sobo

Could you guys give me better directions to these Umptanum Falls? I got some directions from erik last year that didn't seem to work for me. He said "go 9.5 miles from the schoolhouse down Manastash Road" and up the S. Fork of Manastash Creek. I ended up going 12.5 (by my odometer) to the end of the snowmobiler's parking area. Did I not go far enough? I never found the "fork in the road" either. Erik indicated (albeit rather confusingly) that another 1.5 miles may need to be walked/skied/hiked to get to the climbs. That still only adds up to 11 miles from the schoolhouse, and I drove 12.5 to parking area. Any helped is appreciated. And I've been warned about the private land already. TIA. Cheers,...sobo

Yeah, I am. I'll give him the message. I take it that he has your number. Cheers,...sobo

Alex:Thanks for the hard work and sparing me the recon trip in last weekend. And you have a tracked access mechanism now? hmmmm... Strobach's coming of age. Cheers,...sobo PS: I was out w/Cragg before Christmas. Was he one of the 3 you went in with? [ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: sobo ]

The "good leadable pillar down and to the left" of Devil's Punchbowl is called Trotsky's Revenge, WI-4. A very nice lead, as I recall... ...sobo

Never mind... I just saw Selected Climbs in the Cascades, Vol. II, at the new Hyperspud store here in Yakima. It shows a bunch of ice routes up around Banks Lake, and gives beta for 4 of the classics. ------------------

Hey, where is Even Cowgirls Get the Blues? THAT would help...

I believe if you can find the old (late 70s/early 80s?) Albe Sole guidebook (has a bluish cover), it covers several of the older classics at Banks, including most of the ones on the far (west) side of the lake. Those routes are tough to approach, tho, without a "boat belay" in sketchy conditions... ------------------

Went out with Cragg to climb Horsetail Falls on Thursday (12/15), on Forest Road 19, just off SR 410 west of the little burg of Cliffdell, WA. It was in so I led it, then we repeated it 3 times each on TR. Got down to some nasty hooking and drytooling by day's end, just to make it interesting. Then we drove up towards Chinook Pass to Union Creek Falls. To our astonishment, the upper falls were in (it's rare) and certainly leadable on the left (WI3) and right (WI4), but there was no ice in the center of the lower half (LOTS of water). By now it was now 4 pm, getting dark, about 10-12 inches of new snow on the road, and we had been the only vehicle up the road that far (no plows yet), so we headed out. We couldn't get Friday off to go back to UC Falls. The weather warmed up considerably on Friday and Saturday, so it's probably gone by now. With all the new snow and the warming, this year shows promise for later in the season.