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Leavenworth ice update


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Millennium on Sunday Jan 9. I thought the trail was nice and packed for walking without snowshoes, but the heavier half of the party swiss cheesed it pretty good. I guess the 2 feet of freezing rain or whatever is supposed to happen tonight will fix that anyway.

 

[img:center]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5346197385_9ff113234d_d.jpg[/img]

 

more pictures, feel free to mock the location of my screw placements.

 

(by the way, the book claims there are three millennium walls. I somehow managed to not see the other ones, are they really short? and does anyone know if this one is first, second, or third?)

 

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Hot damn this thread is really going downhill.

 

Anyways, Laural I'm pretty sure that is millennium 2. The drip is sure as hell not in. There is a bunch of ice there, but that doesn't mean you can climb it unless you are weightless. There is a nice spray of blood on it now though, which is good for the pictures. Most everything around here that grows ice has some ice on it right now, but tonight it will be covered in snow and in the next week much of it will be brought down by rain. This is Washington, and that's just how it works here.

 

On the bright side, the next two days should be epic pow days.

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Hot damn this thread is really going downhill.

 

Anyways, Laural I'm pretty sure that is millennium 2. The drip is sure as hell not in. There is a bunch of ice there, but that doesn't mean you can climb it unless you are weightless. There is a nice spray of blood on it now though, which is good for the pictures. Most everything around here that grows ice has some ice on it right now, but tonight it will be covered in snow and in the next week much of it will be brought down by rain. This is Washington, and that's just how it works here.

 

On the bright side, the next two days should be epic pow days.

Post some pictures! Did you take a winger? I've actually never climbed that rig. It'll look good from the road but will be spraying from the base.

As for the Millennium walls, I would have to agree with you Laurel, they are so short that they've never been worth the walk and I am surprised they were put in the ice guidebook as "routes" in my opinion.

If you made an attempt on the Drip in these conditions, bottoms up. :brew: Post some pictures.

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Look back one page on this thread for a picture from the attempt yesterday.

 

We gave it another go today, hoping that last night's cold would help staunch the flow, but it did not. No wingers were had since the pro would have been useless. lots of falling unconsolidated icicles though.

 

We did go up the Corner Route earlier this morning though. I can't recommend it enough for folks up to it. Super fun!

 

 

 

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just up from the Visor, across from the Snow Creek Parking lot. 3 pitches--the first is mixed, 5.8 or so, the last 2 are ice. It starts in a left facing corner about a minute off the road.

 

I should mention that there is a decomposing deer carcass in the middle of the last pitch. Pretty cool really.

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Sorry to turn it into spray, but what is classic about watching people way over their heads. Last Sunday, we witnessed just this, kind of scary considering the location, conditions and time of the day. I am glad this guy bailed out, but people should stay within their range for ice. Accidents happen to even the best, but these situations are becoming way to frequent, hence in last 10 years I was involved with help in 3 cases, mostly easily avoidable. Being keen on climbing is one thing, but being way over your head is another. Placing 8-10 screws every 5 feet is the later. If the ice is so shit, why bother with gear- you are soloing at the moment and placing gear is just a waste of time and energy. If the ice is good- why place so much? So the comments like: way to stay with it and such are just feeding the troll, because someone should maybe say, climb some easier routes, get some mileage/ experience under your belt, get to know different types of ice, get to know your limits. Doing comfortably WI4 instead getting over your head on WI5 doesn't make you any lesser of the climber. On the contrary- just safer and smarter and in the long run- better

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V and N quotes from their TR about conditons:

V sez: as a learning ice climber i bear no dilusions about my abilities. i was on a cragging trip, practicing climbing, and trying to lead a route that was difficult for me. i probably bit off more than i could chew. but hey - i tried.

 

N sez: "YES, this is for real that we went cragging, had a great and painful time climbing the shitty WI4+ in a "bad" form and now have to apologize for inadvertently posting the update"

 

 

What part of that conversation did you miss? May be the part where they are right beside the road in Icicle creek on what is typically TR'ed and likely belayed off a car bumper? It aint Riptide for christ sakes. They are pushing themselves intentionally to LEARN and get better.

 

Dumping on photos of a condition TR here is like trashing some kid for aiding on his first trad lead of Classic crack. Bush league at best.

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Sorry to turn it into spray, but what is classic about watching people way over their heads. Last Sunday, we witnessed just this, kind of scary considering the location, conditions and time of the day. I am glad this guy bailed out, but people should stay within their range for ice. Accidents happen to even the best, but these situations are becoming way to frequent, hence in last 10 years I was involved with help in 3 cases, mostly easily avoidable. Being keen on climbing is one thing, but being way over your head is another. Placing 8-10 screws every 5 feet is the later. If the ice is so shit, why bother with gear- you are soloing at the moment and placing gear is just a waste of time and energy. If the ice is good- why place so much? So the comments like: way to stay with it and such are just feeding the troll, because someone should maybe say, climb some easier routes, get some mileage/ experience under your belt, get to know different types of ice, get to know your limits. Doing comfortably WI4 instead getting over your head on WI5 doesn't make you any lesser of the climber. On the contrary- just safer and smarter and in the long run- better

 

:tup:

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Went in for the Drip yesterday. While it's touching down, it is not in leadable conditions. Aerated, chandelered, and a full on shower. You'll need ski goggles to look up for even a second, and you'd better be willing to solo the whole thing. It's dripping so HARD that we didn't even want to TR it. So we farted around in the icicle on easy stuff.

 

Just so ya'll know, I'm solid at leading the 6 grade, and wouldn't even consider the Drip to be an enjoyable TR without snorkle gear.

 

It looked so awesome on the approach, then the closer we got, the more our excitement waned. I'm think I'm going to wait for my out of state trips this year. I'm pretty much done hunting for the elusive Washington Ice. Even when you find it, the quality, and safetly level blows.

 

Be safe out there and make wise choices on the safety of your chosen ice climb.

 

 

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Oh....and I'm all for the climbers climbing Rainbow Falls and sewing it up. Way to push yourselves!!!! Keep up the good work and ingore the arm chair duchebags on this site who like to talk shit. If they're talking shit, it's probably because they have a low self esteem and need to talk others down to make themselves feel better.......LMAO

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I was pretty excited to get on The Drip!!! It looked amazing on the spproach, but upon closer look, it wasn't something you'd even want to TR. You'd be totally hypothermic half way up the thing. I guess they call it the "The Drip" for a reason.

 

I'm done hunting the elusive WA ice, and going to be leaving the state a lot this winter for the REAL stuff. You know, the solid stuff in every state other than Washington. Although I'd have to say the Strobach is looking like it might be worth a try.

 

Rainbow and Careno were dry. but a little aerated and chandeliered. Probably coming down with the rain right now:((

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I drove up the Tumwater this morning. the righthand column of The Drip fell off. Most everything else is already suffering and delaminating from the rock. Looked like plastic ice, but going downhill fast. Maybe some of the top roping routes (Rainbow, etc) would be OK tomorrow, but probably not worth the drive after that.

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Ice Update: There ain't any.

 

If you were counting on Fugs Falls, it was looking a bit thin today...

van4.jpg

 

However, if you were looking for hand and finger jams on January, sun-warmed basalt, then Vantage was THE place today:

van1.jpg

 

Looked, smelled and felt like spring out there. It was nice to chalk up the hands again.

van2.jpg

van3.jpg

 

I love these mid-winter, spring teasers ;)

 

 

 

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