Alex

I think you should have a solid season of front country skiing under your belt, however you affoard the lift tix, before you head off B/C skiing, to get the balance basics down. You should be able to survival ski down anything at any lift area. It shouldnt take overly long (eg more than a real season - say 10-15 days) if you were a very solid snowboarder. B/C skiing is much more difficult than front country skiing and if you are not solid on the basics, you are going to get hurt, and then your partners have to get you out. It is vastly easier to get hurt on skis than on a board...knee, tib/fib, ankle injuries are very common especially in the extremely variable conditions you'll find in the backcountry. If you are overly committed and know this is your path, then you can do your front country skiing on an AT setup, and not end up with two sets of gear in the end....

thats alot of cacti!

Definitely. With the very high winds and large amount of precip I would check the av hazard before venturing forth if you're looking for freshies over T-giving.

I'll probably be firing up the http://wastateice.net/Conditions.aspx page for 2011-2012 this weekend. You can send reports and pics to me and I will post them Thanks, Alex

Scottish Lakes, up near Stevens?

Definitely. Can't believe its already been 5 years since we climbed that West Face and scoped those lines!

looks like alot of fun, who says you have to summit for the good times??

the new pic is awesome! looks like a great line but moreover seems like you hit the perfect (narrow) window for conditions to realize the route. I think the relative accessibily of the route is a real draw.

PMs for the Big Mouth.

Your descent line is essentially "Dougs Direct" which is a good approach/de-pproach to the E Side of Jo'burg in the Summertime.

triple tup

The last post on this thread is 5 years old. Still, 30m ropes are a bad idea, I think. The first crux pitch is typically a 60m+ lead .02$

I have a used Dana Terraplane I'll sell you.

Looking for used ski boots.

Nice! There is another couloir over to the left of this one, how did that look?

Thanks for the correction on the publication date. Interesting that the Climbing mag article I was reading would re-tread the Twight pics, I thought it would be the other way around.

I was trying to be egalitarian, I suppose the moniker grand cours was misapplied. Suggestions on a better name? Selected Winter Climbs in the Cascades seemed a bit used. As an exercise over lunch I listed all the routes in the Cascades I knew of and considered might be compiled into such a list, in the spirit of the "Six great North Faces of the Alps", of which 3 are serious mixed alpine climbs (Eiger, NF Matterhorn, Grand Jorasses) and 3 are much more pure rock climbs. I didnt come up with a complete list but the ones that stood out to me as "grand cours" potential (for Winter climbs) were NF Index NF Dragontail NF Greybeard NF Big Four There are alot of other routes that would probably be added to such a list, but I purposefully didnt include any routes that had seen only one or two winter ascents eg Slesse, Johannesburg If you added classic rock lines that *have* been climbed in Winter at least once but are not commonly climbed in Winter, I think Bear, Slesse, and Stuart would be there (All that said, I think the climbs in the cascades pale in comparison to the climbs in the Can Rockies.)

A vote for Slot Couloir as a good beginner trudge N Buttress Couloir Colchuck Lane Peak routes (Zipper, etc) For the "grand cours" routes I found the list interesting but it seems a grab bag of all different level routes. I would have stuck with a general level of difficulty, say TD and above, for "grand cours" routes.

Contact TimL who occaisionally posts here and is a long-time Spain resident climber, or I can send you his email addy.

great shot! its on!

Agree with Bob, I'd like to see some pics of Colfax, it usually forms up well after the first fall storm....

from your description the writing was clearly on the wall that you guys were not ready for those conditions for any length of time, so sounds like you made the right call turning around. looking at the weather today, yes it's nice. hindsight is always 20/20. dont regret a good decision. this is all supposed to be fun!

I was casually reading a climbing rag from 10 years ago and was struck by how much climbing, or certain aspects of climbing, has changed in just 10 years! Consider: * David Graham was big news!? * Someone repeated some Sharma Buttermilks boulder problem. ZOMG! * The Rambo Comp crampon came out, and was reviewed with other crampons like.....(the Trango Harpoon, and some Footfang thing, and ..) it doesnt matter, they all sucked and quickly disappeared except the Rambo Comp! * DMM released yet another useless ice tool design. DMM Fly maybe? * Mark Twight had not yet released Extreme Alpinism, however was doing the photo shoots for it in Chamonix as evidenced by a piece on Cham where all the same pics were published... * The Black Diamond bent-shaft Black Prophet was still the standard climbing tool of most climbers. * Leashless was not yet in vogue Then I thought back to what the heck *I* was doing 10 years ago? * I had climbed Drury for the first time, with scott and Dan E. And with my Prophets! * I was researching and about to publish the Ice Climbing Guide to Washington! The back cover shot is from our Drury climb. * I think I climbed N Ridge of Stuart for the first time with my now-wife, to whom I was not yet married, but I can't actually remember?! * I had just climbed Quien Sabe glacier in Sept, car-to-car, that was a fun trip! * Christmas Banff ice trip, spent New Years Eve in the Canmore hostel. * Sailing alot preparing for Vic-Maui 2002!

Looks like a great day out

It depends of if you include "climbing trad" as also building trad anchors? Then no. If not, first section, which is aobut the first 5 pitches of low-angled slab: run-out but probably not too difficult to protect occaisionally with trad gear. The second section, which is where the route steepens through an overlap, then up the first headwall, to where the well-protected climbing ends and you have to do a mandatory 220 ft 4th class solo. No. The 4th class 220 - foot runout thing: there just isnt any pro or else the beta would be all over for how to use it. It's lower angle but really really unprotected, and (IMO) a hideous feature of the route. The top section, which is the final steep headwall, very doubtful.