Sweet Ice in Renton!

[Paco]

There's a sweet WI3+ ice flow in Renton. I saw some wild drips and this blue ribbon in the trees near an elementary school and that tipped me off to the multi-pitch ice cragin' area beyond the fence. The best climb is the two pitch flow on the right hand side. It's totally obvious and kinda like the money pitches on Cascade Falls near Banff. Someone had already established this and about three other similar climbs in the area. I’ve done it everyday that it’s been cold in the last two weeks, since I live nearby, and I want to be the first to solo it. I can’t believe there’s such good ice on the Westside!

[scott_harpell]

dood! les get it!!!

[catbirdseat]

(Hint: Renton)

[klenke]

Paco: take a digi camera and get a picture of it. I'd like to see it, as would lots of others probably. Is this one of the Rumors in the new ice climbing guide?

[JayB]

I was checking out the bulletin board outside of Feathered Friends today looking to see if anyone was selling some of the gear that I need for cheap, and overheard two guys talking about these lines in rather giddy (yet hushed) tones - until they realized that I was eavesdropping - at which point they shot me an annoyed look and took off. I didn't catch everything that they said - in part because on of the guys had a fairly thick accent that I couldn't quite make out (Czech?) but the guy doing most of the talking mentioned something about crossing private property so you might want to keep that in mind if you decide to check this area out. It also sounded as though they were saying that these flows are fed from seeps that result from a leak in an underground pipe of some sort that may have cracked during the recent cold snap, rather than a natural spring or runoff - so this flow might be a onetime thing as any pipe leaking that much water will likely be fixed by the time the next cold front rolls in. From what I gathered these guys were trying to keep this area under wraps so that the could keep it for themselves an their friends, so you might not get the warmest response if you crash their little "secret" stash of ice anytime soon. Sounds like the ice itself is on public property though, so they have no business hoarding it or pretending like they own it IMO.

[Charlie]

I've climbed it- WI2 at best. Nothing compared to the hard mixed routes out in Federal Way.

[Thinker]

There IS a pretty good sized valley back there near that elementary school, I can see how a broken water or sewer line could make a pretty good ice climb. Someone needs to go check it out and let us all know...