[TR] Lostine River Canyon, OR - Wallowing in the Wallowas 2/9/2008

[sobo]

Trip: Lostine River Canyon, OR - Wallowing in the Wallowas

 

Date: 2/9-10/2008

 

Trip Report:

Well, here's the story I'm going with, as much as I can remember of it...

 

I went down solo on Saturday to scope out the area before pup_on_the_mountain would arrive Sunday morning. We had a meeting arrangement for 8:30 Sunday morning at Terminal Gravity Brewpub there in Enterprise (great food, greater beer, highly recommended!). Anyway, I found the end of the plowed road in Lostine River Canyon, and skinned up the forest road about a mile, actually passing the point where I was supposed to leave the road and go bushwhacking. It wasn't until I realized I was traveling faster than my budgeted estimate that I had gone too far. So I turned around and looked up, and I saw the most beautiful blue ice runnels clinging to the cliff face about 500 vertical feet above me and about a quarter of a mile back down the road. So I spun around and headed back down, then up. Going up this ~45-degree slope in mashed potatoes on AT skis was "athletic" to say the least. After about a half-hour of this nonsense and not getting very far vertically, I abandoned this idea of going up to "check it out", as it was about 4:00 now and there was no way I was going to make it before dark. So I stopped by the Blue Banana at the Lostine River Road turn-off and got a 3-shot latte and shot the shit with Jerry the owner (fun, interesting guy), headed into Enterprise for the night, called p_o_t_m to get him stoked, and vowed to approach on the morrow with snowshoes instead.

 

I didn't really plan on this part, but I got good and drunk Saturday night at TG. Yasha the Barkeep was a hoot, and Frank the Local was fun to hang with at the bar. Eric the Birthday Boy sure had a nice posse of wimmin there for his celebration, and all in all I don't think I publicly embarrassed myself too badly. Now after closing and in a drunken stupor, I threw down my tent in the parking lot, then promptly threw up in the parking lot 3 times before finally getting to bed around midnight (I shoveled it all up, Steve). Pup showed up promptly at 8:30, and I was already out of the tent and nearly packed up and ready to roll. My head was clanging. But y'all would have been proud of me nonetheless, given my past history surrounding "early" starts, seeing me standing there grinning and picking chunks of the previous night's revelry out of my teeth.

 

After about an hour at the Lostine Tavern sucking down local coffee and regaining consciousness, we made the mile trudge in along the forest road, then turned left and ascended the slope, wallowing in mashed potatoes up to our thighs, many times dropping in up to our crotches and waists. There were a few slides and face plants as well. Pup's got a few pics of this bullshit. It was brutal, and I kept belching these horribly nasty-tasting vurps (vomit-burps) the whole time. And I couldn't even think of eating anything at this point, either. Oh man...

 

Well, after ~2.5 hours of this crap, we finally arrived at the base of what I can only say would have been an excellent WI-4 flow of about 400 feet in height. The lower half would have been cruxy, as it was not totally formed anymore and was very rotten and aerated after the warming spell. There is a short vertical/slightly overhung section to access the upper half of the climb, which was rambly, WI-3 blue ice. But our biggest problem was the climb was actively detaching from the rock while we were standing below it. We sought shelter behind some boulders, rehydrated and ate (I felt better by now), and discussed politics and religion for about an hour while icicle explosions went off to our right. It was kind of surreal, to be sitting behind some boulders, wearing our helmets, huddled against the wind, and enjoying the scenery while 30 feet away a whole 3-pitch ice climb was actively disintegrating next to us.

 

We assessed the avy danger for using the drainage gully proper for our descent, as neither one of us wanted to backtrack our ascent route. We got in the gulley about 25 yards below the "blast zone" of the climb, and one quick glissade had us down to the road in less than 15 minutes! Back at the rig, Pup swigged a few sips of some Deschutes Buzzsaw Brown I had picked up the day before, then passed to me. I took one swig, and I'll be damned if I didn't just pour it out on the ground. I've never done that!

 

All in all, a fun weekend out, although I could have done without the drunken stupor part. I think Pup was impressed to learn that I was at it as strong as I was Sunday morning, especially after he learned that I had thrown up for about an hour the night before. This fat, 48-year-old fart kept up (most of) his end of the trailbreaking along with the studly 29-year-old! And I felt pretty darn good Monday, although driving back home Sunday night was dicey. Had to pull over for an hour's nap in Cody's parking lot after dinner.

 

Pup's got some pics of the ice and some other shots of the canyon walls on his camera. Mebbe he'll post them up here.

 

 

Gear Notes:

took it for a stroll in the woods

 

Approach Notes:

hefty servings of mashed potatoes, no gravy

snowshoes better than skis

ryland moore was right on about the Blue Banana and the Lostine Tavern. :tup:

[Sherri]

Excellent TR, Sobo! I have a hard time imagining how incredible it must be to experience such a trip-- having never done anything more burly in winter than shoosh down a few groomed slopes at a shi-shi resort or two--but your vivid descriptions put me right there in the mashed potatoes. (You had me at "vurp"... )

 

Way to pull it together despite the hangover.

 

[sobo]

Why thank ya kindly, Sherri. Much obliged.

 

VUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRP!!!!1

 

Oh man, excuse me. Man, that tastes fucking awful... ugh!

[Sherri]

Ewww.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Fun times with Sobo!!

 

In between the discussions on religion and politics, I gave him a bite from my home-made bagel sandwich (veggie, spicy, garlicy), and Sobo said it tasted no different from his barfs .

 

Here are some pictures.

 

Cinnamon rolls!!

 

Sobo's ass wallowing in the wallowas:

 

The climb. Should be more than 2 full pitches:

 

The (nearly non-existent) crux. The ice was detached from the rock wall behind, and probably would not have taken screws. My balls are not big enough to climb that sucker:

 

More ice waaaayy up the canyonside:

 

 

It was my first visit to Enterprise (despite the proximity to my place), and I'll definitely be back. Hopefully, there will be another cold snap so that I can climb the ice without browning my undies.

[pindude]

Nice TR and pic's, guys. Getting out and seeking is better than not getting out at all, fo sho. Especially with a ten-ton hangover, impressive. Wadja do Sobo, mix types of beers?

 

Your TR makes me want to get back into the Wallowas, but I think I'll be looking more for snow. Even with your TR, I can't wait to try TG's beers.

[rbw1966]

That looks like what Steve and I climbed a couple years back. Or at least we climbed part of it if I remember correctly.

 

What out for that TG brew--its like an eraser on the chalkboard of life.

[billcoe]

Classic TR Sobo! You guys rule! That canyon is amazing in the summer as well.

[wdietsch]

Good read Sobo.

 

Here is a link to a TR willstrickland posted back in April of 2002 after he, TG and I took a shot at the same dribble until is started peeling off in the sun.

 

TR-The Sky is Falling

 

The links to will's pictures are broken. I'll see if I can dig them up.

[wdietsch]

For some prospective on height here is a shot of strickland rapping off our high point at the end of the first pitch approx 7 minutes or so before the upper pitch flaked off.

 

 

Here a shot of the illusive beer master himself hanging with mr will

 

[sobo]

...Wadja do Sobo, mix types of beers?

 

Well, Steve, ya know I'm sort of a project manager, planning-type guy... I got to the pub about 5:30 pm or so, and figured I'd sleep in the parking lot that night, since it was coo' with Yasha and all. So I perused the offerings posted upon the venerated chalkboard and formulated the most exquisite drinking plan. I think there was like 6 or 7 brews on tap that night, and I wanted to try them all, since I wasn't going to have to drive anywhere afterwards. I had 5 or 6 hours within which to complete this daunting project. Shouldn't be a problem, right?

 

I'd start large, and as the night would wear on, drop the ABV (alcohol by volume) back on each subsequent beer until I was down in the lowest range of the ABV scale at Last Call. That way, as I got drunker, I'd be drinking less potent varieties. A cunning plan, no?

 

So I opened the evening with a pint of Strong Ale (8.7% abv), followed by a pint of Festivale (8.3%), then a pint of two of IPA (6.7%), then the lamb Gyro wrap & chips/salsa with some Breakfast Porter (don't remember % abv now) to wash it down, some Stout (really don't remember % abv now), an ESG (really don't remember much of anything now), well you get the idea...

 

I actually felt pretty good, until I started setting up the tent. I stood up waaaaaay too fast after pounding in some pegs, and got the "whirlies". Then I was done for.

 

And yes, Rob, you speak the truth. There was some serious eraser action going on later that evening...

[Winter]

Nice work fellas. That's a great tr. Good thing you slept in the parking lot and not upstairs!

 

Here's some more eye candy on local ice near Enterprise. These are from a couple of weeks ago. The first may have been an FA - the second is probably still unclimbed but who knows. These things rarely form.

 

 

[ryland_moore]

Glad you guys had such a good time! Great TR and and least you were out there! Yeah, the olks in Lostine are mighty different from Enterprise and Joseph too. Salt of the Earth for sure.....

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Thanks for digging up the old TR and pics Wes! I didn't find it when I searched, but then Will did not mention anything about Lostine in his TR. The ice looks "healthier" in that TR, at least before it all fell down .

 

What inspired us was the pics posted on the infinitymountain.com site. Looks like Robin has taken down the pics and info on Lostine since I found it just last Friday. The bottom portion looked super-fat in the pic(s) posted there - almost in WI2+ or WI3 conditions! The pics were apparently from Feb 3-4, 2007.