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[TR] Banks Lake - MISC 1/21/2012


Vernman23

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Trip: Banks Lake - MISC

 

Date: 1/21/2012

 

Trip Report:

Although this goes under the Ice conditions thread I wanted to add a few more pictures and not plug up that thread.

 

On Saturday Josh M and I made it out to Banks for some climbing. The low amounts of moisture in the ground made for surprisingly low ice conditions. But we still found enough of an adventure for the day.

 

When we first arrived we drove down to check out the punch bowl and see how big the deathcicles were. As we arrived we saw two people walking and one with what looked like a shotgun. We thought it was weird that someone was hunting in a state park but soon realized the true intent of the hunting trip. We sat for a while and watched them attempt to shoot down the deathcicles. It worked on a few but I don’t think they got enough down to feel comfortable.

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The wind was also blowing which made for some good photos of steamboat rock.

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We drove back up the road and found some climbing. The first climb I decided to turn off of due to the small amount actually touching down and the warming conditions. But played around to get a few pictures.

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Finally we settled on a climb to the right. That looked good and about WI4 condition from the bottom but that quickly changed while on route. IDK if it was the beer the night before or what but it felt like 5+ to me. Probably forms in fat in 4-5 condition. What you couldn’t see from the bottom is that the climb is not connected to the wall on the second half but is a thin curtain that a 22 cm screw would punch through. Once I got to the half-way point I thought about/ wanted to bail and thought that I could get a sling behind the curtain and rap off that. Once I crawled behind the curtain and took a rest I decided to shake the mind demons and send it. Was vertical to slightly over hanging with no real protection. I got a specter hook in at the traverse but that was about it. Over all was a fun climb that was about 45m and felt hard to me but idk if that was me or the Beer.

 

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The real bummer of the day came after I was climbing. The party around the corner from us on a WI3 route had a bit of a mishap which ended with a leader fall that led to a broken ankle. My guess of what happened is that the leader led the route got to the top where there was no more ice or good shrubs for a belay and fell, about 15 feet to a ledge and broke his ankle. They bailed and left tools and all the screws on the route. I was able to climb up and retrieve all their gear that is getting returned to them.

 

Moral to the story stuff at Banks is in fun but challenging shape. Be sure to watch out for top outs that often have no ice and heavy on the bushes.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Screws, Specter Hook, ShotGun

 

Approach Notes:

Drive East

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I was shooting. Kinda hard to miss blasting 2 3/4 00 buck. Would have been shooting 3 1/2" but the bullet store was fresh out. Even after "cleaning" we were unable to muster the courage to climb the thing after seeing the path of devastation below. There were several other flows to keep us occupied for the rest of the day - climbing not shooting.

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Vern - Doc and I did get out there Sunday, but never found you (or anyone else for that matter). Drove the length of the lake commiserating about all the "dry climbs, finally ran a lap on Trotsky's Folly. Ran a few laps on one of the lower flows at Peewee's Playhouse, but lost interest after the second volly of beer-keg-sized death-sicle blocks roared over us. Managed to dodge the big chunks, but figgered two warnings was plenty.

 

Funny about the shotgun -- Bruce White tried the same tactic back in the eighties with no success -- need to get hold of an avalauncher...

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Vern and I were a little skeptical about how well a shotgun was going to work when we saw them. The first shot proved us wrong. Hard to tell in the first pic but the lower two deathcicles are in motion. The one impacting was probably 10'- 15' and the bigger one was probably 25'- 30'. It appeared that it was just the percussion from the gun that made the big one go as it looked like the smaller one took the hit. Scary. Probably not good to climb under those babies. Thanks for the pre-climbing entertainment.

 

We we're sorry to hear about the other guys ankle. The fall sounded pretty bad from around the corner.

Edited by Sidviscous
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Jens and I climbed there all day in the snowstorm on Friday. We also found things felt challenging. Its interesting to hear locals suggest lack of wayer rather than cold temps for the lack of xlimbs. One of the lefterish and one of the middle-ish lines at peewee playhouse went at ok-protected WI4 to slings we left on trees.

 

If anyone finds a short new-style BD screw, give a shout.

 

PSA: if you park in the pulloff toward the state park across from peewees u can expect a discovery pass ticket from the WSP even I you are parked before the sign.

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Looking to head to banks from seattle sometime during Sunday Monday Tuesday this week. Been warmish getting cooler, any up to the day condition comments? Been in hyalite and Cody for a couple weeks and back in Seattle for a few weeks and banks seems the best bet for local (sorta...) ice. I'd appriciate any input. Never been. Thanks a bunch!

Chris

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Was nice today,lots of people out, some maimed cicles still hanging over the punchbowl,but Troskis looked fat. We did a line at Pee wees nice ice. Lots of the lines took a hit with the warm weather on wensday and thursday..Still stuff to climb but I would say most are in hard shape JMO..

Edited by Paul_detrick
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Looking to head to banks from seattle sometime during Sunday Monday Tuesday this week. Been warmish getting cooler, any up to the day condition comments? Been in hyalite and Cody for a couple weeks and back in Seattle for a few weeks and banks seems the best bet for local (sorta...) ice. I'd appriciate any input. Never been. Thanks a bunch!

Chris

 

Troskys Folly & Revenge are in good condition. For the first time this season the upper portion of T’s Revenge was not wet and we were able and willing to climb the entire route. The deathcicles at DP are sketchy as always especially with the warming temps - if you go tomorrow I would skip it and head down the road to Peewee’s. The route is Vern’s 3rd photo is climbable, fun and strenuous!

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