Alex

e p i c

BD pick hasnt changed since the X-15 was introduced in, oh, 1988? You are safe buying CFBPs.

Tapping the keg before the final? Sounds like a handicapping system!!

If there were alpine ice a mile from an open road, there would be long lines to climb it. But alpine ice occurs more like in the spring. That said, 3, and sometimes even 4, of your requirements are met in the lowly Alpental valley. Alpental has lots of very steep slopes, open year round, and is in the mid Cascades. It also sometimes has water ice! It really is a great winter training ground. It has very serious av hazard in places, too. Check the forecast before you venture out. As for alpine ice, Chair Peak or the Tooth or similar such destinations offer that during periods of decent weather.

There's an alpine ice route on the NE side of forbidden awaiting it's FA!

Agree, leave as is. If bolted stations start sprouting here and there, it's only a matter of time before bolts start sprouting on, say, the runnels pitchs of TC, allowing anyone to climb them anytime - dry or not, balls or not. Last thing I want to see is some dude hanging out on a bolt, shaking out, on the runnels pitch next time I am up there. Second to last thing I want is some person rapping down on top of me, possibly kicking down large, water saturated snow blobs, in a long ass gully on Dtail.

The approach will keep the crowds somewhat at bay. And the nature of the route will change with several months of significant snowfall. Ross skied this line without raps, so it fills in in the Spring. Triple Couloirs was skied with raps. I don't think this route was.

It really sounds like that NE "Flavor of the Month" Couloir on Dragontail is destined to be an early-season classic, if no ice is required. I havent done it yet but am definitely jazzed to try it now thanks to the great TRs! Those are good additional suggestions! Northwest Face on Stuart is a great route guarded by a pretty dang long approach, that will be pretty condition dependent. With Stuart Gl Couloir and Sherpa Gl next door and lots of other stuff to see on that side of the mountain, though, there is always a bail out plan if you commit to the approach. The North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck is significantly easier outing technically than the NE Buttress on Colchuck, but really highly recommended: great day out in the mountains! The Cutthroat route is actually the E Couloir, covered in Nelson's guide, and is in shape only a short time in the Spring. It's also a bit trickier (IMO) than most of these other routes, as there is a pretty legit thin WI3+/4 pitch on it, where most of these other routes are not close to vertical. Ade has pretty much the compendium going on his site there, its a good resource!

If you can get to the top of Si in 2:15 with a pack, congratulations, go climbing!!

There isnt much ice in Banff right now, but you'd probably be able to scrape together 4 days of climbing. Might have to wait in line at times or get alpine starts, but there it is. Or were you looking to rock climb? JTree, Red Rocks.

Even sitting here in my office and not having seen it, I guarantee you it's in. Thing is like 9000 ft elevation, its so far above treeline you'd need ....well....June to knock it down at this point

Dane, you should turn directory browsing off on your site.

They're going sailing! Round The County is this weekend. Winds SE 20-30 on Saturday. Woo!

Where is it? It's prob not that high angle, if it keeps snow that late.

No worries, just trying to ease the inevitable waiting. Jeff Street has some magic website he watches for telemetry data off White Pass (for Strobach) if not for other places. There's alot of resources you can plug in with a few bookmarks in your browser to make finding ice (aside from watching this website) more fruitful, too.

It's going up to 9000 feet this weekend with a large warm front coming in on Friday. It'll be followed by a cold front, but that's relative: temps will be pretty mild this week.

I used Charlet Grade 8's for a while, which were hinged, very light and had vertical front points. They climbed ok, but their points and dsign were not the best at column-type things, nor general snow etc. thus not really that great for alpineish endevours that are mostly snow. I like the more modern crampons, sadly heavier, with toe-hooks. I've since switched to a slightly more modern BD crampons Sabertooth and the predecessor to Cyborg( Android? Whatever) which has nice toe hooks and hybrid front point, plus the option for mono's, after Weekend_Climberz let me try them out and they climbed well.

The colors have been really spectactular this year! I love Fall!

Here is a good rule of thumb: look at the forecast for Ellensburg or Moses Lake, daily. When daytime highs only get to a little above freezing, or stay below, it's a good time to think about ice in the desert. Or, if we have 4 or more days or an Artic front (yes, some of the stuff can form up that fast). When it's cold enough in November to form ice, you'll REALLY know! I've climbed Devil's Punchbowl on Nov 3rd before, but it was after a few days of true bitter cold. In my book, Jeff Renner calls these "Back Door Cold Fronts". They come down from the Canadian interior, and are pretty recognizable, though short-lived. We usually get one or two a season. It's 43 in Ellensburg right now, it's far too warm still for any ice to have formed up in the lowlands. With this weeks storm cycle, I'd be pretty sure that the easy approach for Colfax and Eldorado are also gone now.

When I was there in early May (some years ago) temps of -35 C at night was normal. I'll echo the others here: unless you have the entire climbing season to blow, your first trip to the range is totally training.

Actually, what's doubly cool is that Puma is only 80 miles behind Ericsson 4 and has been hanging with; Puma has local boy McKee on board. Well, errrr, boy....hm, he's much older than me, so guess local legend more like

Dude, if you didn't know that, you really HAVE been living under a rock.

Ericsson 4 just broke the 24-hour monohull record, they went over 600 nm, averaging over 25 knots. Which is insane.

sweet trip. your pic of booker is super cool. (nice little ribbon of ice there below the ne face of forbidden!)

neat, what is that on the one pic, Del Campo?