sobo Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 OK, so I couldn’t get out earlier in the week when it was really cold, but Cragg and I managed to hook up for both days this past weekend to swing tools. Here’s the goods: Saturday: Peekaboo, at the Great Wall (page 207 in The Guide), saw its first lead (I had provided incorrect info to the The Guide’s authors in late 2002, misunderstanding Cragg’s comments – In truth, Peekaboo had only seen a few TRs prior to this weekend). Once led and seconded, we debated about upping the grade to 3+ because of its steepness. We each made two additional laps on TR, and decided to leave it as it is in The Guide. Remember to take two ropes for the rappel, because even though the ice is only about 40-50 feet, it’s a long way up to the rap tree. Moved over to Horsetail Falls, which was as fat as I’ve ever seen it. We dispatched it with three laps on it solo, each. Moved up the highway to Union Creek Falls (page 209), which is a tough one to catch in condition. After busting the trail in with snowshoes, we were rewarded with the best conditions that either of us had ever seen for this climb. My turn to lead. I led up the left side of the falls, repeating the first ascent of 2002. It was so fat, we thought about downgrading it to just a 3. But Cragg insists that I always undergrade, so we left it alone as well. By now it was pretty damn dark, so we trudged out by headlamp. Total for the day: 3 routes, 350 vertical feet per climber. Cursed myself for not bringing a camera! Sunday: Figgerd that we better get back on Union Creek, as its never been as good as it was yesterday. I remembered to bring a camera this time, so we took pics of Peekaboo, Two Face, and Horsetail on the way up to Union Creek. The trip in to the falls was a cruise this time, given the previous day’s trailbreaking effort. Cragg took the lead today, and we set up a TR on the left side, and just took laps. Lots of fun experimenting with Figure 4s and ¼” pick placements. For Cragg’s fourth and last trip up, he veered way right of the TR anchor, taking on the center of the falls, which by now were no longer encased in the sheltering tube of yesterday. He got totally soaked, but enjoyed it all the same. For my last trip, I went extreme left and climbed the verglassed rock wall to the left of the bulges below the TR anchor. Pure vertical columns and icicles - very pumpy! I would call it a WI4+/5- if it were to be led. Had to rest 2 or 3 times by hanging on tools and front points (no tight ropes allowed). Someone get out there and ropegun it for this fat old white boy and confirm or refute it. We had some visitors come by and gawk for a bit and ask some reasonably intelligent questions, then we packed up and headed out. Total for the day: 1 route, 320 vertical feet per climber. Will try to figger out how to post pics to The Gallery. PS: I posted a correction to The Guide regarding the Union Creek Falls descent route. Instead of rappelling from the downed tree on the top right , rappel from good trees and exposed tree roots on the top left of the route . Once at the top of the ice, continue up a narrow gully in snow beneath cedars to the tree roots and rap slings and ring. Now get out there and get some! Quote
sobo Posted January 13, 2004 Author Posted January 13, 2004 Dropped the roll off at lunch today, pick 'em up tomorrow evening (cheaper that way), scan 'em and post to Gallery on Wednesday. I like my old SLR for action pics way better than my digital camera. Press shutter release, wham!, picture taken. None of this wait wait wait click! BS. Quote
cracked Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 I was just playing around with my new camera, and I find if you hold the button down halfway, prefocused, there is almost no lag time between pressing the button and activating the shutter. Quote
BigWave Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 Nice work Sobo! I was hoping that stuff was coming in. I'm really bummed, I was stuck at work during the great freeze. Any word on the Stobach approach. I'm guessing there's plenty of snow. Know anything? Quote
sobo Posted January 14, 2004 Author Posted January 14, 2004 Nope, haven't been in since way back before Christmas. I was kinda thinkin' that someone would go in over the Great Freeze, but apparently not. It's warm up there right now. WSDOT White Pass cam sez it's 34F right now, with FL rising to 5500 feet by Saturday. MLK Day is looking like upper 20s at the elevation of the Strobach base (4500 feet). With the warm temps, the snow will melt and become free water , but it's gotta get back down in the teens/low 20s for a week or so after that to get the climbs to come in good. The snow depth will be killer from now on. Best to plan on an o-night bivy, or wrestle a snowmachine in there for day trips. Quote
sobo Posted January 16, 2004 Author Posted January 16, 2004 As promised: The Practice Wall on Forest Road 19 (just off SR 410) on the way in to Peekaboo. Horsetail Falls on FR 19 on Sunday, 1/11/04. The Great Wall on FR 19. Two Face is the curtain in center (not fully formed) and Peekaboo is the ribbon in the distance on left. FR 19: Cragg at the base of Peekaboo, 1/11/04. He snagged the FA lead the day before. SR 410: Cragg at the base of Union Creek Falls (Left Side Route) on Sunday, 1/11/04. The standard LSR follows the bulges and/or ramps a few feet to the right of the edge of the ice, passes by the left side of the downed tree, and ends at the top of the gully (out of view). The WI4+/5- (TR) line of mine followed the extreme left edge, on the icicles, right next to where the ice peters out against the wall. Traverse right to exit once at the level of the downed tree. SR 410: Cragg topping out of the standard LSR of Union Creek Falls. In this picture, you can better see the line I TR'ed to Cragg's left, at the edge of the frame. Nothin' stellar, just hope you enjoyed lookin' at them as much as we enjoyed climbin' them! Quote
Alpinfox Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 Nice pics Sobo! Congrats to your buddy on that Peakaboo FA; that looks like a really nice one. Quote
sobo Posted January 16, 2004 Author Posted January 16, 2004 It was schweet. We'd both been looking for the FA lead of Peekaboo for some time. He offered it to me, but I let him take it since he'd been waiting many years longer than me to tag it. Besides, I got the FA lead of Union Creek a coupla years ago, which I thought was cool. Quote
jstreet Posted January 28, 2004 Posted January 28, 2004 Anybody been over to these climbs since this report? Wondering if these climbs survived the warm spell and might be in shape for this coming weekend (jan31/feb 1) Quote
sobo Posted January 28, 2004 Author Posted January 28, 2004 Cragg and another buddy of ours went back the next weekend and repeated Peekaboo and Horsetail Falls, but Union Creek Falls had fallen down by then. It was coming apart as we were climbing it on the 11th the weekend before. It may come back in one more time this season, but not this weekend. I would expect that all of our Little Naches ice has vanished by now. It's been high 30sF days/32F nights here since last week. Not good for holding Peekaboo or Horsetail together. Go to Strobach and give TR. Read up on this thread first. Quote
KingsMM Posted December 2, 2007 Posted December 2, 2007 What does it take for the Chinook Pass climbs to freeze? I'm looking at white pass weather. Should i assume about the same temps? Quote
sobo Posted January 4, 2008 Author Posted January 4, 2008 Good lord, King, you really dredged the bottom of the barrel to drag this one up, eh? What, this thread dead for almost four years? Check the temps at the NFS website for the campgrounds up Chinook Pass way. Sawmill Flats is the one I usually use. If I can find the link, I'll post it. Quote
kevino Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 (edited) If you look in the conditions thread I went to all of these climbs on new years day. All the stuff on road 19 was not in, and union falls looked nothing like it did in that picture. Only climbable ice as about 2-3 wide on right side of the falls. Edited January 4, 2008 by kevino Quote
sobo Posted January 4, 2008 Author Posted January 4, 2008 Kevin, I think KingsMM knows the climbs are not in. What I gathered he was looking for was a weather/temperature indicator that he could monitor (without committing to actually *going* to the climbs) to determine the likelihood of when the climbs *would* be in. There was a site that I used to have bookmarked that monitored the max/min temps at the NFS campgrounds and kept an archive so you could look back a few days/weeks for the temp trends. It was an information source that proved reliable enough for me to make the trek up in there and usually resulted in climbable ice. Quote
kevino Posted January 6, 2008 Posted January 6, 2008 Well touche then. So whats the site you used? Quote
sobo Posted January 6, 2008 Author Posted January 6, 2008 I apparently dumped that link when I changed computers a few months back. Googling hasn't brought it back up yet. I have a message into a friend that looks at data like this, to see if he can provide me the link. If he can, I'll post it here. Put this thread into your Watched Topics bin. Quote
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