alpinebumm

April fools Boners, Canadian Hunter and Gyros, that's how you get down!

Trip: Mt. Borah - N. Face Date: 9/27/2011 Trip Report: I got off of work at 7:30, packed up and driving out of the Stanley Basin I was headed for the Lost Rivers by 8:00. having tried to climb the route before I should have come in with daylight. I found the road I believed to be Rock Creek I drove in about 2 miles, for the last 3/4 of a mile the sage brush in the middle of the road was taller then the hood of my car. A downed tree stopped me from making it all the way in, I threw it in reverse quickly worried that my hot undercarriage would start a fire and I backed out about 1/2 of a mile with no backup lights riding my brakes to illuminate the bush road till I could turn around. So I pitched camp pretty excited about the next day. I left camp at 9:15 and started off. After about 3 miles or so I got my first glimpse of the North face but I came in on the wrong road because I was on the ridge abouve Rock Creek. Scree slopes for about 800 feet brought me into Rock Creek. On the way down I found a nice big four boint Buck rack with a good chunk of skull still in tact.... deeming it my good luck charm I straped it to my pack. It took me 4 hours to reach the bottom of the face where I put my pons on, ate a can of smoked oysters and took a pull off the Canadian Hunter. I chose the line connecting 3 couloirs because the ice looked really nice compared to the standard route. The 1st few hundred feet were strait forward 50 degree fun crisp Neve. I got some real ice at the first constricion, going left of a rock island. I could tell that I was moving slow already, I had hoped to climb the face in 2 hours. The second little couloir was really nice, it held ice at about 45 degrees for a full pitch. Hard smooth bluish alpine ice, with unsharpened tools and new boots I dreamed of water ice...... Ohhh sweet water ice with those beautiful concave places to stick, not this hard shit. I had left camp late hoping to have warmer temps while on the face, it didn't help the face never got any sun and it was pretty cold back there. I had been waiting for the last high pressure cold snap that didn't yield snow, keeping the ice clean. I got lucky and the ice seemed to keep on going. Halfway through the couloir I found a nice rock to straddle like a horse and take some breaths. Seriously the exposure on this line was unreal. After this it eased out and some Neve and a little traverse led me to the main couloir with the chockstone. This runnel was SICK! I took left of the chockstone at 45 or 50 degrees and about 1000 feet directly up the face these 2 full pitches of meandering ice were a real peach. I wish I brought my harness so I could clip into my tools to take pictures. Lokking down from this couloir was truly amazing it looked like the pictures of the Canadian Rockies, rock band after rock band with a tounge on ice in the middle looking down way down the glaciated ice. When the ice ended Neve for 30-50 feet led to a rock band dead-end. Here i could have gone left or right for weaknesses but I chose to go strait up the steeper rock with no snow on it to rest me calfs and put my tools away for a bit. it was really secure and about 50-70 feet of 5.5ish rock. Followed by neve. The last couloir to the summit ridge was the best ice on the face about 250 feet of 50-55 degree goodness..... Hard, dinner plate ridden blue alpine glass. Half of the whole face would have protected on screws! It took me about 3 hours to get to the summit from the base of the N. Face. I chilled at the register takin solors, sippin Hunter and drying socks. I took a picture of the horns on the summit laughing about my favorite quote "the higher you get the higher you get" I was feelin it. The decent is where I dropped the ball..... And punted it in the wrong direction. I went down chickenout ridge and kept going donw the right way, the trail dissapeared so i went back up to make sure I didn't miss any turns. Then I decided that the other way down looked like it recieved some traffic too so I gave it a go. I was laughing at myself for not bringing a map, not reding about the decent and not even tearing out the page in the book. I ended up down climbing the S. Face finding 3 water bottles, a camera (if it is yours contact me). I even got to jack a rap anchor or two. After about 4 hrs it was dark and I still hadn't found any trails but I knew I was in the wrong drainage. I got to a waterfall I had to down climb to get through the constriction, I put my helmut and gaitors on and took the bad luck horns off my pack.... ultralight gone wrong. If you ever solo something and leave everything behind to go fast try not picking up deer skulls on the way, I swear I have down syndrome. From the bottom of Elkhorn Creek I could have either bushwhacked in the dark for a few miles hoping to find my bush road or I could walk to the highway. I was taped out on schwwacking the highway sounded great. it took me about an 1 1/2 hours to get to the hwy. Then I walked down the hwy for a couple of miles. A nice guy from Missoula picked me up and drove me 2.8 miles up doublesprings road, where I set off on foot agian. Then of coarse I couln't find my non-existant road and took a wrong turn, and walked 1.5 miles down the wrong road, turned around and walked the correct 1.5 to my car. All in all 14.5 miles 5,000+ feet of ele gain, beat up and sick of walking and out of it I had made it. At about 6 pitches of real quality goodness with real exposure this is the nicest alpine ice route in Idaho I've ever done..... Classic. I would suggest you check her out. Approach Notes: map, read decent, maybe?

It took 7 hours car to car, PM me if you have any questions about the route or anything.

The June Couloir is in great shape right now. There was a beautiful alpine ice hwy right down the center.The mixed section is fully iced over on the left side and the cornice up top is big and overhanging a bit but a couple of rock moves on the left and you can get a good stance to pull over the cornice. If you get up there and the cornice is too much there is horn with rap tat. The snow is in great shape on the approach and the avi conditions have to be way low. The south side descent is perfect too. Overall I've glassed it for years and I've never seen it look like it does right now, go get her in the next week while the ice is in.

Hands down NWALPINE! Best pant, best fit and by far best price.

Things didn't look too good on Sunday, ice was really thin in the area, only saw chair from a distance but didn't look too promising to me.

mod·es·ty Function: noun Meaning: [noncount] : the quality of being modest: such as a : the quality of not being too proud or confident about yourself or your abilities Read more, talk less perhaps.....

Trip: Hyalite Canyon - Date: 12/5/2010 Trip Report: Me, Pacman and his Wife took a trip out to Bozeman last week, we were going to check out some other area's besides Bozeman but the ice was everywhere. We started out on the unamed wall. All of the ice in the canyon is in FAT! Perfect conditions and bluebird skys for some of the trip. The first day we warmed up on the Fat one and then did the Elevator Shaft and the Thrill is Gone. Day two we climbed Upper Green Sleeves, the right variation of Upper Green Sleeves and the Hangover. Green sleeves had some rolling hills of WI thrown in to make the climb a little bit longer which was nice. Hangover also had a little chunck of vertical ice up above the normal section which was doable with a 60. Day three was kindof a rest day with some climbin on G1 and a cool dry-tool route on the right of G1 which was probably a M6/7. Day four was great, we all got to snag a good lead which made it an awesome day for all of us. The Sceptor was our first climb, it was in really good conditions. The Matrix is in rediculously awesome shape protectable with screws even on the bottom section Pacman was in for a sick lead with a bunch of spindrift. Then His wife put up Crypt Orchid which is a cool alpine-like line. Day five we hit the jackpot and got on a real classic, in my oppinion. The Dribbles DON'T overlook this one, a real bang for your buck. Plus on the decent you can rap Avalanch gully so you even get to squeeze in some good recon. Avi gulch looked like it was in really good conditions, the crux pillar was touching go get her while it's protectable without rock pro. Cleos was in pretty nice, at least it looked like it from the other side of the valley.

I soloed the left side of Mist last night at about 11 o'clock, no screws if you really tried for about 25 feet but then.... sick fun caulliflower ice, plastic as all hell!! I think it't supposed to be warmer tonight though. Worth walkin into.

We did go all the way to the bottom of the face if that sheds any light on our day.

We started at the saddle and dropped into the base of the north face hoping to score the Direct, when it wasn't in we decided to shoot for getting to the traverse ledge and seeing if we had enough time to go for the rest of the Lowe, which we didn't so we bailed, only getting to climb the lower section of the Sphinx to the traverse ledge. Basically all of the ice was in but we had high hopes of doing the whole face not just the Lowe, it didn't quite work out though.

How was Cali ice forming?

Trip: Sphinx attempt, Beartooths, Carter Mountain - Date: 11/5/2010 Trip Report: We started our trip around Yellowstone checking out the Sphinx, a sick north face route in the Mission Range in Montana. We glassed the ice and it looked in so we gave it a go. Our goal was to climb the Lowe Direct, which was a big one with a 4 man team. We got up at 2:30, and made a crock-pot breakfeast( the theme of our trip)and got started we made it to the bottom of the face in good time and the Lowe Direct wasn't in, so we went for a line to the right of the Direct. The climbing was super fun, nice alpine feel with traverses and frozen turf and great dry mooves. After 8 half rope pitches( due to rope drag and unsure if the line would go). We came to two full length pitches one was finnally ice!!!! By this time we were a running belay from the base of the good stuff, but by now the traverse ledge looked like a good option to get out almost before dark. We simu-climbed the traverse and almost made it to the saddle before dark. Does anyone know if this line has been done before? The Lowe Direct doesn't seem to get done very often, and we've never heard of another line that takes on the lower pitches of the Sphinx. It would be a great way to try the Earl-Trimble Route, our line went at M4 R WI3. Here are some more pics After that we drove over to the Beartooths and walked into Funeral For a Friend, and it didn't appear to be in. So we bailed after exploring for a while and getting chased out by a storm, which probably left behind a good amount of snow. I hadn't ever been in the Tooths and if you havn't either go there it is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Then we went out to Cody to check things there, we walked up to Morritorium, Bozo's, and everything else on the way to the Spotted Owl which we heard was in, no such luck but we got to touch a little bit more ice on the bottom of the Hunter Pillar. The next day we checked out the last place on our journey, Carter Mountain. After a cold night we walked up to Courtains and got up to the 3rd pich and it wasn't touching. At least we got a little bit of ice, mixed with alot of driving and alot of walking. Gear Notes: Crock-pot Approach Notes: Lots of rock pro

You've got to be joking the granite is DANK, a boat ride takes off 4 miles of the approach, rotten rock builds character and dude the girls next door are a bunch of freaks. Nice video you should put it on the craigslist personals. The lakes you camped at should now be re-named the Brokeback lakes, instead of the Saddleback lakes.

thanks man I've been wondering how much has been forming with the cold temps

Anyone happen to be watching Colfax?

I'd buy a couple to try them out, I had a BD ice clipper break on a climb and lost two lockers and a chunck of cordalette fortuanatly I found a decent way to make an anchor but on the other ice clipper I had both of my tools if I'd lost those it would have been another story. Good investment

Trip: Black spider wall new route - Fric-Amos Date: 3/20/2010 Trip Report: The 19th me and a Bill Amos went up to the Black Spider wall with the intentions of climbing the center drip and bivied a little ways below the face. When we got there we eventually decided that the unclimbed route looked like it was in way fat, so we tried it out. The route is the couloir above the star shaped snow bowl. We got up at 3:45 and headed out from the Schrund, there was some simuclimbing to reach the bottom of the couloir. This is a view of the bottom of the couloir and Bill leading the first pitch All of the pro was pretty much worthless and it was spitting rocks, ice and spindrift all over us. The second pitch was the crux and Bill has the other pictures he'll be posting them in a few days. Here is Bill comming out of pitch 2 and then leading pitch 3. The rest of the climb was 3 or so simuclimbed pitches to reach the summit ridge of steep snow, with one more step of 70-80 degree ice for about 15 feet. If you wanted to go up there at this little ice section you could go left to the next gully and climb a different finish with a pretty nice looking vertical had to protect chunk of ice, Bill might have a picture of it. Over all the route was pretty awsome and speed was a definate must, if we were a little faster the other finish would have been a possibility. Glad we got on it. We decided to call it the Fric Amos route, After our names, Dustin Fric and Bill Amos. Gear Notes: Stubbies would be helpful Approach Notes: Further then it seems, bring a stove

Just moved from Idaho new to Portland and trying to find a place to rent. I'm employed in the area looking for a small appartment or shared housing. Thanks for your help.

Ya pretty much

Trip: Chair Pk - N. Face Date: 2/22/2010 Trip Report: Left Prtland at 4:20 Left trailhead at 8:20 Summited at 10:30 Got back to the car at 12:37 Back in Porland by 4:30 I've wanted to solo Chair for a while, I wasn't sure if I would be comfortable doing it in the first place (I tend to turn around right below the summit when I solo a peak for the 1st time without having done it before). But I got lucky and the snow was way stable and the ice was ok, and definately not steep. So if someone out there wants to solo it that's never climbed it before now is the time, leave everthing behind (unless we get snow and the cornice gets bigger). Overall a good route, I bet if you time it better there's alot more ice. For about half of the climb the spindrift was pretty bad, this made the route even more fun. Get her while she's hot shes already been gang banged. There is NO way you could get lost right now getting down. Gear Notes: Don't forget sunscreen, leave the rope at the car the cornice is small and easy to down climb. Approach Notes: No snowshoes needed

is the rap on the decent need a double rope or a single

Did you guys head up the north face or the ne buttress? Is the decent route the same for both? Do you need twins for the rap or does one 60 work halfed over? Off a tree, deadman or thread?

Trip: city of rocks, malad gorge, idaho - Date: 1/29/2009 Trip Report: We headed out to Idaho to check out Twin Falls ice but it wasn't in. So, we headed out to the city of rocks after we climbed this unknown 2 pitch fall in the Malad Gorge. The ice wasn't the best but some ice is way better then none. The whole thing was about a foot thick where it was thick and thinner elsewhere, the top was about 5 to 8 feet away from the rock so we lowered in and climbed out through the overhanging ice. Then we went to the City of rocks to find some of the ice out there since we heard through a friend that it was in "a little", what we found was delicate verglas on lower angle routes, no pro but fun enough to walk a little ways. The first route is called the glass house and the other is unknown. One was about 50 feet long "glasshouse" and goes around the corner and the other about 60 feet tall. All in all a little bit of ice lots of driving and a bit of scouting for the future. Still fun soloing Gear Notes: not much, rock pro if needed Approach Notes: t-shirt

Trip: Alpental - unknown and kiddie cliff? Date: 1/22/2010 Trip Report: Headed up to Snoqualmie Pass to see if some waterfalls were in and we found some ice that we know nothing about, anybody know what it is? It was on the SE lower section of Chair pk right on the other side of source lake. We climbed up a little couloir to access the climbs these are what we saw. Anybody know what these are? Do they come in reliably? We climbed this one, it did'nt look like WI3 but it was steep enough when we were on it to assume that it was a justifiable 3, it actually felt like we were climbing some hard to protect alpine ice. The screws were pretty much worthless but it made the climb interestingly fun. We only had 5 screws and with keeping one for the threads up top it made the 50M climb seem spicy (we were geared up for the NE on Chair but the upper bowl looked bad). We then went and climbed what we thought was the kiddie cliff, the same route that the others posted that they climbed the same day( we walked past them to the other falls). Overall not bad during a time when there is little ice to play on