jordop Posted December 10, 2002 Posted December 10, 2002 (edited) After scoping out non-existing ice lines on Slesse that were more like icing sugar thrown against the rock, Colin and I decided to do the S ridge of Welch, mainly because it's one of those moderate routes I've always wanted to do but never end up doing in lieu of obscure bush battles. Horseshoe-up-the-ass part one: forgetting that the spur off Welch is both 4WD and a long way from the lake, just as we were packing up, along comes "Mark" from Abottsford in the full-on Durango offering us the five minute version up to the lake! (Can I still bash Durango drivers now??) So anyhoo, we bivied at about 4 pm and got about 15 hours sleep in the almost Alaskan light and we get going up hard crampon stuff to the ridge at its very bottom. Most people either do the SE face or only duck into the S ridge at the top cause its pretty monotonous, but I had always wanted to do the full ridge, mainly cause the word "solid" is included in Beckey, a novelty for the region! The route was pretty straightforward except for one detour to the east and an icy downclimb from the false summit. Horseshoe-up-the-ass #2: just as we're approaching the summit, we see two guys coming up the SE face. HHmmmm, methinks, a ride down? Thanks to Dell and Simon for saving us from a brutal walk back down to Foley Lake. Cool route, day trip with 4WD. Go do it. Edited December 10, 2002 by jordop Quote
Dru Posted December 10, 2002 Posted December 10, 2002 Most people do SE face? Everyone I know who's climbed it has either climbed or descended full S ridge.... Quote
jordop Posted December 11, 2002 Author Posted December 11, 2002 BC mountainqueering club always does Se face/E ridge combo as it is quicker. Descending the full S ridge would be a total pain in the ass and you'd miss kick ass glissading stuff. Colin had the glissade of the year down the S gullies, linking snowpatches between boulderfields, carving diagonally without losing the turn Quote
PaulB Posted March 3, 2003 Posted March 3, 2003 Does anyone know if the road up to Welch is driveable all the way to the parking area? Quote
Dru Posted March 3, 2003 Posted March 3, 2003 (edited) jesse's beta is better than mine was . Edited March 3, 2003 by Dru Quote
jesse_mason Posted March 3, 2003 Posted March 3, 2003 I went up there not too long ago but defintely before we had this snow on the coast , maybe three weeks ago. I posted for cond. so do a seach. Any ways I have a lifted explorer and i made it to about 10 min walk within the parking lot, there was some rock fall that caused us to stop, it appears as only atv were going by, but these rocks would only take a few minutes to move aside, but the snow got deeper( up to this point road is easily accesed by a stock 4X4), and I was worried about wasting time, so we walked. Once out of the parking lot the snow is gone till foley lake which has quite a bit of snow. Hope that helps. Quote
PaulB Posted March 3, 2003 Posted March 3, 2003 jesse_mason said: ... Any ways I have a lifted explorer ... Is this the same as the rolled Explorer from a year or so ago? Thanks for the road info. Quote
jesse_mason Posted March 4, 2003 Posted March 4, 2003 Is this the same as the rolled Explorer from a year or so ago? Um well yes i did roll my explorer in boston bar on the way to lillooet about a year ago. Although it wasnt lifted then, thats why i lifted it actually I couldnt stand the stock suspension. I cant beleive you actually know this, crazy small world, Also I think we went ice climbing together on baker about 1.5 years ago through the ACC. Cheers Jesse Quote
PaulB Posted March 4, 2003 Posted March 4, 2003 Yeah, we did go down to the Coleman Glacier on an ACC trip. I was also part of the group that you were going to meet in Lillooet when you rolled your truck. I believe that was the same weekend that Don & Henry had their adventure on Oregon Jack. Quote
JoshK Posted March 5, 2003 Posted March 5, 2003 jesse_mason said: Is this the same as the rolled Explorer from a year or so ago? Um well yes i did roll my explorer in boston bar on the way to lillooet about a year ago. Although it wasnt lifted then, thats why i lifted it actually I couldnt stand the stock suspension. Am I missing something here? You rolled your SUV (rolled over I'm assuming) so you *lifted* it, there by raising it's center of gravity and making it more likely to roll? Quote
jesse_mason Posted March 5, 2003 Posted March 5, 2003 Hey I dont want to really get in to it here on this thread, I belong to a few of the local 4X4 clubs so if you have some qeustions regarding lifted trucks you should check out http://www.bc4x4.com/ or if your really into explorers such as iam you should check this site out http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php Basically some of the newer models before IRS came out had a mono leaf in the rear made of fiberglass this induced a lot a sag and promoted a fair bit of body roll which can cause a slide. As well as the gas tank was put on one side of the vehicle casing a slight lean when full... blah blah ... I corrected it with a full size leaf pack whick added a 4 " lift and enabled me to add 33" tires. If you have any more qeustions PM me or maybe take this to another topic so we can leave this as a nice link to the welch foley conditions. Cheers jesse Quote
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