Lucky Larry Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 (edited) Trip: Mt. Hamilton, WA - Just Pictures Date: 1/1/2011 Trip Report: Got these pictures from right below the top of Beacon Rock on the hikers trail; sorry I did not get the summit of Mt. Hamilton in the pictures; D'oh. Anyway, the summit had no ice. Hope someone got/gets on it. The ice is the fat-tist I've ever seen on Hamilton. Mt. Hamilton Ainsworth Park from Beacon; looks thin at time of post. Approach Notes: Trail head for Mt. Hamilton is directly up the hill from Beacon Rock. Hike about 1.5 hours to the Notch where you can see the ice and rap in? Opdyke said there is a service road too but I have no idea if this would be any easier. Edited January 3, 2011 by Lucky Larry Quote
denalidave Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 This is what it looks like today... The 2nd & 3rd flows from the left look like a maybe??? Quote
denalidave Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 Shameless plug for my buddy's new restaurant... If you find yourself out in the Stevenson/Beacon area, be sure to stop down at the new 130 Bar & Grill in Stevenson. Down on the water front, just across the tracks and a half-block east of Walking Man. (In the old Crab Shack building.) Great food and ten rotating taps. $1 PBR & Coors Light and $2.50 micro brews every Sunday and Monday during the football games. Be sure to tell them I sent you. Cheers! Quote
denalidave Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 I think Larry is correct. I've lived here for 6 winters and am looking at it from my living room. I'd say this is as fat as I've ever seen it too... Quote
powderhound Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 i have to work during the day.....anyone want to get crazy and try this thing tonight, if it doesnt fall down today? Quote
ivan Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 go get that shit man! jeebus, it's never looked like that! wtf? wish i could come but i'd almost certainly cause your demise plus, it...uh...looks pretty cold, 'specially w/ the winds n' whatnot... we await your tr w/ many felicitations! Quote
ivan Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 dont make me come down there! i don't understand, why aren't you already here? Quote
Cobra_Commander Posted January 3, 2011 Posted January 3, 2011 someone needs to aaron burr that shit Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 Anyone have any more specific directions? Take the road up hill across from Beacon to a trailhead, is it called Hamilton Mtn trail and/or obvious? Is the notch you hike into the one on the left in the photo? Can you see the different seeps from the notch? Quote
denalidave Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 If it goes down and I'm around, pm me so I can get some pics... Quote
denalidave Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 Anyone have any more specific directions? Take the road up hill across from Beacon to a trailhead, is it called Hamilton Mtn trail and/or obvious? Is the notch you hike into the one on the left in the photo? Can you see the different seeps from the notch? I'd park at the gate on the logging road, directly behind the gravel pit/industrial park, which is across the street from the North Bonneville Golf Course entrance, about a half-mile west of the Chevron. The gate is usually locked anymore, but used to be open year round... Keep on the main road, which will zigzag up to the bowl/talus fields at the bottom of the flows. Actually getting on the ice may prove to be cruxy. Quote
BillA Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 Spent time looking at it today. The top out is awfully thin. If anyone is planning on going for it they better be able to lead very steep, very thin, gorgified ice. It would be cool if it got climbed but highs of 36 and the fact that the thing gets full sun all day isn't very confidence inspiring. If someone does decide to get on it please be VERY careful and remember that discretion is the better part of valor. Quote
Plaidman Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 remember that discretion is the better part of valor. I am all about valor! Quote
ivan Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 might be worth mentioning the rock itself of hamilton is beyond bullshit - a billion ball bearings barely glued together w/ fuck-all - can't imagine any species of rock-pro, pretty much including bolts, that would be worth a damn in it Quote
denalidave Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 remember that discretion is the better part of valor. I am all about valor! Yeah, but, do you even know what discretion means? Quote
Plaidman Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 remember that discretion is the better part of valor. I am all about valor! Yeah, but, do you even know what discretion means? Yeah I know what it means. I am trying to be discreet about it though. Quote
Lucky Larry Posted January 4, 2011 Author Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) Spent time looking at it today. The top out is awfully thin. If anyone is planning on going for it they better be able to lead very steep, very thin, gorgified ice. It would be cool if it got climbed but highs of 36 and the fact that the thing gets full sun all day isn't very confidence inspiring. If someone does decide to get on it please be VERY careful and remember that discretion is the better part of valor. many people think because the WA side is in the sun that it is less climbable, while this maybe the case it is often the WA side that has the better ice in my experience: caveat emptor or something. At any rate, it is not far to go to the opposite shore for ye of little faith. Edited January 4, 2011 by Lucky Larry Quote
The Ospray Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 After seeing how fat Mt Hamilton was this year, my ice partner and I skipped work to drive out there early yesterday morning to give it a go. We really had no intentions of topping out or much less getting on the ice, but we did manage to climb partway up the second from the left drip in the last photo posted. We climbed in two pitches up to the small shadowed lower angled middle section in the picture. Starting in the dark the first pitch was about WI3 and the second WI4 with maybe a + the ice was mostly solid but the higher we got the more the sun came out and the worse it got. Above it looked much harder and the ice did not look as fat, even if it was colder I highly doubt we would have continued anyway. My guess is it could be some real WI6 or something, not that I know anything about that. All in all though a killer adventure for any hardman awaits, we had tryed this same climb twice about 10 and 12 years ago never getting higher than 50' so getting 200'+ off the ground was a real treat. The crux is probably the approach and getting to the traverse ledge at the base of the flows, as all the climbing (to our high point) was trival as far as ice goes. If we had not have sussed out the approach many times before we would have never made it in the dark. Anyone looking for beta please let me know. Cheers Todd Quote
The Ospray Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Also my partner said he would e-mail me a couple of pictures he took. When he does and if I can figure out how to upload pictures I will. Quote
Jens Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 How long is the drive and approach time from Seattle? Quote
ivan Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 a little more than 3 hrs from seattle - the approach could be short as an hour i'd imagine, but there's plenty of room to fuck that up and have it turn into a lot more (john freih seems to think he's got it figured out though, so maybe you could ask him purty-please?) a rare, rare jewel as said above - been raining a bunch 'roudn here today - how's it looking now dave? Quote
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