Alex

kind of silly. so when will my guide start selling for 250-500$??

I know its difficult to say just from looking at pics, but having done this route it doesn't look any thicker in your pics than it did when we did it in Spring conditions.

It's December and it's been very dry, so you should just go and not worry about it

mine are back from the "day"...a pair of cheap goretex shells from Campmor which were about 10$ and far less tech than anything OR made or makes, and a pair of double polartec 300 liners. idea is that if its that freakin cold, don't really need "waterproof" as there is no running water I've only used them occasionally in the last 25 years. back in the day when I would try to go ice climbing in colder than -20C, for example, but I haven't been that silly in a while.

There are two sets of lead bolts. (Or better be.) The summitpost.org page pretty accurately describes the routes, and even uses my own photo of my climbing partners at the crag, with routes traced in red. Thanks, Alex

Hm. I am a "route setter" too, and I never created routes for any kind of acknowledgement, actually. Some of the routes I put up, in hindsight, were kind of mediochre. Some were pretty good. I got to climb all of them first, with my friends, and open new venues to our own exploration without the crowds. Then we moved on. That was my reward. If some of my routes make the new guidebook, cool. If they don't, I honestly don't f'ing care. If my name is associated with them or not, I never drilled a bolt or did an FA for anyone to know about it.

bigeo, you aren't going to be served by waiting. you gotta just get out there and try. you fail/back off a few times, but you'll get up the thing sooner if you have the logistics wired because you've already tried it twice before the same winter. It's only Dec 14th! Drury will likely have at least 2 more months of likely in-ness.....

By "BC" assuming you are talking Lillooet because there is overkill of info on Canmore/Banff. The general "early season"/"most mileage for the buck" script for Lillooet is to head up on the Duffy the first day for practice at Rambles, and second day to Marble Canyon, heading home either back through Lillooet or all the way to Cache Creek depending on how you are feeling. By doing this you can probably get 3+ pitches in each day of relatively moderate ice with top-roping options. There aren't that many other places where you wont have to lead at least a pitch of 4 or 5 to get up and off a route. Honeyman's is one option but it is relatively high-flow and so can be not fully formed this early, though with the cold it probably is. Places to stay: I've stayed at Mile-0 almost always, but there are a couple other motels in town.

pretty cool, collectively it reminds me a bit of belmore / isadorth gullys up on the duffy

They crossed Lake Jolanda, downstream of the drainage, in a non-inflatable boat. I highly *highly* recommend this approach (from experience, ppl!!) to the other more traditional crossing spots further upstream. I also highly recommend you wear a PFD and helmet, regardless of what crossing you do. While crossing at Lake Jolanda adds hours to your day, right now there is not much snow so travel is as fast as it ever will be, and it adds a safety factor to the crossing that, compounded with the low av hazard in the drainage *this week* makes for one of the safest ways to approach and climb Drury. You know you will be heading back across in the dark, might as well make it the least stressful deproach possible!

If you are really constrained to WA, then the two places you haven't gone yet which have steeper routes are the routes to the side of Pandome Falls up at Baker, and Rap Wall at Alpental. That said, if you are stoked on mixed and not constrained by climbing in WA, I would head to Lillooet / Marble Canyon (closest), which now sports some really nice mixed lines, Banff (more sport oriented) or Hyalite (more trad oriented) over WA any day of the week.

definitely. I remember the initial studies that changed how climbers placed screws (the +20' angle) and also some other papers that make me put a screamer on each and every screw I place. in ice climbing you need all the help you can get and learning some of these lessons is important to being a competent leader. That said, I am not sure I am going to go and change out my rack to be all stubbies in light of this. The modern 16s and 13s are so quick to go in that at my level I don't need the extra couple seconds reducing rack to stubbies would affoard me. in the cascades, though, I still rack at least 1+ 10cm, and 3+ 13 cm screws for ever lead, cause it's just never that thick....

stout

mickebob, we saw that on the drive up to the pass. whats it rate?

I was out in Quincy yesterday, it was very cold after dark, biting wind. There was no snow E of the Columbia river though, so there hasn't been that much moisture.

Kevino, pic 4 is Ice Dreams, 7 is First Ice on the Right.

Sad Cebu is for sure, as is Sudden Change and maybe one or two others, and they will have higher likelihood to be formed because they are also lower angle, But a lot of other lines are snowmelt fed - all stuff left of Sep Gully, and/or steep enough to need enough time to bridge vertical. Psychd to hear what you find! I've climbed there as early as Dec 4th (2 routes) and still little enuff snow to drive to 609. But generally you need wet falls....

Hate to be skeptical, but its been a really dry fall and is barely cold enough, hope u find some goods!

nice raf! glad to see you got out there for a long trip! yeah kitty hawk is full on. rocky mountain has always been one of the decent places in canmore, nice basecamp.

I've never seen a scurlock pic of nf booker that had any ice on it? agree the face is large. the rock is junk, fwiw.

I've always found the back side of Table to be harder than it looks, and a serious wake up call in the early season for ppl who aren't already solid WI5 leaders. I'd proceed with care!

Yakima is good for certain things - ice climbing at Strobach and access to Rainier - but the pass to Rainier is closed in the winter, and the rock season is somewhat shorter than the Leavenworth area, and rock not nearly as high quality (IMO) as the Icicle and Tumwater. Its a "smaller" town feel than Wenatchee. Wenatchee is probably the winner between the two if you consider most of your time will be spent in Leavenworth.

Nice. Yes, it's quite early for a weather window like this. Without a base to build on, the new ice will be pretty fragile. I love exploring but the ticket in the early season to avoid getting hurt is be pretty conservative!

Yes. May is like a shoulder month in the mountains, between ski season and true alpine season. What did you want to climb?