Try again: Icy from the Cirque, 1988

[PGT]

Who would know when Icy peak was first climbed in the winter from the Nooksack Cirque?

 

I think Beckey says it was winter climbed on skis from Mt. Ruth in the 1930’s. That’s the way the vast majority of ascents of Icy have been made, as you no doubt know.

 

My buddy and I climbed Icy from the Nooksack Cirque on March 18, 1988. A true winter ascent in winter; not just winter-like conditions.

 

Of course the Cirque is one of the greatest incubators of avalanches in all of the Cascades. Just going there in the winter seems foolhardy, let alone climbing up out of there to Icy.

 

We were lucky with ideal conditions the first two days. Then the snow started flying bigtime, and we heard and saw dozens of avalanches before we finally gave up on the weather and slogged out on Gene Praters "Sherpa Claw" design snowshoes.

 

So, I wonder who climbed Icy in the winter from the Cirque prior to 1988? Anybody?

 

Or maybe it's just too small time to be noted anywhere. Like saying “who 1st climbed this peak on a Tuesday while wearing a red bandana?”

 

I may have to ask Beckey himself. If I bring a pretty girl with me, I am pretty sure he will talk to me. Or maybe the mountaineers would know? I have found nothing online.

 

Anyone have any tips on where such info may be found?

 

Thanks

 

 

[Lowell_Skoog]

I doubt that there is any publication that would have recorded the first winter ascent of Icy Peak approaching from Nooksack Cirque. Beckey's red guidebook doesn't seem to say anything about winter climbing on Icy. I suspect that's because he doubts that the winter ascents he's heard of were the first.

 

The only way I know of to unearth this sort of information is to publish a "strawman" at some prominent location on the web and wait for somebody to knock it down. This is the approach I've taken in the Alpenglow Ski Mountaineering History Project. But I don't bother setting up strawmen if I think it's very unlikely that they're valid.

 

My view as an amateur mountaineering historian is that the first winter ascent of Icy Peak would be an interesting fact to know. But the first winter ascent from Nooksack Cirque, if it is later than the first winter ascent, is not interesting.