bellows Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Trip: Index - Bridal Veil Falls Date: 2/8/2014 Trip Report: Bridal Veil Falls is IN! Jay A and I headed out to Index Saturday morning, not sure what we’d find and prepared to continue driving over the pass to Leavenworth. But Bridal Veil Falls was fully formed and relatively fat thanks to the record(?) cold weather in western Washington this week. Buyer beware with the warming temps this week though, when the curtain comes down it apparently does so in spectacular fashion: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=857357 We started center/left on the falls up the first ice covered dihedral, climbing two long pitches to a huge tree on the left side. From there we moved the belay further up to a second series of falls which we climbed in a shorter two-tiered pitch. Continuing several hundred yards up the drainage (sans rope) we came a third larger section of ice with quite a bit of water in the center. We found a line up the left hand side, involving a little Cascade mixed climbing with a couple turf sticks. At the top of these falls we figured it’d be just as fast (and more enjoyable) to take off the rope and scramble up the frozen creek all the way to Lake Serene. We were able to stay on ice in the creek the whole way up, avoiding occasional holes to the water below and enjoying fun little bouldering problems on the way to the lake. Arrived at the lake ~3:00 to amazing wintery views of the north side of Index Peaks. Overall an amazing day! For future reference, here’s the 7 day temperature profile from the weather meter in Index, ~1000 feet lower than the base of the climb. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=&sid=TINDX&num=168&raw=0&dbn=m Looking up the the base of the climb: Jay starting out on the first pitch: Further up the first pitch: Second set of falls, lower tier: Third set of falls: Continuing up the creek to Lake Serene: Cheese: Nice views to top out to: Considering it is visible from Highway 2 we were surprised not to see anyone else on the route. Go get it while you can! Gear Notes: We brought and used a dozen screws of various lengths. Approach Notes: No snow at all on the trail to the base, although that likely changed last night. Edited February 10, 2014 by bellows Quote
ivan Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 bitch'n'camero, n' holy shit, lake serene most definitely a pleasant site at the end of it, if only to remind you how truly puny the warm-up you just did was Quote
dave schultz Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Very nice!! I'm glad someone got out to Index and tagged that while it was in. How many more days do people think it will still be in? Quote
bellows Posted February 10, 2014 Author Posted February 10, 2014 how truly puny the warm-up you just did was Hah, yes, we laughed once we hit Lake Serene that the ultimate link-up would be to continue up the NF of North Peak or one of the gnarly couloirs between the peaks. Quote
keenwesh Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 That looks like an awesome romp! 3 pitches with a few short solo steps? Quote
kukuzka1 Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 wow the the entry to the bibler-klewin route looks phat! Quote
num1mc Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 wow the the entry to the bibler-klewin route looks phat! ??? Wrong mountain Quote
Bronco Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 wow the the entry to the bibler-klewin route looks phat! ??? Wrong mountain I think he may have meant the 1978 Klewin-McNerthney route on the Middle Peak but I think Bibler was on the first winter Index Traverse team so not too far off. The N. Norwegian Buttress looks like it's ready to tip over from that angle Quote
sparverius Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 I've driven past it multiple times in the past week and it's gone. Quote
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