calamityinsanity

Did adams glacier last year carrying skis and then skied the north ridge. We went early, like april, but it was a warm/low snow year so may should be great. It provided solid ice/alpine climbing through broken glacier that required two tools and really neat climbing. The top half of the north ridge just about killed me after hitting the ice, but after a rap into the diamond the skiing was great custard into corn all the way to the car with stops for stashed beer and to pick up the tent. Was some of the finest climbing and spring skiing I have had in the pnw. I second the triple couloirs suggestion as well. Ive only climbed it when it was fat, but it was 10/10 for quality. not to hard, but so good.

A good skier with a 50lb pack will fall somewhat regularly as soon as they start going down any incline. A sled will complicate it for sure. Euro shops sell some things that are basically snow blades with a crampon style binding. get those if youre really keen. I had silvrettas on approach skis. after 4 nights at the resort i could kind of ski blue runs in nepal evos. Then i got tlt 5's and ditched the silvrettas, never missed em. The motion sucks, you will likely get blisters, silvretta bindings weigh more than my skis and bindings together. TLT's also arent that cold. i use mine to climb technical ice if its colder than -20 celcius. good to -35 or so. overboots after that. if youre just pulling a sled for a bit use snowshoes. if you need skis, use real skis.

no rock was climbed, but rock pro was used as it is the most available in the couloirs.

Trip: Dragon Tail - Triple Couloirs Date: 2/15/2015 Trip Report: Go Get It! Hiked in Saturday evening 630pm, road is very snowy most of the way and firm conditions are helpful. made the meadows below the lake at 930. trail is very icy, and getting icier. lots of people wearing crampons or snowshoes for traction. snow is refreezing well at night and forming a strong crust. started route at 930am on lovely firm squeaky Styrofoam neve. Bit of ice to get into the couloir, then firm snow or icy avalanche runnel up the middle. ice out of the first couloir into the second and some softer slabs encountered with good firm snow in the avi path. headed off into the runnels..... amazing fat alpine ice. We carried 4 screws and placed them more than any other gear, even got a whole 22cm into some spots. runnels finished with a vertical 15ft section of ice. Entered the third couloir via protectable ice and up to the summit. carried cams from .1-3, 2 pickets, 4 pins, and 4 screws. screws were very useful, take 6, 13cm best. pins should be all kb's, and go heavy on the small cams. pickets were very useful, and ill never make fun of an adze on a nomic again. Digging was required to get them t trenched well. one 35m, and one 70 m rap gets you off the back. good firm conditions all the way around gets you back to the lake quickly. couloirs all around are filled with snow, but the forest is very dry. Six hours on route, two hours to tag the summit rap and get to the lake. Hammered it out and back to the car for 830pm sunday. I can see why this is considered a classic route, and should be at the top of anyone's list. Based on previous reports, conditions seemed very "easy" with great protection where you needed it and very solid climbing. In short, go get it!

climbed 5 full(70m) pitches to wi3+ on the heliotrope ridge trail. first waterfall you cross, lovely thick ice that took 15cm screws most of the way. finished at the treeline below the glacier there are probably 20 wi3's rambling all over the place.

glaciers are still in place and fairly big. the pocket glacier has lots of dirt and rocks near the start of the route. but the large block that sits on the ramp is gone. we took a pickup in but a suzuki sx4 made it to the hill just below the trail turnoff at the clearing. 4wd hc after that. road is waterbarred as usual but the drainages are no worse than last year. another long hot week coming up.

grimface, matriarch, macabre

skaha rock guides keep the traverse well equipped. rap rings in numerous spots for escape

38 km in ashnola river road, hike the 16km into the meadows(lovely camping) and hit the ridge at the end of the valley, hard to starboard and head south. take your passport. can follow the ridge and do the deacon or drop into valley for the enjoyment of woods/bushwacking/bugs/swamps/death. also, grimface traverse and then following the high ground along smokey the bear, stone city, pyramid, and quinscoe. nice hiking, camping, etc. there is also a ton of climbing on matriarch, grimface, macabre. and you can just look at stuff and climb it. beware crazy bugs, afternoon thunderstorms, and no water above valley bottom beyond snow (black water bag!) also,Orofino winery bubbly and stick it, and yourself in the river. also, thai place in keremeos is good, surprisingly.

yes and sumas

Emmons is filled in with multiple clean lines. we ascended to camp schurman and found hard icy conditions with some wind packed amongst the runnel depressions. in short, awful skiing, but you cant stay above the crust without skis. at 9k ft there was little to no softening through the day Saturday, and cold windy conditions overnight Saturday.

http://westcoastice.wordpress.com/ IN Big cold snap brought lots in thin and chandeliery with low flows. Some big climbs were in, while others non-existant. We have had a few warm ups since then which has been fattening things. During the cold snap lots came in as low as squamish.

or squamish. http://gripped.com/news/squamishs-new-hard-mixed-climb/ buy west coast ice guidebook

Got a set of silvrettas as well. the pink ones that take mountaineering boots. currently on atomic skis, 187, 83 at the waist, lighter than most fritchi setups. Skins are 1 year old bd synthetics, basically pine needle free. in vancouver bc. skied in the bc for a half season until i got dynafits. great stepping stone to a full setup, ski alright in mountain boots, aqnd quite well with ski boots. 200 bindings only. 300 full meal deal.

camped in icicle this weekend, the inversion made things cold down low. Climbs above the campground, were in but thin. Driving back to the pass, lots of stuff on the other side of the river looked almost leadable. Skiing out of stevens you hit the inversion line aqbout half way up. Yo-yo'd through the day a bit.

Drive. Lots. Update your passport. lillooet area will be in a month, coquihalla will be in but thin till saturday, the rockies are in, alpine should be good before and after this weekends/weeks thaw.

Anybody interested in going outside on Monday? Pending weather, I'm interested in taking a swing at the polish or cosley houston routes, or north ridge on baker. Open to other suggestions as well. Happy climbing leading hard ice/alpine/mixed If weather is no good happy to ski as well. Based out of Vancouver, will drive...

if you are just starting at both(ice and ski), buy ski boots. they will make both more fun. tlt5's will climb up to wi4(doubtful you will go beyond this in your first season) just fine, and will be great for skiing. They will also be warm, and allow you to go skiing for real. I switch from nepal evo's to tlt5's when the temps go below -20c. This will be best suited for alpine ice, beginner ice climbs in the wi3-4 range and lots of skiing with friends! The other alternative.... slightly cheaper likely, is to buy ice boots and silvrettas. this puts you on skis(scary, dangerous, prone to breakage.... as the haters will say, but lots of people get around fine), lets you approach ice, and will allow you to climb hard ice and mixed. This will be best suited for a primarily ice winter with an end goal of climbing vertical to overhanging technical routes. The boots dont make that much of a difference to me. I find limited improvement from my 1980's koflach vario extrem's and nepal evo's, except that i can move my ankle a bit more and my feet are colder. Get good tools...... actually, just get nomics. full stop.

7.8 halfs OR twins in 70m (bouncy on full raps.... but you can often get 75+m out of the rap)

did you leave something in the descent gully (southern side)? email with description and to arrange return.

have used petzl dragon flies and sterling nanos. Petzls fuzzed fast as their ropes tend to. Sterlings have seen 1.5 seasons of ice and 2 of alpine rock. have held up great, maintained a good stiff hand, pretty strong sheath against crampons and sharp edges. Very good dry treatment compared to mammut and petzl. I use a folded one for single pitch cragging. I will buy them again.

i use sportiva nepals year round for anything i dont do in approach shoes(nw WA, BC, and the rockies). broken in they hike great and are as warm as koflach double plastics. colder than -20c i have to keep wiggling, but otherwise great. Moisture management is done with two pairs of socks, switch when too moist and carry a bit of newspaper for at night if its colder than -20 i wear tlt5's

climbed it june 29. Large waterbars across the road, as said 2wd will not get far. the approach glacier was heavily crevassed and involved some technical climbing that had me wishing for a second tool. lots of rocks and snow bombs raining from above as soon as the sun hit. the 3rd class ramp was snow covered at the start, so we started to the right up a wet crack. snow patch mid way is large and 45 degrees. lots of water midway up. crossover looked very snowy from slesse. we decided to descend the backside as crossover pass appeared steep and snowy, we werent keen on hitting it at 10 as we would have had to after our summit sleep.

Did slesse last weekend. glacier was rockin and rolling in the heat. used technical tool and full crampons on the glacier. had the boots out later on the climb for a snow slope pitch on low angle stuff. lotta snow kicking around despite the heat. take a lot of water. like a LOT. we got very dehydrated despite drinking 4-6l through the day.

BUY A TWIN, MORE SPECIFICALLY A STERLING PHOTON NANO AND FOLD IT IN HALF TO CLIMB. MORE ABRASION RESISTANCE THAN MY PETZL 9.5, LIGHTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE.