Should WCI vol 2 include some winter alpine routes

[Dru]

New edition WCI vol 2

 

Now the question is, as a potential buyer of this book do you think in addition to waterfall ice and mixed routes it should include a selection of winter alpine routes where such inclusion is warranted?

[Alex]

When Jason and I included winter alpine routes in our guide, it was with alot of trepidation on my part at least. For one, we really believed that there were already alot of resources (in WA) dedicated to this kind of information, albeit scattered. And we also knew that water ice climbers as an audience did not necessarily translate to alpine ice climbers as an audience. And finally, mountain weather and climbing is significantly more dangerous than day routes in the desert, and requires a higher level of skill and judgement (dont want to send newbs to their unsuspected doom). However, we included them because we believed that water ice climbing as an adventure eventually leads to alpine ice climbing (in many cases the distinction here in the PNW is pretty blurred) and that adding a few objectives that were longer than a day route could service the minority of climbers new to the area looking for a real introduction to classic winter alpine climbing in the region.

 

The original West Coast Ice guide had "The Lions in Winter" however, so there is at least some precedent there to revise the book towards this direction?

[Dru]

Don told me he was gonna drop the winter alpine stuff and I am trying to persuade him otherwise

 

In addition to Lions in winter the others that should be in there IMHO are N face of Cheam; NE couloir of Lady; alpine mixed cragging on Blackcomb; winter alpine routes on Slesse and Rexford; Mt Harvey; and, Coquihalla Pass area.

[jordop]

Oh gawd, at least Sumallo could be put in; prob more reliable than half the climbs in the book

[Dru]

i forgot about the sumallo cirque

[Alex]

It seems like the Coquihalla area would be a good addition to me, as it is pretty accessible and close enough to Hope that if there is no ice lower down in the valley and you dont want to go to Lil'wet *yet again* you might have some other options.

[Dru]

the box canyon and jarvis bluffs are already in WCI 1 I am just thinking of the NE ridge of Needle (and maybe the N face too altho I don't know for sure if its been climbed in winter) and the gullies on the N side of the Nak-Thar ridge, and whatever that Knight/Hughes route on Yak is.

[Dru]

if you want water ice that's high up but not lillooet go to manning park

[tomtom]

There should be a bouldering section as well.

[Dru]

there already is (it's called "summer seracing") thanks to frozen fishstick

[Dru]

^^bump^^