Don_Serl Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Trip: Swiller Pillar, Feb 10/08 - Date: 2/12/2008 Trip Report: We got shut down a couple weekends ago, after putting 4 effing hours into the approach, by failing daylight, failing psyche, and failing gear. Bruce and co tramped up our beaten trail a few days later in an hour and a half and knocked off the route - his comment was that you just kinda had to 'kick steps' for about 20 feet - seemed about right! It was REALLY warm, and we nearly bailed over breakfast in Pemberton after driving thru rain in Whistler, but... well, it wasn't THAT much further to drive. It was solidly snowy at Cayoosh summit, but we soon dropped back into the 'chinook' zone, and it was warm, warm, WARM at Cinnamon Ck parking lot. However, we just thought we'd go up and have a look-see. The creek crossing was casual (I'm now double-bagging with a heavy 'contractors' bag over a normal garbage bag, and that seems pretty bomb-proof), and with the track in it took only 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the climb. Surprisingly, gaining 600m and getting up out of the main valley resulted in very copacetic temps - just around freezing, with the waterfall totally dry. I cruised up the middle of the first section to the belay behind the pillar, avoiding the vertical lefthand column we'd climbed on the first attempt - the 'business' was to get up the 2nd pitch, not to screw around below. Graham launched out onto the 'junk' section, clipped the back-off sling he'd left 2 weekends before, and just slowly and steadily worked his way up. It was funky hooking and funky feet the whole way, with no ghost of a chance for gear, but it wasn't vertical, and G reckoned it at only Grade 4 - almost certainly 'technically' true, but mighty 'heady' 4! And you DO want to take care - the big runout is straight off the belay, so a whipper would not be much fun for either end of the rope! by 2:30 we were back on the ground, just about the time we'd arrived for our first attempt, and by 4 we were back to the car. we had views of the Tube on the way down, and saw no one. we drove by Carlsberg and the Rambles, and saw no one - there was not even any indication that there had been any cars parked at the Rambles that day! were we the only ice climbers on the Duffey on a weekend in mid-February? unbelievable. but it DID feel like we'd kinda stolen one, given the temps. looking at the 8C days Lillooet is going thru just now, here's hoping the season isn't on the way out quite yet! cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Inspriring! Great Pictures. Hopefully it won't warm up to much, I'm headed up for 3 or 4 days mid week next week now that most of our WA ice is getting toasted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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