[TR] Lillooet Ice Fest- Xwisten Column &c 2/8/2004

[Dru]

Climb: Lillooet Ice Fest-Xwisten Column and The Groke

 

Date of Climb: 2/8/2004

 

Trip Report:

Steve and I drove up Feb 06 and stayed at the Four Pines. Formerly known as the "Four Porns" for the variety of late night sat dish TV available this place has moved to cable....

 

Met Don and Janez along with the Nuge and Graham at Reynolds in the AM. Ate the usual and drove out to Xwisten. Don, Steve Janez and I began the approach. First pitch of Xwisten Steps was rotted-out in the middle so we bypassed via a scramble around on the left and kept going.

 

At the first fork in the gully I had us climb out right. Well, we should have taken the second fork. After wandering around all over the hillside we finally ended up at the Xwisten Column after about a 3 hour death march.

 

Don took the sharp end and dispatched this 50m line of ice. The first section was almost overhanging on horrible ice then some ramps led to a final blue pillar. I fell off the pillar seconding, then Steve 3rded and Janez 4thed and the sun began to set. Descent via proper gully by headlamp, downclimbing and bum sliding down WI2 steps and back to the car and into the Reynolds before the kitchen closed.

 

Steve and I made small talk with Michelle (the cute bartender) while eating double orders of pickled horsecock. All sorts of other riffraff like Lyle Knight, capt. caveman and HRoark showed up. Finally we all went over to the Legion Hall, shocked the Bc Darts Champs by throwing some ice tools tomahawk stylee at the dart board, and then drank beer and Don showed slides. Lyle gave out the last 19 copies of the legendary LILLOOET ICE MAP so if you weren't there u shoulda been.

 

Up at 7 AM. we were paying $10 a night extra for a jacuzzi room so i had a morning ja-cooz.

 

Same old breakfast and Steve and I drove up the Duff. Well polishbob and justin were racking up for Closet Secrets so we went back to Tube but Don, the Nuge, Janez and Graham were already there. So Don said "why don't you go climb the ice ***right*** of El Nino and Wishful Thinking cause it's still unclimbed" yeehaw!

 

Parked across from El Nino. popstholed around until we found an ice jam and made it across the river. Postholed downstream and up to the ice. NOTE: on Lyle's ice map, Wishful Thinking is shown in the position of our route. If we had had ice map along this would have been a warning...

 

Anyways after a two hour slog ( I had snowshoes and Steve didnt but they didnt make much diff kneedeep in pow pow) we got to this ice and started up a narrow gully. The upper tier had a variety of lines possible WI 2-3+ish and I climbed this skinny little pillar on the right for a WI3+ finish with good exposure. There is some nice mixed potential in this area on postive schist edges joining together icicles up overhanging rock.

 

Slogged back to car and out shooting shit with other climbers along the way out on road. Ken4play, dbb and alpinfox did Synchro... polishbob DID NOT do Shreddie

 

Good times in Lillooet!

 

Steve and I were going to call new route today "The Groke" after an icy monster in Tove Jansson book. I will try to find picture. However as it was actually Wishful Thinking its all a bit irrelevant.

 

of note; Lyle and Fern and Brad went off to climb some secret ice in the Bridge that was soooo secret Lyle did not even want to tell me where it was - in case he failed he wanted it to remain secret

 

 

Gear Notes:

beer, Legion Hall, ice, jacuzzi, scews, snowshoes, headlamps, 420

 

Approach Notes:

Post holing and foot slogging and bum sliding.

Edited February 9, 2004 by Dru

[Dru]

 

This is the Groke!

With that nose she actually looks a bit like Graham

[jordop]

.

Edited June 8, 2021 by jordop

[Dru]

Hmm i Just looked at my CAJ and it seems we may have climbed Wishful Thinking after all (ice map is right), and the unclimbed line may be the leftmost line. It sure sounds similar with the 5 m pillar and all. In that case the left hand line with the huge avvy gully above it is the unclimbed line? I leave it to Don to sort this one out.

 

There were no rap slings at top of route but there were a branch or two that migght have been sawed off on a tree?

[Martin_Kristiansen]

Thanks for a very cool slideshow, to bad that Don was the only contributor, I guess modern digital equipment is needed if others are to show some pics.

On Sunday we climbed IcyBc after several recommendations, and true it was a real nice climb (we have never been to Lillooet before) - we did however get the impression, that there are several "must do's" so that is great.

Afterwards we climbed the mix line just to the left of IcyBc (toproped) can anyone help out with a name and maybe a grade of that climb, it was really nice a delicate for the first 25m. is it maybe No deductible and a M5? the one on the picture

 

By the way - the Marble Canyon parking lot makes a perfect camping area - then you don't have to worry about where to eat breakfast in the Morning.

[Dru]

ya that is no deductible

[LYleK]

Climb: Lillooet Ice Fest-Xwisten Column and The Groke

 

Date of Climb: 2/8/2004

 

of note; Lyle and Fern and Brad went off to climb some secret ice in the Bridge that was soooo secret Lyle did not even want to tell me where it was - in case he failed he wanted it to remain secret

 

 

Fern was sworn to secrecy early on in the evening, and given the backout option after I described the approach, and possibility that it might not even be formed. She was still keen though, so Brad and I joined her at 5:45am for the Cookhouse chokedown. They slept on the way out to the Bridge, and we stopped to talk to some guys racking for Night N Gale.

 

I'd flown by Boulder Ck. a few years back and caught a glimpse of a cool pillar rising out of the hanging valley at the top. I thought Dru might have got a glimpse of it when he climbed Taikanaut (sp?) so thought I'd better get in for a look. So, with the mindset that Boulder Ck had to be the approach pitches we headed up. I have to revise the route description boxes on the map for Boulder. It was a plod up a gully for several hundred metres to a 20m WI 2, 35m WI2+, and 15m WI2+/3. Any ice on the approach to this was under snow. Thanks to they party that packed it out the week earlier.

 

Fern led the first WI2 pitch, Brad jumped on the next one. It was open in the middle but looked good on the sides, but this wasn't the case. The basic make-up of the ice was: 1/ rock base, 2/ 3cm of air, 3/ 2cm good ice, 4/ 3cm compact snow layer, and 5/ 2cm of aerated snowcone. So after 3 marginal screws up the hollow veneer Brad crested and stopped. We couldn't hear him over the water noise, so didn't know what was up. He place a screw, pull it out, move down. Turns out he'd run out of ice and had to cross over the open water after stepping from hollow sheet to sheet, pretty sketch. He equalized two screws and made the move, but not before a big chunk of ice slap broke loose and shook the falls.

 

He belayed us up from a tree(there's one at the top of each pitch). The final p. was wide open. We'd put the binoculars on it from the dam and it looked like there was a climbable ramp on the right, but this wasn't the case. So the intrepid Fern bashed off up the left ridge and we managed to find a rap-point into the top.

 

So at this point Fern brings up the news that Kris W. has hiked up through the valley in the past and didn't find much for ice..."I thought you would have known..." she said I just hoped he'd missed the base of the route somehow, so decided to drop my pack and go for a recce.

 

The gully was kneedeep for a bit, quickly becoming thigh-deep as I worked my way up. Fern and Brad worked their way up to the first open bowl, where I'd expected the ice. There was a 30m overhanging wall, with a fang hanging about 1/3 of the way down. Brad and Fern waited here as I pushed my way up. After walking up to the main hanging portion of the valley I was able to figure out the geometry of the valley versus what I'd seen from the air.

 

The back of the valley has a slabby 1/2 pitch WI3, which Fern thinks Kris climbed on his venture. And I could see this from the air. So I'm pretty confident the pillar I saw is above the fang in the bowl, and the approach pillar hadn't formed. This part would have been hidden when I flew by, so don't know if ever does form, but there's a sweet pillar up there for someone if it ever does. At least I was able to get it off my to-do list, thanks to Brad and Fern for their efforts.

 

We've informally renamed Boulder Creek Fall "Less Polar, More Circus" for the long ramble up the gully, but with less avalanche hazard and minimal ice.

 

It was Brad's first trip through the Bridge (he was asleep on the way out), so gave him the tour of the ice through the Canyon. His comments were that there is still lots of unclimbed stuff to do, everything is surprisingly thin after the amount of cold weather, and everything seems to have a long, steep approach. Sounds like the Bridge

 

On ice:

 

Jade: Formed, looks like a big pillar from the road;

Michelmoon: Had some big holes in the middle;

Old Dogs: Looks anemic (sp?), still leadable;

Steri-Strip: Way thinner than in the Pics shown by Don at the Legion, a mixed climb again;

Trouble Waters and Drake: Look good;

Silk Degrees: Not there;

Silk Worm: Looks like it might be climbable;

New Leash: Random Icicles;

The Gift: The top is fat, the bottom pitches are v. thin pillars;

Night N Gale: Looks fat and blue;

Terzaghi: It looks in but thin.

[Dru]

i couldnt see any ice at all back in that hanging valley so much for extreeeem secrecy

[LYleK]

i couldnt see any ice at all back in that hanging valley so much for extreeeem secrecy

 

Is the Chinese Astroknot climb up from the old FS Rec site there (ie. above and left of the big avy gully?)? I noted obvious ice opposite boulder that looked like that in your pic, but though you guys were further to the west. It looked to be about the right size, but is above the cliffs after you come out of the tunnel so you'd have to traverse in from the right.

 

It was worthy of keeping secret, esp. if it would have materialized, but it's all good. Ancient Chinese proverb: Never share ice-beta with West Coast climber who post 17,000 times.

[Dru]

straight up from the rec site, you dont have to traverse at all. i think that ice you would have to traverse to may be what Dave Zulinke and Phil Clark climbed in 2001?

[Don_Serl]

dru,

 

sorry about misleading you. i was going by the map, and had not fully sorted the area out in my head from the '98 CAJ article. 'wishful thinking' is marked at the outflow of the creek - it shld be in the alcove/corner just left of the toe of the ridge [about 1cm further N on the map than it is shown]. we drove out monday with jia, and he was clear the the righthand-most route was the one he and miller did.

 

and 'el nino' shld be marked on the map where 'wishful thinking' lies.

 

which leaves the little column unclimbed.

 

jia did a brilliant job on a new mixed line at the upper rambles, btw.

'no, really': 25m M7 WI5R.

up a bit, then traverse right 10m from the top of the snow ( 1 bolt) to a 2 bolt station. dry tool the seam (2 bolts, crux), hook the ice into the alcove (#3 camalot), then climb the very-much-steeper-than-it-looks exit ice (poor short and medium screws). i didn't have the power to pull the crux hooks, but eventually managed to kinda-climb, kinda-get towed up it; polish bob JUST stuck it... effing hard! a good way to end the weekend!

 

cheers,

[Dru]

Don, I don't hold it against you, because we had fun.

 

But now I want to go back and do the left hand of those 3 lines.

[LYleK]

Here's a pic of the WI3 pitch on Boulder Ck (Bridge Canyon - Lillooet) that Brad led. You can see the open last pitch just above.

[dbb]

 

Hey, he didn't lead it! you can see the top rope!

[Dru]

Maybe it was a pink-point or for ice would you say a "front point"

[Dru]

 

Don on the lead.

[Stemalot]

Elephunky moves...stem to the right on the rock lower down and then you can lean your back against a small piece of an over hanging roof... interesting rest position, but can't swing tool ! Good ramp up to the base of the final pillar. Beautiful yet steep pillar gives a final sting to the climb.

 

Stuff like this is more interesting than just a straight forward steep ice bash.

[thelawgoddess]

pretty pic dru!

[Dru]

I should mention for all you desperate FA hounds Fern and I went back this w/e and climbed that left hand "unclimbed ice" that Steve and I were misled on last weekend. Turns out it is a 25m WI2 despite what it looks like from the road.

 

And you only have to hike an hour plus to find that out.

[layton]

dats pretty exteme Dru. glad to have you back!