Alex

This just had me laughing out loud! http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/spo/1535443261.html

The Air Roof/Pivotal Moment beta was supplied to myself and Jason by Mitch. I have never done those personally, Summer or Winter, so can't actually tell you first hand one way or the other. But in reasonably long hindsight now, there are a number of mistakes I made rating and describing things in the guidebook that I am slowly correcting over time as I and my friends get out and do alot more routes too, and appreciate the comments, etc... another example like this is that CYA at 38, when formed, is not "WI4" either, so yeah you live and learn and take ratings with a grain of salt.... Thanks, Alex

The forecast looks wet through Wednesday. You might have a hard time seeing anything. Bring your MLU.

Last weekend it was arctic at Rambles and up on the Duffy, so while the forecast even for town might be warmer, the conditions up on the Duffy and at Marble will be just fine.

Stick with a set of older cheaper tools until you get the swing of things, then decide. One great compromise might be a set of older BD vipers with fang and androids, if you can find a pair on ebay or something. best of all worlds.

Definitely in A+ shape! Thanks for the post

Thanks for going in and doing the legwork. When I see the pics I think: it IS only December!! These climbs are all snowmelt fed and as you say, there isnt much snow up there to feed them. I think they actually look pretty good considering about 3 weeks ago there was literally nothing. Pic 1: Sad Ce'bu/Right Stuff, Dropline, unclimbed, Ponderosa Pillar (behind tree), Bleeder Project Pic 2: unclimbed, Ponderosa Pillar, Bleeeder Project, Ice Dreams, Tower of Power. Pic 3: First on the Left. I might add that Dropline looks particularly good this year, and should be pretty fat if conditions hold.

There is still frozen ice in the Alpental valley, we were up there today and it was def cold enough.

I checked with Second Ascent today in Ballard they didnt have any.

Looks like the Sierra. If it were Index, you'd see a FOREST on the flanks of the peaks

I don't know what the resistence is all about. Cost? Weight? We all buy very expensive things for climbing and life. Does an MLU weigh much? If it's the size of a large cell phone and that's the price of climbing Rainier and Hood in the Winter, yeah OK I'll rent one. I'm not particular FOR regularion here, but I'm also not FOR Death and Taxes either. If it makes the general public MORE willing to accept the cost of MY rescue, hell yeah! I don't subscribe to MLUs (those on Hood); I'd rather carry a personal EPRIRB. They don't cost much, and once activated everyone in the World will know you are in trouble.

Nice one Fate...

sweet route and report!

If you guys climbed the entire drainage from the bottom of the valley, where the boulder field is climbers left, to the hanging valley above (where the actual climbs are!) you did a new route. The original Two Jokers and a Pair or Prophets climbed the central headwall only starting in the hanging valley, not the entire drainage from the bottom.

If it's ~100 to 150 feet to the left of the top-most pitch of Drury, it's the very mean chunk of ice you rap over/down on the standard climbers-left descent as described in Washington Ice. It makes Drury look wimpy wimpy wimpy! No idea about ascent info. If it's not that (eg at the same elevation as the top pitch of Drury) then I have no idea....perhaps Rolf might?

Nice report yo. Glad you guys gave it a go! When I climbed this in 2001? I was with Dan E and Scott B, and our day was so fantastic - 24 hours door to door - sunny and warm on the climb, climbing with our shirts off during the afternoon! - we topped out at sundown, froze instantly as the temps dropped about 20 degrees in what seemed just a few min - rapped and downclimbed the entire route with only 1 headlamp between the 3 of us. It's an endless decent any way you do it. We also crossed the river in the dark, in a raft for 3 very low in the water. But all that effort makes it so memorable. One of the finest times I've had climbing ice in WA.

Congrats on the little one! Welcome to the rest of your life! The gear will be 10s to 13s after the first 20 feet of so, but you can get a good KB down low to protect the opening moves for sure. I've heard people suggest we (collectively we) bolt this thing to make it "safer" but I tend to want to keep it the way it is, as it's really a blast and quite safe in these conditions on natural pro. When there is no ice, the rock is the same side-pulling down-sloping Rhyolite that makes up the rest of Deception, so not really that worthwhile unless iced up.

Actually, the reports around that date (12/2/09) are accurate: I hadn't yet paid my yearly invoice and the host was pretty prompt in disconnecting my site All taken care of now for another year!

Josh, you can lead CYA dude go for it!

This thread is corrupt somehow, as anonymous view I see three pages but as Logged In I see only 2.

It is, it's "Unnamed" right of CYA. I soloed it around this time last year, it was fun after the thrutch through the alder down low. Top out is climbers left on some slings?

Not that I know of but that's a long drive when you can find Ice 30 miles in any direction from Seattle. I've updated conditions http://wastateice.net/Conditions.aspx

I hiked around Strobach with Rafael on Sunday, scouting out some potential and just getting a good workout. The good news is that the temps at ~4500 were cold enough to maintain the snow pack, the surface hoar, and all that. Ice was forming where routes will be later in the season. The bad news is nothing is climbable yet, and there isnt enough snow on Strobach's NW face to feed the climbs even if the cold stays. We need more snow! It *IS* Elk season, but the two hunters we saw were bow hunters.

The new vipers for alpine ~= the old vipers for alpine. (For alpine I'd rather have something simple like a straight shafted CFBP). The new cobra is worth the extra cash over the new viper, IMO. My own progression has been: original X-15s (no BRS), curved handle Black Prophets, old vipers, old cobras, quarks, new cobras. I climbed for one season on a quark and a new Cobra as well. I like the new cobras best of all these tools. I've tried the new Vipers after having owned the new cobras and didnt like so much