YocumRidge

Yeah, in danger of being sucked by the cops but you survived

A hard to forget trip. Thanks to the glorious Ivan for the laugh and full entertainment value! As if it could be any different. A couple of comments on my behalf. Over the last week, Ivan's fatal attraction to the Stone Soup at the glamorous Baconwand was shattered with the positive weather outlook for Hood. However, my naive offering to do a speed ascent of the well covered Yocum Ridge a la Ueli Steck did not meet much of his enthusiasm cuz he does not like "to be compared to aliens" . So, "speed" in our case would not mean "faster", but rather "shorter". Our delightful arrival at First Gendarme at 8600' was accompanied by the Ivan's profound Shakespearian recitation from Macbeth (if I am not mistaken?), which abruptly ceased as we progressed further. A thought crossed my mind that he might be getting sick at that point or how else would you account for him being silent for once? All that and the perspectives of his wife suing me if something was to happen to him (although he did smartly upgrade his life insurance by then ) made Leutholds a more viable variation of Yocum . The Legendary: Yocum Ridge Oh, and the 2 lbs of bacon from the Dakota-sized pack came in very handy.

Axes? Seriously? 1930s:

Yep, it is this time of the year. Again.

Here is my two favorites for nomination. Doug and Veronika, - for the original concept: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=993039 Buckaroo, - for the boldness of solo objective and the modern era Dostoeyvsky' prose: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=905729

Sick sendage Ivan and is certainly worth the drive from Portland

The Western Hemisphere's Most Contaminated Place Yup. Conveniently positioned UPSTREAM of Portland on the Columbia river. Oh, and by the way, we have had 19 BIG earthquakes over the last 10,000 years (~1 in 500 years, range 180-1,000 years). The last BIG one (8.7 to 9.2) took place at about 9 p.m. on January 26, 1700. We know about it because the Japanese have chronicled the arrival of a giant "orphan" tsunami (i.e. tsunami without an associated earthquake). So, yes, come visit...

Wow. What a story! Thanks for posting it

Hey! If that scares you so much that you can't sleep at night and keep bringing this up at every occasion, why don't you quit climbing all together to stay within your ability? Give us a break dude!

Excellent choices, V, for climbing in the PNW cascades!

You are learning fast Doug!

But the bolts on it are bad?

Yeah, that http://www.alexandrebuisse.org/resources/trip-reports/The-fifteen-most-terrifying-seconds-of-my-life http://sightly.net/peter/trips/norway2011/ does not look inspiring at all. Glad you guys really lucked out with the conditions and weather.

Another awesomeness! Doug is lacking a fur-coat here for extra style points :

Wow. Thanks V for the great account of this amazing area! Looking forward to the further "installments" of the trip. How would you describe the ice conditions and norwegian grades? The sewage "shit happens" route does not look remarkably phat. To the mods: my vote for the #1 prize for the March TRs.

"Eastern Sierra Ice" by Robert SP Parker.

Yep. Luckily we had a bag of potato chips and the loud crunching kind of helped. For a while

Thanks for the stoke ! That looks like a Wicked Wanda . Very cool! Nice to see you survived the 3 min approaches with your helmet on

Thanks Alex and arentz! Yeah, we were considering Ghost climbs but in the current conditions having a second vehicle (preferably not a sports car ) in case of the emergency tow would be a way to go. Icefields Parkway. We poked around a few climbs over there: Baw Falls - too much snow cover that would take lots of digging plus high avy danger on the approach: Murchinsons falls were in good shape: but we were running of daylight when by surprise we got there trying to locate some other falls. After all, none of us were in the area before.

That is a question to the said good canadians I suppose

No ice clipper slots on it? http://www.camp-usa.com/products/harnesses/air-cr.asp

Does the one really exist?

Trip: Canadian Rockies ice trip - classics and not-so-classics Date: 2/20/2011 Trip Report: Jesse M (jmace) and I headed to canadian rockies to hit some ice over the President's day weekend that I cunningly contrived to last one week! Day 0. After a swift drive to the canadian border, I was successfully stopped and interrogated for an hour and half re: purpose of my ice climbing gear. Being in denial whether this is the norm, I somehow made it to the Drew G-spotter’s place in Chilliwhack to pick up Jesse. A 9 hr straight shot on TRANS-CANADIA to Canmore and we are in the rockies. God bless canadian highways for being friendly to the sports cars in winter, which is greatly appreciated: Obligatory mountain glamour shots: And more: And more: Although we really lucked out with high pressure system and decent (-30oC at times) temps, the avy conditions were not hmmm… the best, read - “EXTREME". Weeping Wall (normally, minimal avy danger) was closed for 3 days in a row, followed by a successful heli rescue of the avy burial victims at the Bourgeau falls plus one slide dumped off the right side of Louise falls while we were racking up at the base. One consistent pattern on the approaches was an extensive weak layer of granular facets: Day 1. Kananaskis area. Left to right: Moonlight (110 m WI4), Snowline (100 m WI4) and 2 Low 4 Zero (90 m WI3R). Jesse on P1 of Snowline: I got on the P2 but after breaking off a coffee table-sized bulge, my sorry ass was lowered and Jesse re-lead it in a much better form: Day 2. Our plan was to get on A Bridge Too Far (300 m WI4+) behind Kidd Falls (75 m WI4) in Kananaskis, Kidd falls: but the avy conditions and chest deep postholing promised a good 4 hr approach. So, we bailed and went to the Grotto canyon desperately trying to climb something in the remaining daylight. Me on Grotto Falls (55 m, WI3): His (no touch down) and Hers (WI4-): Jesse on Hers: Day 3. The sketchiest avy conditions off the Icefields Parkway: two pits failed and two close calls on triggering of slabs on other aspects. -30oC outside and no beer (nearly a full case I brought from PDX had exploded in the car, what a life ). Some local cragging around Canmore in pm: Day 4. Complete Louise Falls 110 m, right pillar (currently at WI4+) Louise Falls from the lake: Me on P1: Admiring the crux: Belay cave: Jesse leading the crux pillar: Day 5. Complete Professor Falls, 8 pitches, 280 m, WI4 We teamed up with Joe (sean_beanntan) and Heather from PDX for a full day on Professor falls. Ice was fat, the company was rad and all pitches were in. Awesome day! Trophy Wall: Professor falls from the approach: P1: Jesse on P2-P4: Myself somewhere in the middle: Joe on the last pitch: Professors top-out: The crew: Thanks guys for the awesome trip ! Gear Notes: rack Approach Notes: 3000 GT I-5 from B-ham to PDX was a ditch-endangered total suck at 20 mph. Thanks to V&D for letting me stay at their place in Seattle to recover mentally and physically.

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