suckbm Posted January 25, 2008 Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) Trip: Frenchmans Coulouee-Fugs Falls Date: 1/24/2008 Trip Report: This afternoon soloed Fugs Falls. Overall OK conditions. Good sticks but lots of running water underneath. First pitch easy. Second pitch felt WI4- but would of protected marginally. Tried to get on Arctic Grail with AlpineMonkey aka craig but the first ten feet was about to fall off as he went up so he downclimbed. Frenchmanns falls looked decent but had lots of running water behind it. Running Gear death wall not in at all. Will post a few pics later. Edited January 25, 2008 by suckbm Quote
Paul_detrick Posted January 26, 2008 Posted January 26, 2008 We climbed fugs this afternoon, it is in good shape. Heads up, someone broke a trail down from the top, made the climb easy, racked up, hiked down, climb up, out of there. Thanks to whoever broke it in. Just head towards Fugs wall can't miss it. Paul Quote
Joe_Poulton Posted January 26, 2008 Posted January 26, 2008 Nice, how long is the drive from P-Town? Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 Climbed fugs today at easy WI3 with fun climbing and good gear. Also climbed Frenchmans at scary WI4 with difficult spotty gear. Perfect weather today, cloudy, cold and light snow. Maybe if the cloud cover holds and it stays cold, frenchmans will have a chance to consolidate. regardless, it is worth the drive out there just for fugs. Quote
kurthicks Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 (edited) frenchman's is looking as fat as it's been in a while. Compare to this photo from 2 years ago... Edited January 27, 2008 by kurthicks Quote
dbb Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 kurt- that's what frenchman's looked like on wednesday. things change quick! Quote
AlpineMonkey Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) Do any of you old timers or anyone else (Alex? Jens?) who have climbed around Vantage know where exactly the ice climb Red Rain is located. Today I climbed an ice/mixed line to the climbers left of Frenchman Falls, but there was also a large hangning pillar, about 5 feet to go before touching down to the left of my climb that might be Red Rain. Just trying to figure out if I did indeed climb Red Rain or a new route. Jeff S. if you read this will you post a picture of the area/or climb that I am wondering about? Edited January 28, 2008 by AlpineMonkey Quote
Jens Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 I saw a party toproping some ice left of Frenchmen's falls in the mid nineties but my memory is a bit fuzzy. I've seen lots of smears come in right of Frenchmen's Falls that have seen some action also. As for names, and ratings, Jim Yoder might be one to ask. He's ice climed out their a lot over many years. Quote
kevino Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Climbed fugs tonight. First Nightime ascent. haha. Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Crack, Dan and I climbed Fugs today in good conditions. Frenchmen's is now gushing and hollow. Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Does frenchman's ever freeze really solid? On saturday, while the falls had a lot of ice, the center of the flow was gushing water with only a thin shell of ice over it. That was after a number of days with lows in the single digits. It seems like the spring that feeds it is pretty warm. I dropped a glove in a hole at the bottom of the climb and tried to recover it and it was downright balmy down there. Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Do any of you old timers or anyone else (Alex? Jens?) who have climbed around Vantage know where exactly the ice climb Red Rain is located. Today I climbed an ice/mixed line to the climbers left of Frenchman Falls, but there was also a large hangning pillar, about 5 feet to go before touching down to the left of my climb that might be Red Rain. Just trying to figure out if I did indeed climb Red Rain or a new route. Jeff S. if you read this will you post a picture of the area/or climb that I am wondering about? Are you referring to the drip left of frenchman's in this photo: Quote
AlpineMonkey Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Last Sunday my fiance (I got enjaged last week) got sick, so I wen't to Vantage alone where I ran into Jeff Street and Partner. I roped up with them and climbed Fuggs Falls. Afterwords we went over to check out Frenchman Falls, where Jeff and Partner (Anita (sp?)) started up. I had climbed Frenchman twice before, so instead went over and soloed a distinct line, when viewed from face on which I highlighted in red. At first I thought what I climbed was Red Rain, but there was a distinct hanging curtain further to the left which might be red rain, not in your picture but I highlighted the area in blue. It's not a solo I am particularly proud of, as it was pushing my limit a little to far for unroped climbing. Now I know it goes, but at the time I was fully commited and happened to find one key rock hand hold at the top to keep me from breaking every bone in my body. Aproximatly 60 feet, WI3 or 4, 5.8. Quote
pup_on_the_mountain Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 (I got enjaged last week) soloed a distinct line Congrats Craig! Nice way to celebrate as well... just kidding . Quote
Jens Posted January 30, 2008 Posted January 30, 2008 Does frenchman's ever freeze really solid? On saturday, while the falls had a lot of ice, the center of the flow was gushing water with only a thin shell of ice over it. That was after a number of days with lows in the single digits. It seems like the spring that feeds it is pretty warm. I dropped a glove in a hole at the bottom of the climb and tried to recover it and it was downright balmy down there. When I lived back in Ellensburg as a young college student, I remember climbing Frenchmen's once a bit after Ellensburg, WA made the news as being the coldest town in the lower 48 states of America for five days straight. I think it got down to -26F one of the nights. Frenchmen's was still hollow at the top and running underneath. With that kind of cold and lots of irrigation runoff, Eastern Washington was so huge, that you'd never even contemplate going to Banff or Norway. Quote
UW_climber Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 Not contemplate going to Banff?! Maybe thats why you haven't reached Twight levels and climbed Slipstream yet. Quote
kevino Posted February 2, 2008 Posted February 2, 2008 Well, went to vantage today. Everything within eyeshot of frenchmans falls fell down. And frenchman's falls itself is pretty much a waterfall again, barely any ice. We went over to fugs, scott had to run away to avoid getting hit by rocks and i got hit by falling ice on my arm and it kept coming. so well called it a day and climbed on sunshine wall. It must have been near 50 and blue skies. We climbed shirtless. Quote
KCM Posted February 14, 2008 Posted February 14, 2008 I'm headed to Vantage this weekend to do some climbing, should I even bother to bring my ice gear. I'm assuming from what I'v read that the ice has gone to hell and is likely unclimbable. Can anyone confirm or deny that? Quote
kevino Posted February 15, 2008 Posted February 15, 2008 Dont bring ice gear... When I was there last weekend rock climbing, I was climbing in just a flannel and about 80% of ice was gone. Quote
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