Lillooet TR

[EWolfe]

Met up with some folks at the Mile 0 on Friday in preparation for my first outing ice climbing.

 

Arriving 6 hours after leaving Bellingham to bitter cold, and Room 103:

 

Michael playing dangerously with ice tools shortly before jumping on the bed and busting out some "Night At The Roxbury" dance moves...I stayed on the other side of the room, as he had a wild, dangerous look about him. Like a man too long in a small space with an angst-addled Pole.

After applying sedatives to all parties, things finally settled down.

 

Woke up at 6:30 to -25 temperatures, went out to the parking lot, and noticed 5 or 6 "back-window drawings" by a visiting artist. Here's one of the master strokes:

 

 

Got breakfast and headed out, realizing I had not nearly enough layers for this weather. On the windy drive up saw a coyote cross the road in front of us, and knew the Trickster was around for the n00b .

It had warmed up to a balmy -20 or so by the time we set out for a 25 minute hike over powder-covered scree towards a small falls. 15 minutes into it, I turned a bad knee on a hidden dinnerplate,a little "rrrr" escaping as I went down.

I soon forgot about my knee, however, as we came upon a steam vent under a rock. Steam was pouring out from under it into the cold air, and had created these delicate ice feathers that hung off the belly of the boulder like a boa. We walked by and felt a gush of warm air, and saw a series of stalagmites along the base, as layered as a cave deposit, slowly building, as the steam warmed the stalagtites above.

 

We heard the rush of the water soon after, and I suspected a "not-ideal" exchange of looks as we approached.

Water was pouring off the formation, and, as the leader donned the goretex,I couldn't help but wonder, with a naive mind, how it could be this cold and the ice be that wet.

After a short pitch that soaked and cabled both ropes, our fearsome leader took off on lead, almost detached a monsterous pillar and set up a double v-thread to bail off. I was wet and freezing by the time all this transpired, and got the screaming barfies on the way down.

I was barely able to stumble back to my pack and put on my down jacket (which I forgot to bring, thinking: Short climb!) before the real pain set in.

Miserable and wet, I stashed my stuff, one of the cables that was a rope, and stumbled off, my toes, fingers and knee throbbing.

Got back to the van hungry and found a frozen lunch. Water too. Cranking the heater to warm frozen potato salad, partners smoothly pulled food out of their inner pockets.

 

Went to do Hell Creek, and was bodily dragged out of the van kicking and screaming by said partners (not really)

 

"We INSIST you do another climb with us!"

 

""

 

It was actually fun this time!

 

Started getting the hang of it, and since we were soloing, was able to keep moving - a real plus.And it was drier ice, although still a bit brittle from the cold.

Got back to the van just at Dusk and headed back to the Motel.

Saturday night was great fun, had a few visitors after the Canucks game ( and a few "sheepish" looks at our artiste) :

 

 

Next morning it was bitter cold again. Someone had thoughtfully inscribed a human-sheep exchange onto my van during the night, so I felt truly accepted.

I took much abuse about my insistence that I "try ice climbing again when it is not quite so cold" (read: noway I am going today )

 

"You must learn to enjoy suffering!"

"You just shut your brain off!"

 

I was taking it a bit personally, I must say. Then I saw it, our artists helmet:

 

 

Amid derisive comments about my sponsorship? with jabs at the stickers on my helmet, I had to laugh at the whole affair. Thanks Coyote, you Old Trickster.

 

And partners for putting up!

 

Edited January 5, 2004 by MisterE

[Dru]

Wed: drove up. Inspected some stuff that wasn't in yet. Climbed Oregon Jack. Fat and much travelled. Lost camera. Drove 100kms to and from spot where camera was lost. Person who found camera refused reward, i have camera again. Jason from Tranquille, Margho wants her Peru Lonely planet back!

 

Beer. New Years. Canucks lose 4-2 to Colorado

 

Thurs: inspected Bridge River canyon with a guidebook author researching his next opus. Found Steristrip M5 in WI4 conditions. I backed off roof move on lead cause I am a chicken. Guidebook author sent.

 

Fri: hiked up long dry hillside to find minimal ice in desired gully. Went to Hell Creek instead. Climbed a couple short WI4 pillars in the right hand gully.

 

Sat: Carl's Berg. Very fat. Berg overflowing onto Mossy Balls. Don sent. Steve sent. I flailed. It was -25C. Brrr!

 

Saw lotsa cool ice in the duffy. Climbing with guidebook author very useful, he can ID things you have wondered about for the last 5 years.

 

Canucks won . Drank a lot of beers

 

Big props to veggiebelay gregW mr e fern don_serl jay_b & partner iceicebaby jja polishbob mike_layton ade alisdair and non-ccommers steve, russ, marcus, nick and aaron for making the new yrs ice trip 2004 such good fun

 

Sunday: still -20C in Lillooet. Frostbite risk with windchill to -32C. Steve and I went to Thompson, Happy Boy pillar not touching down, wandered up Energizer, good fun. The huge hanging drip above Shaw Springs is still just a drip.

 

It is so cold the Fraser River at Agassiz has frozen over from bank to bank. I expect polar bears on my front lawn and penguins in my bathtub. This is so

Edited January 5, 2004 by Dru

[JUSTO]

Any idea if a new edition of West Coast Ice is in the works? Seems like a lot of new activity has been occuring the last few years.

[Don_Serl]

re: west coast ice 2:

yah, i'm digging for info. the 1st edition sold out last year, and i didn't have enuf energy and time after finishing the waddington guide to get WCI2 out for this winter - apologies to those of you desiring beta in guide book form... especially with what looks to be a totally stellar season coming in...

fyi, a pretty decent job of compiling route info for the WCI area is available on-line at: http://www.aranet.ca/icybc/

and when u get to lillooet, the mini-guide from last year's ice fest is available to peruse over breakfast at the cafe in the reynolds. pretty confusing tho, cuz the routes are listed (by geographic section) in grade order, so it's hard to tell what's where.

i'll get a separate post up requesting input. pls PM me if you've got anything.

cheers,

[Alex]

Don, can I link to this site from www.wastateice.net on the links page?

 

Alex

[JayB]

I still haven't had the time to upload the photos and whatnot yet from the trip - but I thought I'd make a quick post here to give a mega and many thanks to Don for sticking around to jump start my truck Sunday morning. Thanks again!

 

Next time I head up to the GWN I am going to bring the ultra-extension cord and heat the bejesus out of the engine block over night to insure that I will be the jumper rather than the jumpee.

 

P.S. That's the back of my truck in Eric's photo, and Polish Bob's fine artwork is still there. The touching depiction of animal husbandry depicted therein generated many positive comments from the US customs officers while they were giving my truck the full search. I think this particular work would be a fine candidate for the next round of cc.com stickers.

[Don_Serl]

alex,

 

re: link, i don't know. this is not my site; you'll have to contact the author. i don't know who is behind the site, but there is a contact listed on the webpage. e-mail him/her.

 

in fact, quite a bit of the info is "borrowed" from West Coast Ice. (ditto the ice fest guide from 2003.)

however, i don't really mind too much.

#1, WCI is out of print, so there's an information vacuum;

#2, i'm not writing guidebooks to get rich (although the publisher has more concern for cost recovery and income generation; this is not a hobby);

#3, quite a bit of the info is lifted from other sources (Canadian Alpine Journal, bivouac.com, etc);

#4, the "author" has been careful to provide pretty much just the facts (which are not copyright protected) and not my treatment of them;

#5, i'm far more committed to being an ice climber than an author, and i sympathize with all ways of distributing info to fellow ice climbers;

#6, in today's world, a "paper" publication as to "add value" in some way to compete with web-based info sources - which i reckon your washington guide does, and which i fully intend for WCI2 to do.

 

most people probably still prefer to pack a book along to their motel room or vehicle passenger seat, but there will always be those who will download and print the cheapest source of info out there - and i empathize with them - i was young and broke once too!

 

cheers,

[fern]

'the author' does not care who links to that site.

Also 'the author' intends (and always has intended) to

dismantle the site once the WCIv2 is in print.

[Dru]

hmmm i wonder who that mysterious author could be

[Alex]

You guys are way too subtle for my addled brain! OK, thanks Don and Fern!

 

Alex

[Lambone]

re: west coast ice 2:

especially with what looks to be a totally stellar season coming in...

 

and when u get to lillooet, the mini-guide from last year's ice fest is available to peruse over breakfast at the cafe in the reynolds.

 

Don, looking forward to the new book. Every time I have been to lillooet at least one party has asked me if I have the guide, and where they could get it.

 

Regarding the first statement, is this season more like a typical season in the past, i.e. is it better than usual or just better than it has been the past few years?

 

Second,

Winters Edge sporting goods store in Lillooet is selling that paper guide for $5 CD I believe.

[tomtom]

#1, WCI is out of print, so there's an information vacuum;

#2, i'm not writing guidebooks to get rich (although the publisher has more concern for cost recovery and income generation; this is not a hobby);

#5, i'm far more committed to being an ice climber than an author, and i sympathize with all ways of distributing info to fellow ice climbers;

#6, in today's world, a "paper" publication as to "add value" in some way to compete with web-based info sources - which i reckon your washington guide does, and which i fully intend for WCI2 to do.

 

most people probably still prefer to pack a book along to their motel room or vehicle passenger seat, but there will always be those who will download and print the cheapest source of info out there - and i empathize with them - i was young and broke once too!

 

cheers,

I bought a copy of Don's Waddington guidebook, and it is excellent, not only for the route descriptions and photos, but also for the history.

 

I'm looking forward to WCIce II.

[PaulB]

... is this season more like a typical season in the past, i.e. is it better than usual or just better than it has been the past few years?

As a relative newcomer to the West Coast (this is my 5th winter) I'm also curious to know how these conditions compare to the "norm".

[Dru]

this is pretty damn good, not like '93 or '96 yet, but getting there

[Lambone]

This is pretty funny, since just before Christmas you and about 10 other people were telling me that I'd be wasting my time driving to Lilooet...

 

Like you said about Shriek of the Sheep, it is amazing how much conditions can change in just a week or two.

[Dru]

Before Christmas it was so suck. It only got cold at Christmas. Pretty much everything good and worth doing has only come in in the last week.

 

Going up to Lillooet to climb the Rambles, Marble Canyon, and Oregon Jack, is so

[layton]

yeah, but if you only go up like once a year it's kind of a fun tradition. more for the trip than the ice. of course that's loser talk.

[Lambone]

yeah, and when you are with your wife it doesn't really matter anyway, cause Marble and the Rambles is enough for them. Unless you are daler

[Dru]

"wife"?

[JayB]

Hey I recognize that truck. Who was the loser driving that thing anyways?