dberdinka

Good luck bro. If you choose not to suffer the long approach (definitely checkout mtnphil.com's most recent trip report) consider the NW side of Mount Shuksan if you're looking for steep, hairball, big mountain skiing. The approach is a matter of hours not days. The North Face, Northwest Couloir and White Salmon Glacier have all been skied. Though beware, the entire White Salmon valley (and the routes) are total avalanche death traps. I wouldn't be there, or on any other big mtn face, in winter unless avi conditions were practically nonexistant. Particularly watch out for the hanging glacier, that sucker can cut loose in a big way regardless of NWACs reported avalanche conditions.

Ok, so I'm not Dru but I have climbed in the area on a couple occasions. The climbing is a blast though don't expect to find Squamish quality rock. Steinbok is an absolutely amazing looking piece of rock with the buttress being the defining line in the area. The is a write up on bivouac.com about the first free ascent. Sounded like the rock was great, the cracks were dirty and the pro was sketchy. Definitely worth a visit if you live in the PNW. If your down in CO it's probably a little obscure and out of the way to be worth a vacation in and of itself. Also, The photo in the book definitely does it justice. [ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

Hey Mike, or anyone else in the know, what's the deal with the large icefalls that form up on the east side of the Nisqually River maybe a quarter mile above the bridge. What you can see from the road looks tough but I've also seen a bigger, fatter, mellower flow while skiing down from the glacier? Any beta?

Red Rocks! Spent spring break there last year, temps and weather was perfect. The new camp ground is finally pleasant and the climbing superb.

Cirque of the Towers is great! Deep Lake might even be better!! Both areas are accessed from Big Sandy Lake which is beautiful in it's own right. I once spent 5 days in the Deep Lake are and saw only one group of hikers, you'll never get that solitude in the Cirque. Either way, the Wind Rivers are some of the most beautiful country I've ever been in. Think Enchantments for 200 miles. As for Routes there are tons of great ones. My favorites would be In the Cirque SW Face of Sharfin IV 5.8 Long approach to a very alpine feeling rock climb. Great rock and an awesome summit E Face Left-side Cracks Pingora IV 5.7The best 5.7 climb you'll ever do. Pitch after pitch of awesome hand cracks. More direct, clean and continous (and easier) than the NE Face Routes I haven't done that look good areN Face of Mitchell IV 5.9 - killer lookingdihedralS Face of Wolf's Head 5.10+ Nice looking face In Deep Lake there are even better climbs! N Ridge of Steeple III 5.8 Beautiful climbing with an awesome chimney on a sweet looking peak. SW Face of Haystack IV 5.10b Long pitches up dihedrals and splitter cracks on perfect rock. Minor Dihedral of Haystack IV 5.9+ More of the same! Killer! SW Face of Lost Temple Spire IV 5.10 You'll feel like your in Patagonia. Steep, difficult climbing in a shady, windy local surrounded by steep walls. The final chimney is spectacular. There are another half dozen routes on Haystack alone I'd like to do. Now that I think about it, I've never climbed a bad route in the winds. Enjoy! OOPs! I got so excited I forgot about the low/mid 5th request. Standard route on Sharkfin would be an exciting 5.6 on excellent rock. Overhang Tower can be climbed by a pitch or 2 of low-5th. Around Deep Lake the S ridge of Haystack looks excellent as does the NW (?) ridge of Temple. This would be a huge climb/scramble to low-5th that is supposedly excellent. [ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

Location: S Arete S Early Winter Spire Cast:MeMy girlfriendThe ubiquitous loud female Mtnr trip leader1000+ basic students1 very hesitant basic student Story:After several hours sunbathing the final Mtnr rope team started up the route! Loud lady, who hadn't shut up in the last 10 years, was belaying hesitant student, who was becoming more hestitant by the second. Loud lady was out of sight, but certainly not out of earshot. She continued to bark orders and share her unsolicited opinions with everyone from Marblemount to Mazama. It appeared that she had forgotten how to belay as there was 15+ feet of slack in the rope as hesitant student approached the crux move 15 feet off the ground. Hesitant student cried. hesitant student wimpered. Things looked bad. In a fit of self righteousness I yelled up to loud lady "Up rope on your follower". Loud lady yelled back "Fuck you!" Huhhh? Hesitant student still cried, still wimpered. Once again in the face of adversity I yelled up "Up rope on your follower". Silence.... What will loud lady say next I wondered? Soon the rope snaked away leaving hesitant student on an adequately tight belay as she manuvered through crux. As the day wore on I had the pleasure of sharing a belay ledge with loud lady who offered some sort of apology like "Oh, I didn't understand what you had said". Right... Beware, the Mtnrs Loud Lady. [ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

In winter and early spring the valley is generally a mess of avi debri. Add in the long road approach and there are probably better peaks in the area to climb. Goat Pk and Shuksan can both be great winter climbs, the latter being more committing. Oh, Mattp is definitely correct about the rope.

Rafael, I haven't looked this year but with all the warm weather this year I can't imagine it's much of anything. Last year while skiing Lake Anne Butte I recall seeing other/smaller lines that made me pause momentarily and this was during some warm sunny weather so maybe there is some credility in an earlier post. Anyway, this possibly existent line is located near the head of Swift Creek on a large rock wall forming the back half of Hemispheres, which is the large snow dome forming the end of Shuksan Arm. From the upper lot follow the boundary cat track to Austin Pass (30 min) drop over the back side down into Swift Creek (good tree skiing). Head down valley breaking out into a big flat open section of valley (1 hr total). I've seen big fat ice forming on large rock wall to left (North). Like said maybe it's there maybe it's not. If I see it again I'll post.

I'm a 'Hamster who's spent a fair amount of time skiing the BC around the end of Highway 542. In several years a massive flow has formed on the backside of "Hemispheres" in Swift Creek Drainage. I'm not much of an ice climber but I'd guess 500+' of WI4-5-?. Unfortunately I've never seen it touch down. Kinda like Terminator in leaner times. While touring around Table Mtn, only once has the infamous Death Picnic appeared fat in the last couple of years. Have at it boys.

Plexus. Can you get a key for the BIG gate blocking the Howard Creek Road? The one with the Elk closure sign? If so it seems you could drive almost to tree line below the Last Sister. Just went into Barbara on Sunday. Ended up bailing after a late start and a lack of time. Beautiful peaks for being less than 6000'!

WSDOT is now postponing the reopening of the North Cascades Highway until Monday at the earliest. Maybe they mean 11/19/01 or maybe 05/23/02. Regardless it looks like the skis will stay put in the closet this weekend.

Lambone, this year the telemetry data seems really screwed up at a lot of stations. Mid season they seem to track snow depth a little more consistently.

Back on track.... A Haiku epic I once wrote after an attempt on the N Face of Fernow failed 200' below the summit "Haiku is a traditional Japanese verse form, notable for its compression and suggestiveness. In three lines totaling seventeensyllables measuring 5-7-5, a great haiku presents, through imagery drawn from intensely careful observation, a web of associated ideas....." Car, boat, bus and trail Sounded so simple at home Now a real headache. The town of Holden Scenic wonder of the hills Built on toxic dirt. Pleasant suffering Crawling through the slide alder Entering the wild. Citadel of rock towering into the clouds bigger than we thought. High on a north face Our minds travel somewhere else Time to go back down. Percaset pillows Seperate mind from body Laughter fills the woods. Camping in the woods Twenty hours which to pass It seems like forever. Lead, zinc and copper Elements of deadly brine Waiting in mine shafts. Happy Luthernans Frolicking in the mountains On a toxic mine.

There are 14 named summits in the Twin Sisters. As told to me, Dallas Kloke has attempted the full traverse at least once in recent years. After the first 13, from South to North, bee stings (???) stopped him before the North Twin. While I haven't been anywhere in the southern part of the range, I think the full traverse would definitely require a car shuttle and be best started in the south. There are 2 approaches, 1 up logging roads from Hamilton and another from the Baker River somewhere. The valleys along the west side of the range are not straight forward and trying to back track to your car sounds like an epic. If you're thinking of just the N and S Twin approach from Nooksack River. The logging roads are now gated far from the mountains. Bring a mountain bike, or you'll be cursing yourself on the way back. W Ridge of N Twin is a good mixed climb, the is a long coulior on the SE side that can be descended and the W Ridge of the S Twin is reported to be a good mixed climb as well. If you do the full traverse, pleaase leave us a report!

I haven't personally. But a former housemate guided a group of 2 or 3 up it maybe 2 summers ago. He used the words "scary" and "nice" describing it. I think the scary referred to having 3 clients on loose 4th class rock. Never quite figured out why he went there.....

So there was once this climber/skier guy named Seth Shaw, climbing magazine poster boy and all around hardman. Evidently he would only ski on 404's and old T2's. If it worked for him it will probably work for you. Just don't get in any helicopters.... Check the following link out as well. Interesting. http://www.offpistemag.com/themag/gear/scarpa.htm [ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

It isn't climbing, but there's great skiing to be had at Washington Pass right now. Went up to Maple Pass on Friday and skied 10" of heavy powder on a nice base. Definitely worth checking out before the highway closes.

How in the hell did a thread on winter climbing turn into another bolt bashing debate (?DRU?)

Exactly what aid climb did that dude rape? Is this kinda like assaulting a mountain?

Dru, I've thought the same thing. How about aid straight out of the notch? You could belay on one of the chockstones! There is very little rock in that area that isn't fractured with numerous cracks. A similar notch between peaks 6800+ was loaded with long, straight A1/A2 cracks. The upper ridge would be sweet!

UC, Boulder. It won't get any better.

Words of wisdom, "if conditions are right". It seems to me that opertunities for winter climbing in the Cascades, at least technical climbing, are few and far between. In the last 6 years I've managed 3 successful winter climbs of worthy routes, though I've planned far more than that. Success has always come when I've dropped everything and blasted off, sometimes in the middle of the night, when conditions were right. The right conditions seem to be a 10,000' freezing level with rain followed by a quick, dry cold snap. It seems we're lucky to get one or two of these a year. Any thoughts? Anyone out there have a high (relatively) success ratio in the winter? I'm headed to Washington Pass for some BC skiing on Friday. 3500' freezing level, 26" base at the pass and more snow today! Yippee! Dru- whats the XXX/YYY coulior on Rexford? Some nasty mixed thing or the big fatty between Rexford and the Spires?

The sheer increase in climber visitations and impact certainly indicates that management of the crags is inevitable and probably desirable. Climbers will typically be happier and better served if that management is in part done by a committee of climbers. I believe that it is very important, and not so simple, to determine exactly what the purpose of such a committee is. I think the following 4 categories seem to cover all the possibilities: 1.) Maintain access (physical such as trails or burecratic such as closures) 2.) Improve access 3.) Maintain existing routes (replacing bolts, cleaning old routes) 4.) Develop new routes (steering committee or approval process for drilling or cleaning) Everyone is happy when someone else does the first 3, and I think this has generally been done by small groups of dedicated locals acting on their own time, initative and expense. However, if an organized group wants any control over the development of new routes it will need the backing of the managing land agency if it wants any ability to enforce its ideas. Certainly pursueing such control will cause factions within the climbing community as well. Maybe the best way to determine what a crag management committee should or should not or can or can not do is to look at those that are in place at other areas. What immediately comes to mind is Eldorado and Boulder Canyons in Colorado. I'm not clear on the details (and might have them wrong) but essentially Eldorado Canyon is a state park and has an approval process in place for the development of new routes or anchors. As I'm not aware of any bolt wars or tensions in that area, apparently it works. I would conjecture that this is in part due to it's governemnt regulation, a close knit climbing community and the fact that it's pretty much fully developed. On the other hand Boulder Canyon is a battle ground of bolters, choppers and retro bolters. I imagine that a lack of government management, lots of undeveloped potential and no access/crag committee have been factors resulting in this mess. Closer to home, Squamish recently became a provincial park with an emphasis on climbing. The local crag committee seems to concentrate on access issues and leave route maintainence and development to what seems like a fairly small group of devoted locals. While a lot of bolted routes have been developed in the last 5 years, the trad ethic has been preserved where applicable (i.e. cracks). I would argue that Squamish is becoming over developed and that a lot of pathetic and ugly bolt lines are being squeezed onto the cliffs (how many 11b+3pa 22m friction/face climbs do you need?). However, a majority of climbers seem content so maybe the committee and park are acting appropriately. I'm out of time, but this certainly could be an interesting discussion.

Cool man, so our paths almost crossed. Looks like it's just you and I out trolling this website today...

So we're finally into those in-between months when the mountains are out of shape but the skiing (or whatever) is yet to happen. This is when I find myself making mental lists of all the routes I'm going to knock off next season. Of course, the list always ends up being a little on the optomistic side and come next year I'll be lucky to get 1 in 5. Its funny how that happens. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone out there what to share beta on some exceptional, relatively obscure route they've done in the past, that wasn't mobbed by hordes of climbers packing photocopies of Cascade Select. Cavie, Dru, Pope, lambone, mneagle, David Parker, Dalyward, Mattp (fill us in on SQCW), philfort, Matt A, Alex, genepires, Mr. Chocolate, everyone else out there? Here's my contribution, a description of the Northwest Face of Forbidden. Enjoy. Darin http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000228.html [This message has been edited by dberdinka (edited 10-14-2001).]