Alex

Nice. If the red line is not your line, ...what is it?

Nice pics, looks like a pefect day for a tour up there! I've never done it myself, only done what you've done: toured past it.

spiderman's right that second photo down from the top is Source Lake Line. The last two pictures are actually "Not Quite a Plum", it comes in very reliably and if not buried in snow offers fun moderate climbing. And the big fatty tree is nice. There is sometimes/often a second pitch that starts near the tree and goes up around a corner.

Thanks I love Seneca too! We (Syracuse University Outing Club - SUOC)climbed there a bit every spring during Spring break, and some of my most memorable early climbs were there!

Agreed Bob, I have heard Norway keeps it very real from one of my buddies who was based in the UK many years.

Those are actually CMI 'Kirk's Kamms' (on the left), the springloaded versions were CMI 'RoKJoX' (on the right). The 'Kirk's Kamms' came out in '76 and I remember the day they came into the Shawnee Mountaineering store; ran right out and almost killed myself with a couple of them straight away. I've sent Stephane an email and he'll get back to us with how long Kirk manufactured them for. Thanks, ok, '76 is pretty old. I wonder what CMI was thinking? 10 years go by and some marketing dood says "We need something NEW that will SELL!!" And some guy in the shop says, "well, we still have the tooling for these Kirks over hear...and if we just add a small spring, we can rebrand them and sell em for 30$ each..."

I can tell you all from experience that the ice climbs in Austria tend to be graded about a full number grade softer than in Banff. So stuff they call WI4 is only WI3 in Banff, etc. Not sure if it translates here, but Gene's comment about that route looking similar to Stanley Headwall seems about right....most of those routes are consensus 6 or sometimes 6+.

CMI Rock Jock. You know, these are not really OLD. They were still being actively manufactured in the mid-90s and pushed by climbers like Bobbi Bensman. I bought a set from the CMI factory in the 90s while visiting, as I was too cheap to buy Friends, but only used them a few times because they just sucked. Someone else asked if the CMI gizmo was a predecesor to the tricam. No. The tri-cam is older, design-wise for sure. It's kind of sad I guess as I learned with alot of the pro in this thread, and I am NOT OLD!!

The true North Face route (in winter) is a real gem, and climbs up the right side of the buttress, from the lowest point of the face on the Colchuck Lake side, through snowfields and runnels, to the "North Face Variation" bypass on Triple Couloirs, through a steep rock/mixed pitch into the Third Couloir and on to the top. Its moderate but long and offers really nice climbing with no ice required to get to the top (I did parts of it when only snow and rock). The crux for most of these routes is getting in there and having the weather window.

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.

It's not my sale, but I saw this today and thought people here would be mighty interested. http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/spo/1517289691.html

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?