forrest_m Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 General - Conditions were good on saturday, but sunday was well above freezing. Not again! The climbs are starting to recover from the warm spell, but it's back to early season conditions. Capricorn - long, hard approach with 3 inches of powder over frozen dirt. the "approach" pitch mentioned in the guidebook is nowhere close to being in, jungle warfare is required to get through the brushy cliffbands. the upper pillar is in and forming fast, but is very chandaliered. 2 inch layer of new ice is not well bonded to older ice underneath, so lots of dinner plating and slushy patches. the top is very very wet. we bailed about 20 feet below the top when we ran out of daylight. Carl's Berg - i'll repeat the warning posted a few weeks ago about carl's berg in warm conditions. just as we reached the base, a coffin load of large ice chunks broke off the cliffs above the route and strafed the base. we ran away. i know, this is a hazard in all ice climbing, but i think carl's berg is particularly vulnerable because of the icicles on the cliffs above and because it faces south/west. the route is in (someone did it on saturday)but running water has worn a channel completly through the left side of the flow, visible from the highway as a vertical brown stripe. Loose Lady - The scramble approach is missing one whole section (just water over slabs), so cut into the woods on the left. the first pitch is about a cerebral as WI3 gets, 2 inches of ice over flowing water. same with the lower part of the upper tier. the top is a spectacular freestanding pencil, about 4 feet in diameter and composed almost entirely of hollow chandaliers. some more freezing and it would be very cool, but we didn't want to even touch the thing. Synchronicity - We scoped it from the road and appears to be all there, but significantly thinner than two weeks ago. Quote
Dru Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Boulder Falls - approach ice is all in but the WI3 pitches hidden up in the box canyon are not Plan B - in enough to climb but probably not to get pro in, so just solo it. Oregon Jack - in nicely. an enterprising local youth will show you the best way to hike in for $5 if you cant manage to follow the line of tracks in the snow. the road was plowed on Sunday. was -10 overnight and below freezing all day at OJ. Quote
CascadeClimber Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Icy BC: Led all three pitches. A guided group monopolized the first pitch both days, luckily we got there before them on Saturday. Seems like poor form to let clients beat the hell out of one pitch of ice for two straight days. Old Dogs, New Picks: Looked to have decent coverage, but thin. Mixed crux 1/2 way up. Silk Degrees: No way. Top pillar unformed. Rest is discontinuous. Salmon Stakes: Looked bad from the road with binocs. Couldn't tell for sure, though. We helped a "Northwest Legend" figure out which one it was. Not sure if they went up to it or not. Shriek of the Sheep: Looked to be in from the road. Night N Gale: Wow! I was up there twice last year and it was never this fat. We climbed in two rope-stretching pitches. I got hit by a small sluff at the top belay and a pretty good sized slide boomed down (we thought it was an airplane) just after we finished the rap into the descent gully. There was a party behind us on the route, and I was really glad to see them okay when we got back to the base. They were climbing the first pitch and must have had a big scare. The approach pitch is a little thin. We opted to belay. A HUGE ripper came down sometime in the last couple weeks. There was old debris the entire lenght of the approach, and well into the trees. Phair Creek: Tried to get in there on Saturday evening. The road is a skating rink covered by six inches of snow. Got halfway up the road past the bridge, then slid backwards all the way back to the bridge. I thought we were going into the water for sure. I'll have pics and a TR up on my site later today. Quote
Dru Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Some party in the bar reported climbing Salmon Stakes even though it is as thin as I have ever seen it! Loren how do you know the party was in Marble both days if you were on Night N gale one day??? you got spies or something? [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Dru ] Quote
CascadeClimber Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 I saw them there on Saturday. I saw the guides in the lobby of the Reynolds on Sunday morning and asked them where they were going. So in truth, I don't know that they climbed on Icy BC Sunday, but that was their intention. Things were getting testy at Marble on Saturday. When we came down every climb except No Deductible had a TR on it, including two on the first pitch of Icy BC. I heard someone refer to the people on the top pitch of Icy BC as "fucking rude Americans". Quote
CascadeClimber Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Dunno which one that is. We TR'd the first half of the route to the right of the third pitch of Icy BC. There was no one on the "Dale R" route to the left of the Dihedral and no one on the corner route between Deeping and Waite. (I think I have those straight...) Quote
Dru Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Michelmoon Falls calved on Sunday and nearly killed 2 friends of mine who were racking up at the base. Heads Up! Quote
512dude Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 There are signs on the side road to Michelmoon Falls that clearly state that there is no ice climber access to the falls across the landowner's land. Upon speaking to the land owners to clarify, they made it clear that they no longer welcome ice climbers. Issues include liability, garbage left, and an ice climber stealing their dog (so they say). They also mentioned that they were never consulted when the guidebook was written. Access to the falls is now along the edge of the private property. Basically, it'll mean not going up the driveway to the house and creek, but heading straight up then traversing left into the falls, high above the residence. While his property boundary isn't fenced or marked, I think the key will be to stay out-of-sight, out-of-mind. And if climbers make the attempt to avoid private property (e.g. don't cut through his yard), then it shouldn't be a problem. [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: 512dude ] Quote
Lambone Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 1-20-02 Shreik of the Sheep- The first two pitches are in good shape, ice is a bit airy on the 2nd. The third pitch (last pillar) looked climbable, by the looks of it I'd rate it WI pretty damn hard and dangerous (ie. wet, not attached well, and poor protection.) We decided to give the ice a break and come back again when it was ready to be climbed I'd say it is worth doing the approach for the fat blue ice on the first 2 pitches. Crossing the river is mellow right below the approach gully. Calf deep water, but damn cold! Wear your helmet at the base...I got pegged hard! Met some cool dudes from Kamloops. Fun day out [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Lambone ] Quote
Dru Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 Pink Cadillac is the m6+ dry tooling corner with the odd ice blob left of Deeping Wall. Goes as 5.10+ dirt in the summertime. Quote
Dru Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 You can hike around private property via Crown Land to get to Michelmoon. Lyle's Ice Map has the beta, or otherwise park at km 29.4 (or 24.9??)I think and follow the property line markers. look for an orange paint splotch on the road cut. Quote
CascadeClimber Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 Hey Lambone- How long did it take you to hike up to the helmet testing zone on Shriek? FWIW, we took 2:15 to get to the base of Night N Gale, including belaying the approach pitch. With the fear of avalanche in us we made it from the base of the route to the car in 1:15. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 CascadeClimber, I was Lambone's belayer on Shriek and it took us just under 2 hours from the car til we were climbing the first pitch. There are a couple of steps on the approach that make you pause a moment, and there was that damn river crossing.... The helmet test came on the second pitch Quote
Lambone Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 Yeah, but I'd say more like an hour and a half. There is a good salmon bar right across from that gravel pit or whatever it is...It is mostly an easy tromp up with two bouldery moves over steps. The first pitch goes quick at WI 3 for 30 meters. Then ramble up 100m of WI -2 to the base of the big flow. Great route, I will be back some time for that last pitch! Quote
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