tvashtarkatena Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 (edited) Trip: Lilloet - Date: 1/30/2007 Trip Report: Jens emailed me Friday afternoon for a 1:00 a.m. blast off to Lillooet. I'd been pestering him about my sorely needing some water ice instruction. Needless to say, I got what I asked for. We arrived pre dawn hungry for the Logger's Breakfast at the Reynolds, only to discover that their restaurant was closed for vacation. No other joint was open, either, so we hit the mini mart for a delicious repast of corn dog, chimichonga, homemade bran muffin (not bad), and Old Dutch Chicken flavored potato chips. The inside of the corn dog had a strange, copper ore like green tinge to it, but I ate it anyway without ill effect. Just after dawn we started up the short approach to the Rambles Middle. At the base of the first pitch Jens snapped a pair of DMM terminator mono points to his custom carbon fiber/leather boots and began practice swings with a pair of Quarks. I, in turn, produced a first and second generation X tool and snapped on a pair of Grivel's first generation snap on crampons to a Pleistocene era pair of Assolo plastics that had seen much, much better days. Airforce woolies and Dachsteins would have completed the picture. With temps in the low 20s and perfectly clear skies, the ice was in good shape. My ancient tools produced exceptionally solid placements. Being able to remove them would have been even better. Up top we stashed my tomohawks and shared Jen's Quarks. I began shopping for them in my head after the first placement. We climbed everything there except the rightmost route, which made a better champagne fountain than climb, before descending. At the base we encountered a party of six from Western Washington U.; the only other climbers we were to meet the entire weekend. That afternoon we checked into the newly remodeled Reynolds, and snagged a room at the end of the hall with a two window view of the surrounding mountains and the two acre dead grass yard next door dappled with dog shit and beer cans. That night we ate at Dina's (the Greek place); pretty damn good. After dinner we hit The Vics for beer. I don't know what a 'Vics' is, but I'm guessing from the clientel that it might be Canuck for 'shitfaced First Nation local'. Jens and I were hitting balls on their free pool table, which, as warped as it was, was really a miniature, miniature golf course, when a hunting party of young bucks barged in and began scrawling all over the next up blackboard. I played their leader, KC, who was already so drunk I had to remind him that he was stripes until the very last shot. Fortunately, he won, so we avoided that magical turning point in such an evening when your hosts begin employing their pool cues from the skinny end. It was back to the Reynolds for more beers and local conversation with some of the town's newly minted partyers. The next morning was a bit rough, more so because our breakfast at Good Times set the world's record for preparation time. From there we made a crack of noon start for Marble Canyon, a 40 minute drive along the spectacular Fraser Canyon. We were slowed by what I thought at first to be sheep, and they were; bighorn sheep. A golden eagle passed low overhead. Wonderful. After driving past the ice drinkermen, we tramped five minutes across a frozen lake to the lower tier of Marble Canyon. With temps in the high teens, the steeper ice was more brittle and prone to dinner plating. The Western folks were there and graciously let us use their top ropes. After a couple of laps we set up one of our own and everyone shared. I found that my horizontal front points didn't do as well in the harder, more vertical ice. Adequate, but a couple of blown foot placements left me hanging on my arms Sylvester Stallone style. I began shopping for a pair of mono points in my head (which I snagged the next day cheap, as luck would have it). I didn't take much to pump us out in our sorry state, but we climbed until dark anyway and headed home, fully satisfied after a great weekend. Edited January 31, 2007 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Trippett Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Great TR Ahhh....Lillooet. After a night out at the bar you're happy to do safer things....like ice climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Nice, sounds like you guys had tons of fun :tup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 For the hardman challenge........ Show up at "the Vic" in your pink softshell and say that everyone in the bar sucks at pool. _______________________________ Man, I forget how much Lillooet can deliver for good ice. I gotta start going up their a lot more again like I used to. Screw the thin dripfests of Banks and Leavenworth. 4:40 drive up (my shortcut and driving in th middle of the night) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Alright Jens, what's the secret short cut? Cutting off to HWY 9 at Alger (not sure if this even helps for sumas, but it does for mt baker)? What other shortcuts could there be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rat Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 did you meet kc's sidekick, ray ray? quite a pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 I'm pretty sure he was there, too. They invited us over for beers, but we slipped out before the cue balls started flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 They're cool guys. I was giving one of them a lift from Lytton to Lillooet a couple years ago and he asked if I was "one of those rich American kids that comes up to Lillooet to buy weed" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Is that you in the photo's? It must be, I have met Jens and that is not him...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rat Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 true enough, and the quote is spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Is that you in the photo's? It must be, I have met Jens and that is not him...... Thats Tavsh...not me Ironically, we saw KC hitch-hiking no less than 4 miles from marble canyon ice the next afternoon. He was wearing the exact same outfit he'd had on the night before. That's at least a 25 mile walk from Lillooet? Lillooet has a enough volume to even survive a long February heat wave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmace Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) Lillooet has a enough volume to even survive a long February heat wave. Better hope so, its +5 in the bridge river right now and +7 in town edit: its +9 in the bridge now Edited February 1, 2007 by jmace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 Is that you in the photo's? It must be, I have met Jens and that is not him...... It's easy to tell. Jens was the one with the rope dangling FROM him, not TO him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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