kadyakerbob Posted February 6, 2006 Posted February 6, 2006 has anyone been up to big four recently? gonna head up there thur to climb, thinking the conditions should be ok, snow should be consolidated? anyone else thinking about climbing later this week up there? Quote
Alasdair Posted February 6, 2006 Posted February 6, 2006 Im not sure its cold enough. I would expect rock covered in a whole shit load of snow, but I might be wrong. What we really need is a nice warm rain and a solid freeze and then it might be pretty good. Let us know what it looks like. Quote
philfort Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 fyi, the road is now gated before then, so expect a few extra miles of road hiking. Quote
mattp Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 When did they gate the road? It was open two weeks ago. Quote
kadyakerbob Posted February 7, 2006 Author Posted February 7, 2006 anyone know about conditions on colonial? Quote
philfort Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 When did they gate the road? It was open two weeks ago. Â Not sure, I'm just going by what it says here, updated Feb 1st: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/conditions/road_conditions_report.shtml "Gate closed at Deer Creek, no access to Barlow Pass. Snow starts here but gets better half-mile up the road. " Quote
John Frieh Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 anyone know about conditions on colonial?  Ross Lake webcam  Better hope the freezing level drops quickly. Quote
Off_White Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 Make sure you give Necro your expected return time. Quote
kadyakerbob Posted February 8, 2006 Author Posted February 8, 2006 fifty fifty on weather i am gonna head up there. thinking i will do chair peak on thur and see how the snow is there and if its good then i probably will head up and do two routes on big four, fri and sat. wish us luck!!!!! Quote
layton Posted February 8, 2006 Posted February 8, 2006 good idea just doing chair and two routes on big four, just in case the weather doesn't cooperate Quote
mattp Posted February 8, 2006 Posted February 8, 2006 It is only about 30 minutes hike from the Deer Creek gate to the Big Four picnic ground, so if the road is gated as the USFS says, it is no big deal. Â On Big Four, you can have some fun in gullies off to the left of the main face (the Tower Route or some variation thereof), as well as several variations to the N. Face. Also, Hall Peak, to the right, offers more. Â For full - frontal climbs, it might be in less than stellar condition right now, but I bet you can amuse yourself just fine. Quote
kadyakerbob Posted February 8, 2006 Author Posted February 8, 2006 thanks for all the beta guys, i will be sure to try and get some photos posted to show everyone how sweeeet it was! Quote
Juan Posted February 12, 2006 Posted February 12, 2006 Yeah, Big Four is the kind of peak that easily allows two winter routes in a weekend. With a lot of Red Bull I suppose. Â =;-) Quote
Choada_Boy Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 If you do climb the NORTH Face, make sure you decend the NORTH side of the mountain. Do not descend to the SOUTH. Do not march SOUTH, mile after mile, into the middle of nowhere. Â If you do decide to descend SOUTH, though, you may get free hamburgers, if you are able to get back to your car. Â Remember: NORTH Quote
Choada_Boy Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 BTw, how'd the trifecta link-up go? Quote
catbirdseat Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 (edited) Post deleted by mattp Edited February 17, 2006 by catbirdseat Quote
pbelitz Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 Big fuss out at Big Four today. S&R folks, sheriff, and a chopper buzzing all over the north face. Â We asked and were told that a party was overdue by 24 hours on the NF. Apparently the chopper made contact with them; they're fine. Â But I have to wonder whether this was the same party that was going to do two lines in two days? Quote
layton Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 no it wasn't. it was my roommate, MtnHigh (pete), and BillA. The underestimated their "start to worry and make phone calls" to their family. I tried to call and stop a rescue until tomorrow morning. They left PDX friday night at 11pm and had the call the troops time for noon today, which i think was a bit (way too) early. Folks need a 24 fuck it up window. Whatever, sounds like they had a good time. Ironic, concidering this exact same thing happened to me, folks jumped the gun waaay too early (call the night of same day I started up!) Â If someone needs a rescue, they can wait a day. if they can't wait a day, then they're dead anyways. I'm glad they're ok, cuz I left a short message on Pete's phone after his family called me, "Pete, it's Mike. Can I have your stuff?" I would have felt bad if Pete was dead. Plus he doesn't have anything I want 'cept his Quarks, which were on him. Quote
JoshK Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 If someone needs a rescue, they can wait a day. if they can't wait a day, then they're dead anyways. Â Bull and shit. As a climber you well know mountain weather can change quickly. There is a difference surviving an extra 24 hours in the summer and during a blizzard. Quote
Jason_Martin Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 If someone needs a rescue, they can wait a day. if they can't wait a day, then they're dead anyways. Â Bull and shit. As a climber you well know mountain weather can change quickly. There is a difference surviving an extra 24 hours in the summer and during a blizzard. Â This all depends on the peak. The history of Big Four is full of forced bivys. The bigger the peak, the longer the window is before you should call out the rescue. Â On Chair Peak, I might wait 12 hours and feel like there's probably something wrong, but on Big Four or on J-Berg or other peaks of that type...climbers attempting those mountains in winter conditions should be able to deal with a blizzard and if they can't, then they shouldn't be up there. Â Based on the banter here, most people don't know how big Big Four really is. If you look at the notes in the Washington Ice Guide, you'll see that a large percentage of those on first ascents on the mountain were forced to bivy. I think that anyone attempting a route of such size in a day should get at least a 24 hour window before calling out the troops. Â Jason Quote
climbaround Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 I was up there yesterday also, couldn't believe how many SAR folks turned up. I wondered what they were all going to do, even in the event of a rescue. I doubt if many would be able to climb up to help in any event. Here is a very high res. shot of the face yesterday - looked to be in prime condition. Â I would like to hear a full report on the climb, and rescue effort, glad all is well. Â Here is a high resolution shot I got of the face yesterday. Big 4 2/19/06 Quote
Alex Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 (edited) Thats a nice picture. I'd say conditions on Big Four right now are only OK, certainly worse than I expected given the snow pack and temps; they werent inspiring enough for us to summit from the Central Rib. The first 3000 ft was super cake with frosting, then the snow turned to complete ass. The party on Spindrift was moving very very slowly, I didn't envy their postition, and we didnt think they would top out by dark at their slow rate of climb. Edited February 20, 2006 by Alex Quote
klenke Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 Nice pic, climbaround. Â In the picture you link (2/19) you can see two black dots one above the other in the middle of the upper part of the far right couloir. They look like two climbers stretched out on a rope length: I think they may be climbers because in this other wider-angle picture of yours from two days before (2/17) you can not see those two dots: Quote
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