Alex

The cold temps trend should continue through this week. The weather pattern we are seeing is because of an interesting weather phenomenon in the polar region, that will allow cold air to push S into the United States (in general) for a period of time. So hang on because this weather pattern will be with us for a little bit, and should lead to some interesting conditions around Washington, Oregon, and BC.

way to work it. route received a repeat ascent after you, too. way to keep the stoke alive.

doubt its ever been. take lots of pics and post a TR after you send!

what gene said. i've climbed it, good fun anf actually significant elevation gain but close to the landing strip. youll get the full dose of weather, building camps, and falling into crevasses,...which is what its all about

nice effort

layton's stories are always good. dude, you should write a book!

nice jeff

that's a lot of ice to mess around on, looks like the junkyards! oh, except the flowing water in the middle, stay away!

nice find!

V-threads are used in situations where there is enough ice eg multipitch *and* no natural anchors, and there is enough ice eg thick enough. Neither of these two criteria is typically met on ice climbs in the PNW outside of Lillooet area. (I also think if you found a lake frozen enough to practice on, you could probably find a real climb to practice on.) 1) You really do need enough ice to create a proper v-thread. A lot of climbs in the Cascades won't be of the quantity or quality where v-threads come into play. 2) v-threads are often used when there are no other good options, eg no trees. I've almost exclusively used them climbing in the Canadian Rockies, and in the Lillooet area on the larger multipitch climbs. I don't use v-threads much in Leavenworth, for example: tons of trees around. My suggestion would be go practice REAL v-threads, including rapping off them, at the Rambles or Marble in Lillooet, or at Canmore Junkyards or some other practice area in Banff. Once you've practiced them there, in these kinds of settings, you'll have an idea for how you might get off something like Weeping Wall if you get in over your head....

Nice updates. I'm bummed about Der Worth, usually around this time of year at least you can count on something to scratch around on over there. The snow sure has been epic this year so far but the ice, meh. In one of the earlier Strobach pics that was posted, there was a shot of Primus Sucks - which *typically* is the left-most route of the entire area. However, in that shot there was an obvious thing forming to it's immediate left. If by some weird twist of fate that thing actually stays around and gets climbable (which it should, as it gets no sun until late Feb), it would be one of the few remaining FAs at Strobach. This one: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/20121215-PC150211.JPG Another thought: It seems the "hydrology" has moved favorably climbers left this year: Unholy Baptism in rare shape already and some heretofor unformed things coming, with other stuff only half good.

Dude, no brainer, Bozeman and Cody are in the Cascades....geez...

Or forums for TRs from CA or MT??

Was skiing up at Alpental yesterday. The line within bounds of the ski area, off Armstrong Express, is in but thin, might be fun to scratch around on. If you are interested, please only climb there when the Alpental area is closed for skiing (eg, skin up to the base with skis, and then climb). In years past the patrol has kicked people out during business hours. The lower Alpental valley climbs, eg Alpental Falls, Alpental 2, 3, and 4 were not in.

I think it depends on what you are doing. I was on duals early in my climbing, then went to monos for a number of years, and am now back on dual points. The monos have more precision and are my choice for something "harder". The duals have a bit more stability and I like them on easier terrain or curtain-type stuff. But all the modern crampons are so much better than what was available like 20 years ago it won't really matter until you are good enough to not have to ask on the Interwebs

neat, thanks for the public service!

It tends to be off the grid and I only rarely get updates on the Methow unless I go myself, so good luck and tell us what you find! It's a magical place regardless of whether you send.

Interesting. I haven't updated the site for 2012-2013 so you are actually looking at last years conditions right now! But no, Alpental stuff isn't in, it's been dumping snow but not particularly cold. I'm kind of on the fence as to whether I should really do any conditions updates over there, as this format works so much better and requires no maintenance. I like how Gadd has done it too, I just don't have the energy to put in a UBB for just conditions as it would just be reinventing the wheel. Those Strobach conditions look pretty good for mid-December! While I have climbed some things there first week of December some years, it's usually pretty thin. Unholy looks far better than in most years, while some of the stuff on the right side likes more anaemic than usual. With all the precip we've been receiving there should be good ice at Strobach in January...I might even do a trip! :0

Hi All! I don't have any super secret beta on ice climbing in WA right now - it looks to be too warm still just about everywhere - but thought I'd get the ball rolling by starting the official thread

renders fine on Win8 x64 IE10

The coverage is going to be crap, even with this precip, at Thanksgiving. I would opt for (3)

Gosh Buck Mnt North Face I still remember that when Rolf posted it, so proud.

I have two but im still using them cuz too cheap to buy newer editions

that stuff is where i learned to climb...

it really blows my mind that anyone would bother to "develop" that....