Banks Conditions Update

[Jens]

Headed out to Banks Lake with Mizuki today. We weren't going to go because it has been above freezing for much of the week and it was 37F for most of the day yesterday.

Roads:

Very good shape

Route Conditions:

On the way in, after seeing champagne and the cable, we were very depressed and thought it would be a dry tooling only day (lame) but it turned out to be a stellar day of ice.

First the bad news:

Champagne: Has fallen down-all bare rock except for about 25 feet at the base.

Cable: Disconnected smears of ice with long stretches of bare rock.

H202: Has snapped off

--------------

Now the good news:

We climbed around and rapped in and climbed the upper half of Zenith. It was as perfect as ice gets. Not brittle, not wet, not arrerated. Steep perfection. The Lower portion that we bypassed has snapped off.

We then each soloed the Devil's Punchbowl. On the right side it was good ice and not to wet. Lots of ice here -this climb has enough volume to survive any heat wave until spring.

We then climbed Phase Transition. OK sticks but screws were psychological only. Felt the upper pillar settle while I was leading.

The water table seepage patterns at this place are radically different from year to year at Banks.

 

 

 

[bwrts]

"The water table seepage patterns at this place are radically different from year to year at Banks"

most likely due to ununiform fracture patterns in the subsurface basalt with smears of glacial spew and fluvial outwash mantling the rock.

[Z-Man]

overhead danger at Devil's Punchbowl?

[Jens]

The "deathcicles" were way smaller and less in number than almost any other year. But ironically, they were falling much more freqently than other years. Perhaps it was beause it had been above freezing all week and was just starting to get cold when we were their.

Somebody needs to bring a gun, hike around and clear them. If someone is guiding or taking a big group and would be on the puchbowl for a good portion of the day, a gun would be prudent.

[Dr_Flush_Amazing]

 

Any updates on conditions?

 

How about Children of the Sun?

[Jens]

We didn't pull over or even look at chilrden of the sun but it looked like it had taken a serious beating by the sun.

 

[tazman]

Took a ride to banks lake this morning. good news is the deathcicles were actively falling bad news is so are most of the climbs. nothing really climbable except the punch bowl left or right side middle has two holes with running water, although i watched as huge deathcicles came crashing down not recommened. all other climbs were existent in some form or another but not necessarily climbable. it is pretty warm over here right now.

Edited December 22, 2006 by tazman

[Jens]

Took a ride to banks lake this morning. good news is the deathcicles were actively falling bad news is so are most of the climbs. nothing really climbable except the punch bowl left or right side middle has two holes with running water, although i watched as huge deathcicles came crashing down not recommened. all other climbs were existent in some form or another but not necessarily climbable. it is pretty warm over here right now.

 

Thanks for the update tazman. Now this wouldn't be a typical Friday night post to keep the hoards of 206'ers off the ice for the weekend post like we've seen on cascadeclimbers.com a lot since the site was created? Since cc was created, I'd wager that 85 percent of the ice reports are real and 15 percent are put out to keep the delicate ice intact.--Just joking. Happy Holidays to all.

[jja]

My partner and I were out there today. We looked at the punch bowl in the morning and debated whether to do it or not. It was really warm and we decided against it. The only other do-able option was this little thing hidden in the bushes around mile 10 that we later learned was Brush Bash. Ok I guess, but a long way to drive for 50' of ice/brush climbing.

 

When we went back to the punch bowl the largest of the deathcicles on the right had fallen - and while we were standing there looking at it part of the upper ice on the left completely collapsed and came crashing down spraying both the left and right sides of the climb with ice - yikes, glad we had decided against climbing there.

[Alex]

Hey John, did you go I90 way through Park and Blue lakes? Nothing in at all?

[jja]

We went via 90 late last night and returned by 2. This was my first time out there so not sure which ones were Park and Blue, but the best ice we saw was around what we did. The top part of Zenith and Salt n Pepper looked do-able, not by me though. Other than that everything else was delamned, wet, and falling down - even if it got cold they would need to grow in size.

 

On the way back we drove through Leavenworth and looked up the icicle, hubba hubba and drury was in fog, but it was colder there than at Banks and there was lot's of ice that looked "almost there". Icicle buttress looked really fun, both R+D and Chicken gully looked really cool.

 

Crack and friends did Chicken gully last week and he says it was a lot fatter today.

[FFCS]

My wife and I went over to Banks on Wednesday the 27th. The temp @ 1100 was 25F, Our plan was to climb the punchbowl. I even brought a .22 along to shoot down the ice. Upon our arrival a couple from Idaho just beat us there. Talked to the guy a little and told him that I had a gun to shoot down the ice, he looked at me like I was crazy. So there went our plan for the punch bowl. As far as deathcicles, there are more than normal, and two large ones over the right side, not even a question as to wether it was unsafe to climb without shooting down the ice. BTW the ice looked awesome and phat on the punch bowl. So, we headed to electric ave; nothing in, salt n pepper good at top, Zenith looked awesome if you rap in or don't mind a mixed start on manky rock. Then we headed back to see if the party was off the punch bowl just in time to see a rather large cicle break off and explode all over the route. Luckily the party was just pulling there ropes and barely missed a beating. We'll head bakc next week with an earlier start and a high powered rifle to take care of the cicles.

[dbb]

john- nice how brush bash is tucked behind that rib, eh? I wish more banks routes were so they'd stay in longer. not a bad route given its moderateness for the area, though some loppers might help for that mid section.

[layton]

ice climbing and shooting guns! hell yeah!

[FFCS]

I'll try to video the high power rifle ice removal and post it!

[Weekend_Climberz]

Top of Zenith is good to go, you can easily get in from the top a few hundreds on the climbers right via a airy ledge system. The free hanging tube above might use a little gunfire to help with the pucker factor while climbing below it though. Is there a "cold temps" dance that one can do to help keep the thermometer below the 32 mark?

[Alex]

There were plenty of people out there, and there was enough ice to climb or TR. When you go out to Banks during less-than-stellar conditions, just get more creative. Make sure you bring double 60's, and then you can always TR Zenith, the Cable, Trotsky's, Children of the Sun, Champagne (not in yesterday but re-forming) or any other routes that you figure out how to walk around to the top (these listed at least have easy walk-arounds), even when they arent in leadable shape.

[Paul_detrick]

Climbed the right side saturday and was ok, nice and fat, it is warm here. Trotskys revenge was done on the left side, thin but in. Not much in the lower canyon,champange was not in , clockwork orange not in, or cowgirls get the blues. If it gets cold again everthing should come back strong, lots of snow melting, and more on the way, nitetime temps are cold but way warm during the day.

[KingsMM]

I am planning a trip to banks the 26th though 28th if the weather report is correct will the ice come in more or melt? It looks as if the temps will get above freezing during the day and below at night. Is it worth a 8 hour drive?

 

Updated: 8:58 PM PST on December 24, 2006

Active Notice: Local Storm Report (US Severe Weather)

 

Rest of Tonight

Rain and snow. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches north of I 90. Pockets of freezing rain possible. Lows in the mid 20s to lower 30s. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Christmas Day

Mostly cloudy. A chance of rain or snow showers in the morning...then a slight chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 30s. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

Monday Night

Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog overnight. Lows in the mid 20s. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph.

Tuesday

Partly sunny. Patchy fog in the morning. Highs in the mid 30s. Light wind in the morning...becoming east around 10 mph in the afternoon.

» ZIP Code Detail

Tuesday Night

Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of rain or snow. Lows in the upper 20s. Northeast wind 10 to 15 mph.

Wednesday

Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of rain or snow. Highs in the mid 30s.

» ZIP Code Detail

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Patchy fog. Lows around 20.

Thursday through Friday

Partly cloudy. Patchy freezing fog. Highs in the mid 20s to mid 30s. Lows 14 to 20.

Friday Night

Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows in the lower 20s.

 

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Based on what I saw saturday, and with that forecast, I don't think it is worth an 8 hour drive right now.

[kurthicks]

what did you see saturday?

[eric8]

top of zenith and salt'n pepper are in but a little on the wet slide. The bottom of the emarald is slush and h2O2 is trying but still really really wet and slushy. And the punch bowl is in. So not a lot of options, more ice in leavenworth these days.

[olyclimber]

Everyone. Lets go!

[kurthicks]

from today:

 

Our general impression was that things are growing fast out there. below freezing all day from the feel of it.

 

Clockwork Orange (P1 looks in)

 

H202 (looks ok to lead)

 

Emerald (not in)

 

Punchbowl & Trotsky's

 

Guiness & Kickapoo Juice

 

Zenith (P1 in, looks like a hard lead, or good TR)

 

Salt & Pepper (in, but hard to protect, I think)

 

Cable (looks like a TR only)

 

Sody Pop & Rainier Light

 

other things we saw:

Children of the Sun -- looks like a good TR now

Champagne -- P1 looks in, others not so much

Lenore C -- looks in

Bavarian Dark -- in, but detached at bottom

Scotch Cave -- the cave is in, but not Scotch on the Rocks

Absent minded Professor - getting close

Peewees -- the right side might be climbable

More Banks Ice - the left column might be leadable

stuff left of MBI -- some is leadable for sure

Fred's Gully -- looked in

There is some roadcut ice in the Million Dollar Mile

Edited December 29, 2006 by kurthicks

[Alex]

from today:

NEW Route?! jens....

Unfortunately , its still up for grabs. Burl Central

 

Edited December 29, 2006 by Alex