spionin

thanks, all! The easiest way is ... thanks for the beta, SS, makes sense! top of palmer seemed like a natural stopping/gear stashing point. i'm not sure that skinning up to the saddle would have won us much given the conditions. i also agree that the route is totally doable with skis on the back. this said, there were definitely times in the trip when i was happy to not be carrying more stuff! i should also mention that ski boots were perfect for the climb and spared my calves on that low-angle ramp! dave, yeah i remember seeing you guys on the summit. nice trip. matt, the "mix of conditions" made for a fun and varied experience, rather than a snow slog

Yocum Ridge.

nice pics! holy smokes - 80 minutes summit to car! well done!

thanks. nothing flew at us, but the temps were consistently low. the headwall route is fairly wide (again- begs to be skied if there's enough snow!). i think the biggest time sucker for us was having to break through occasional sections of deep snow. oh, and it's a long freaking walk! my gps battery died before the summit. but here - this shows the uphill tour-de-mountain:

Trip: mt hood - sandy glacier hw Date: 3/9/2013 Trip Report: z-man and i climbed the sandy glacier hw in 17 hours on saturday. we encountered a mix of conditions, including neve, styrofoam, and deep pow-pow stashes throughout out trip. overall, it was great, and the headwall is freaking long! after driving down from seattle, we slept for a couple of hours in hood river (warmer), and started driving to timberline a little before midnight. left the car at 1 am, and skied up to the top of palmer. there we left the skis and started slogging over the illumination rock. the snow started at about boot-top depth at first, thought we encountered totally icy sections at regular intervals. the night was very clear, but i kept thinking that it would have gratly benefited from a moon. in the dark we approached yocum and started looking for a spot to cross. we moved down fairly low, traversing on a steep slope that kept alternating between deep pow and perfect styrofoam. we crossed way low and still had to downclimb to sandy glacier. i'm guessing that normally there is 1) less snow, and 2) existing snow is way softer and easier to navigate. nonetheless we made quick progress. we saw a pair of skiers who followed our tracks but attempted to cross the ridge higher up. from what i understand, they got a little stuck. here's a view of the ridge around where they'd have to downclimb. anyways, we proceeded to traverse over to the headwall - slogging through knee (and above-knee)-deep snow... the weather was awesome, though it was quite chilly. i wore a shell and my belay jacket the entire time. the route itself was fairly cruiser - again alternating between styrofoam, neve, and occasional wind-blown pow. the bottom part of it looked awesome for skiing, but the top was just made for methodical, mindless daggering. it went on FOREVER. endless 50 degree white slope. the conditions called for soloing. i can only imagine that pitching this thing out would have taken even forever-er. but at least the views were nice! i think the altitude caught up with me at the end. i was happy to finally reach the top, where z-man was waiting. long slog down EVENTUALLY brought us to the skis. then we shredded the heck out that tracked-out 15 degree palmer goodness back to the car. thanks, z-man, for the awesome trip! Gear Notes: brought 30m glacier rope, 2 screws and a picket. ended up soloing.

bump! these are amazing gloves - too big for me

wow, a full-on party! congrats dudes, looks sweet! what was this route called in the guidebook? (unnamed x?).

awesome idea for a thread! my '89 saab 900, "the tank". bought it for $500, and it eventually developed "car colon cancer" (exhaust problem). it became known for setting off car alarms when passing parked vehicles due to its operating volume. the good: huge, flat space for gear and sleeping in the back. comfortable, heated seats. the thing i don't miss so much: sloping roof made it impossible to put people taller than 5'7" in the back seat. driving up hwy 20 with 4 people and gear was ...challenging. the car got cash-for-clunkered, and the beast fetched a $4500 credit towards my mom's new honda fit. it had 279k miles on the odometer. emotional goodbye. it was july. the car was extremely hot.

thanks, all! nice reference, z. funny how the route forms: it's most common that the upper pitch remains huge throughout the season, but the lower pitches tend to become thin and "mixed". the upper portion of the route gets some sun, so continues the freeze/thaw, but with the cold temps the bottom actually sublimates as the season progresses. wow, cold much? we really did try to look at it with our "WA ice" eyes! we really did pretend like it was "in", but we were worried about looking downright idiotic in front of courtney and doug. maybe we'll put it off until we don't have to do the first two pitches on bare unprotectable rock

p.s. kind of related... the friends who joined us for the day at frankenstein cliff happen to have a side gig running NEice.com and flying choppers. drones, they are not just for killing people anymore! enjoy. [video:vimeo]60020570 more info here: http://neice.com/2013/02/the-up-footage-first-takes/

haha, cause you know - there's nothing else good about nh! no granite to climb in summer, or anything like that... the baby stayed with his grandparents in connecticut this time. he'll stick to skiing for now

hey kevin, i was wearing my old grivel rambos (fully rigid) and couldn't adjust them down any further without moving the toe piece back. doesn't look as nice, but i don't like the front point sticking out too far forward. good eye

my first time on NE ice; cbcbd showed me his old playground mm- i saw a pair of shiny bolts with rings in the cave on the right side of the standard, right before the route steepens up to the belay shelf.

Trip: north conway, nh and lake willoughby, vt - dracula, standard, 20 below Date: 2/20/2013 Trip Report: we had two days for climbing while visiting the east coast, so we hit a few classics. day 1 we headed to north conway,nh. kind of hard to find the superlatives to describe the area, so you can look it up yourself if you haven't been... fat, blue ice everywhere (except the black dike, damn), easy approaches, and nice weather greeted us. tough. frankenstein cliff: our good friend courtney and her buddy doug joined me and cbcbd on the daytrip. we "warmed up" on dracula, a classic. doug millen ran up the right side, and i got to lead the left. plenty of ice to go around. courtney, crushing. we then moved over and did the standard , which offers a number of possibilities for climbing. so huge, and justifiably popular. we did it in two pitches. it was a tad chilly. court took this nice photo of me following the end of the second pitch of this wi3. we finished the day enjoying the scene in north conway, and hitting the moat mountain brewery. highly recommended! the next morning we drove to the northeast kingdom of vermont. according to the guidebook, JoJo once said that the lake "might be the greatest ice climbing cliff in the world". mountain proj sez about lake willoughby: "the largest concentration of hard ice routes in the Northeast. Several committing multipitch IV 5s and harder. Home to the east coast's first bonafide grade 6 ice climb". the easiest route at the lake is a 2p WI3. it goes up quickly from there. having seen pictures of it in the past still hasn't related the scale, i was in awe of the height and sustained steepness of the routes. the pictures just don't do it justice... a few photos of the cliff: the tablets: as a side note, it was 9F when we left the car, a little fresh. for our day we decided to get on twenty below zero, a mondo 2-pitch 4+. yep, a classic. it's the thing on the left: a few photos, and not much more to say... it hurt so good! Gear Notes: some people only bring 19-cm screws. Approach Notes: plowed, salted roads

yo ryan. sorry to hear about the bicep. but man, gingerbread man called!... that is SOME outfit!

cool photo! given the setting, the ice is kind of unexpected in the picture!

bump! make me an offer!

LOVE TRAIN! sweet!

word, z-man. climbed in rjukan. we went in early march, and the conditions were very nice for being so late in the season. the days are long, and the temperature was just about freezing the entire time we were there. - it's fairly close to oslo, where you'd be flying in. about 5 hours by car. don't underestimate those distances on the map! - looks like there's no train, but a bus will set you back about $100 one way. the overnight option leaves at 11 pm and arrives in rjukan around noon. - you don't need to have a car if you stay at a climbing hostel and can hook up with people. edit: looks like the climb-inn fb page is a good place to post your intention to come, and potentially hash out some plans with other climbers - there is actually a hostel in town right above the canyon, but otherwise it's a walk through the town. edit: see above point - there is a tonne of ice in a really small area. this is nice for just basically getting your ya-yas out as far as climbing. but keep in mind, that like in hyalite routes will be picked out. it's a popular place. -lots of variety. you can get on routes that are a single-pitch wi3, or a 4-5 pitch up to wi5, as well as mixed stuff. all next to each other, in the same canyon. *there are a few routes that are more rambly, and up to 20-something pitches, not in the main canyon, but are still in town. - if when! we go back there, we're bringing skis. gaustatoppen looks amazing. conditions notes: current info: http://www.climb-inn.com/2012/11/ice-conditions/ their FB page looks like a perfect hub to check conditions and to hook up with other climbers in advance! feb 22-24 they are having an ice fest. expect to find no accommodations during that time http://www.rjukanicefestival.com/ there was no language barrier. everyone, from bus drivers to grocery store clerks speaks extremely well. we had encountered exactly one person, in the boonies, who did not speak english, but he was still very receptive, friendly, and signs, drawings, and attempts to speak other languages (we were versed in german, french, russian, portuguese, spanish, and ukrainian between us) did the trick. there's a guidebook, but it's quite expensive (~$60). if you really want it, it's sold in most hostels and the city hall. we mostly used this: http://www.rockfax.com/databases/results_area.html?id=1027, especially the top-50 list! hope this helps, let me know if you have other questions! -veronika

dang, awesome photos up there! "the goat knows exactly what it wants out of the gear stash". wine spires. [side note: clearly, the photo is tilted because i was doing more drinking than climbing on that trip]

congrats, you guys. totally baller.

These are brand-new, unworn, with tags! Amazing glove: highly dexterous has a little pocket for a handwarmer! full gauntlet high-quality construction asking $135 (normal price $179), in Seattle. Selling because it's the wrong size for me.

SOLD This is a great, moderately used backpack for any alpine adventure. - This pack has BRAND NEW collar, internal zip pocket, and shoulder straps (replaced by CiloGear). - Comes with all straps that you can use to customize fit and volume - Has a minimalist (removable) framestay cut to size of the pack - Minor abrasions on the bottom, but no cuts or rips - note: this slightly older version of the 40L does not have the zipper in the front panel like the newest pack. - $125 local pickup (Seattle) or +$12 shipped ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thanks, guys. i'm gonna go cry a little.

looks nice! did you look across the road at COTS, by chance?