[TR] Alpental + Leavenworth Ice - 12/25/2009

[YocumRidge]

Trip: Alpental + Leavenworth Ice

 

Date: 12/25 - 12/26/2009

 

Trip Report:

Day 1.

Trying to utilize the dry cold spell that blessed us over holidays in PNW, Tom and I headed to Alpental to check out some ice. The original idea was to ski the approach and climb whatever ice we could find was in shape.

 

 

 

My sprained ankle was still swollen and had been bugging me, so the skis were stashed en route. A nice try though!

 

 

 

The Kiddie Cliff falls were half buried in snow, so we crossed over above the Source Lake to the Bryant Buttress area that looked more promising but not by much and climbed the Bryant Buttress left (WI3+) with its steeper and more solid start (P1) and not so solid P2 to the ice pillar and then mixed traverse to a tree anchor.

 

Kiddie Cliff falls:

 

Bryant Buttress left:

 

Tom on the P1 Bryant Buttress left:

 

Me on the P2 Bryant Buttress left:

 

A Pro ornament called "Better not fall" on P2:

 

Bryant Buttress P2 anchor:

 

Chockstone falls:

 

 

 

Day 2.

We were curious about the conditions in the Mountaineers Creek Drainage and hiked up for a half hour on the road #7601 to find out the falls were not in.

 

 

 

 

 

Got back to the gate and headed up to Hubba Hubba falls instead. What a gorgeous day! Leavenworth at its finest.

 

 

 

 

 

We climbed a right variation in two pitches. The ice was excellent, V-threadable and took screws well, more often than not. We rapped off a V-thread atop the P2 and then off the tree on the P1.

 

Hubba Hubba falls:

 

Tom leading P1:

 

P2:

 

Rapping off the V-thread:

 

Me ice bouldering on the P1:

 

Gear Notes:

Ice rack and doubles

[upzmtn]

yikes - not sure, but I wonder if that v-thread is kosher. Seems it would have to be horizontal to evenly distribute forces, no? I've never seen nor made one vertically in my...well, let's just say a long time :-)

 

Looks like a great day in der Leavenvert. Good show.

[G-spotter]

Vertical orientation is marginally stronger than horizontal according to some ACMG stuff i remember reading.

[XXX]

That V thread looks like it is gonna pop out!

 

Nice work Anna, hope you enjoyed it =)

[spiderman]

Did you get a look at Source Lake Line? Any photo's? Thanks in advance.

[Bug]

Vertical orientation is marginally stronger than horizontal according to some ACMG stuff i remember reading.

I looked at that and thought yikes too.

Any links available?

 

 

[G-spotter]

follow the link to the testing here:

 

http://www.rock-ice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=1

[toproper]

Thanks for the TR and the pics.

 

I would think vertical placement of the v thread is better in that it avoids magnifying the load similar to the 'American death Triangle'. Of course it all depends on the integrity of the ice. But i'm no engineer and not much of an ice climber either.

 

thanks again for the pics!!

[YocumRidge]

Vertical orientation is marginally stronger than horizontal according to some ACMG stuff i remember reading.

 

Yes, and it is why vertical V-threads are a personal preference of locals in Hyalite. JoJo & co. did some strength testing of horizontal vs. vertical which was published in CAJ so he might elaborate more on that.

[YocumRidge]

That V thread looks like it is gonna pop out!

 

Only if you gonna rap your ass off that - Touray!

 

We might as well teleport you down on the safe ground.

[YocumRidge]

Did you get a look at Source Lake Line?

 

We did not see any that are in or was it buried in snow?

[Bug]

follow the link to the testing here:

 

http://www.rock-ice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=1

Thank you.

[JoJo]

All things equal, a vertical V-thread is stronger than the same anchor horizontally placed. This is due to the nature of ice to crack horizontally. My testing in 1989 and decades or experience have shown this. I've used vertical ones for years although more often than not I use horizontal ones just because they are easier for me to connect. Just like a screw, the quality of a V-thread is directly proportional to the quality of the ice, this includes temperature. Cold, dry ice is MUCH stronger than soft, wet ice. A good v-thread, either horizontal or vertical, will be super bomber.