[TR] Banks Lake - Devils Punch Bowl 1/12/2014

[bellows]

Trip: Banks Lake - Devils Punch Bowl

 

Date: 1/12/2014

 

Trip Report:

Brian S and I chanced the warming temperatures and made the long drive from Seattle to Banks Lake Sunday 1/12. An early alarm clock had us at the Devils Punch Bowl pull out a little after 9AM. Temperature at the car said 38. One advantage to the warmer weather was the infamous deathcicles were pretty much completely gone. There was a nice pile of ice rubble far down by the lake showing the remnants of them. It must have been quite a show when they came down. Devils Punch Bowl was in good shape and we each took a turn leading it, once towards the left and once far on the right. Conditions were good, a little wet at the top but nothing to complain about. Easy walk off to the south.

 

view from the car

 

Brian leading up the left side

 

We took a look at Trotsky’s Revenge which looked rotten at the top and threatened by lots of hangfire above it. Trotsky’s Folly was also quite wet, and the upper pillar was melted out at the exit.

 

After Devils we drove further north to Electric Avenue and climbed a single pitch on Electric Ramble(?). It gets pretty overgrown towards the top so we rapped off a tree. It’s really short and brushy and probably not worth the 30 minute scramble up to it but not much else was in that we felt capable of leading.

 

short & brushy

 

For future reference, here’s a temperature graph showing the last week at the Blue Lake NOAA station.

 

Ref: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=otx&sid=TBLUE&num=168&raw=0&dbn=m

You can see it hadn’t gotten below freezing since early Friday AM. In retrospect this may have been a good thing since it eliminated the deathcicles at Devils.

 

All in all a worthwhile day. We gambled with the forecast a little and were prepared for just a long day of driving but totally worth it in the end.

 

 

Gear Notes:

No worries about screw length at Devils, the ice is super thick.

 

Approach Notes:

Drive East! The access road to Electric Avenue was completely snow free. Apparently it isn't plowed so you have to walk in once the snow flies, but there wasn't a lick of snow anywhere. You potentially need a Discovery Pass for Electric Avenue as well.

 

[Alex]

glad you got some, looks like itll be slushy shortly, strange year!!

[fourteenfour]

man…I would love to catch a nice cold spell around Banks.