Vernman23

I have to agree with jens. Looks like a rock climb. It's 90 in town (Wenatchee) the last few days. The Sun is very intense on the rock right now. The NE Face will probably be closer to a rock route than an ice route or mixed. Lots of sun. Way to go on McClellan Jens! Craig G has been talking to me about doing that it might be time for me to get off the couch!

The road could be opened tomorrow. The FS never really seems in a hurry to open it anymore. Could be today tomorrow or next weekend none of which would surprise me.

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Ice Cliff Glacier Date: 5/14/2012 Trip Report: So quick trip report/ conditions update. My friend Tim made it up this weekend from Portland and our original plan was to climb the NW Face Ice route on Mount Stuart. All was looking good except the warm temps, and the road still being closed. We made the approach up the dry road in trail running shoes. Took the Stuart Lake trail to the cut off for mountaineers creek and humped the 2 miles or whatever it is up the creek. We set up camp in the last stand of tall trees and settled in for a warm night listening to stuff falling off of Stuart. Tim thinking he wasted a 5 hour drive from Portland and me feeling bad that I convinced him to come up for no reason but yet mildly proud that I found my way on the approach with no real route finding issues and no previous booter. We figured going to bed that if it didn't freeze where we were camped then it wasn't going to be a go for the NW face… Didn't freeze all night we leave camp at about 5:30 head up to the ice cliff and determine that we can pick a fairly unexposed path up the glacier. Roped up for the whole thing but only protected a few pitches. The first being a right to left traverse under the lip of the hanging glacier feet on rock/thin snow on rock tools in glacier. Good screws though. Second one was getting around the bergschrund. Had to go into the rock band and climb an M3ish pitch. Then the final pitch was getting out of the couloir and through the cornice, it was both of ours first time climbing 85-90 degree snow. Tim got good rock gear before it and led the snow like a champ Back to the tents pack up eat and death march it out on warm snow. Saw a ranger who couldn't give us a ride but could give our packs a ride down. Which was awesome! Thanks to her again!!!!!! A good trip ended up being worth the slog. The booter is in now and the road might be opened this weekend. Go and get it! Pics: Gear Notes: 2 pickets used then. 4 screws used them, half set of nuts and cams bd .5-2 used them. Two ice tools and crampons. 70m rope-too long 50m if your not pitching out is always better. 35 degree bag inside bivi sack was to warm. Cell phone at top to wish mom a happy mother’s day. Approach Notes: Booter is now in. Road snow free. Trail is getting less and less snow. 80 degree weather is sure helping!

Saw Kyle's car at the gate good job guys! There is water at the lake you have to chop down by the rocks with your Adze or do you kids with your new fangle tools not carry one of those anymore?!

Road should be open Friday or Saturday. It is snow free

Trip: Conditions update - Date: 5/7/2012 Trip Report: Ran up and C2C the triple couloirs yesterday. Road is almost all melted out, maybe 100 feet total of snow. Trail is mostly all snow but a pretty good boot pack gets soft in tr afternoon though. Lake is still frozen which saved me a lot of time on approach. Runnels were ok probably about as thin as you could get to calling "in". Wouldn't bring to many ice screws. I thought that someone would have been up them on Saturday or before me on Sunday. No such luck I had to kick in new steps the whole way up. Gets old when your alone. On the way out I saw people skinning up colchuck. Prussik looked snow free. The north face proper routes on dragontail look climbable. Was able to find melted out parts of the lake to get water. Asgard was All snow as expected. Water in the basin is probably possible to find during the sunny time of day. NEC on colchuck looks straight forward. Over all a good trip 12 hours C2C. Surprised to not see more people up there Gear Notes: Two Nomics food water crampons Approach Notes: Road snow free but gated. Lake still frozen.

Yes it is silk tassel. Thanks Dave it was a fun trip. Let me know some time that you can get off of work and get out!

be a pretty stout lead for a new WI5 leader would be my guess from looking at it. But thats just my .02$

thinking about heading up to Canada the first week of April. Would love to climb the weeping wall and polar circus. The classics. Any perdictions on the conditions of both during that time period or am i too late?

was in there on saturday and climbed Primus Sucks. Not much else was looking to good was very warm.

any word on conditions on either climb? Thinking about heading out on Saturday...

Josh and I climbed Source Lake Line on Saturday. Was in good condition, however the ice was very brittle. Beyond that I would say in 5 condition, hardest part was hiking my fat butt in.

Rock at Banks sucks. Hyalite is way better in my opinion. Im not sure what climb we did it was before Zenith. Right around the first corner to the right after the cable and more banks ice if that helps at all. IDK the same of it...

Trip: Banks Lake - MISC Date: 1/21/2012 Trip Report: Although this goes under the Ice conditions thread I wanted to add a few more pictures and not plug up that thread. On Saturday Josh M and I made it out to Banks for some climbing. The low amounts of moisture in the ground made for surprisingly low ice conditions. But we still found enough of an adventure for the day. When we first arrived we drove down to check out the punch bowl and see how big the deathcicles were. As we arrived we saw two people walking and one with what looked like a shotgun. We thought it was weird that someone was hunting in a state park but soon realized the true intent of the hunting trip. We sat for a while and watched them attempt to shoot down the deathcicles. It worked on a few but I don’t think they got enough down to feel comfortable. The wind was also blowing which made for some good photos of steamboat rock. We drove back up the road and found some climbing. The first climb I decided to turn off of due to the small amount actually touching down and the warming conditions. But played around to get a few pictures. Finally we settled on a climb to the right. That looked good and about WI4 condition from the bottom but that quickly changed while on route. IDK if it was the beer the night before or what but it felt like 5+ to me. Probably forms in fat in 4-5 condition. What you couldn’t see from the bottom is that the climb is not connected to the wall on the second half but is a thin curtain that a 22 cm screw would punch through. Once I got to the half-way point I thought about/ wanted to bail and thought that I could get a sling behind the curtain and rap off that. Once I crawled behind the curtain and took a rest I decided to shake the mind demons and send it. Was vertical to slightly over hanging with no real protection. I got a specter hook in at the traverse but that was about it. Over all was a fun climb that was about 45m and felt hard to me but idk if that was me or the Beer. The real bummer of the day came after I was climbing. The party around the corner from us on a WI3 route had a bit of a mishap which ended with a leader fall that led to a broken ankle. My guess of what happened is that the leader led the route got to the top where there was no more ice or good shrubs for a belay and fell, about 15 feet to a ledge and broke his ankle. They bailed and left tools and all the screws on the route. I was able to climb up and retrieve all their gear that is getting returned to them. Moral to the story stuff at Banks is in fun but challenging shape. Be sure to watch out for top outs that often have no ice and heavy on the bushes. Gear Notes: Screws, Specter Hook, ShotGun Approach Notes: Drive East

check WA ice conditions thread

went to banks today. the punch bowl is in but has deathcicles above it. Climbed "More Banks Ice" and the corner route. was enough in for a fun day. its cold so more should come in soon.

little late now but i would go to banks

Banks is in! led Troskys last night with headlamps and TR'd the cable. H202 is in. The cable is in. The Punch Bowl is in led that new years eve. The corner climb is in (IDK the actual name just down the road on the right hand side from H202. There is enough to stay busy. Solid ice season if you put some work into it!

Looking to get out to Banks area tomorrow. Was there today and stuff is thin but climbable. Would be fun to get out and play around for a day. Vern Vern.nelson@hotmail.com

I might be interested. I was up the icicle today everything was quite warm. What time Friday are you thinking? Vern

Got out and climbed Merritt Falls on Saturday afternoon. Was "in" on the right or left sides. I ran a lap on the right side and called it a day. I would think that its only going to get better as it stays cold.

Trip: Hyalite thanksgiving - Date: 11/27/2011 Trip Report: Dan, Matt and myself headed out to Hyalite for thanksgiving to get some ice climbing in since it is still fall in Washington. We were able to climb 2 out of 3 days and had a good time. The first day we spent playing around at G1. Leading ice to the far right. Dan climbing at G1 The second day we headed out to try and climb the dribbles but the weather turned and we decided that we better not do it. We found some small stuff to play around on before we headed back to the Ramada. Having only one day of climbing left I wanted to get on something fun and make the best of it. We settled on "The Thrill is Gone" since the book said it was maybe one of the best pitches in all of Hyalite. Matt on the mixed section. "Hey Dan I am bored belaying, think I can rope swing?" After we went and did "The fat one" and then over to the far left climb in the amphitheater and wrapped up a solid climbing trip. Dan working on gear placement on the Fat One Climbing in the amphitheater. Approach Notes: Drive 9 hours

Dave, is there any where in town where I can pick up a copy?

Headed off to Bozeman area for thanksgiving. First time going there and was wondering what are some good beginner routes to get on WI3-4 that should be in. Thanks

Can lead high 10s would like to work on an 11a. Email vern Vern.nelson@hotmail.com