Climzalot

Any info on the road conditions getting in there? How about the South Face route? Thanks Much cgentzel@aai.cc

Went to give this a go yesterday but wound up just climbing Torment for a variety of reasons. Conditions on the traverse looked quite do-able. I think there is quite a bit more mandatory snow travel right now than there might be later in the season. None of it looked to bad but that means you would be spending quite a bit more time in boots and crampons rather than a rock climbing shoe of sorts. I think the climb is ready for an ascent or two this year if it has not already seen one (none in summit register) and I would love some beta when it goes down. Feel free to email if you have any specific questions and I will attempt to give some pertinent accurate info. cgentzel@aai.cc

Climbed Yak Crack 6/15 and the route is plenty dry if anyone is wondering.

Climbed Yak Crack 6/15 and the route is plenty dry if anyone is wondering.

No I must have missed the snow cave. I wish I would have seen it and I could have gotten your buddies back their stuff.

No I must have missed the snow cave. I wish I would have seen it and I could have gotten your buddies back their stuff.

Climbed it on Saturday. Feel free to email for details. cgentzel@aai.cc

Uhhhhhhh. What happened to the route reports section? Sorry.

Check out the brief trip report under the North Cascades section. I just spoke with friends who came off Baker today and it sounds like the snow has not changed since the time of that report. Expect soft snow all the way except for small patches on the face. cgentzel@aai.cc

I talked to the ranger station in Marbelmount last week and they said there is major work taking place on the road right now due to washouts, windfall, and snow. The road is driveable to the 12 mile mark which is still 10.5 miles from Cascades Pass and 8-9 miles from the Eldo-BB trailheads. I asked for and estimated opening time and they did not have an answer for me. It did not sound good. Weeks? If anyone else has heard differently or has better info I would love to hear it. Thanks cgentzel@aai.cc

Word up Mr. Layton. We were hoping to see yall on the summit Saturday but we did not get that far and it sounds like you didnt either. Oh well. We can chock another one up to honing our approoaching skills eh. Well done Coley

Bailed on the North Face at about 7600 feet on Saturday. Bad visibility, rain and soft snow. Approached via the White Salmon Creek. Snow shoes a must right now. Conditions on the face were quite variable. Where the new snow had avalanched it was enjoyable neve but where it had not it was deep and miserable. It was really warm up there on the way down. As soon as we get some freeze thaw action higher up the route will be in great shape. White Salmon looks fine for descent. Please email with specific questions. cgentzel@aai.cc

I hate passing on 2nd hand info, but a friend of mine climbed the route late last week and reported tolerable post holing to the base of the route. Moderate post holing up to the base of the ice pitch. Very dinner platey ice on the ice pitch and then very deep wind deposited snow from the top of the ice pitch to the summit. Minor bergschrund difficulties towards the top. Go left here. There is or was the beginning of a boot pack on the Coleman Deming. Lots of soft snow in the afternoon, considerable wet snow slides between 5 and 6 thousand. Road still closed 4 miles from the trailhead. Hope this helps

-One set of Camalots (big and little optional?) -One set of Aliens (all sizes are good) -One set of nuts (BD are good) The expensive gear is worth it. Slings are personal preference, shoulder length are always best for trad. The gear listed above has yet to fail me in a cragging or alpine environment. Make do with what you have and get more when you can. Enjoy!

Approached to the base of the Stuart Glacier Couloir this weekend and bailed for various reasons. If you are thinking of heading up there and want beta let me know. cgentzel@aai.cc

Well done Mr. Layton. Quite a change in environments for you in a short time span. From Vegas, sandstone, and sunshine to Leavenworth, snow, and spindrift in a matter of days. Hardcore does not even begin to describe you. Nice job sir. Coley

Glacier Peaks Frostbite Ridge makes a good solo outing. Cant beat the views and surroundings. There is a bit of glacier travel, but crevasse danger is ultra mimimal if you stay on the ridge instead of heading up the Kennedy.

Does anyone else think the short 5.10b pitch on the Bale-Kramar route in L-worth is a little spicy for the grade. Only 1 or two hard moves but dang, kinda awkward more than anything. The Zip feels like 5.8 in comparison.

I guess you are correct on that detail. I would hesitate to call this route "the north face via the hidden couloir" though because 3/4ths of the route was the same as the triple couloirs. We definitely avoided the so called crux section of the climb (the 2nd couloir). Had conditions on this section been different it would have been the way to go but the lack of ice and amount of snow in the gully made us think twice about heading up there. Again this was just our opinion based on visual inspection of the 2nd couoloir rather than actually climbing into it for verification. Conditions may be fine once you are higher in the 2nd couloir but they did not look to great lower down. Either way, its is still a good mountain climb and plenty exciting regardless of route choices and variations.

A partner and I climbed the Triple Couloirs route this weekend. The route consisted mostly of snow climbing with very little ice to be found. The first couloir was perfect neve and went pretty fast. Instead of heading up the 2nd couloir we opted to continue up the 1st couloir and get out on to the North Face. Climbing on the face was steep sugar snow with and included a mixed step to gain the notch behind the tower mentioned in the Select book. The 3rd couloir was fairly decent 45-50 degree snow. Approach and decent conditions are great. We ditched skis at the Stuart Lake trailhead and covered the rest of the approach in boots only. Thank for the boot pack whomever you kind souls are. The route is in really fun shape but if you are looking for an alpine ice climb you might want to wait a bit for this one. Enjoy! cgentzel@aai.cc

Just got back from an 8 day trip to the Rockies. Tons of stuff to do up there. Best bet for a wide selection of climbs is still the Icefields Parkway. Many other areas are coming along nicely and worth visiting. Feel free to email me if you want more specific beta. Enjoy cgentzel@aai.cc

The easiest access to the upper ice fall is to drop down next to the feature called survey rock. I believe it is noted on most topos for the area. Just follow the Heliotrope ridge trail and dont take the climbers trail as you approach the tree line. Continue hiking through the meadow/snowfield towards the glacier overloo,k crossing two decent size streams in the process. You should see a boot track or two at this point. One will lead to the Harrison Camp (downhill into the trees) area and one should will lead uphill towards Survey rock. You can access the bottom of the upper icefall by walking under Survey rock and right down to the glacier. Some folks head down through Harrison Camp and take a steep nasty trail to the compression zone but this is much longer and a less enjoyable way og getting there. Have Fun, see ya out there

After a marathon trip to the Rockies this weekend we were able to compile to following information on route conditions. Please bear in mind that most of this info has come from visual inspection only an should taken as persons observation. My intention is to give those folks interested in early trips up there some bits of useful info to maximize their efficiency while looking for something to climb. Banff/Canmore Area-Very little snow and warm temperatures have delayed the forming of routes in and aound the Banff and Canmore areas. There is ice on Mt. Rundle but from the road it is hard to tell what is climbable and what is not. Professors looked bare, Welcome to CA has ice, and Terminator has ice. Most everything else has little or none on Rundle.-Grotto, His+Hers, Coire Dubh, Cascade, Urs Hole are non-existent. Lake Louise-Louise Falls has ice but it is not in, didnt check out Bourgeau's or Johnston area but no reports of climbing there. Ghost Area-The Ghost area is really dry as well. Not much snow and warm temps.-Big Drip has plenty of ice, This House of Sky is climbable but mot much fun due to thin ice, nothing has been reported to be climbable in the Valley of the Birds. People have climbed Sorcerer and Hydrophobia but we didn't make the trek to visually inspect. Stanley Headwall-Most climbs are formed to one degree or another and pretty much all of them have been climbed. French Reality, The Day After..., Acid Howl, Nightmre on Wolf St?, Nemesis (few rock moves to start pitch 3), Sinus Gully, Killer Pillar is not yet formed, dont know for sure about the last climb or two at the end of the headwall. Most lines are thin and steep as usual for this area. Kananaskis Country-Didnt drive up there but spoke with locals who said there is very little ice to be had. Nothing on Whiteman, Amadeus, or Mt Kidd area. R&D is getting climbed as is Chalice and the Blade. Icefields Parkway-From what we could tell the parkway is your best bet for ice up there right now. After a binocular drive through yesterday there was lots of ice to be had.-Crow Foot falls, Bow falls, Aimless, Pointless, Murchison, are all looking good and getting climbed. The longer steep routes on Wilson are not formed (Oh Le Tab, Shooting Star, etc.) but there was ice in and around L.Wilsons cleavage. Most of the big scary routes below the icefields look to have plenty of ice, (slipstream, Riptide, etc.). Polar Circus has ice on all sections and looked climbable through the binocs, it is definitely not fat but it should go. I am not sure if the wall of ice we saw hidden back in a gully towards the end of Mt Wilson was the Weeping Wall or not, but there was plenty of climbable ice there if it was. Shades of Beauty is getting climbed, Curtain call is thin and scary looking, The Wings and Stage look to be good. Not much else to be seen between here and Jasper. We did not make it up highway 11 near Elliott and surrounding area. Field, Radium, Golden-No first hand info but locals say little or no ice is around yet. I hope this helps people whe might be looking to head up there. Feel free to drop me an email with specific questions as I am sure I have missed somemthing and/or reported something in error. Happy Climbing? cgentzel@aai.cc

See route reports for British Columbia

After being introduced to a married yet attractive female, "hey there, you sure are looking healthy".