Alex

thought i would post a quick note General Conditions: Warm. Its been above freezing in Canmore and even Lk Louise for the last week and longer. Its been clear and dry in the Bow Valley, but elsewhere (Golden, Columbia Valley) there is a thick "fog of death". The cool down is supposed to happen this week but its been very slow in coming, highs are supposed to be -5'ish by week's end. Specific: Field: some Dennis climbs are in though didnt see much as this was a "Fog of Death" kind of day. Massey's is in. Silk Tassel is in with very thin top out. Super Bock is in but the approach pitches are so fragile that they are scary and wont stand up to any traffic (and then you're screwed). There are some routes forming above the train tunnel outside of Field up the big hill that are new routes for sure. Parkway: Pretty much what you have heard from elsewhere. Bow Falls in, stuff in David Thompson is in (from ltv), but along the parkway proper the only thing formed is Shades of Beauty, Murchison, and Polar Circus. Shades of Beauty is in easy shape, with its last pitch being wet WI3. Polar Circus approach pitches are thin, but as you can walk around them not a huge problem. The WI3 pitch above the first WI4 pitch is in 2 shape. Bridal Veil is there but rotten looking. Everything else is running water. Wilson Major is there, but the LWC is running water. Oh Le Tabernac is running water. Curtain Call was in 6+ shape when we saw it last Sunday, but I hear it fell down...no surprise really. Bow Valley & KCountry: wazzumnteer told me Little Gem was in. Other than that Sea has been climed a week ago but is very thin now. Terminator et all a far way from touching, but Postrcriptum is there. Still, if it gets cold soon enough it will stay up. Bourgeau's were in but Left fell down (from ltv). Will reform with cold weather. Cascade and other standards are all running water. Radium Highway: did a really fine trip up to the Stanley Headwall. All routes are in and getting a fair amount of traffic(!! amazing how high stdrds are in the Rockies these days when people are climibing Nemesis every day early season !!). The "fog of death" was affecting this valley making vis especially tough, but we were above it all day. We did Sinus Gully, which if you do just the first pitch is a long walk for a pitch of 3. But the rest of the route (rock pitch, traverse, exit ice, walk off) makes for a really nice day! The exit ice is WI4 right now. Nemesis was looking great! Suffer Machine too, French Reality looking a bit thin. There is enough snow up there now to make the walk off off Sinus Gully av-threatened. Rapping the route is sort of possible. Hafner has formed up great in the last week. Tons of traffic of course but a great time over 2 different days. Met team BD one of the days and got to check out some prototype thingys, was cool. Thats about it, there is plenty of ice to climb especially in the alpine, but you have to drive a bit to enchain a week's worth.

but the ergos climb ice like crap compared to any ice tool (i've discovered). std quarks are the e-ticket.

I've gone in with my (old) snomo from Mazama, and the road was impassable to us around the Silverstar area, since the av fans were so large and my sled was not powerful enough to punch through and climb over that stuff. We skiied up the road the rest of the way, it was casual and ended up being just a daytrip (the drive to Mazama in the winter, of course, was loooong). Modern $led$ should be fine.

I'd be careful dealing with Sir UltraDonkeyDick, seems like he'd be more at home on ebay than on cc.com. Alex

usually the route Endless Bliss at Gunshow dries out pretty fast.

Thursday 3:30pm at the Issaquah Park and Ride off exit 15. See you then!

i like the panorma shot of southern and northern pickets

This time of year those routes are *always* in shape.

chair wont be close this week. the winter approach to source lake was soft and unconsolidated last weekend, there was not a hint of ice anywhere in the valley (OK, i did see *one* icicle). it was fun snowshoeing/skiing and being out in zero vis, though. i dont think eldo would be a good idea as a day trip now

I'll take the Silveretta Easy Go 555

At 12$ a screw, minimum 2 screws, you are paying a minimum of 24$ (see, math isnt so hard...!). Compare that to the retail price of a brand new BD Turbo (not express) of around 36$. I do like the "don't send junk expecting a miracle" admonishment!

For NWMJ, there is no date set in stone yet but its safe to say it won't be any later than May 1st. (Early submissions greatly appreciated.)

I think that the Cosley-Houston route gets attempted and even climbed more than you think..certainly last Spring it was attempted by several different parties, with varying success. I think the Polish Route doesn't get climbed much, but thats due almost entirely to its difficulty (if this were Canmore it'd probably be a trade route ), as it's been pretty fat the 3 or 4 different times I've seen it.

Unfortunately in the winter time thats how all of us spend our time, and why so little gets "done" in a normal winter. If you really want guaranteed climbing you should go to Smith Rock. If you want time in the mountains, you should just choose an objective and work it. The typical Thanksgiving objectives here are the early season routes, such as NF Hood, NW Couloir Eldorado, and so on. However with the mass dump of snow this early Nov, its unlikely that class of routes would now be anything but long snow climbs. Cosely Houston on Colfax is a nice objective because its a long day trip or overnight, so little committment should the weather not cooperate, but steep enough that it wont be a complete wallow. But since its so far above treeline, if the weather really isnt good, you will have as tough a time getting to the base of it as any other route.

I think thats a fine plan, and in fact follows the developmental path that many of us take. (My own path was backpacking in the Adirondacks -> winter backpacking -> throw in rock climbing -> throw in ice climbing --> move to Colorado, then Oregon, then Washington ) I think you will be more focussed, and your progression will be rapid. I guess the only comment I would make is that while the "camping" aspect of things is highly important, especially for climbing in the Alaska range, the "technical" side is the side that typically takes the longest to develop. No one really wants to contemplate the true cost of all the camping crap when they first start out, as if you pay full retail prices you are looking at a large bill, however anyone with experience will tell you that you will eventually end up with multiples of everything: 2 or more sleeping bags, 2+ packs, a tent and probably a bivy sack. Why? Because lugging a winter bag around in the summer is incredibly overkill. Because the amount of stuff you will want to take on lightweight summer trips will require a pack half the size that you use for winter trips. Because in the summer you wont need a tent most of the time, just a bivy sack with mosquito netting. Because winter equipment weighs so much! That said, i think that its a fine idea to buy your winter backpacking gear first, then see what its like to lug that stuff around in the summer time, and fill in holes accordingly. If you are climbing Denali you will need all that same winter camping gear that you take up Katahdin in the winter, and then some. The smaller pack and lighter summer sleeping bags can come later. As an ex-Marine, you will appreciate that the amount of gear you carry on any trip typically relates to the trip, and the lighter the weight of everything, the less fatigued and more energy you will have. With Mountaineering, most of the equipment weight you will be carrying will be technical climbing equipment: ropes, crampons, ice axe, snow and ice and rock protection, helment, harness...so its important to keep the weight and bulk of anything else to a minimum. But you will discover all this as you go on with your plan. A good winter bag should be a down bag, from one of the manufactureres you are currently looking at. Marmot, WM, FF, even TNF all make great bags. It should be a -10 or -20 bag. For Denali, however, you will probably be carting around a -30 bag. But dont buy a bag thinking about Denali, chances are by the time you do Denali you will know someone you can borrow a bag from. The first time I went to the AK range I borrowed a bag. Quite simply, there are winter tents, and spring/summer/fall tents. Winter tents deal with snow well, the others only ok. Freestanding or not doesnt really matter much in my experience. Weight is the primary concern with tents. Double wall tents weigh more, but breathe better. Breathability is most important in humid, wet environments, like the Southeast in the summer. Like sleeping bags you wont find something that does it all. But there are tents out there that come pretty close. A small 3-person Sierra Designs tent might be nice for most of your backpacking. For mountaineering, weight rules all so you will see many more single-wall tents. I have been using a Bibler tent now for about 10 years, even in the Alaska Range (where the I-tent is a single person tent ) and its great! As with anything, you will typically spend more money for good products. Becoming a very educated consumer is going to help you make good decisions, but experience will help you make better ones, and unfortunately you can't buy that. Good luck, Alex

Cosely-Houston on Colfax, with an ascent of Baker and ski from its summit as a backup plan.

The rule of thumb is that when Pan Dome and Tabasco are in well enough, it might be time to check out the other routes but not before. The way I usually do it is plan a bc ski trip to Baker, throw in some ice climbing gear. (If Pan Dome is in, go climb it before/apres ski since its approach is so short.) Do the skiing, check out the routes on the back side of Table Mnt, come back the next week if they looked good. I know everyone is itching to climb ice, but Banff doesnt even have anything climbable yet, so we all have to be patient here on the coast.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/513559/an/0/page/0#513559

I interpretted this as meaning water ice that wasnt on an alpine climb, such as NW Couloir on Eldo or Mt Hood, that wasnt "too high up there" like the high ice in Mt Rainier Park and elsewhere, and that was within reasonable daytrip access from the road. So things like Alpental Falls, Hubba Hubba, Banks Lake, Vantage, etc are "not in the mountains", while things like E Couloir on Cutthroat, TripleCs, that stuff on Cooper Spur are.

Someone needs to go bolt the Edwards Spagnut into submission!!

I am not sure what the status of the Baring routes are. Their info is not widely published, and at one time I heard a rumor that rockfall had obliterated part of one route on Dolomite tower. Right, Goat Wall in Mazama has some routes, though the one I've done ("Methow Inspiration Route") is only about 5 pitches or so with short approach so hardly falls into the "grade III" category. Some of the other routes are longer though. Scott posted a Gato Negro on Silverstar topo here once which might be worth a look at. I guess some of the routes at Static might qualify, if not for length then at least for committment!!

Agree with Dru, which got me thinking where you *would* find III or IV sporto routes in the PNW? The only place stateside I can think of are a few Darrington IIIs and Infinite Bliss on Garfield. In Canada, probably Yak peak, Dru might have other Canada suggestions. There are not very many clipups of any real length or committment around here.

thanks for the update. with will in Nepal the info through the regular sources has been pretty slow

I know the developer of these routes does not agree with me on this one, but I think the "M7-" (Rza) route is more like M6 or so. I get spanked on some M5+s in the Rockies but can send that one without too much trouble. The route next to it is very tough, though, without a little ice to help out. But whatever...

No, sorry its still on the list of things to get done.