2011/12 Washington Ice Conditions

[kevino]

Surprised no one has started this yet...especially since Edlinger said this forum is for local reports only.

 

Anyway, had a productive day out today checking out ice conditions in WA. Drove out to Strobach with Josh. The main road is drivable to 609 with some minimal ruts. Several climbs are forming up nicely. We were able to climb around at the bases but they need a little more time before they are good to go.

 

Stopped off at Umptanum falls on our way back, able to climb some nice plastic ice on the main drip and the smaller flows.

 

Alpental strasse and alpental pillar off of the alpental road are forming up well. these cold temps will help. I'm planning on running up t source lake thursday to check out the ice up there.

 

Happy ice season.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tyson.g]

[powderhound]

thanks

any more photos of strobach?

[Mercyful Fate]

late start hike out to see what Source Lake Line is looking like today. this is as close as i got.

im free all this week to give it a closer look with gear.

[kevino]

thanks

any more photos of strobach?

 

Anything in particular you're looking for?

[bsvik]

Thanks for starting this.

 

Was anything at Umptanum thick enough to take screws?

 

-Brian

[Alex]

awesome!

[Pete_H]

Does anyone have a report on 11worth ice conditions? I'm too lazy to drive up the road and have a look myself.

[kevino]

Thanks for starting this.

 

Was anything at Umptanum thick enough to take screws?

 

-Brian

 

Maaaaaybe some stubbies...the top out was still not completely iced over, might as well TR it. Or wait for it to fatten up so the rest of the season its good to go.

[Dannible]

Does anyone have a report on 11worth ice conditions? I'm too lazy to drive up the road and have a look myself.

 

I think someone posted something somewhere on here about looking around and seeing nothing. Just glancing at the forecast I'd say it's staying about 10 degrees too warm day and night for stuff to start shaping up. How much snow is on the ground there?

 

Elsewhere: I don't really know how the source lake stuff is supposed to look, but it seems like some of that stuff might be climbable soon. There seems to be lots of it hanging around.

[Dave A.]

Drove up the road as far as Hubba Hubba, nothing even close. Walked up to Millenium walls, nothing there. Too lazy to continue up to check out Nada Falls.

[kevino]

Went for a morning walk...

-Alpental I-IV: no or little ice. none climbable

-chockstone falls: no ice

-flow reversal: fatter than last week

-source lake line: fatter than mercyful's picture

-saw two climbers coming up from the valley. due to their very loud conversation i heard them say they want to climb both source lake line and flow reversal today. i look forward to that TR.

 

 

 

[Alex]

FWIW, if the local Alpental conditions continue (cold, little precip) that line forming to the left of SLL in this pic (left third of the pic, big icicles!) is something new. Can't quite see into the corner to see if it will go without the icicles touching down?

 

[DPS]

The line forming to the farthest left or the the second from the left?

[counterfeitfake]

Kevino, thanks so much for the valuable info. Sorry about my ignorance- could you caption or annotate those photos? I climbed something up there a couple years back, it was below and right of the Rap Wall, I thought it might have been SLL but maybe it was not.

Edited December 8, 2011 by counterfeitfake

[Mercyful Fate]

Im jealous an bummed I got to wait till Sat to get someone togo with to SLL.

Hope those guys have a good time. Id like to read how it goes.

[Alex]

I was looking furthest left.

 

The line forming to the farthest left or the the second from the left?

[kurthicks]

climbed ny gully today. fast approach in the AM on quite firm snow. post-holey (calf to crotch deep) in the mid-afternoon when coming down. flotation not needed. Route is in fine shape.

[kevino]

counterfeit - these are all located above the rap wall, or at least at its same elevation.

 

Alex - I'm glad you saw that too. It caught my eye this morning, there almost looks to be a potential line forming up between the two.

 

Mercyful - look forward to your TR.

[Alex]

climbed ny gully today. fast approach in the AM on quite firm snow. post-holey (calf to crotch deep) in the mid-afternoon when coming down. flotation not needed. Route is in fine shape.

 

Nice kurt!

[keenwesh]

whats the actual climbing on NY gully like? Mixed stuff with freeze/thaw hardened snow or actual WI? I have a buddy who wants to go climb up at alpental and I've already done the N face and NE butt on chair. looking to MIX it up a bit.

[kurthicks]

It's pretty scratchy with some icy bits in the dihedral, but nowhere enough ice for screws (rarely more than 1/2"). Most of it was drytooling, with some verglass, and firm snow on lower angle terrain. The moss is frozen and provided the best sticks. Probably typical conditions on the route, but it's the first time I've done it.

 

Take a solid rock rack from tiny tcus to #3 camalot. Knifeblades and Lost Arrows useful.

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Nice job on NYG Kurt! Probably the best climb to do now.

 

We got on Flow Reversal today but it was too thin, weak and there were big sloughs sliding off the top since it was very warm up high. I bailed to the right and finished on 100 feet of wet mixed to a tree.

 

The conditions remain too cold to get much melt and not cold enough to fatten seeps. I was suprised to not see much change since last weekend.

[Cornfed]

We looked at Source Lake Line from a distance (but close enough to note that it would be epic) and decided to check out Flow Reversal - strike one.

 

We did check out Flow Reversal up close, but with direct sun on it, it was melting and shedding quite a lot. On a cold cloudy day, it looks climbable, and we would have tried it - strike two.

 

A skier buddy sent me a photograph of a couple of guys climbing a line from Snow Lake the winter before and mention this to Jeff. Let's go check it out he says with enthusiasm. So, it is still early (only 10am) and we go over there.

 

We picked the best line, which is in the biggest gulley over there (about mid-lake) and found pretty good ice. A good solid 30 meters of WI 3 followed by 30 meters of steepish snow/snice with a couple of small trees to belay from and a larger tree just above us to rap. It took screws up to 19cm - we placed 7 or 8 on the ascent. This is probably totally covered in snow most years, and was sort of wet despite very cold weather over there -- aka still forming up and thickening! You need 2 60 meter ropes to get down!

 

I'll write it up with photos in the next day or so.

 

Looks like there might be some other possible climbs over there for the adventurous. I expect with this info, a few will head that way to check it out.

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Pics of Flow Reversal (right?) with not-recommended mixed to the right. "Easy mixed" is like moderate alpine rock - feels so much sketchier than the harder stuff...