Alex

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?

Man, with the weather and that approach, you cannot go up there and NOT go to the base of the route. Its definitely in.

So I am trying out a Petzl Meteor III in REI today with my 2 year old and he is trying out every helmet too. Except, none of them are going to fit him for years. Do folks climbing with toddlers or toddlers++ (4-6 yos?) climb with bike helmets or what?

It really depends on what you are shooting for. For qualifiers, though, I wouldn't call the routes you've mentioned hard. There are alot of very committing routes in Washington, but I am not sure there are alot of hard routes in Washington. Here are some things I guess I would consider more representative * Complete Bonanza traverse - (http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=2&Number=233768&Searchpage=4&Main=15957&Words=bonanza+&topic=0&Search=true#Post233768) * N Face Colonial in Winter (Watusi Rodeo) * N Face Index in Winter (choose any route) * The complete Silverstar Ridge Traverse including Wine Spires that Mark Allen and Mike Layton did a few years back * Dolomite Tower on Baring * Walking the Fence (Southern Pickets) * Mox Peak routes recently done and reported here There is alot more in southern BC, too "The Pickets seem like an obvious destination but I just can't find any beta on the climbs there." Not sure where you've been looking, but the Beckey guide is full of beta on the Pickets, and this site has a very large amount of info as well. But moreover, what kind of climbing do you think you'll be interested in once you've ticked whatever Washington has to offer you? There are some obvious and easy destinations, depending on your tastes, that can serve up higher difficulty routes: Granite? Wind Rivers, Bugaboos, Valhallas Snow and Cold? Alaska range. Granite, snow, and cold? Waddington, Ruth Gorge, Little Switzerland Often nervy, high-standard "normal routes"? Canadian Rockies. In my own limited evolution, I went to Alaska Range first, Wind Rivers and Bugaboos next, then the Canadian Rockies later. I still haven't done much worth mentioning in those places, but those ranges definitely give you perspective on the Cascades. Given a choice today and some time (with 2 small kids though, uh....time...yeah...), I would head back to the Canadian Rockies on a heartbeat. My own goals are more "all-around" than Alaska-stylee or Bugaboo-stylee climbing.

I use canister stoves usually about 3 months a year, including pocket rocket and Markill Stormy hanging stove. Sometimes in Winter, depends on the trip. Cold weather: you need to define cold. Is cold to you 0 C? Cold to me is -20 C or colder. You rarely see these temps in Washington, unless you are on Rainier in the winter. You see them regularly in Canada. In -20 C I use a white gas stove. Canister stoves performance depends on what's in the canister, not the stove.

Martin Volken's shop in North Bend, Pro Ski

There's a few PDX based climbers who get out fairly regularly during the winter, but it's a LOT of driving for Oregon based ice climbers...

For sure, and with good reason: the route is there all season, but the approach isn't going to be this easy until like next April!!!

I cannot believe I got my late breaking Ms news on cc.com! Too bad Ng didn't get the job, but Jack Z sounds like a decent hire. Someone who is able to "recognize talent" sure was needed, at anyrate.