YocumRidge

Is Discovery pass still required to park?

Thanks! Yes, we were checking out the SA headwall from the saddle but it looked way dry already.

Trip: RAINIER - Ptarmigan Ridge - IceCliff variation Date: 7/7/2013 Trip Report: Four days after climbing Lib Ridge in soft conditions, we decided that a worthier and icier objective on the north side of Rainier must be in order. Mowich Lake road had just conveniently opened two days prior (07/03), so the choice was easy – Ptarmigan Ridge. A fair amount of effort was spent on re-arranging our schedules for availability and finally setting up the bitchy 2 car shuttle between Paradise (not my brightest idea) and Mowich Lake TH on Fri. For Oleg and myself, this was second trip up Ptarmigan (PR#1 and PR#2), but the first time on the north side for Forrest. Getting ready at the Mowich Lake p-lot: The guys on the approach in Spray Park: Greatly enjoying the forecasted “mostly sunny” conditions, in our joint navigational effort, we had located the ridge leading to the Flett glacier morains and the saddle between Echo and Observation Rocks. The clouds however lifted once we reached the bivy site Mark and I built 2 years ago just a few feet away from the running water source: After settling in, Oleg and Forrest took off to tag the Observation rock. Forrest on the summit of Observation Rock: Next day, we headed up the Russel Gl. and merged with the PR crest at 10100’. For whatever reason, the knife edge section leading to the Gendarme at 10500’ got even skinnier and looser since my last time there. I wonder if it would even exist in a few years from now. Oleg makes the appropriate comment :“If you want to get rid of your significant other, then bring her over here”. As before, we downclimbed around the base of the Gendarme and followed the ridgeline on snow (eastern aspect). On the Russel Gl: Merging with the crest: Happy arrival at the high camp below the IceCliff: Our original idea of heading up directly the left side of the IceCliff did not seem to be that great any more once we realized that getting to its base would require solo traversing over loose cliffs in the dark: So, we re-diverted our attention to the standard PR line with the left exit through the upper ice cliffs: Already boney conditions on the PR headwall and it is only early July: Next day we were packed up and ready to drop down on the North Mowich Gl. at 2 am. After traversing over the IceCliff remnants (a silent reminder that we’ve got to move our asses fast through this section), we got to the main shrund below the Ptarmigan headwall. Oleg makes a bold, spider-like move and jumps across the abyss straight on to vertical verglassed rock that quickly transforms into the dinner plating water ice and then decent alpine ice below the lip. That quickly sets the stage for the things to come. We got what we came for. We simul rope solo for the next 1500 vertical feet 45-50 deg ice, good and bad, weaving around the rock bands and trying to locate the traverse in the dark. Just below the beginning of traverse: With the traverse being located, we hit it up and continue up the chute below the buttress that splits the left and right variations of the upper Ptarmigan Ridge. Forrest on the traverse: Forrest in the chute below the buttress: Half way through the traverse, we came across a difficult choice: a loose rock band or a stretch of black ice. To give calves a little rest from frontpointing, I go through the rock when one of the boulders decided to move and jammed my hand. Yeah, I will recall this rock band – with the appropriate epithets – often. After a short delay, we continue to the buttress and reach the ramp leading to the upper ice cliffs on the left. More black ice on the way: Oleg higher up on the more user-friendly part on the ramp below the shelf: At the shelf below the upper ice cliffs: Delicate climbing through the cornices above. Gotta make some moves up there: [video:vimeo]69944705 After weaving between a few more crevasses on the upper Liberty Gl., we headed up the final slopes to the Lib Cap: I totally forgot how long and demoralizing this slog is. Finally, at noon, we are at the Lib Cap - 10 hrs after leaving the high camp @10300’: That is not all, however. Our shuttle car is at Paradise, which means dropping down from the Lib Cap into the saddle and then heading up again to the Columbia Crest. That was a project by itself. The shortest way down the mountain does not mean to be the quickest way in this case. Only at 2 pm we get to the actual summit. Oleg ingeniously forgets how to spell my name… Down the DC we hike. It reminds us of the construction site with fixed ropes and ladders hanging everywhere although we had not met a single soul until the Ingraham flats…

Awesome adventure, Steopich!

Haha, no, not me! I bet Oleg would need to elaborate more to clarify this !

Cale, Nil Desperandum, you will get it soon! Re: boots. The primary purpose of my Phantom Guides was for ice cragging, but since most my single boots are heavily worn out, the PG begun get used for the bigger stuff like Lib Ridge or Ptarmigan IceCliff, as was yesterday, and now officially became my favorites. As a matter of fact, two weeks ago I got a very extensive III degree burn on the arch of my foot and was really having second thoughts whether/how I will even make it to the base of the ridge. As we all know, the route requires fully functional pairs of extremities and the boots made it possible - I did not even notice I had them on .

Oleg, thanks for the great trip and TR! Now, Canadian Rockies! Huge props to the RockyJoe's team for letting Oleg to rope up with while on Winthrop! 3.5 hrs from the car to Carbon is way to go, guys! Here is one more pic of Joe, Tom and Patrick crossing the Carbon seracs:

Your best options if there are no camping permits available: 1. Don't camp, do it C2C - in the straightforward conditions as they were over the last weekend, it is doable. 2. Camp in the "Carbon alpine zone" at 8600' by the toe of the ridge instead of the Thumb Rock. On snow, but so what? I was issued one of those permits for that infamous last weekend. 3. Climb the route midweek.

On Sun 06/30: we traversed over Winthrop and descended Emmons on our way down from the Lib Ridge and found perfect windblown styroform to 12500' and then perfect crotch-deep posthole all way to Shurman. I bet it would have been firmer in the early AM but so much for the carryover routes.

Trip: Prusik - West Ridge Date: 6/15/2013 Trip Report: Summer heat, permits, crowds somewhat thwarted my previous visits of this beautiful peak in the Enchantments. So, the current plan was to hit it up earlier in the year. Cameron and I left PDX on Fri pm and rolled in the Stuart lake P-lot in the dusk where we slept in the dirt until 4 a.m. The approach was pleasantly chilly, the Aasgard pass was still snow covered and the Enchantments still nicely frozen. Aasgard pass in the morning: The Temple Ridge comes into view: After dropping one pack and O/N gear at the Gnome Tarn, we made quick progress to the Balancing rock, roped up and went up the ridge. At the balancing rock: Start of the ridge: Easy, fast and enjoyable climbing on solid granite and very minimal gear (3-4 pieces total) until the summit block. Cameron on the slab: On the traverse: In the dihedral: Cameron coming up the dihedral: Cameron heading up the OW (Not-Axe-friendly) chimney with some interesting moves: Looking down from the chimney: I made up the chimney with some aid moves, thanks to the axe that got successfully stuck in it. On the summit at 2 pm: After spending 10 min for extracting the nut that got wedged as a result of my aid moves , we rapped the north side which still had some snow on it. And occasional ice on the traverse back to the balancing rock: Luckily, the goats did not drag our gear and food away while we were up on the ridge, so we pitched in the tent and finally enjoyed some solid food. On the hike out next morning, we run into the usual suspects: Gear Notes: 60 m rope, rack to 2" (brought way more than we used) Approach Notes: Stuart Lake TH

White River do not do passes/self-registration after hours - you've got to do it in person once they are open. Not sure about Longmire or Paradise, I am trying to stay away from that side of the mountain.

I am missing Stuie, John . Handicapped or not, there is some sweet ice to be climbed in the IC right now: Oh else, I will need to resort to the Zebra Zion at Smith and it is so hot there

If weather holds, I would like to do it this Sat/Sun - C2C or camp below the Sherpa gl. According to friends who just got back, it is in fine alpine ice shape with some mixed moves at the top. Have all the gear, rope, car. 503-901-3837 or PM Anastasia

Sorry about the jacket, Ben. We did not come across any jackets or water bottles on the NF this Sun, but I did fetch a screw that was dropped from the summit ridge .

Thanks, dude. It is hard to say "no" to the decent ice in June. But it is time to move on Rainier though

Good times, Forrest! "The nice leisurely approach" in the rain and whiteout was kind of hmmm, though. Our lives certainly did not suck then . The last pitch was interesting: the rock was as if made of a toothpaste but luckily frozen in place. The summit cornice took some tunneling work.

These three were not that lucky though: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/616247/page/1#Post616247 BTW, welcome back, Dan!

Thanks for the approach improvement beta and for the correction on Psycho Therapy. I wish we were able to find at the time the passage from the NW saddle - that looks like a sweet shortcut that puts you straight down to the base of the NF. Now in retrospect, all that side hilling, loosing significant elevation on the west side and then gaining it back again in the basin were not the happiest moments of our lives while on Mt. Borah. As for the Psycho Therapy, both lines seem to follow the same couloir before splitting below the tower: the left was nicely filled with ice, the right (named "Phycho Therapy") was dry when were up there - in October. Perhaps, it is a seasonal thing hence my confusion.

Why bother? Might as well go with flip flops.

Check out the 5.10 Hueco, Pat. Comfy all around all day shoes. I am currently selling mine, but it is mens US 8.0...

Yes. North face and other things for that matter, Brian

Trip: HOOD - Coe Glacier Icefall Date: 5/11/2013 Trip Report: OlegV and I climbed the rarely visited Coe glacier Icefall on the north side of Hood in two rounds for full measure. 10/05/2012 On a nice day in early October, we started at the Cloud Cap and took the around Hood trail #600 towards the beautiful Elk Cove. 5 min from the parking lot, the trail ended in cliffed out banks of the Eliot creek, not producing much confidence after the 2006’ washout. After rapping down in the creek, Oleg, a brave soul, “led” aka free soloed the other side with precariously hanging boulders to the top of west Eliot morain. Eliot Creek crossing was very enjoyable and certainly a highlight of the entire trip: Yep, don’t do it: Oleg on the trail #600: After reaching west lateral morain of Languille gl., we cut south towards the Coe: And dropped down on Coe @ OV2 (7400’): Things on Coe were looking good and as expected: bullet-proof alpine ice and holes everywhere. After reaching the lower icefall, we pitched in the tent in protected spot which was a job on its own: [video:vimeo]50950067 As always, Hood made its own fancy clouds at sunset: Next morning we packed up and headed up trying to get through barricades to the shelf leading to the Snow Dome which was not happening as fast as it should had: The higher we got the more we were finding ourselves surrounded by bottomless abysses. Ice features were more intricate than on Price: With the lack of upward progress, we called it quits somewhere in the middle of icefall and made our way down on the endless V-threads. The chess game. We lost it this time: Eliot Creek crossing followed. 05/11/2013 With the Cloud Cap road still being closed, we settled on the standard approach via Snow Dome given in Ore High. Due to different work schedules, we started separately at the Tilly Jane TH @ 3800’. While Oleg was getting off work, I uneventfully hiked to the Snow Dome @ 9100’ and pitched in the tent by the shrund. North Face is thin, but in. The shrund is wall-to-wall, so take you chances. Oleg emerging on the Snow Dome: At the camp: Next morning we slogged down to the notch marking the start of the famous “crappy gully” and downclimbed 1000’ to the Coe below the hanging icecliffs: The traverse to the middle of the glacier was sketchy. Here it is where you’ve got to sprint across the obvious runway made by objects falling off the hanging icecliffs. When we thought we were in the safe spot, Oleg punched through the crevasse but climbed out of it. For some bizarre reason, I followed his example and ended up in the same crevasse after another bridge failed. Happy to get up on the solid ground: Lower Coe icefall: We rope soloed the entire route as it was in more straightforward shape than back in October. Kind of disappointing, really. Approaching the upper Coe: Upper Coe: Jumping over more crevasses: Oleg on the Cathedral ridge: Oleg on the summit ridge: We descended the Cathedral ridge to the shelf splitting the lower and upper Coe. Getting down to the Coe was tricky as you gotta jump through the moat: On the final slog towards the Snow Dome: Gear Notes: Screws and 2 pickets Approach Notes: Trail 600 or Snow Dome

Hi Dasan! Likewise, it was nice meeting you in Keystone. Thanks for the V-threads. Yep, Wowie Zowie was in fat but its left side was mercilessly avalanching and threatened to kill. The right side looked more user-friendly.

Yes. But you can always leave in the afternoon a day before, bivvy at the stone shelter @Cooper Spur (6800') and get a few hours of sleep that way.

It does not look like much was in before November last year, Bryan: http://forums.alaskaiceclimbing.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=789 A 19 mile wall will form up first I bet as the temps there stay way below than in Valdez: We have also noticed a lot of long sick ice past the Thompson pass towards Glennallen: it was 5F there vs 30F in Valdez that day.