[TR] North Joffre Creek- Schniedelwurtz 1/22/2006

[earthly]

Climb: North Joffre Creek-Schniedelwurtz

 

Date of Climb: 1/22/2006

 

Trip Report:

There's ice in them thar' hills...

Simon and I (Scott) woke early, broke trail up into North Joffre Creek and had a great time on a good long route. the ice was a bit aerated but seems like most routes should last a few weeks at least. here's a pic of the swiss wall-

and a pic below of aldergroove (far off- but looks even better than the swiss wall, ie. 'in' and chubby)-

my partner in climb and our support staff-

wish we had more time to do the other nice lines too (B & E looked stellar) here's our route (schiedelwurtz)-

looking down after soloing pitch 1 (below)

we roped up for the second

and here's a couple shots from the top, after diagonal-lashing two alders for an anchor (yikes) because the ice up there turned to snow and froth (double yikes)-

quite a good trip. long trip for a day, though there's a trail now for anyone else interested and should shave a few hours to allow an extra route or two.

 

(ps. any of you not on the ball yet should really hit up the BC Mountain Festival & Slide Show comin' up in a few weeks....)

 

Gear Notes:

small nuts for a short mixed section, big nuts to trust the runouts; assorted screw lengths; double-ropes make the raps swift

 

Approach Notes:

new trail; park at trailhead, maybe camp night before or plan two nights up in valley

[mattp]

New trail? Please elaborate.

[earthly]

<ski trail>

 

two weekends ago left a wandering trail through the briar not having been in there before- it filled in with snow anyway... this time we cut a direct line to the wall

[mattp]

Ahh. Wondering trail through briar may not still be good.

 

I thought maybe somebody did some brushing or something.

[jordop]

Hey good on ya

How long did it take you to wallow in?

Any evidence of big slides in the area?

We need a cabin in there

[earthly]

~3 1/2 hours, 1/2 hour to switchback up the steeps to the base; the snow formed a pretty cohesive body except high on southeast-facing slopes where a discontinuous crusty laminae existed 4-5" below the surface. the upper pitch of WI5 continually shed little sluffs and flurries down our backs but was manageable... no sight of slides elsewhere in the valley but we couldn't see much beyond the swiss wall. the ski off the talus cone was excellent.