TR: Hidden Lake/Lake Wenatche Ice, Sunday Dec 3rd

[jstreet]

When Glen called me last week and suggested we go ice climbing at Hidden Lake/Lake Wenatchee the coming weekend I thought to myself “Boy that could be a real waste of time…a real long walk for nothing” but then I thought “What the heck, I need the exercise that the walk will provide and it has been cold and snowy so we might actually get lucky and find some ice to climb". And hallelujah, praise the lord we actually found ice!

 

The Hidden Lake climbs lie about 2500 feet above the north shore of lake Wenatchee. It’s about 3 miles from the Hidden Lake trailhead to the base of the climbs and 2/3’s of that is off trail. It’s a relatively straight forward approach but all in all it's a whole lot of work and time. There was plenty of snow and the snow shoes went on earlier than usual. There was about 2 feet on the ground at Hidden Lake and 3-4 feet at the base of the routes. Above Hidden lake we climbed steeply through forest and reached the edge of the upper basin clearing where two prominent climbs are visible on the headwall above the basin. To our delight they looked like they were mostly frozen and climbable. On the far right is a 100m WI 4 named “This To Shall Pass” which appeared to be in fairly good condition with no rock or water apparent. On the left is a 4 pitch WI 3+ climb named “TimeQuake”. This was our intended objective and it was looking a lot less “in condition” then the other climb. The first and second pitches looked passable but the third pitch had a bit of rock and water showing in its middle, but it still looked possibly climbable on it’s sides, with a possibly tricky dangerous exit. The fourth pitch had a lot of water and rock showing and did not appear safe to climb.

 

Will it go? Only one way to find out so off we went up the final relatively short but very steep and difficult climb to the base of the route. Up close things started to look better and better and we decided to blast up the route and see how far we could make it. The ice was in classic spicy early season condition with plenty of icicles and cauliflower, and some running water. We managed top out at the finish of the third pitch. Pictures below…

 

The 1st pitch of (15m WI-3)

 

Jeff ready to go at the bottom of the 1st pitch.

 

The 2nd and 3rd pitches as seen from the top of the 1st.

 

Jeff starts up the 2nd pitch (60m WI 2-3)

 

Jeff at the belay station at the bottm of the 3rd pitch (30m WI 3+)

 

The 2nd and 3rd pitches of "Time Quake" WI 3+.

 

"This to Shall Pass" 100m WI 4.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2006 by jstreet

[Weekend_Climberz]

Good show, everybody went out and got some this weekend

 

Glad you brought a camera, too

[brian_m]

Great pics! It would be great for the weather to stay cold so these climbs can stay in! Thanks for the TR.

 

[Alex]

Nice job getting after it Jeff!

[jstreet]

Hey thanks Alex.

[5.12Dreamer]

Yesterday my partner Patrick and I attempted Time Quake, which, despite seeing slightly below freezing temps all week, had deteriorated from the pics above. I led up about 25’ up the first pitch placing three screws in somewhat decent (locally) ice surrounded by poorer ice. Above, I reached a bulgy point that I did not want to climb over for fear of tools popping out of the crappy ice, so I backed down pulling the screws.

 

Viewed from the meadow, 1/3? of the width of the uppermost pitches of Time Quake are now running water. Currently, the bottom middle of the first pitch is not touched down and considerable water is flowing underneath. The only climbable part is far left and it is questionable, but doable, by a bigger risk taker or someone more experienced than I.

 

The other routes were not visible on the way in because of low clouds. We simply followed Jeff and Glen's track (thanks!) to the base of Time Quake. On the way out, the clouds had pulled away but the light was waning. This Too Shall Pass looked better formed as I did not see running water, although it might have had less ice than seen in the pics above.

 

A nice hike in with a couple inches of new snow. Snowshoes are desireable through the meadow area where there are many places to drop between boulders.

[tanstaafl]

This Too Shall Pass was a bit rainy in the middle of the first pitch and pretty thin at the top, but climbable as of Saturday, at least if you have a ropegun along like I did. We climbed the left side of that first little WI3 step on Time Quake and then traversed over.