bedellympian

Bumping this post. I have a partner. We need two people to split the heli-cost with. We are both free from July 12th until mid-August and would like to spend two solid weeks in the range if weather permits.

I'm sure there is already a thread on this but I wanted some up-to-date opinions. I'm looking for what I would like to be one pair, but I suspect may have to be two pairs. First, a summer alpine shoe that I can cross some glaciers with and also climb and hike a fair ways. Second, a super durable shoe that climbs slabs and cracks well. Ideally, I'm looking for something that I could use in the Bugs to approach the Howsers or to approach something like Forbidden Peak in the North Cascades. However, I would like it if the same shoe could be used to lead something like Serpentine Arete on D-tail, or keep my feet comfy while warming up on Gold Rush at Trout Creek. Seems like lots of experienced folks like the Boulder X for the latter, there is a mid GTX version of this but it didn't get great reviews that I saw. Ganda is discontinued no? A friend suggested the Scarpa Tech Ascent but I don't think that will climb as well as I want. Saw the review on this board for the Dead Bird FL GTX which is also pricey, but maybe a good combo? I was looking at the Salewa's too, but have no experience with them.

Yeah buddy! Way to get it done.

caltopo.com

Thanks guys! It was nice to meet you mthorman and catstack. Pretty stoked for linkups on Hood. The more I think about it the more possibilities I see.

looking up at the only real ice step on DKH: Eliot Headwall beta pics: first ice pitch on Eliot, hero swings the whole way looking up the face from the top of the corner pitch, I went to the obvious white line at the top left the exit pitch up close, deceptively steep but not very long dropping into Leutholds, tracks from parties who had come up earlier in the day

Trip: Mt. Hood - DKH/Eliot/Leutholds Linkup Date: 4/16/2016 Trip Report: What I did: -left Timberline at 5:50am, skinned up S-Side to bottom of Devil's Kitchen Headwall (~2hrs) -put skis on my pack and soloed DKH left most variation w/ left exit, tagged summit and traversed summit ridge to the West -stashed skis at West end of summit ridge and downclimbed Sunshine route to just above Eliot Glacier -traversed snow above Eliot 'schrund until I saw a good ice flow, soloed to top of Eliot Headwall following ice and neve (almost identical to the R variation marked in Mt. Hood Climber's Guide except for fun dihedral starting L of route) -tagged summit and traversed ridge back to skis, clipped into skis on summit ridge, skied Leutholds couloir to Reid Glacier -traversed Reid glacier and booted up to Illumination Saddle, skied back to Timberline, at car by 11:45 (~5:55 car-car) Conditions: -DKH is super easy right now, a little wallowing getting up into the couloir and then its mostly 40-50deg neve with one ~10ft step of real ice -Eliot is looking good, many tantalizing options, lower routes that go up the North Face Cleaver look like they are more snow than ice right now -Leutholds is windpacked up top (changing fast I'm sure), breakable crust on powder down low (also will change, afternoons might be good if its not too warm) Overall: a fun morning on Oregon's most accessible alpine crag. Pics... I'll try post some soon, first pitch on Eliot was SOOO GOOD! ... Gear Notes: dress socks from work actually weren't bad in the ski boots, could have done without that second liter of water I carried all morning Approach Notes: skins are the ticket right now!

Trip: Mt Hood - Reid Headwall Date: 3/19/2016 Trip Report: Solo'd Reid on Sat the 19th. Decent skiing snow above Palmer made for potentially more work to hike around but there was already a boot pack from two guys climbing Leutholds (thanks guys!). I mostly followed the "recommended" variation (14 in Oregon High, 8a in the new Mt Hood guide). Conditions observations: -The schrund was barely visible, a whopping 6" step across. -Bottom half of the route was not terrible post-holing but not perfect neve either (you are welcome for the boot pack). -Upper half once you traverse left around the snow rib was awesome neve most of the way, lots of hero swings to the hilt. -Any "steps" were so filled in that there was nothing above 50deg angle the whole way. As a result I made a couple detours to make things more fun. Detours: -Above the schrund the gully turns left. The cliff band on the right has a fun but short vertical-ish rime gully with some actual WI in the back. Probably WI3ish, I was able to stem out on rime to either side which made it pretty mellow. Recommended. -On the upper headwall I followed the gully until I saw a mini rime slot up on the left. It was small and cramped in a Harding Slot kinda way. Not recommended. -At what looks like you're near the top is a big rime cave to the right. It lead to a couple of body length steps. Thin ice on the first and with easy "mixed" moves. The second was rime covered but still easy. Recommended. Overall, route is definitely "in" but very easy. Finding variations makes it more fun if you want to do some real climbing. Ran into a guy who solo'd Devils Kitchen left variation on the summit. He said it was also incredibly mellow right now. Depending on the spring I think it might be a great year to snag steep routes in easy condition. What do ye old spray-lords think? Total time car-car 6:45... definitely a little tired and not pushing things. A fit and dialed climber could do this leisurely in under 5 hrs. Gear Notes: Pickets? Might get some screws if you dig around, especially higher up. Approach Notes: Follow the boot pack or bring skis if you want to enjoy the descent.

I'm headed to Bozeman with some friends from Bend Feb 19-29. We are looking to split costs and keep stuff cheap while climbing a sh!t ton of ice. Any beta on where to sleep, eat, climb, or a fourth activity that I haven't yet considered, is much appreciated. Cheers, Sam

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, not really a partner search or standard ride share but figured I'd throw it out there where most people will see it. I am in the early stages of planning a trip to the Waddington Range for this summer, late july/august. I talked to Mike King (White Saddle owner/operator) who is the go-to guy for flying in. He quoted me $3200 canadian or $2600 US for 4 people and gear to helicopter in to the plummer hut, a little more for sunny/rainy knob. If you are interested in sharing this cost ($600-700 US /person) please PM me with your contact info and possible dates. Thanks, Sam

Thanks for the invite Montypiton, that sounds like a good option. I will see if I can pin down the time and let you know.

PM sent

i live in Bend. Have a week off in late Feb and wanted to get some ice mileage. Was thinking a trip to Hyalite would be the ticket but I've never climbed ice outside the PNW. Any suggestions?

Check Daniel's TR of Hood North Face, also the list of routes on the thread Ade posted. Where is your location? People might be able to point you to nearby gems, no need to drive a ways if you're just getting into it.

Ade, I would love to read over that list but every time I follow the link it takes me to a 3 sentence blog post saying you added a winter routes page. The hyperlink to the "winter routes" page just takes me back to the blog post I'm already on. There is nothing else on the page. Am I missing something? Browser problem? If anyone has an idea let me know.

Wayne, I haven't heard of the Bull River before and an internet search turned up minimal info. Can you provide some beta for us? What are the climbs like? Access? Is the season shorter than Banff/does it come in reliably? The idea of breaking up the long drive with some more ice sounds great!

Maybe you could inform us as to what you actually want to do in these locations? What are you able to do? Are you looking to new route or climb existing lines? Do you want to rock climb, mountaineer, full on alpinism, or hike around on some trail with a guide who will cook you dinner? Personally, if I was going to do a once in a lifetime trip I would want to do something on a really big feature in Patagonia or Pakistan... long, technical and varied to a difficult summit.

I just wanted to revisit this thread and thank you fellas for the suggestions. I aid solo'd the west face of the monkey yesterday and it was wild. Someone said it would feel like a grade V and it kinda did, well at least a grade IV. Took me 9 hrs car-car and that was with linking the bolt ladder as a single pitch. Jugging the dynamic rope was ridiculous and motion sickness inducing. I'm pretty sure aid climbers are supposed to bring a hook for the move off the belay anchor for the final section of bolts to the cave, for me it involved etrier to blank slab stemming to gain unprotected slab moves to a short finger crack from which I was able to clip the next bolt in the "continuous bolt ladder" definitely took some time to figure that one out. Does anyone have some suggestions for aiding overhangs? I found the steeper parts to be very strenuous and taxing and found it really hard to reach the next bolt at times, I'm 5'10" with a normal ape index so I'm guessing this should not be a problem if I do it properly. On the really steep stuff I would clip both aiders to the same bolt and push one out behind me to allow a precarious stemming stance, then I would stand up and hang a draw from the next piece so I could clip an aider to it while sitting in my harness fifi'd to the last piece. It seems like there is probably some technique for standing up on just one aider without having your feet fly out form under you but I couldn't get it to work on the really overhung parts.

MDre gets after it! Makes me jealous but as someone who can only get away for big trips in summer its nice to see that Patagonia can have good conditions in winter too!

Based on "SW coast" I'm assuming you're from Canada... lousy weather. You should come south to Oregon and climb the North Face Crack on the Monkey... just torque the sh!t outta those tools!

Anyone have experience with climbing AK Range in June or July? Glaciers, approaches, route conditions? Sure Denali is in condition, but what about the Ruth, Kahiltna or other lower zones? I know some folks got a heli in to the revelations a year ago and were able to get up peaks mainly rock climbing...

Thanks Kroc that is an awesome resource... I will definitely put it to good use and write a TR when I get back!

One of the questions asked what my physical and gear limitations are when climbing... what do you mean by that?

As for the rest of the replies... Jason4: Yes I have put in lots of vertical in the mountains in back-back days... 5k' per day is pretty chill ski touring for me, as is doing it on 14ers. G-spotter: Yes SoCan is plenty on the radar and there are lots of routes in the Bugs (thanks Alpine et), Slesse and several other areas on the radar. And yes the Winds are definitely on my list of places to climb too. These just rarely have ice in summer, and I would really like to try the combined challenge of ice/mixed/rock/aid on a big face that I just can't send in a single push. Sportnoob: Thanks for the perspective, for the record I have nothing against local climbs, including grade IIIs or shorter. I realize there are lots of great local climbs and I really want to do a lot of those. I have no problem staying local and realize that climbing is a process. I am not trying to poo-poo the Cascades or quality routes/classics/testpieces simply because they are not grade Vs. In fact I am stoked on climbing these routes most of the year. I'm just trying to get some ideas on bigger objectives that fit into this time window I have and can serve as big goals for me. Maybe I'll try a bigger route and decide as you did that it's no better than staying local. Either way I have the time and the motivation so I would like to see what a grade V+ alpine ice/mixed/rock/aid route in a "greater range" looks like in person.

Thanks Jason, yeah I have the Selected Alpine Climbs guide and would like to get up there and do some of those routes working up to the 5.9 A2 grand cours. Obviously that guide is fairly out of date relative to the shifting climate, do you have any specific suggestions on where to get up to date approach beta, I was hoping this thread would catch some folks with recent experience up there.