TR: Two Days Near Hope

[Dru]

(AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first entry for Jon and Tim's "Superstars of the Cascades" feature. I will improve it with pictures when I get them developed, and the name of the new route when the 3 of us can agree on one. )

Two weeks of cold nights and (eventually) cold days too, with unseasonal lows down to -7C at night, had the lower Fraser Valley in highly unusual but prime conditions for ice climbing. Even rarely formed low-elevation stuff like Bridal Veil Falls was actually "in" and climbable, if not fat. With a forecast of warming temperatures and a day off work it was time to swing tools and kick frontpoints while conditions allowed.

After a flurry of emails I got both days organized. Friday would see me and Yanik Berube attempt something unspecified while Saturday, Don Serl and possibly Cam Campbell would come out and we would try do do a new route (also unspecified in advance).

So Friday morning Yanik showed up at a civilized time (8:30 AM) after he stopped off in Port Moody to pick up my bibs and harness from the back of a friend's truck where I had left them the previous weekend. We headed out to Hope with ice detectors engaged and annoyed many on Highway 1 by driving slowly along with both heads craned up to look at ice above the road. Pulling into Hope we both elected to go for "The Mousetrap" which was as fat as I had ever seen it, and rarely for the 'Trap, not covered over and hidden by snowfall.

Making the quick hike in from the Husky station exit to the ice we found hard avvy debris mixed with rocks and trees indicating that the rains of January had catastrophically detached an earlier formation of the same route. We scrambled by a little pool reminiscent of the one outside the gates of Moria in Lord of the Rings, and racked up at the base of the ice. Just about then it started to snow.

I took the first lead and ran out 50m of WI2 up a granite step to a broad, flat terrace and frozen pool. There had once been a 2-piton station here but the recent dirt/ice avalanche had ripped one pin out and bent the other. I ended up belaying on some Tricams in a good crack. Unlike many ice climbs in SW BC the Moustrap forms over solid granite rock and rock pro is easy to find for many of the belays.

Yanik got the next lead and the snow came down in earnest. He led a long pitch (over 55m) of WI3 and vanished out of sight above. Eventually I had to move the belay, and then simulclimb a few meters up the ice... finally he called down that he was secure and I was able to start seconding the pitch. It turned out he had climbed the pitch and at its top, passed through a narrow opening to a broad basin. Looking for solid cracks to belay from he had unexpectedly broken through ice and found himself waist deep in a pool of icy water. After extricating himself he had had to creep around the pool by drytooling on avalanche debris to a sheltered ledge where he could belay. Although quite wet, he was keen to continue, so I grabbed the rack and headed off.

The next 3 pitches featured more of the same, rope-length steps of WI2+ with flat belays on frozen pools or rock ledges. After I led the fifth pitch I found myself below a large cliff with a narrow, thin mushroomed sheet hanging down it. It was Yanik's lead but he had just broken through another pool, was feeling soaked and delegated lead duties to me. This pitch was a 50m WI3+ on funky ice. The longest vertical section was only a bodylength, and there were lots of mushrooms, but the pro was really bad. I sunk a few screws into ice bulges and ignored the hollow feeling of a screw punching through into an air pocket several times. At the crux I tied off a "mushroom bollard" with a long sling and ran it out 10m to a stance, glad that I was on my 18th day of ice climbing for the season and feeling confident. I probably would have backed off it if this pitch was one of my first leads of the winter.

Above this pitch we decided to turn back, although the ice continued up two more WI2 steps above. The blizzard was hiding the ice under snow (about 2 inches of huge, wet flakes had fallen in 4 hours) and we were both pretty damp.

The descent was not the greatest. The ropes were soaked and heavy. We rapped the crux pitch, then hiked down through forest on the right hand side for a while, then rapped off a tree back down to the top of the 3rd pitch. The ropes then stuck and I had to solo up a pitch to reach a higher ledge I could pull cross-ways from to free them. Eventually we made it down, soaked but happy to have done such a long and rarely formed route. We drove back to Chilliwack and sorted out the gear. One of my ice screws was missing and Yanik realized I must have forgotten to remove it from where he had placed it backing up a shallow Abalakov atop the second pitch. Yanik headed back to Vancouver and I threw my equipment into the dryer and had a few beers. Don and Cam called and after my report on conditions we came up with a plan for Saturday.

Saturday saw them arriving at my place at a much earlier 6 AM. We headed out to Hope again and pulled off the highway about 1.3 km west of the Mousetrap exit with the destination in mind of an intruiging unclimbed curtain which is visible from certain places on the highway, hanging high up on the wall of a huge scree gully. I had been watching this curtain form and collapse for the past 2 winters, while Don had been watching it for over 20 years!

We began the bushwack to the gully and passed two interesting and little-known routes, Jet Lag and The Cure, which Don had put up in 96 with Greg Foweraker. From their base we crossed a thick belt of mossy rocks and slide alder before hitting bigger boulders and finally entering the scree gully, an impressive place with mostly clean, and unclimbed, granite walls rising high overhead. After slogging and sliding up a frozen creekbed and boulders we arrived at the base of the curtain after about one hour or so's hike, and racked up. The air was not too cold but high winds were howling and the previous day's snow was swirling around the gully in gusts of spindrift. It was pretty cold and miserable and we all wondered why the hell we we stupid enough to be ice climbers?

As I had had 4 leads the previous day I decided not to be greedy and told Don and Cam they could split the task of leading the two pitches of the curtain. Don took the first pitch which looked like the crux. He headed out and led out 57 meters of sustained off-vertical 3+/4- ice to a small sheltered cave belay. To left and right of the cave rock walls and high winds had created bizarre, overhanging ice roofs with twisted icicles looking like Medusa's bad hair day. These dripped incessantly but the belay cave was somewhat sheltered and mostly dry.

After we all reached the cave and sorted out gear Cam headed off up the next pitch which began with a short, steep dihedral and then appeared to turn into ramps above. After climbing the dihedral Cam found that the ramps were covered with rotten, crusted snow, so he went right and up a series of short vertical walls separated by good stances. This pitch ended up being slightly harder than the first although less sustained, and gave 55m of WI4 to a large ledge atop the route.

On the ledge we sorted gear and prepared to rap. Cam was not impressed with the chunks of frozen lip skin I had adorned his screws with while attempting to blow out the ice cores. I got to rap first and made it back to the cave, then spent a frustrating period attempting to force a chunk of weebbing through two ice screw holes which actually did not connect into an Abalakov. This was solved through vigorous application of an Abalakov hook to the holes in question by the time Don and Cam had rapped, and the second rap went without incident. We packed up and began to descend.

We decided to head straight down the scree gully to the highway instead of traversing back thrugh the forest. This would have been pretty funny for a detached observer to witness as all three of us, on occasion, skidded out on ice hidden under snow and took some spectacular tumbles. Fortunately no one broke anything and only our egos got bruised. After several (intentional and unintentional) bum schusses down and over more icy boulders we reached the highway and slogged back to the car.

Don and Cam now dropped me off at the Mousetrap before heading into Hope for burgers and beer. I wanted my screw back and so ended up soloing the first two pitches of Mousetrap to get it. Familiar with the route from the previous day, I found it to be much wetter and slushier second time around. Obviously the snow and warming trend were having their effects. In fact I punched through to mid-thigh in an icy pool that had held my weight uncomplainingly the previous day. By the time I got my screw and draw and rappelled I was soaked to the skin, cold and tired. Don and Cam came back from beer and burger, picked me up, laughed at my bedraggled appearance and took me home. Once more the gear went in the dryer, boots in front of the fireplace and out came the last remnants of the 6-pack of brown ale to toast a successful weekend. The unexpected cold weather had let me climb 11 pitches of ice, including a good and much-anticipated new route, in a two-day period in early March. A most welcome but unexpected way to finish off a great ice climbing season.

[layton]

That's pretty cool Dru. I live in B'ham and have missed every opportunity I've had to climb between here and hope on the Hwy. That area would be world class if it stayed cold long enough! Any news of conditions elsewhere 'round where you live? I'll be up there next cold snap. Sounds like 10 years ago conditions were much better (colder). Maybe in post-apocolypic Canada after Bush kills us all by getting us nuked, we can climb year round near there in the nuclear winter.

-Mike

[jstreet]

Sweet climbs Dru! Lots of pitches... you gotta love it!

[Dru]

The new route is now called "The Medusa" due to the bizarre snake like frozen dreadlocks of ice pointing every which way but down.

[Dru]

I always like to read other people s trip reports of trips Im on to see how they see the same incidents through different perspective. Here is Yanik's take on Mousetrap: "

I don't know if anyone else noticed but last week was really cold. That's whyDrew and I decided to go check out the ice around Hope last Friday. Drew hadmuttered something about trying to climb Mousetrap, a 300m grade 3+ waterfalljust west of Hope and straight off the highway. That sounded great. Note toself; next time Drew suggests an ice climb I will check it out in the guidebookbefore heading out. You see, the guidebook does mention that this climb rarelyforms thick.We drove out of Chilliwack where Drew lives and started on the highway. Itbecame quickly obvious that there was a lot of ice but most of it was reallythin. Unfazed we drove to where we could see Mousetrap, shouldered our packsand hiked to the base of the waterfall. It looked thin."Drew, what do you think?""I think we should give it a go"My fearless partner grabbed the rack and climbed an easy pitch placing onescrew. I reached him at the belay and looked up. It was somewhat steeper andcovered in cauliflowers (ice formations that look like the incredibly tastyvegetable, especially when served with a cheddar sauce, hummmm? - not the icebut the cauliflower).I headed up the pitch placing a few purely psychological pieces in the reallybad ice and hooking my way up. Once on top of the tier I was faced with alittle pond separating me from the next step. Steep rock walls on every sideforced me onto the frozen pond. Threading lightly I thought I was actuallygoing to make it when suddenly, CRACK, shite, water up to my hips. With acombination of very ungraceful crawling and swimming I managed to pull myselfout and set up a belay that consisted in a small tricam and the pick of one ofmy axes wedged in a tapering crack. Did I mention a lot of the ice was thin,aerated, and falling apart?Drew joined me and avoided the hole in the ice covering the pond and I told himwhat had just happened to me." So, I think there is another four or five pitches left but I think we can linksome of it." Drew said.I guess he never really heard what I had said and probably didn't notice mypants were now frozen solid. Nonetheless, we carried on and finished the climbon thin and rotten ice with a really solid final lead by Drew.We rapped down and I managed to break the ice again at a different spot on thepond but this time I only sunk to my knees. Drew left an ice screw and aquickdraw behind by mistake (now don't get too excited you vultures) but I hearhe went back the day after to retrieve it.I think the ice climbing season might just be over? But then again, someonetold me a cold front was coming in. Anyone wants to go climbing this comingweekend?"