Friedrich Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) Trip: Upper Alpental Valley - Source Lake Line Date: 3/23/2011 Trip Report: Went up to grab some late-season ice Wed March 23rd with Cjones after meeting up via the partners board. Awesome day out, good climbing, ice conditions ranged from excellent to marginal. Yes, the route's still in shape for those who want to get out. I hear there may be one or two headed up there tomorrow. Let's zoom in a bit, shall we? Note the huge missing icicle, dropped off sometime in the last month. We both had a great time from start to finish. We felt like we got away with something, having a water ice day on March 23rd so close to town. Thumbs up for late-season ice! HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? This route currently gets a bit less than 1 hour of early-morning sun each day. Being higher up the valley, seems like it intrinsically must have a longer season than the stuff near the road. Full sun, just enough to turn pitch 1 into plastic today. We saw just a few drops of water on wed, and wore fleece pants without getting wet. Like it was still winter or something. Still, it's getting smaller each day. Get after it if you want it! OK, to the route: 1st pitch seems low angle from the pics but has 2 near-vertical sections. On sticky snice, they went quickly and were super fun. I found good pro down low, ran it out a bit up high, then swam through snow to get to the belay. I'm not much for rating ice, but maybe between WI 2 or 3 with the two steps. Reaching the belay after pitch 1. Route's back in shadow already. Still early morning. Chad came up in style, commenting that it was harder than it looked. Professional flatterer The belay has 2 fixed pins and is tucked safely away in a cave to the left of the fall line. What a spot! With room for 2, a soft snow fence, and great views, this is the Club Med of belay stations. Belay Room with a view. A sheltered belayer is a happy belayer. The comfy belay room was good because we hung out there for a while. 2nd pitch is a vertical waterfall. You have to traverse out of the cave to your right to get on the face of the waterfall, and get some air under your feet. The waterfall overhangs slightly for 2 moves at the start, then you can get your foot on a bulge, stem across, hang on a tool, and rest. Alpine hard men and women would proceed without pausing, but this is as far as I got. Crotch shot. This doesn't look too vertical, does it? Wait.. why are those straps and slings hanging sideways? From there, it goes almost dead vertical but with bulges for about 15-20 feet, then goes right and eases to the top. The pro is solid low, marginal in the middle, and unknown above. This pitch seems like WI 4 or 5 just like it says in the guidebook. The waterfall is composed of an open lattice of icicles ranging in thickness from 1 foot to 3 inches. About 30% of the volume is empty pockets. Hard to find good screws but they are there if you take the time. I highly recommend pre-planting one up high before you swing out onto the waterfall and into space. Ironically given my posts on a recent discussion, when we looked at the start of the 2nd pitch from within our cushy belay, we realized it would actually be OK to fall here, if one set things up well and stayed in control. I knew the start of this pitch would be right at my limit, and then I'd be pumped for the vertical section without room to rest, so we considered bailing, but the more I looked at the landing/flying zone the more comfortable I felt with that scenario, should it come to pass. So we set things up to give us every advantage. With a couple of bomber screws, free air below, and deep fluffy snow below that, it was pretty much ideal as a place to push it on lead. I had never fallen before on ice or alpine, but there is always a first time! And I was in the mood to push it. So I did, twice. Yep, the first fall was when a pocket pulled out. It was fine, in control, dropped about a body length and a half. Factor 2 fall though, so close to the belay. On the nearly new rope we decided to go for it again, try and get past the vertical bit onto the lower-angled bulgy stuff so we could send this thing. Fell about 2 feet above my previous high point while placing a screw. Ripped a yates screamer halfway. "Ok, that's it" said I. We were gone. Two falls approaching factor 2 on the same short section of rope? Guess the blue rope is relegated to rap duty from now on. But wait, what about that half-placed screw up there, out of reach. For that matter, what about the other 2 screws. The smart and safe thing to do at that point was to just aid up to it on scews. Time consuming, but totally lame. So that's what I did. No, I'm not proud. I also aided down. Yeah safe not sorry, that's my motto. We rapped from the fixed pins leaving a double sling and steel rap oval. Once we were down, we decided to use the setup as a toprope to play on the other lower-angle route going up and right. Fun but it was too fluffy to go far. Just as well. That was it for the day. Chad contemplates the pendulum effect. The right route Chad is on has a blue ice tongue up high but probably no one ever bothers, being mesmerized by the main waterfall. It would be interesting to get up there though and see what it's like. Overall a great day and what's more, we made good time. In the continuing saga of my efforts to get back into shape, I'd dropped another 6 pounds since my last TR, making 11 pounds gone in 31 days. Middle aged couch potatoes represent! Going back out this weekend yo. 5 more pounds to go before I'm back in fighting trim! Not that anyone is still reading at this point. But it's good to have written goals, they say. Gear Notes: 6-8 screws if you want to sew it up. All sizes long to stubby. Yates screamers 2 ropes for bailing or rappel Approach Notes: Hike to Source Lake on the winter trail, then go up in the direction of Chair, and when you get onto the first bowl, you can see the climb to your left. 3:30 am departure from Seattle, at the parking lot at 4:30. Made good time to source lake, getting there about 6:15. Arrived at climb about 8:15, breaking trail on snowshoes in medium fluffy stuff. Back at the car 2pm. Edited March 25, 2011 by Friedrich Quote
genepires Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) 5 pounds! I bet most people read that far. It is the gear notes and approach notes that I don't bother with nice job and good calls! Icicle (construction not leavenworth) ice climbs are scary. Edited March 25, 2011 by genepires Quote
CaleHoopes Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Damn awesome! Seriously?! March 23? Why do people keep telling me the ice here sucks? NICE WORK! Quote
Le Piston Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Does this Chad happen to be an RN? Looks just like a guy I used to work ER with. Quote
Friedrich Posted March 25, 2011 Author Posted March 25, 2011 I don't think it's the same Chad, unless I'm mistaken. I'll let him chime in though. (cjones) Quote
Mercyful Fate Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 SLL what a Classic route out there ! you know if your not up for the epic lead of the route there is an easy way around. just go up the ramp to the right to the base of the short steep step baley follower here. then continue to top. then move left and rap off tree to the top anchor of SSL. Ive done this going out there early in season when route is a fun thin mix line and would be a free solo on lead.so have been thankful for the mellow way around. your top photos shows the way. Happy Climbing ! Quote
RaisedByPikas Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Technical question: If the falls were on screamers and the screamer never fully deployed, do the falls really do that much damage to the rope even if they were factor 2's? In other words, is a factor 2 on a screamer that only partially deploys really a factor 2 with respect to the forces on the rope? Quote
Alex Posted March 26, 2011 Posted March 26, 2011 What Fate said. The bailout option isnt to retreat, but lead the WI3/3+ ish ramp to the right, bring your bud up, taverse to the top of the pillar, and TR it from trees. It's not hard to set up. The climb looks in ok shape, it sometimes fills in fatter. The approach is an avalance slope, PLEASE be careful in the upper valley, closest I've ever come to dying in the mountains was with DPS approaching this route. Quote
Friedrich Posted March 26, 2011 Author Posted March 26, 2011 (edited) @raisedByPikas, I don't know. Good technical question. Maybe someone knows the answer. The screamer deployed about 25% and the rope was a Beal 8.6mm 1/2 rope. That's why I'm being cautious. Probably still fine but why risk it? I'll use the other twin for leading alpine from now on, it's still virgin. The rope I fell on can become the rap line. @Alex, I'll second that. We stayed away until things stabilized a bit, but still took every precaution. Alpine start, beacons, shovels, and above all, seperation, observation, speed. Edited March 26, 2011 by Friedrich Quote
Dane Posted March 26, 2011 Posted March 26, 2011 Great TR, thanks. It is a 1/2 rope and with screamers it would be fine. I would be quite surprized if it is damaged at all. I'd lead on it with no worries. Quote
Friedrich Posted March 26, 2011 Author Posted March 26, 2011 Thanks Dane. Heading out today again. Have fun in Cham! Quote
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