Doug_Hutchinson Posted December 8, 2013 Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) Trip: Alpental Valley Ice - Date: 12/7/2013 Trip Report: Ice in the Alpy environs is really nice now. All the Alpental Falls (below Phantom Slide) look great, Chockstone is really fat, Kiddie Falls is in, and Wayne, Daniel and I found great ice on Flow Reversal. It is been too dry, too cold and the meager snow pack has been problematic for many climbs but most waterfall ice type routes are probably where it is at now. Temps never got out of the single digits today but no wind and the sun climbing above the ridges for a short period made for some nice conditions. The Valley was almost empty because there is not even enough snow for the slow shoe people to trample about the place - almost eerie . Do not bring skis or floatation, walk right up. Flow Reversal: P1 STOKE! P2 sounded like Wayne was playing a pipe organ with all the candlesticks being tapped and trundled but no pics since we had to hide. Daniel on P3 (fat!) Cold play: Edited December 8, 2013 by Doug_Hutchinson Quote
wayne Posted December 8, 2013 Posted December 8, 2013 Just cleaning up the route you all. Go get this one, it is so fun right now, way better than when I did it a few years ago! Video from several routes up there including Flow Reversal Quote
jayhawk Posted December 8, 2013 Posted December 8, 2013 Agreed. I think Alpental Valley is where it's at right now. We climbed Chair's NE Butt today, but it was a tough decision to walk past all that good-looking ice right out of the parking lot! Chair is great now too, btw. Quote
wayne Posted December 9, 2013 Posted December 9, 2013 Had fun today on the route to the right of Flow Reversal. Anyone know the name of it? facebook photos Quote
daylward Posted December 9, 2013 Posted December 9, 2013 Tim Matsui and I did Flow Reversal today, and that must have been you who shouted up at us as we were getting going! We only had one rope so we put in some V-threads for the intermediate stations, but we didn't see where you did your second rap from? A tree? Quote
Doug_Hutchinson Posted December 9, 2013 Author Posted December 9, 2013 I hope that line to the right of Flow Reversal has a good name, because it is so good! It is about 110 meters of super sweet ice: The first two pitches (about 90M total) were anything from WI3- to 3+ super fun, choose-your-own-line rambles. Wayne at the P1 belay, note P3 daggers and pillars far above: We climbed quickly and were in the sun the whole climb. It is a designer climb with each belay in a sheltered cave with nice views of scenic Alpy valley. Wayne getting to P2 belay with lots of relief below: P3 was the crux, short at about 20M but really techy WI5. Starts by stemming between two pillars and then a pumpy bulge. Finishes with some nice WI4. Wayne styled it but had to work hard to smash enough chandeliers to get good sticks. Nice lead Wayne! Wayne starting P3: The climb had the feel of a mini Goats Beard with the hanging daggers above but the cold temps kept everything nice and solid. We left a sling on a tree up and left of the last pitch to rap to a lower tree. A second rap got us down to our packs. This is a stellar climb! A fast party could link this and Flow Reversal for 200M of the finest ice in Western WA. Quote
Doug_Hutchinson Posted December 9, 2013 Author Posted December 9, 2013 Tim Matsui and I did Flow Reversal today, and that must have been you who shouted up at us as we were getting going! We only had one rope so we put in some V-threads for the intermediate stations, but we didn't see where you did your second rap from? A tree? Dan, how the heck did you know Flow Reversal was in? We had two 60Ms so rapped from the tree you belayed at the base of P3 to the base of the climb. Way to blow out a tire in Mt Vernon in the wee hours, limp home on your spare and still get on the climb nice and early, Yes, not a bad consolation prize! Quote
daylward Posted December 10, 2013 Posted December 10, 2013 Dan, how the heck did you know Flow Reversal was in? We had two 60Ms so rapped from the tree you belayed at the base of P3 to the base of the climb. Way to blow out a tire in Mt Vernon in the wee hours, limp home on your spare and still get on the climb nice and early, Yes, not a bad consolation prize! Tim had seen your trip report (this one) earlier, but I hadn't. He only mentioned Wayne's name when he was telling me about it, so that's why I was surprised to see it was you who had posted! I guess Tim doesn't know you. :-) Ah, did you just loop the rope around the tree then? We didn't see a sling there. Quote
Woodcutter Posted December 10, 2013 Posted December 10, 2013 Something funky is happening at the Kiddie Cliff, it was running really wet yesterday, wheras last friday it was not. Wierd. Quote
wayne Posted December 11, 2013 Posted December 11, 2013 Did a little writing and a lot of photos on Resistance is Futile: 100m, Wi5 Linky to personal journal. Quote
jstreet Posted December 12, 2013 Posted December 12, 2013 (edited) Gerry and I linked up both climbs yesterday as Doug suggested might be possible. What a blast! my photos on facebook Heading up the 2nd pitch of "Resistance is Futile" Heading up the 2nd pitch of "Flow Reversal" Edited December 12, 2013 by jstreet Quote
cam yarder Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 has anyone been on these climbs in the past few days? wondering about conditions... Quote
jstreet Posted December 30, 2013 Posted December 30, 2013 (edited) I took a long walk around the alpental valley and snow lake on xmas eve. Flow reversal looked quite similar to earlier conditions but perhaps a wee bit scrappier The same for Resistance is Futile but that seemed less appealing with more snow covering it. The Source Lake Line (around the corner to the climbers right) had ice from top to bottom but from my vantage point (not very close) looked sporty thin, could use some fattening up for us mere mortals. And for anyone considering the first complete ascent of Slot Machine down on snow lake you might want wait... the 30m crux curtain is only halfway formed and dam thin. Sorry, no photographs this time... I'm getting lazy. Edited December 30, 2013 by jstreet Quote
Techdiver Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 We have done the Flow Reversal on 1/5/2014 and is still climbable though rather thin in places. Quote
Techdiver Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Well I don't know how to make the pics. appear on the page. Sorry Quote
maplelettuce Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 (edited) I'm interested in doing the Flow Reversal this week if it's still stable, but I'm having trouble locating where exactly it is, I've climbed a few ice features around the Snoqualmie area, but everything I scouted as of last week at lower elevation has melted considerably. Edited January 7, 2014 by maplelettuce Quote
Techdiver Posted March 2, 2014 Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) Just climbed the Flow Reversal today and it's in. Much fatter then 3 weeks ago and good to go. Ps. I have found climbing helmet on the way back and would be glad to return it to the rightful owner. edit: great news - owner found Edited March 2, 2014 by Techdiver Quote
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