keenwesh

I believe that was for the first edition... I'm wondering if more areas are covered in the 4th edition, or does it really matter that much?

if it comes down to that I would be grateful if I could borrow a copy, but I really want one of my own! On a related topic, what are the routes you'd do with 5 days up there, My buddy and I don't take rest days.

I'm looking for a copy, but the cheapest one I can find is $2040. This is a plea to anyone who has a copy laying around they'd let go for a reasonable price. Also, alternate guides for the Banff/Jasper area would be welcome as well.

Scepter is now in WI4 shape, uber fat and good, Mummy 2 had chandeliered ice on the lower half and upper steep pitch before the belay. Easy climbing but you either have to run it out or take the time to clear ice for good screws. Currently it is dumping, it's well on the way to a foot of freshies outside my front door, more in the mountains. Be careful in the gullies and avalanche paths of Hyalite.

just out of curiosity, why weren't they machined to fit without a mod in the first place? extra weight? stronger hammer? just because?

Oh, I thought you ment hiking upstream once you top out on the climb. Yeah, we approached from the bridge next to the campground. Super neat canyon with the added danger of a possible fall through the frozen creek.

The top out of too cold to fire was drytooling up a open creek, I didn't feel like wading upstream. Both times I've been to cody it has been balmy and warm, 3rd time's a charm!

Trip: Cody Classics - Date: 1/7/2013 Trip Report: I'm far too tired to write up much more than a photo dump, but here's the general gist of it. 4 days of climbing with Martin in the awesome South Fork. Started it off with a run up Broken Hearts. With the full sun screws were basically worthless, but the hero ice made for really fun roped soloing. My Only Valentine was good to go, but as I headed up the cone an ice dam broke up above and quadrupled the flow of water, making the lead much less appealing. We descended and planned to climb on the Other side of the valley for the next day. Martin led the first pitch of high on boulder, and I took the sharp end for Moonrise. The ice was really hard and brittle, necessitating many swings for each stick. Needless to say, I was super stoked when I made it to the belay. Sharing the drainage with us were Eric and Lucy, of bus trip fame. Really nice people and they said they'd send me some shots of me leading moonrise. Rad. After doing the second brittle pitch of moonrise we rapped off and hoofed it over to mean green to sprint up the first 2 pitches. Brittle hard ice left my arms exhausted. On the hike out we spotted View to Thrill and Dressed to Kill looking fat. South facing ice high enough to stay solid enticed us for the next day. A long hike with some shwacking led us to the base. While the top of both climbs were fat, neither piller touched down. Super lame. Reverse bushwhack to Too Cold to Fire salvaged the day. 50 degree temps were a cause for concern. The Moratorium was scrapped for the last day because of the utter lack of ice on the first pitch. Instead we went up Schoolhouse Creek. First pitch was fun plastic goodness. Second was a chandeliered wet nightmare. I rapped out of the cave behind on the previous parties abalakov and Bozeman was reached before the sky went completely black. A question for the mods: Why do half my pictures not upload because the filesize is "too big"? All are shot from the same camera with the same resolution settings... Approach Notes: Over the cacti and up the hills

file the back of the pick. Filing the hammers would be really gnar. I think there's an article on coldthistle explaining the process.

Went up to Alex in Wonderland today with Vern and Wayne. We ran up Silken Falls as there were several parties on Dribbles and none of us had climbed this fantastic route before. Wayne leading the second pitch I led the first pitch of Alex in Wonderland (it's the climb above dribbles in the Winter Dance guide, but that name is unimaginative and shitty). It wasn't too hard, M4ish, but very little pro and decomposing rock. Wayne and Vern froze at the base and we bailed. Second pitch looks hard right now, ~15 feet of drytooling out to a brittle and steep 60 foot icicle.

Vern gettin' after it on Horsetail Falls First pitch is a mediocre 3, this route is similar to Palisade Falls in that it is very high volume, so top outs are always a little spooky. The pillar above was rad, brittle ice, and the whole thing reverberated when a tool was swung into it. The last few feet of ice were glass clear and the water flowing over the lip could be clearly seen inside. Like Wayne said, Palisade is in great shape. The whole thing is frozen, but not very thick in the middle. negotiating the cauliflowers is really interesting. A 80 meter rope allows for an easy rap, otherwise bring two cords. I hear that the East Fork Road is gated after January 1st. We'll report back if this is true tomorrow night.

1. regular route on half dome. I had no idea I was capable of a route like this. bivi on a shit ledge, 2000 foot vertical wall, no way. 2. east butt of el cap. doing 10 pitches in a single day really prepared us for the above. also incredible location. 3. central pillar of frenzy. This is where mark and I really came together as a team. call all the BS you want, but it was wonderful moving up 5 pitches of wonderful crack without a moment of stress, besides the raps. Those sucked. 4. Killer pillar just a couple days ago. Rated WI5 in the guidebook, this single pitch felt almost easy. The ice was wet, but secure. single pic swings and a secure rest up during the top. Still the sentiment during the lead was one of absolute confidence. 5. A solo of dribbles. it was in wonderful WI3+ shape. but the experience was incredibly rewarding.

the only place I've used V threads regularly was during two days of climbing in Cody. Fortunately I'll get to use them a lot more next week as I should be in Cody for the majority of it!

Killer Pillar 12/30/12 Went into Flanders today and got on Killer Pillar, it's in really fun shape, but it also happens to be a goddamn waterfall. I managed alright with my suit of goretex armor but my partner was wearing softshell pants and his legs were frozen solid quickly after getting to the top. We had plans to get more pitches in but with hypothermia threatening we made the prudent decision to head back for the car. Wayne and Vern were up there and climbed the left side of the pillar with similar wetness. A couple buddies stumbled to the base about the time I was coiling my steel cable of a rope, Really fun to see everyone after doing family stuff in califonia for the last week or so. P1 of Bobo Like is not in, but I was assured that it goes at M5ish and is decently protectable with a selection of pins. The upper pitches are in and look classic. Big Sleep is sorta in, I'll put a photo up for you to decide for yourself. EDIT: Champagne Slot and Sherbet are both looking fat. I could see the top of palisade falls from the road and it looked well formed. Stories of near falls into the tube have scared me away from this one, but if these cold temps continue it'll only get bigger. Horsetail Falls. We've had cold temps for a while, it's worth the slog in as it is probably in good shape.

they actually install a seasonal tram that runs from 8 mile campground to colchuck lake. You have to ride a poma to get up to aasguard pass, unfortunately.

jeesuuusss yer actually gonna die.

I usually bring at least 3 pairs of gloves climbing. as soon as one gets soaked through I switch to the next one. A glove that'll keep your hands dry all day long in high 20 temps does not exist. Buy as many pairs as you can afford and carry all of them with you.

In other news I made it back into the canyon today. Stuff is looking good, especially Alex in Wonderland (previously referred to as 'the climb above dribbles"). Here's a crummy shot, my camera doesn't have much zoom, so I used paint to highlight sickles of interest, dribbles is behind the tree. I went up to Palace Butte to climb the fairly obscure route called 'Kansas Cornfield'. Broke trail over from Twin Falls, thinking that traversing in deep snow would be better than just going directly up to it. It wasn't, but there are a few really cool caves in the cliffs that we checked out. Sloughs were ripping off from high above with alarming frequency. Of course they didn't start doing this until Justin was well up into the narrowest part of the climb. Here's a video from the belayer's perspective. [video:youtube]

I'm gonna call it an "extended take"

Report for 12/14 Plenty of ice today, Over easy, Curtains, and the last pitch of Land of the lost all looked good to go. Over in the Dribbles area (the only place I seem to go these days) Dribbles itself is in absolutely fantastic shape. Here's a shot of yours truly below the headwall pitch, with an 80 meter rope (get one, they rock) you can make it to the trees at the top. I went over to Silken Slot and Silken Falls after rapping down avalanche gulch and the ice conditions looked good on the upper pitches. The first pitch of Silken Falls has a 5 inch thick breakable ice sheet over snow which is all over the good ice. I knocked off a ton of the shit before deciding to rap off because if one of the sheets hit my feet I could easily envision getting knocked off the flow. With a rope and a partner both climbs would be good to go. I ran into Adam Knoff and friends who just bolted a mixed line in the amphitheater in between fat and thin chance. I think he said 3 bolts (M4) to a flow of ice that is probably in the WI4 range. Sounds like a fun one, get on it! He also said that Good looking one is in, but more difficult than it was last year. I'm planning on taking a look on Monday. More conditions on the Unnamed Wall. These are all from my observations from afar today: Fat One is looking not super fat, but definitely fun. As the season progresses the initial steep part gets shorter and shorter as the ice builds. Thrill is Gone is in good shape. I assume Elevator Shaft is good to go, ask laurel, he climbed it last weekend. The curtain on bingo world isn't super wide, so bulldog world is on the more difficult side right now. I'll try not to impale myself on my crampons if I jump on (fall off?) it on Monday. Needless to say, Bingo world is not touching down right now. Someone was pulling hard on Roman Candle today, we were cheering him on from the parking lot. Upper Mummy and Zach Attack: Both were looking promising before the warm spell, unfortunately they're not looking to good. Mummy 4 is a tiny hanger that needs a lot more ice to even come close to touching down. Zack Attack is looking better, but still far from in. Craig Pope climbed Rocket Boy yesterday. Said it was a 40 foot M7 runout above the last bolt to the first screw. Use this information how you will. One last thing to add, avalanche conditions: Pretty stable where I was. There's a 4 inch windslab that I could get to slid only after several firm whacks with my whole arm. It's snowing again right now so it's changing. The guys on here know what they're talking about. http://www.mtavalanche.com/current/

haha oh man, the unnamed wall is not the way to make it to twin, I can see that route eating up 6 hours. Was there a guide with you or did they just untether you and say: "head in that general direction"?

where'd you go? Twin falls? I heard there was group that ended up missing the trail and floundering through the woods for a good part of the day on Friday. I hope that wasn't you!

monos all the way, if one point is shearing out two points will as well, plus the BD crampons have little secondary points that provide extra stability in soft, mushy ice. I find that I get more shattering and have to give the ice an extra kick or two when using dual points. Plus, monos allow you to pivot your foot without shearing out. Even another bonus, they're lighter! You might want to get someones opinion who actually climbs a lot of alpine ice if you're envisioning an AK trip or something. I've never been but I have aspirations and I will be taking monopoints. I simul soloed a 100 foot serac wall with my basque friend in the waddington range this summer (we go up! dis is fantastique!) and my monos neither sheared or even slipped once.

First off, sorry I haven't been keeping this more up to date, Since I made it back here after thanksgiving I've only made it to the canyon two days, finals and warm weather/rain have driven me into a beer drinking spiral of self pity and valley lassitude. Hopefully I can get back on track before I have family obligations during christmas week. Update for 12/8 It's cold and stuff is getting climbed. I went up and got on responsible today. here's a picture. Good solid and dry ice the whole way, but bring a LA to protect the first few moves onto the ice. We approached via the first pitch of avalanche gulch. While we were up climbing some fuckhead stole my poles that I'd left at the base. If you know one or more of the 8 people on dribbles today please punch them in the teeth and get me my stuff back. Total bullshit. Anyway, back to conditions. I can't personally speak to other routes besides what I said above because it was a whiteout all day and I couldn't see shit. Cleos was climbed yesterday. It's stout for WI5 right now but is only going to get fatter. Killer pillar isn't touching down yet, Both champagne and champagne slot are really good. If I blow off studying for finals tomorrow and get out I'll post up on what I see.

BD stingers are sweet, both in how they climb and how cool you look with green antibots on the soles of your feet.