Alex

Saskatchewan River Crossing has never been open in the winter (certainly not the last 10 years). It only opens up in summer tourist season...

I met Mead briefly while I worked for Tina in Utah many years ago, while Tina was still doing her PhD. I respected both of them not because of their storied history in climbing, but because even though they were unable to make their relationship work long-term with each other, they were both trying to keep some sense of family with Laurel and Heather. They both loved the outdoors in a huge variety of ways, climbing was just one element of that. Sad to hear the news, Alex

Jason, why do you wear so much Women's clothing??

Nice. You got alot of snow up there now, might have filled in the rock step that stopped me, mattp, and Dan Smith a number of years ago when we headed up that route. We ended up doing what Bug calls the "green" finish, which was actually really nice.

i don't know what gives you this idea? granted there is still some snow on north side of the Chief on some ledges, however freezing levels are waaaay above 2000m! A bunch of friends (not just Scott, Pat, and Jens) have been climbing up in Lil'wet the last week, and things up high and North facing are still in good shape.

Strobach is the largest concentration of hard ice (and ice in general) in Washington outside of Banks. The only reason I've named some of the shit is because it gets awful old calling stuff "Unnamed Strobach A" or "First Unnamed Climb on the Right of Foo". Evenso, for a long time Jason and I went through the motions of calling stuff "Unnamed Soap Lake A" and so on, exactly because we knew climbers would be sensitive to naming without "FA rights". That said, I am trying - I got the FA on Dropline last year with Jeff, and another route, and two more this year that Jeff had named but I will rename now with the "FA rights" ha! Jeff finally got the FA on Right Stuff, but declined to name it something different: it doesnt really matter in the end, it's just climbing. But if you (JoshK or anyone else) put in the work, you can name shit whatever the hell you want. No one really cares one way or the other. Only about 10 or 15 people have ever put in the work to go into Strobach more than once; they ain't complaining and I respect their opinions on the naming of our local routes over armchair tools any day. Yeah its not quite Willoughby, but it's all we got! My partner Dan who just returned to the PNW after 2 years ice climbing out East wasn't unhappy with the place.

That's definitely a fun day route this time of year, good getting out!

awesome

Lillooet is still good. Locally, probably over except above 5000 or so.

End of 609 on my sled, snowshoe in from there. There hasn't been much new snow over there for a couple weeks now, so the track is well-groomed.

To be fair, I didn't really do any "developing" of the SR900 crag other than to replace some of the rusty 1/4 bolts that were already there, and add a few along the natural lines of ascent for leading. The crag itself has been loooong established; Dan Smith and I climbed there sometime in the mid-90s a few times, and other local climbers have rock climbed and dry-tooled there over the decades. In the summer time/when dry, the rock lines go at around 5.6 or 5.7. The rock itself is sandstone and is pretty junky and a bit vegetated, due to lack of traffic. Its the right combo fer drytooling practice through, certainly better than the downsloping slopers at ex38.

Here is an update on Strobach conditions, as Dan Erickson and I headed in there yesterday for what turned out to be a day trip. Travel in the am was fine, we broke a trail in from 609 all the way to Dome Peak climbs. It was SUPER warm. Then the sun came out and fried us (some routes are sheltered, but the approaches arent). We ended up looking at some of the mean, unclimbed routes (there are 4 unclimbed routes at Motherlode, 1 in No-Mans-Land and 3 [now] at Dome) and in the end couldn't visualize any of the obviously hard ones: some have been affected by the warm temps, some are just too hard for me or Dan. We ended up climbing the last two remaining moderate FAs on the left side of the Dome Peak climbs, about 300 yards left of Watchtower. TR later Then a storm system blew in and it started raining. As of today, there are only a few routes I would get on, given the choice: * Primus Sucks - looking good and healthy. It's in a cold pocket. * "First on the Left" - healthy * Sad Ce'bu - low angle enough to not have support questions * Ice Dreams - supported enough, and sheltered from the sun * Watchtower - not sun-affected yet, still there. * Unnamed Dome A - super fat, not sun-affected. Pretty much everything else has taken on that "spring-time" look, where there's been enough melting and sun for the ice to be delaminated from the rock, rotting out, or "snice" that won't yield any pro. For example, the first pitch to Unholy Baptism/Second on the Left is very sun-rotten now (while its upper pitch now has a visible fracture line), and parts of Right Stuff have melted out. The first 20 feet of Sudden Change of Plan have melted out. Tower of Power is still blue and somewhat healthy, but probably will not last the week. There is an FA that Jeff Street and I were both gunning for at Dome Peak that is now extremely sun-affected and likely much too dangerous to get on, though it's upper pitch looks fine. Travel in the afternoon was pretty poor: in some places we were post-holing in mashed potatoes with snowshoes on. It was so tiring we were completely bonked and wiped out by the time we got back to the Motherlode area from Dome.

"How do i transfer my buddy onto the picket? " You need to read Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue by Andy Selters. Escaping the load of a teammate in a hole is one reason to set up your glacier travel rig the correct way, not just any old way.

It's considered very poor style to hang on your tool with artificial means beyond a wrist leash. You are, essentially, aid climbing. (But it's all kind of a dumb argument, since ice climbing is aid climbing any way you cut it.) If you really need to do this, you are 1) on ice that is too hard or steep for you to lead 2) all of the above Steep ice is all about finding a rest, knowing how to place a screw efficiently, and having your systems dialed. Sharp, quality screws go a LOOONG way in this. Good technique will generally get you up any WI4. WI5 and harder ice is much more fitness, endurance, skill, and pure ballz. When beginners get in over their heads and pump out placing screws, its of course smart to get the screw in, then hang on the screw, and perhaps lower and come back another day. But as a routine method of advancing up the ice, it's just going to get you into alot more trouble as it will give you a false sense of security. "I know I can just clip my tool anytime, so I'll go another 10 feet". Leashless climbing, believe it or not, makes things more safe for a leader because it makes you honest and much more conservative in what you choose to lead. Might be worth a try for you. Also, it sounds like you are right-handed (like me), so even if you are hanging mostly on your left while placing, practice placing screws with both hands religiously, even the same screw with both hands (again, leashless comes in handy here). It will allow you to exercise different muscle groups during the climb. Also, on real steep ice if there is no rest, you basically place the screw a few turns, rest, switch hands, a few more turns, switch hands, a few more turns, and so on. It might be all you can do, and it might take a while, but it beats getting desperate and flaming out one forearm.

When you climb it, name it anything you want, Bill.

But, he's a bug?

www.wastateice.net/strobachFeb08.htm

Definitely. Strobach is N facing, snowmelt fed for the most part, 4500 ft base elevation, and only gets a tiny bit of afternoon sun. Should survive as well as anything except perhaps Marble up at Lillooet. Will post a link to some pics on www.wastateice.net/Conditions.aspx later tonight.

A friend has been in several times in the last two weeks. This past Monday skiied in and tried an FA on the left side of Seperation Gully, but backed off. All the pics are of stuff that looks pretty good. Not quite like last year, but looks good. I am heading over Fri, Sat, Sun.

Strobach is fat. Go there or find something around the same elevation, and you're all set.

I tried a N to S traverse of the Picket range in 1999, we were going from Hannegan, over Whatcom pass, through West-Middle Challenger Col down the West side of the norther Pickets under Crooked Thumb, but never got further then that.

"Do three man teams typically carry a hammer?" No. You drive it with the side of the head of your axe, not the adze. Quite honestly, if the snow is SO firm that it will take a driven picket, what are you doing falling into a crevasse? Crevasse falls are usually in softer-snow conditions. In which case you'll be trenching that picket, not driving it. A driven picket in soft snow won't hold a fly.

Good on ya!

14 Carrot Cafe in Eastlake is pretty good for kids

Yeah. The pass is still closed until tonight so there goes that.