[TR] Skookum Falls-Left Area - Center Curtain Direct 12/24/2008

[wayne]

Trip: Skookum Falls-Left Area - Center Curtain Direct

 

Date: 12/24/2008

 

Trip Report:

Christmas eve- I am only feeling festive towards ice climbing. It doesnt come in often in western Washington and it must be done. Either I am an a-hole or my regular partners have a chronic case of lame. Thank baby Jeebus for the "Partners Wanted Forum", as it has allowed me partners for several days worth of outings so far. Jared and I did x-38, with Jhampster at Index , and recently ChrisHXX on the Skookum Falls. I must say that I found the Ice here in Western WA to be some of the weirdest that I have climbed on. It forms into very inconsistent pockets of snice, plates and hollow spots. At least it is not boring.

Skookum appears to be 2 separate areas, maybe more. We went to do the big curtain on the left area. While another party opted for the right.

 

2 photos of the left area.

Pitch 1 was a snicy wi3 that ended at the steep bottom of the 2nd pitch(45m.)

There were interesting thin and hollow sections here.

Pitch2 was a pretty steep pitch with great position.

A short pitch 3 led to another wi4 crux finish . The top of the climb was a very artsy insecure section of hollow pillars and icicles that required great care.

 

The waterfall was flowing in and out of these delicate formations. A few turf hooks at the top and we were in the forest 200 meters of ice below. Wow, what a day. We got down to the log crossing near dark to see signs of the other party having fallen into the river! The tracks up the bank left notice of the survival. The log has a section of snow gone from it now as well. With the higher elevation I feel it can be climbed on this weekend too. I may see you up there soon< Wayne

 

Thanks Chris for photos and partnering up

 

Gear Notes:

Screws only, wished for some small rock gear at top

 

Approach Notes:

Good roadside plowed parking. Downriver log crossing.

[Alpinfox]

We got down to the log crossing near dark to see signs of the other party having fallen into the river! The tracks up the bank left notice of the survival....

 

 

Yikes!

 

That doesn't sound fun. It looked pretty deep right there.

[Ade]

Nice!

 

Lot more ice than when we wre there last weekend!

 

Ade

[dan_e]

AdrClark and I climbed 2.5 pitches of what's being called center Skookum yesterday (what Wayne1112 climbed) I would say overall rating was 4-. We climbed 55m for the first two pitches and 25m on the last pitch before we bailed. There was about 40-50m more to climb.

 

The river crossing is fine, just look for the huge area of large downed trees. We did not see where the party fell in, but we were glad that we did not go for a swim.

 

It was a fun route, interesting for sure and it did require delicate moves during much of the climb. The ice was heavily layered, hollow and detached from the rock in many places. There was also a good covering of snow on the ice, even on the steep sections. Belays were decent and as luck would have it there was solid ice for good anchors. You could here water running in many sections and I punched through in a few spots down low where the ice was clearly detached from the rock. I managed to get a few decent screws in, but most were crap.

 

I wish we could have finished this route, but I don't regret backing off. This was good start to the season for me.

 

Here's a pic of AdrCLark on a short, but exposed traverse at the end on P2. I ran this pitch out so it was either a full hanging belay or semi-hanging so I opted for the later.

 

Edited December 27, 2008 by dan_e

[tomtom]

We got down to the log crossing near dark to see signs of the other party having fallen into the river! The tracks up the bank left notice of the survival....

 

 

Yikes!

 

That doesn't sound fun. It looked pretty deep right there.

 

It wasn't over knee deep. We repeated Pax and Dave's route on the left side after wandering around on the approach for a while. There was a fixed blue rope on the left side of the first pitch. We were going to pull it but it was frozen into the ice.