Washington Ice Conditions

[kevino]

Ask and you shall receive...left work yesterday afternoon and drove out to vantage. little or no snow on old vantage hwy. Frenchman Falls looks like its coming in pretty good. The ice on either sides seem to be forming up as well.

 

Fugs is definitely climbable. I actually walked here and climbed sections, topped out and finished the loop back to my car. Ice is thin and steeper in places, more so than it would be in normal months as you can imagine, but still fun.

 

 

Running gear death wall looked dry, however I only looked from my car. i have more pictures if people want to see'em, i was having trouble uploading them.

[AlpineMonkey]

Frenchman is for sure in when it looks like that.

 

In response to Umtaneum growing? I assure you its not getting smaller if that helps you out.

[AlpineMonkey]

If anyone wants to climb Frenchman or Fugs today, call me. I can meet you there at 3:30.

 

Craig

 

425-691-0090

[dbb]

went back to the "here today, gone tomorrow" area at exit 38 today. We climbed the other ice route on the upper tier, calling it "The Yellow Pillar" WI4-. Also climbed HTGT, which was much thicker than 2 days ago.

 

Marcus leading p1 of HTGT

 

The Yellow Pillar

 

fun and plastic!

 

 

p2 of Here Today Gone Tomorrow

 

Spent the day on the new BD vipers too. Nice toolz

[kevino]

i saw what looked like 8 people or so around the ice above the drytool area. busy area today!

[spiderman]

Thanks for all the great photo's!

[kevino]

yo yo yo. me and selkirk just got back from some sweet western washington ice climbing. perfect sticks, clear skis and packed snow on approach!

 

NOT. pretty much the opposite. After excavating selkirk's subaru from the snow, we got hiking to franklin falls. us and another party of 3 decided the sketcy ice crossing and the abudance of water flowing would not make fun ice climbing.

 

 

We then decided to go check out Keekwulee falls. Shortly after crossing the creek the snowshoe packed trail stoped. So I started breaking trail through waist deep (and deeper) snow. Here is Josh enjoying the wallowing!

 

 

Finally we got a glimpse of the ice! All looked good until the saw the bottom 2/3 was in direct spray zone of the ice cold water. Not very appetizing.

 

 

Well that was our day, besides the BLIZZARD OF 2008 we encountered on the way home.

 

Just another day of (western) washington ice climbing.

 

Hey Craig, I hope the entiat ice sucked and you got caught for trespassing.

[Alpinfox]

Skookum Falls is in.

 

 

Climbed it today with the famous and gassy AlpineDave and the firm-of-handshake CascadeClimber.

 

Lots of snow on it in sections, but managable. Especially now that we plowed a path up it for ya'll.

 

Go get it.

 

Two options for the approach:

1)Park at the Sno Park trailhead for Skookum Falls and hike ~2 flat, mellow miles along the White River on a trail to the base of the climb.

2)Park at the Skookum Falls Overlook right on the highway (there is a pullout that would accomodate about four cars), jump over the guardrail, ford one braid of the river at about 6" deep, the do one moderately sketchy log crossing (short) over the main channel of the White River for a 20min approach.

 

We did the log crossing method.

 

3.5 pitches (4-, 3+, 4, 3)

[robert]

Climbed the WI2 flow west of CYA today. The ice was pretty good with spots of rotten or wet, but it took screws well enough. The top was more snice than ice, but it made for a slighly more sporty finish. It was a good, fun if short climb. For those looking for top ropeable ice, it appears it could be top roped by climbing the trees to the right and descending down to the anchor. A 50m rope will work, but a 60 would be more comfortable.

[Skisports]

Thanks for plowing it to bad I am in cody climbing

 

Dave

[dberdinka]

Skookum Falls is in.

 

 

 

Nice Tick!

[wayne]

Tacoma solo assault team on upper Bridalveil

 

Right-lower tier

TSAT on the job again

[Dane]

Skookum Falls...has to one of the best moderate climbs in the state. And less than an hr drive from my door step. Gotta love it

 

 

 

Last year at the end of the cold snap.

 

Ramp on top of the first pitch of the climb above (there are three Skookums) in typical snowed up condition.

 

 

Starting the second..

 

Kevin?

[DPS]

Is this the Skookum falls in MRNP?

Edited December 21, 2008 by danielpatricksmith

[CascadeClimber]

Is this the Skookum falls in MRNP?

 

It's along 410 (on the way to Crystal) about six miles past Greenwater. Two of the three are visible from the road, but not the one we climbed.

 

Great climb. Pretty tough to make the third (supposedly top) pitch go on a 60m rope; we split it in two for a four pitch day.

 

Here are some pics:

 

Climber on the left side. I don't think anyone climbed above the first pitch yesterday:

 

Alpinfox crossing the White River:

 

The route we climbed, on the right and hidden from the road:

 

Alpinfox reacts to getting gassed:

 

The pitches, as we climbed them, were 55m, 50m, 50m, 25m

 

We were able to rap the top two pitches together, with a bit of downclimbing.

Edited December 21, 2008 by CascadeClimber

[JUSTO]

Climbed cya yesterday. It definitely has filled in more since Alpine Dave's photo. The #4 Camalot is key (& the fixed pin helpful) on the lower part. Nice fat ice above. The upper curtain on Amazonia (far left) was a little lean still but filling in. Then free hanging pillars to the right of mentioned climb are about 5 ft from touching down. They would be pretty impressive leads. The winds yesterday made for some COLD climbing! Keep the reports coming!

[dbb]

just an FYI, if that fixed pin on CYA is out left, placed from right to left and is a knifeblade, it is probably not very good. hard to get out (nearly fixed mine too), but a fairly weak placement. Glad to hear the #4 camalot worked!

 

a couple more from Skookum yesterday:

 

CascadeClimber on p1

 

topping out on p3

 

[selkirk]

Props to Kevin for breaking trail. tup: The photo's don't do the falls justice though. They were far wetter and less adhered than they look. Really need another week of cold temps, and/or a much reduce flow rate. It seemed like there was just too much water flowing to get good ice formation.

Cheers

Josh

[Alex]

awesome to see everyone getting out!!

[AlpineMonkey]

Found three climbs to be in on the E. Side of the Mountains.

 

At Entiat:

 

McCrea Falls: (65 meters, WI 4)

 

 

Make sure you get permision. Went to the owners home and knocked on their door. They were very friendly and invited me into their home. They gave me the ok.

 

Preston Falls: (60 meters, WI 3)

 

 

Absolutly dont anybody go to try to climb this one. We thought the falls was on forest land and skirted way around a house to get there. After we finsihed the climb the owner was nice enough to tell us he called the sherif and that he was on his way. He said if we got out of there quick enough we could escape him and the 450 dollar ticket. We beat feet.

 

In The Palisades.

 

Asked for permision to climb a route between mp 17 and 18, on the left. The owner told us that the ice was slipery, they had barbed wire and cows in the area, and that they didn't want us up there. They did say that if we could get to the top of the cliffs and lower in, then we would be ok. That just seemed like too much work.

 

February Falls is in, and very fat. (60 ft, WI5) A very impressive climb. I'm not sure if it is on public land or not. The only signs we saw said "Feel Free to Hunt." So, we went ice hunting. I forgot my camera, but highly recomend the climb.

Edited December 22, 2008 by AlpineMonkey

[Alex]

Really cool Craig! I'm certain that just about everything in the Palisades is private. Good on you for asking permission!

[Alpinfox]

 

Today I climbed the icy steps at Seahawks stadium.

 

 

WI1+ fer sure.

 

It was epic. The approach wasn't too bad, but the descent was a bitch.

 

GO HAWKS!

[olyclimber]

now that it doesn't matter, they pull out an upset. go hawks. whatever.

[ken4ord]

Hell if it is freezing as low as it is someone should check out the Amazon wall drip. When Pax and I did HTGT it was about 8 feet from the ground. It would be a cool detached column. There is some bushy stuff off left of it too.

 

There is line I have eyed up past Index that is a preetty good water fall in the spring and dry towards summer that might produce something. Probably a mile or two up past the Index exit on the right, there is tree covered butress.

 

Damn you guys get at while the going is good. I am jealous as hell.

 

Come on too short to be 4- only two funky moves off the ground. Good find on the other Yellow drip thing.

 

 

[AlpineMonkey]

Someone should go climb February Falls and take a picture. I was bummed I forgot the camera. Its a 60 food detached pillar, 90 degrees the whole way until the top.