - Colfax, others? When we got to the TH, we saw a row of about 8 climbs close to one another. We could not resist and decided against Colfax (which is totally in, even arguably the Polish route) From the overview pic, we did three climbs (red arrow 3), single pitch WI3, then one climb (red arrow 1), a 2 pitch WI4,WI2+. Climbs in this area range with WI4 and WI5 variations. In this area (red arrow 1), we started from left to right, the left most climb (WI5?) raining with too much water and so we bailed on that and moved to the next climb, the 2 pitch WI4 route. Then it was dark and time to come home. Our approach from Mirkwood camp on Heliotrope ridge: Colfax

Today we went to use the tail end of the cold spell and climb this route. Its a great climb! The ice was phat and plastic in places. Its getting traffic - just follow the obvious boot path. We did it in 4.5 pitches using a 60m rope, which works out well getting you to obvious good belays. Thanks for discovering a great new route!

Just this summer, I was witness to a leader fall on Mt Stuart that resulted in a badly broken ankle. One of the climbers had a cell phone and although there was no 'talk' reception, they were able to text message for help, and a helicopter rescue ensued that airlifted the injured climber. Given the injury and remoteness, I'd hate to imagine how much worse things could have been without one.

nice example of feet stacks. A0, etc ... well practised. Agreed, "The benefits of such a practice cannot be understated"

Feet stacks - now that sounds like a great tip, thanks! Did GM today, P1, P2 and the start of P3 is fun, the upper crack on P3 was hard (just got to find a more efficient way of climbing that crack).

Here is the original thread: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/878924/Snow_Creek_Wall_King_Kong_Chim#Post878924

I also read about the alternative descent and used it in spring to get off Champagne. Worked well. But my route is far off to the climbers right compared with the Orbit summit. (btw, did Outer Space last Saturday, noone there - perhaps it was the 107F in 11worth that scared others away). At the top of Champagne, you run the ridge crest over big blocks for less than a half rope length until you reach a rappel station hidden under a block. It is located just before a pair of skinny rock pinnacles along the ridge. Then do three single rope raps. The first rap finishes a little to the right and well short of a full length. After 3 raps, follow the line of least resistance down for about 1 minute to find the nearby faint boot path. Follow this down along the climbers right of SCW towards pearly gates and link up with the pearly gates trail back to the parking lot.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I was initially confusing Princely with GM. I'm ok with toxic, I'll go try GM this week-end

i'm curious about why GM could be representative of gend P2 since GM does not have any offwidth (as far as I can remember). It may be a little like P1 (left facing corner'ish at the lower section)

Does anyone know of crag routes / pitches that are similar to the gendarme pitches on Stuart? For instance, Aries P2 is a left facing corner but its thin fingers whereas that section on the gendarme is much wider. What about the offwidth section? It could be very useful to get in a few crag pitches that are similar to the gendarme pitches.

Do you have an original/large pic of one of the pix showing Formidable? I'd like to get a closer look at what the conditions are like there now Thanks

thanks for the pic and info. looks good but sounds dangerous.

thanks for the great pix. Do you have any more showing more of Price glacier? (that would be a sweet climb, from one of your pix, the conditions look good)

I was on Champagne on Saturday with 3 other climbers (it starts at Easter tower and ends on the rightmost edge of SCW, probably just right of route 32 on that topo). That area is not closed. I did not see any bird or other human on the wall. The descent on the back end to pearly gates works well with this route; as you top out, less than a half rope length ridge walk leads to a rap station, and just 3 single raps off and you land on the faint trail down.

Excellent! Great climbing and views. Must have been fun to see the views when the clouds parted, instead of seeing nothing.

Does anyone have recent beta on the ice cliff conditions?

There is a tree across the road blocking further access, about 1 mile from the TH

My guess is that its due to many effects, one being the pulley effect - the clipped biner on the anchor effectively becomes a pulley with the belayer's rope on one side, the falling climbers rope on the other side. Of course without this, there is still the sum of the falling climbers force and your weight on the anchor, but without the pulley, you have more real rope to absorb the force (the rope is not short circuited by the biner) and you also have the belayers body and some rope slippage in the belay device all helping to absorb some force, making for much less direct impact force on the anchor

Interested in a climb of Mt Kent? Thursday or Friday this week ? (Thursday is my preference). To be safe, lets call it WI4, AI3, M3, 10+ pitches. Are you ok with those numbers? I did one variation a few weeks back, and I'd like to go back and do the Kloke route. Conditions may be ok for Thursday and Friday. The ice might be ok, the couloirs could be a little soft. Here's some info on Kent ... http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=868676