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DPS

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    Ice Stoke Thread 2010

    in Ice Climbing Forum

    Posted

    I am stoked about the new location of the gates on Hwy 20 and what it means for ice climbing along Hwy 20 :rawk:

     

    Are you sure the new gates will affect winter access? By my reading the highway will still be gated at the same spots in the winter:

     

    Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

     

     

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    From: WSDOT

    Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 18:39:11 -0500 (CDT)

    To:

    Subject: WSDOT North Cascades Highway Update

     

     

     

     

    Hi all,

     

    We just finished up installation of two new closure gates on the North Cascades Highway. They’re not for use during the winter – those gate locations are determined by elevation, roadway design and lots of other things. The new gates are there for dealing with a mud or rock slide or possibly even a forest fire during the months the NCH isn’t closed by snow. (We’ve had several such events over the past few years.)

     

    The rub has been that using the winter closure gates to close the highway in the summer cuts off access to lots of trailheads and campgrounds.

     

    The new gates are on either side of the area west of Rainy Pass where we’ve had those “summer” slides.

     

    The new eastbound gate is at MP 146.75, about 13 miles further east than the winter closure gate at MP 134. It means that from the west side, you will have access to trailheads at East Creek, Canyon Creek, Panther Creek, Eastbank and Happy Creek.

     

    The new westbound gate is at MP 156.7, just west of Rainy Pass. From the east side, that opens 14 miles of highway and access to the Washington Pass Overlook and trailheads or campgrounds at Lone Fir, Cutthroat Creek, Blue Lake, Bridge Creek and Rainy Pass.

     

    This has been kind of an “under the radar” effort. Winthrop city officials wanted it and so did the Forest Service, but they didn’t have any available funding. WSDOT’s NW region and NC region maintenance administrators scraped together $13,000, which would cover the costs, if we did everything ourselves.

     

    Over the last few weeks, our bridge crew got the materials and built the bases and gates and signs at our shop in Wenatchee. They installed the bases a couple weeks ago (some of you e mailed asking me what we were doing) and they spent Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, installing the gates and signs. (It takes some time, even in the summer, for the concrete bases to cure, before they’ll support the weight of the gates.)

     

    Here’s the link to the FlickR page where some pictures of the new gates will be posted soon: www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/

     

    There’s also another new feature on the North Cascades web page – A “Frequently Asked Questions” FAQ page. (Dustin dug through the last couple year’s worth of e-mail that we’ve gotten and produced a page with all the information in one place.) Check it out – I’ll bet there are questions there that you hadn’t even thought of yet! www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/Passes/NorthCascades/FAQ.htm

     

    Jeff Adamson adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov (509) 667-2815

     

    PS: Thank you for the many kind e mails regarding the award WSDOT won for this newsletter.

     

     

     

    Lets talk gloves!

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    I just bought these for myself and my wife: http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,2774H_Lowe-Alpine-Ice-Wall-Climbing-Gloves-For-Men.html Haven't used them yet but they have all the latest techy glove features.

     

    I ended up paying less than $50.00 for them with a coupon. I bought them because the last pair of gloves I bought ten years ago for about $50 are also Lowe Alpine and are hands down (get it?) the best gloves ever. Leather fingers and palms, Triple Point Ceramic shell, Primaloft insulation. Very warm, very durable, yet very dexteritous.

    Peshastin Pinnacles Gettin' Mothballed

    in Climber's Board

    Posted · Edited by danielpatricksmith

    Thanks for taking the point on this Chris. I occurs to me that some sort of non-profit (Friends of Peshastin State Park?) could raise enough to fund the basic necessities (restroom, parking lot maintenance, open and close the gates in the morning and evening, and grabage maintenance) and volunteer to do provide the labor to do the rest (trail maintenance, etc). Perhaps if the state park system was approoached by a cohesive group or organized and funded volunteers, backed by other recognized groups (WTA, WCC, Access Fund) they might be more receptive to alternates to moth balling the park.

    Dry Tooling

    in Ice Climbing Forum

    Posted

    Text by Dwayner/RainDawg:

     

    "Just go dry tooling at any established sport climbing cliff. The bolters have already fucked up the cliff in perpetuity for all generations to come. If you want I can post photos of the routes with big red circles around each bolt."

     

     

    [TR] Prusik Peak - West Ridge 10/3/2010

    in Alpine Lakes

    Posted

    nice! Glad you didn't put yourself through another Prusik in a day sufferfest. Maybe it will still be snow-free oct 22 when I finally have a full free weekend.

     

    I did it on Oct 24 last year and while there was up to a foot of snow on the approach and decent the route was entirely snow free. We ended up doing a couple of extra rappels because the snow was so hard on the north side and we hadn't brought crampons or axes.

    Helmets ?

    in Rock Climbing Forum

    Posted

    My partners would make fun of me for wearing a helmet at Smith Rock. One of the few times I forgot to wear a helmet I ended up taking a pretty nasty leader fall. I now have a big scar and permanent brain damage to remind me to wear one.

    Gibraltar Ledges - December

    in Mount Rainier NP

    Posted · Edited by danielpatricksmith

    Steve,

     

    It would help to know when you are planning your trip and what your experience/skills/abilities are. For example; are you comfortable climbing techinical ice? Do you rock climb? Will you be on skis?

     

    Generally in the winter I have found several areas to have good access and routes for a variety of skill levels.

     

    Snoqualmie Pass:

     

    Mt Snoqualmie has routes ranging from easy ski up or walk up routes to very demanding ice and mixed routes.

     

    Guy Peak also has a variety of routes from easy to harder

     

    Chair Peak is the defacto classic winter climb at Squalmie Pass but requires techinical ice climbing skills.

     

    The Tooth has a classic, easy rock climb that goes year round and also a couple of rarely in shape, hard ice and mixed routes.

     

    Bryant Peak has both walk up and technical routes.

     

    Enchantments/Mt Stuart Range:

     

    Dragontail Peak has both walk up routes and big, technical ice and mixed routes.

     

    Colchuck Peak ditto.

     

    Argonaut has a moderately technical snow climb

     

    Stuart, nothing really easy but has some very good mixed glacier, snow, ice and rock routes.

     

    Mt Rainier NP:

     

    The Tatoosh Range has moderately steep snow climbs on Lane and Castle Peak and a more difficult ice/mixed route on Pinnacle Peak.

     

    Cascade Pass:

     

    Most years the road is drivable to MP 20 into early January.

     

    Eldorado with both everything form an easy walk up to steeper snow/ice to a harder mixed ice/rock route.

     

    Sahale has a number of routes that would be interesting in the winter.

     

    Mixup Peak has a moderate snow and rock route in winter.

     

    Although sending it would put you in a very small group, the NE Buttress of Johannesburg Peak is the best winter climb I have done, even considering we had to skip the summit due to a non-functioning stove.

     

    My advice about taking an avalanche course still applies to all of these routes. They are all prone to avalanches under the right (wrong?) conditions.

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Dan

    Gibraltar Ledges - December

    in Mount Rainier NP

    Posted · Edited by danielpatricksmith

    Me and a friend are planning a winter attempt of Rainier via the Gibraltar Ledges Route. We're currently a party of 2 with a possible 3rd.

     

    Would you recommend climbing as a 4 person party? and is 3 people a definite must?

     

    While climbing with 3 people is certainly not a 'must' prevailing wisdom will tell you that a party of 3 is safer than a party of 2 on glaciers so that if one person falls in you have two people to arrest the fall, set up anchors and possibly a z haul system if the victim can't Prusik out on his/her own. The question you have to ask yourself is how proficient are both you at crevasse rescue?

     

    What are avalanche risks like on that route? Crevasse risks?

     

    How are those risks on the descent route down Ingrahm?

     

     

    There are avalanche risk on both Gib Ledges and the Ingrahm. How big the risk is varies depending on the snowpack, when the last storm came through, how much snow was dropped, what the ambient temperature is, and so forth. Northwest Avalanche Center posts avalanche forecasts on their Web site. http://www.nwac.us/. If you are climbing in the winter you really should be versed in avalanche science and be able to dig pits, analyze snowpack, slope, aspect, etc to make your own decisions.

     

    There are crevasses on the route, big ones from above the chute all the way to the rim of the crater. Now, you may be thinking to yourself "If I come in the middle of winter then all of the crevasses will be well bridged". The fact is during the winter the prevailing winds are from the south which strip the snow off of the upper part of the route (above the chute) creating only very thinly bridged crevasses. To make things worse, sastrugi snow is often created which makes it very difficult to identify where crevasses are. My suggestion is come late in the winter, after the prevailing winds have shifted and the crevasses are well bridged. March may be your best bet, however weather can still be very iffy.

     

    And ultimately how possible is this climb in a winter setting?

    It makes an excellent winter route, very direct from the Muir shelter. In fact, winter and early spring are the only times I would recommend the route.

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