Local Ice

[jja]

Your welcome!

We were there just after christmas and tr'd it. I'm sort of new to ice, so what would you say that is, WI3?

jja

 

[Alex]

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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited 04-10-2001).]

[Colin]

Skipped the last period of school today and went up to the numbered falls at Alpental. This year's light snowpack has been a big bonus here, for there are many little ice climbs that are completely buried under snow during most winters. It is certainly no ice climbing destination, but what better place is there to go on a weekday afternoon?

[none_dup1]

Colin:

You should be in school young man.

Kids these days . . . .

[Cal_Droke]

I went to Bank's a couple times last week.

Devil's PB in good shape, but there was a lot of ice falling on us (therefore the name?)

The Emerald was in great shape. A ice chimney of sorts has formed on the left, lots of fun to jam oneself into for a break.

[Alex]

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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited 04-10-2001).]

[none_dup1]

Though not an ice route, here's a report on Red Mountain, S.W. Ridge, Grade II.

Doug Walker, Laurie Andrews, and I climbed it yesterday (Sunday 1/21)) car-to-car in 5:45. It snowed all day, with freezing rain by the end. We got soaked. There seemed to be an inversion taking place.

With about 8 inches of new snow on the older crust layer, we were very careful to stay on the ridge proper, connecting trees and rock outcrops. Doing it that way felt safe, but we did not venture onto the adjacent faces. Snow cover on the ridge was quite low in places.

We used snowshoes for a while on the lower ridge out of Commonwealth Basin, never donned crampons, and didn't rope up.

Though not a difficult route, this is a fun one and a good training climb. Nelson and Potterfield set forth the particulars in their new book.

John Sharp

Bellevue

[Guest]

Drury Falls is in and with plastic ice.

Climbed it Sunday. River is about as low as it ever gets and can be crossed almost directly across from the drainage. Current is very weak. No need to cross all the way down at the lake. Last pitch had a little bit of sun damage and was a little hollow at the finish.

 

[dan_e]

I was also at Banks Lake this weekend and Alex is right on with the condition descriptions, so I won't bother repeating. I can say this being my second trip there ever, that the ice that's formed so far is pretty challenging. The topouts on most of the climbs I have done were thin and detached from the rock. Also, most of the climbs have bushes and trees at the top. This makes for an interesting, if not more dangerous top-out. That's about it, it was barely cold enough to climb this weekend, the temps were around freezing. It snowed a bit on Sat. night and Sun. A note about Devil's Punchbowl, I witnessed a climber getting nailed by a few large chunks of ice while climbing the fat ice on the right side, icicles keep forming high above this route and with the warm temps start falling down. It seems like this is fairly common, but I would be wary of climbing in there when temps are even near freezing, even so there is a hazard.

[This message has been edited by dane (edited 01-22-2001).]

[This message has been edited by dane (edited 01-22-2001).]

[Alex]

Drury Falls:

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Climbed Drury with Scott B. and Dan E. on Saturday in baking sunshine and a sea of clouds. The route is fat and blue, with some funky surface crud in places but decent pro overall. Jens is right (see previous post on Drury), you can cross the river easily right below the drainage, just upstream of a little, longish island. There is a beaten track all the way up, enjoy!

[dan_e]

I just wanted to add a few things about Drury Falls. I am very happy to have finally done this climb, the overall experience was amazing. Crossing the river where we did made the approach faster, but use caution if you cross here, it's still moving water and could turn nasty if you are not prepared. The ice is thick and was great for climbing, it was really warm though. I would say the upper climb on the right was about WI4, possibly a bit easier on the left. We did it in three pitches, the last one was the shortest, only about 50' or so. The semi-hanging belay here was amazing, great exposure and an amazing view of surrounding landscape. We were above an undercast all day. Good luck to anyone else trying this climb this year, you will love it!

[This message has been edited by dane (edited 01-29-2001).]

[MattR]

Anyone checked out Horsetail Falls lately? Any chance of enough being in to play on toprope?

[Alex]

There are currently some short and sometimes top-ropeable flows in the Alpental Valley, as well as larger, meaner routes on the approach from Source Lake to Chair.

[MattR]

quote:

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Originally posted by MattR:

Anyone checked out Horsetail Falls lately? Any chance of enough being in to play on toprope?

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Answered my own question today - no ice at Horsetail. There were a few smears a few hundred yards down the road that were easy to top rope that were fun and made the drive not a total waste

 

[geordie]

Was it L-Even-worth-it?

Went to Leavenworth in search of the elusive beast this weekend. Hubba Hubba was not in, but 2 parties climbed Hubba Hubba left. (3R)Bring rock gear (pins) and a sense of adventure or just go someplace else. Sunday climbed Rainbow Falls left (4+?) across from Snow creek lot. One of us managed to lead this short, but sweet beast and the rest tried in on TR. The top out sucks. "There wasn't even moss, I mean there was moss, but not the kind you can have any confidence in." However, this route was fatter than anything else we saw in the Icicle. A third party reported having a good day on Millenium wall.

[dbb]

Phil and I took a tour de Eastern Washington on Saturday, and here's what we found.

Stopped in at the palisades early saturday, didn't have any problems with crowds on the routes, and no access issues with the locals! All the climbs were little more than wet rock.

Ditching the palisades, we drove towards banks. Things were still in there but thinner than a month ago. Most of the standard routes were still climable, but the cable looked weaker and Phase transition was allmost out. It saw some top ropes, but the main pillar in the upper section was the only climbable part of the upper wall. The punch bowl is still in good shape, but is pretty picked out. It was decently cold so people said that there had only been ~4-5 pummelings that day. Trotsky's Folly was still in, and probably leadable. The ice gets all the way to the top now, but the upper 1/2 is looking a little abused.

Phil and I climbed a unknown route S of mile marker 10. This brushy looking corner climb had decently thick ice because it had a nice rib blocking the southerly aspect. The climb was about 25-30 meters, climbed in two steep steps. The first was strait foreward 80 deg., but the second was a nasty brushy mess that lead to a tounge of 4 in. of detached ice before toping out in frozen moss and mint. We don't know if it's been climbed before, but it probably wont be climbed again! A fitting name would be "Brush Hell", and it's probably about 3+

Didn't get to see any of the beer climbs around soap lake, but I would assume that they're a little on the thin side as well.

Dave

[Retrosaurus]

Saturday, 2/10/1, I did what I believe to be a first ascent. From mile marker 24 on ****** River road you can see a striking free-standing column of ice across the river on the hillside. We crossed the river on thin ice and beat it up the hillside to the climb. We should have stuck closer to the right margin of the actual stream course. (These things are so often painfully obvious on the descent.)The new growth timber as thick as the hair on a dog's back. We felt like ants crossing a lawn. The fresh snow on the trees made sure that we were thoroughly soaked before getting to the climb. But even blowing the approach as we did, it only took an hour to get to the base of the route. The first pitch was ~125'; about a third of which was cauliflower cone that was crusted with 2" of snow and then shice. The rest of the pitch was up a vertical tube of ice. We could hear the water running inside and for the last 15' of climbing, We could actually see the water running on the inside of the clear tube. At the top of the pitch a 5" diameter fir is growing out of the left side of the cleft, that now has a blue sling on it. I only got really, really, REALLY SCARED!! once. And had to resort to hooking my left tool over the pick of my right to scamm a few moments to recover a scrap of coordination. About 200' beyond the first pitch, we found a 2nd pitch of WI 2-3, depending on which side you climb it; short yellowish pillars on the left and longer, wider slabby ice on the right. We soloed the pillars on very friendly plastic ice, and rapped from a small fir. We got real scared and didn't even died. What could be more fun? Oh, the name of the route: What DO A********'s Eat? WI 5. I'd tell y'all where it is, but there is other obvious ice in the area. Maybe after I climb it on Thursday? Besides, it's a little out of the way for coasties. Any guesses?

Get scared, don't die, have fun!

[This message has been edited by Retrosaurus (edited 02-12-2001).]

[dan_e]

Went to Lillooet this weekend, it was mostly a mellow outing. We did manage to climb Loose Lady which was fun, chopped out, with huge bulges. Conditions about the same as the last post. The BC ice page has been updated.

http://www.bivouac.com/casbc/ice0001.htm

[Colin]

Retrosaurus,

Is "What DO Armadillo's Eat?" on Bridge River Road?

 

[CascadeClimber]

Dane-

Thanks again for letting me finish my lead on Loose Lady before you rapped. For the record, how long was three minutes, really?

;-)

CC

[pete_a]

 

Had a good weekend looking for climbable ice around central Washington. I think I must have met Geordie and a few others from this site at trailhead for Hubba Hubba Hill Saturday evening after I had finished up climbing on the Millenium Wall. The M.Wall had some fun ice, only swung through the ice to hit rock a couple times, and it was moderately easy to scramble up to set up a top rope on a 40 foot smear.

After hearing of the lack of other climbs that were 'in' at the time my buddies and I drove down to Umptaneum Falls for Sunday and toproped a really nice, fat 30' tall formation.

[Retrosaurus]

Colin,

Negative, on that guess. And further query to my sources indicate that this had been climbed back in the ?70s? by J.Y.,former rock jedi of Leavenworth fame. It is a splendid route on the Entiat River Road, and the name that I had chosen was "What DO Ardenvoirs Eat?" Please respect the property rights of private homes along the road in relation to parking and crossing to get to the climb.

Get scared, don't die, Have fun.

Ardenvoirs eat at the cafe in Ardenvoir.

I hear it's excellent.

 

[num1mc]

Retro:

Most stuff that is visible from the road has probably been visited before, but remember, the rock Jedi thinks he climbed just about everything in the 70's, whether or not he actually did.

[Retrosaurus]

Had a good day on hard ice at Banks yesterday. We climbed what I believe has been called "The Emerald" and locals have been calling "Pillsbury Pillar" (cuz us doughboys can still get up it). Just south of mile marker 13 and behind a guardrail is a small pond and large pull-off on the east side of the road. Park here and traverse slopes north above the pond into a coulee hidden above the road. You can't miss the fat ice climb.

A 20' WI3 step leads to a large shelf and a 100' pitch of steep ice, the first 50' of which is dead vertical. Soloed the step and lead a WI5 line up the left, then the center of the falls. Continuously steep and interesting. Placed seven screws on the pitch. Score one for Pop'n'Fresh.

Then we top-roped "The Cable." It could be lead, but not by this doughboy. A relentless 150' of dead vertical and overhanging climbing. Twist locks, drop knees, what a treat.

This is a long season for the basin. There is still a lot of good ice out there. Just don't fall out of your tools.

Get scared; have fun; don't die.

 

[This message has been edited by Retrosaurus (edited 02-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Retrosaurus (edited 02-16-2001).]

[dan_e]

I climbed that one several weeks ago, I don't think it was 5 at the time, maybe 4, 4+. The start had a fun ice chimney. Great location too, my friend and I saw a coyote heading up the slopes left of the climb and a deer of to the right. It's a beautiful spot for a fun climb.