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Washington Ice Conditions


AlpineMonkey

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i second that. pretty sticky, nice.

not sure what this route is, it's on the left of the alpental falls group. the bottom set of pillars was a little brown, but was actually easy to protect. the top was a little styrofoamy, also enjoyable.

 

...this is very sad - i can't seem to embed the photo. but it's uploaded into my profile.

Edited by spionin
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I want to get out and climb some ice this upcoming weekend, if anyone is interested send me a pm.

 

I have three climbs of interest and would be down for whatever fits your goals the most. They are, in no particular order of interest, "What do Ardenvors Eat? - Entiat (est 5), "Drury Falls" - Leavenworth (est 4), or "Dropline" - Strobach (est. 4+ to 5). From recent trips I know all of these lines look to be in and climbable. If anyone has any interest, again let me know the eariler the better.

 

 

EDIT: partner found.

Edited by AlpineMonkey
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Theres some picthers on the banks lk thread of last weekend, Summer Falls is just south of Coulee City on Pinto Rigde Rd, and the other stuff is north of there. The golf course rts not in. 1st pitch of clockwork is in but thin. Champane is looking better every week, should be good to go. Routes on Lk Lenore are in.

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No pics sorry. I rode by there on Sunday in the passenger seat as my wife drove. I just happened to be looking up in the Canyon and saw a massive ice flow. I went home and research what it was and figured it was Drury. It's quite possible that the last pitch has fallen out since this was my first time looking at it without knowing what it was. Your source may be better and if I posted misinformation, my apologies.

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Drove by Drury this weekend, it is not in. There is some ice but did not look at all climbable. A lot of other smaller climbs did look climbable, like the ones across from castle rock.

Climbed This to Shall Pass at lake wenatchee with 5.12dreamer on sunday. Looked fat but both pitches had quite a bit of snice even on the steeper sections making it more difficult to climb and protect than we'd hoped for. Still fun just don't expect thunker ice like it looks to be from the base. The small bowl above the climb had more snow than we expected but the main path directly threatening the climb has slid some time ago so it seemed pretty safe. Timequake looked like it had some missing sections especially at the start of the third pitch.

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Mini-TR from the weekend.

 

David and I had some great plans for some alpine goodness, however when we arrived to marsh area just beyond the Colchuck lake junction our view was.. (ok really that was taken today but the view was close to the same plus it was snowing harder)

DSCN2511.JPG

 

Well the limited/lack of visibility and unexpected amounts of new snow (6-10"!?!?) made us change our mind about our plans. I had seen this ice last May when hiking to Stuart so we decided to do some alpine ice cragging. Beyond Stuart lake and on the cliffs below Stuart Glacier this can be found:

DSCN2501.JPG

I'm too lazy to draw on the picture but at least 7 routes of 2-4 pitches can be climbed here rangning from WI3 to WI4/5 (guessing) and some mixed. We climbed the ice on the left most/lowest buttress. We climbed it in 2 pitches and rapped before it got dark. David recieved a good shot of ice to the face and he got his first ice related wound. With that in mind we named it Valentine's Day Facial Shot, WI3 80m.

 

DSCN2506.JPG

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Credit David Kiehl with the photos. And Craig, that was the only blue sky we saw the whole trip! :poke:

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Strobach:

First on the left: thin a steep seems to have fallen down and now reformed.

 

Ice dreams: still looks nice a blue and fat

 

Dropline: In

 

Sudden change of plan: looked fatter then when I was there last week

 

Sad Ce bu: Not in

Watchtower: Still not in, unless you wanna dry tool for 80+ feet

Primus Suckus: WI 5+ conditions

ICe bleeder: WI5???

Tower of Power: touching but looking scary

 

All in all, worth it for a day trip if you have a sled, but I don't think it is worth the slow shoe.

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To the dork that told me Icicle Creek looked good...For the rest of you its not in...Thanks for getting me out on a walk though! :cool:

 

Bryan, what did you guys climb? Did you get on that pillar?

 

Climbed: First on the left- in interesting shape about foot and half wide at bottom.

Climbed up under the Unnamed A, decided that everything is way foreshortened and I didn't have the balls to swing out on to the 20 foot hanging curtain. I think I want to go back with a sled or fourwheeler and bring a drill and put some bolts in the roof. I think it would make a great mixed climb.

 

Pillar not in.

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We did a couple of climbs back of Source lake over the weekend. Climbed there Friday through Monday and no one there but skiers, snow shoers and us in those four full days. Some of this stuff forms once in a "Blue Moon". Amazing...as it was just like climbing in Canada during the sping the last few days but at Alpental!

 

Weird.......with all the decent ice around. Most people were heading for the Alpine stuff in the area.

 

This one is 3 pitches, 130' WI4, 110' WI5 and 130' WI4. The line is easily one of the best water ice climbs in Washington.

 

1st pitch.

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No camera tilt here on P2, it really is that over hanging, which is unusual anywhere on ice.

 

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Down from mid pitch 2.

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P3

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By passing the funky anchor set up right at the base of the crux, this one we did as a fun enduro pitch @ WI4 160m

 

afx.sized.jpg

 

Again looking down mid pitch.

afy.sized.jpg

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on saturday my buddy dan and i went out to scout at alpental, but falls i-iv looked dead and rotting. it was quite warm. across the valley the ice was looking a little more blue and promising, and there was word of a few people climbing chair. around noon we saw a group of climbers (the human dots are on the right side of the image) getting off the ice fall in center-left:

STC_2195.JPG

 

this also looked ok-ish:

STE_2197.JPGSTA_2201.JPG

 

then this morning i drove by vantage and saw that fugs has been basking in the sun a bit much,

STA_2239.JPG

 

and this (can't remember the name, across from sunshine wall) - was looking a little sad too:

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on the drive back across the pass, i swung by the upper lot at alpental and snapped a few pics. things looked a little more promising than on saturday:

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then again, i think they got a little bit of snow, and the dusting simply filled the visible holes in the ice. if it gets colder, maybe the stuff will look a bit more solid, but for now nothing to get too stoked on.

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on saturday my buddy dan and i went out to scout at alpental, but falls i-iv looked dead and rotting. it was quite warm.

 

Guess you failed to read the post above :) Lots of ice to get stoked about in the Apental area...even today, which was the warmest in a week.

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STE_2197.JPG

 

That's Not Quite a Plum. Bryant Buttress is the large rock wall/buttress in the upper left of the pic.

 

then this morning i drove by vantage and saw that fugs has been basking in the sun a bit much,

STA_2239.JPG

 

That's Frenchman Falls, actually.

 

and this (can't remember the name, across from sunshine wall) - was looking a little sad too:

STC_2234.JPG

 

That's Fuggs Falls.

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