[TR] Lillooet - Rambles Right, Marble Canyon 1/7/2008

[tvashtarkatena]

Trip: Lillooet - Rambles Right, Marble Canyon

 

Date: 1/7/2008

 

Trip Report:

Lillooet Redux Jan 5-6, 2008

 

Boldy defying a semi-tropical forecast of zero C for Lillooet, Rob and I headed north Friday night. Rob doesn’t look like he smokes pot, he looks like he’s made of it, so the helpful Canadian border guards kindly pulled us aside after mentioned that we “looked like fine people, so we just want to make sure that you’re still fine people”. What’s with their new flak jacket SWAT-wear, anyway? Is there some kind of border hard man fashion competition going on? Rifling through the trash pile that is my car must have been a joy. “What the heck is…oh my gosh, it’s a petrified teriyaki chicken wing”

 

Zero degrees? We rode into town to a soggy 40+ F. Puddles everywhere.

 

Instinctively, we headed for Marble Canyon, which was pushing 39 F at midday. The ice, however, was in near perfect condition.

 

 

The author on Icy BC, pitch one

 

 

Rob on Icy BC, pitch one

 

Although the ice was in good condition, not all of the routes were. Icy BC pitch two appeared to be a stout pillar with some water flowing inside. Halfway up the outside of the pillar took on a tympanic ‘bong’, so I shifted right. Near the top what appeared from below to be a small window turned out to be a body sized doorway camouflaged by a quarter inch of ice which lead to the pillar’s dark, inner secret: I was perched on a giant, thin-walled tube of ice enshrouding a very active waterfall. Fortunately, the right side was reasonably solid. The delicate part came in stepping up and off the pillar, and onto some mixed terrain, and directly over the hatchway that lead to being cry-flushed down into the netherworld.

 

 

Spicy BC, pitch two. Leashless? Try headless…and, in spots, iceless.

 

That evening we met Jeff, Tom, Alex, and Raffi for dinner at the Reynolds. I had the “everything in town” or something like that burger: two patties, fried egg, bacon, cheese. Don’t. It was like eating a cannonball.

 

Anyway, the boys recommended Rambles Right for the following day, so, after breakfast at, surprise, the Reynolds, served up by the world’s perkiest waitress, we headed up the Duffy.

 

Temperatures had dropped into the twenties, so the ice was a fair bit more brittle. Rob led the entrance pitch, which exhibited a wide variety of ice in a short distance and required some delicate movement.

 

 

Rob, self portrait. Rambles Right.

 

Up higher, the ice at Rambles Right, with the exception of the far left weeping chandelier, was in perfect condition. I climbed up about 15 m before I realized that I was missing a couple of 17 cm screws. I’d already placed my 22 and 17 cms, and had to rap off a couple of 13 cm V threads. Rob from the base of the route: “Why don’t you put your V thread tool in a 22 cm screw?” I usually do, but usually isn’t always good enough. Lesson learned.

 

 

The author approaching the Rambles Right smorgasbord

 

 

Get in there, MF! Rambles Right

 

On the way home I took the wheel 3 km before the border.

 

[rob]

That U.S. border agent on the way back thought I was hot, though.

[Alex]

nice. that rambles right is even fatter than when we were there 2 weeks ago. and is much better than rambles center, which is way lower angle and shorter than I remembered it somehow.

 

here are some more pics from the same weekend

 

Saturday pre-dawn hours looking for this non-existant log.

 

Rafael leading fat Carl's Berg

 

And on Deeping Wall

[DPS]

Rob doesn’t look like he smokes pot, he looks like he’s made of it

 

Its funny because its true.

[tvashtarkatena]

Going for the thin stuff on the Deeping. Bold.

[Weekend_Climberz]

Nice :tup:

[tvashtarkatena]

Missed you, baby.

[Rad]

Weekend, are you on the wagon? The 12 step program? Whazzup?

[catbirdseat]

I was wondering the same thing.

[tvashtarkatena]

OK, so who's going to Banks this weekend? I am.