rocketparrotlet Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 (edited) Trip: Leavenworth - Rainbow Falls and The Funnel Date: 12/27/2009 Trip Report: First TR, sorry if I don't get the format right! EDIT: Pictures resized, posted here: http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/586951/Ice-climbing-in-Leavenworth.html Giant pictures removed from this post. I went out to Leavenworth for some ice climbing the 2 days between Christmas and my birthday, making for a perfect holiday break! It was my first time ice climbing, due to a very generous invitation by Curt (montypiton). We went up Rainbow Falls (I think) the first day, where I learned technique and placing screws. I did a lot of "bouldering" (icicling?) at the bottom while Curt and his son Michael were climbing, testing out different tools and different swing techniques. http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585653.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585654.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585655.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585656.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585657.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585658.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585659.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585660.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585661.JPG[/img The next morning, we hiked up to The Funnel, a 2-3 pitch waterfall on Hubba Hubba Wall. The ice was more brittle and hard here, and I had to learn different techniques. I got a tool stuck on the vertical section at the bottom, and consequently fell trying to get it out. (Darn it!) When I reached the belay, I asked Curt where to stand, and he gestured towards a slightly less sloped part of the waterfall with a thin layer of snow. I remember thinking, "Wait, what? I don't see a stance...oh." It was cool to look at the anchor, built off a resident piton, Curt's freshly-placed piton, and an ice screw. I hung the backpack with our puffy coats and some hot tea and clipped my camera in to the anchor. This was all new to me, but what a fun experience! Curt brought Michael up and then led the second pitch, then Michael followed. A barrage of ice continued on throughout, with me looking up then consequently pressing myself against the waterfall repeatedly as chunks of ice bounced and shattered on my helmet. When it was finally my chance to climb, I undid the anchor and continued on to Curt and Michael at the top, noticing how small the front points on my G-12's were and how they barely scraped the surface of the ice, yet still gave me enough support to weight them. http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585662.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585663.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585664.JPG[/img http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/585665.JPG[/img The rappel tree, unfortunately, was about 20 feet above us. I led the short, unprotectable pitch (thinking there would be ice underneath, thus rendering it easy), but there was only powder snow covering rocks. I delicately continued up, and I hooked a small tree with my ice tool until I was able to climb onto the large tree, clip in, and belay Michael and Curt up. We rappelled back down, packed up our gear, and hiked down in the dark. All in all, this was a fun trip and I am very eager for my second time ice climbing! -Mark Gear Notes: I bought a pair of Aztars from Curt! It was cool getting to test gear before buying it. Approach Notes: Rainbow Falls is like 3 minutes from the road, The Funnel is about 1,500 feet higher. Totally worth the walk though! (Who am I kidding- I like hiking too.) Edited January 5, 2010 by rocketparrotlet Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted December 31, 2009 Author Posted December 31, 2009 Darn it! I don't know how to fix the giant picture size! Quote
RokIzGud Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 Looks like fun! I cant wait to try waterfall ice! Quote
Ryan Canfield Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 I don't think your pictures are big enough, maybe if you made them bigger i could see them? This might help: http://download.cnet.com/Free-Picture-Resize-Starter/3000-12511_4-10297789.html Quote
rocky_joe Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 Mark, click "edit" on your original post. once there you need to change "large" to "medium" in the text between [/img]. that should work. otherwise, porter should be able to fix it. Quote
spionin Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 nicely done! what were the temperatures like? Quote
kinnikinnick Posted December 31, 2009 Posted December 31, 2009 awesome, mark. the big pictures make me feel like i was there! Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted January 1, 2010 Author Posted January 1, 2010 Mark, click "edit" on your original post. once there you need to change "large" to "medium" in the text between . The temperatures were perfect, about 20 above zero. -Mark Quote
rocky_joe Posted January 1, 2010 Posted January 1, 2010 oh, sorry. thought you may have been uploading the pics to this website. if you wanna fix them you will have to resize the images and then upload them. Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted January 1, 2010 Author Posted January 1, 2010 oh, sorry. thought you may have been uploading the pics to this website. if you wanna fix them you will have to resize the images and then upload them. I don't know how to do any of this...I tried to upload them to this website first, but I couldn't figure it out. I pressed the "submit" button, a new menu came up, and all my photos disappeared. You can see them okay on 30% zoom, but it would be nice if I could get these fixed. I've already spent an hour and a half to get as far as I am. (This is why I never post TR's!) -Mark Quote
marc_leclerc Posted January 1, 2010 Posted January 1, 2010 Cool man, first time out? Ice climbers our age seem to be a rare find around here. But with all this ice practice you will soon be the alpine ropegun among all the older harmen! Pics are a bit big though, but some Mod might be able to fix that up. Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted January 1, 2010 Author Posted January 1, 2010 I might be coming out to Canada for some ice climbing in February...maybe I'll see you there! -Mark Quote
Josh Lewis Posted January 1, 2010 Posted January 1, 2010 (edited) Mark! You know when you post photos on summit post there is a large button that you can get a photo that takes up most but not all of the screen, I suggest using that next time. An example is here of one of yours: It is the same amount of work to use rather than the original big size. If you look here you can see there are buttons for diffrent sizes. http://www.summitpost.org/image/585660//first-day-on-the-ice.html No editing of photos required... ever! I just let websites do the resizing for me and them get the mediam or large generated photo. Always keep in mind if you scource your photos off of the original especially when its high resolution its going to be very big. SP is not the only site that has medium sized images. ;-) Besides that, nice trip report, good to see you posting one. I will admit, you helped inspire me a bit more into ice climbing. Cheers Buddy. Edited January 1, 2010 by Josh Lewis Quote
keenwesh Posted January 2, 2010 Posted January 2, 2010 nice, I've done that too, except in the summertime, and Curt showed me how to lead! my dad used to guide OB with him a long time ago, (like before I was born) 2 years ago I first ice climbed at that spot, it was during a warming trend and I ended up screaming for my dad to get to a safe spot as I held a huge section of the climb with my lap. needless to say, it was a exciting experience. looks like you had fun too, in a little safer way. Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted January 5, 2010 Author Posted January 5, 2010 Improved version with resized pictures on Summitpost. http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/586951/Ice-climbing-in-Leavenworth.html -Mark Quote
summitchaserCJB Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 Nice one Mark. My brother and I did that in much less fat conditions the 29th. -Colin Quote
rocketparrotlet Posted January 16, 2010 Author Posted January 16, 2010 Nice one Mark. My brother and I did that in much less fat conditions the 29th. -Colin Cool! Only 2 days later, and you could already tell the difference? I guess that's PNW ice... -Mark Quote
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