Family Snowshoe at White Pass

Trip Date: December 25th, 2009

Grace's siblings and their respective spouses pooled resources to give her parents snowshoes for Christmas. Since Grace and I had ours with us, Christmas day seemed the perfect time to christen the new gear. We headed up to white pass and had a delightful ramble though frosted woods and around a frozen lake.

Strobach Mountain: Sad Ce'Bu

Trip Date : December 27th, 2009

With ice conditions looking unbelievably good over Christmas, Grace and I decided to snatch one more day of climbing from the holiday. We headed up to Strobach Mountain on Sunday, hoping to avoid crowds and get in some good climbing. We weren't disappointed. Strobach is INCREDIBLE! It just made me wish I was a better ice climber.

Not all, or even most, of the routes are in right now. I suspect this is due to the very low snowpack in the area starving the climbs. Despite that, within 500 m of cliff face there were four climbs in good condition, each of 2-3 pitches, spanning the grades from WI 3-5.

Now, this area has a reputation for a difficult, confusing approach. I can see how it could be both, but with decent snow conditions and a little navigational forethought it becomes quite easy. We were very luckily able to drive 2 miles of FSR 1202. From there I took a compass bearing off the map (109 degrees, magnetic) and we marched off into the woods. An hour and 15 minutes later we were standing at the base of the climbs. However, The compass was critical. The land is very disorienting, particularly early in the approach. The slope up to Strobach is not steep, you can't see the mountain most of the time, and there is a maze of tumbled hillocks and ravines to navigate. I would figure on 2-2.5 hours for the approach in typical winter conditions, walking up the road.

In the end we only climbed the first (60 m) pitch of Sad Ce'Bu to the belay cave. We had time to do more, but decided to take it easy and get back to the car before dark. Still this was an awesome pitch with varied climbing, easy protection, and great ice conditions.

The guidebook claims these climbs are quite reliable, and with a fully north-facing wall at a base elevation of 4500 feet, I believe it! I'd love to go back, perhaps as a weekend trip to get more climbing done on these short winter days.

Hubba Hubba

Trip Date: December 23rd, 2009

Grace and I climbed the main flow on Hubba Hubba hill Wednesday. We were headed east to spend Christmas with her family, and spotting a good weather window, we decided to do some climbing on the way!

We didn't get to the base of the climb until noon, and then sat around eating lunch until about 13:00 before starting up. We had the whole place to ourselves, and the weather was perfect: 28 F, no wind, fat solid ice.

This was our first time ice climbing on our own without any sort of guide. I'd "led" a pitch of WI4 in Lillooet last year, but with pre-placed protection to supplement my screws. At WI3+ and 2 pitches, Hubba Hubba seemed just the thing. Jim lent us his tools and ice screws while he's away in MA for Christmas, so I had 12 screws for the climb. This glut of protection was probably not entirely a good thing. I felt no need to conserve, and so I sewed up the first steep section right off the ground, wearing myself out more than I should have.

Overall an awesome climb. The first 20 feet (above an easy ice apron) was the hardest. Nearly vertical and pretty strenuous. Made especially so because I put too many screws in. Then things eased off with a one or two more steep bulges before I ran out of rope. The 2nd pitch was mostly an easy ramble, with one more short steep step of featureless ice.

For a number of reasons it took us a long time to do the climb. Grace had a hard time. With flexible boots and 10-point crampons she found following an exercise in frustration. The belay was a bit of a tangled cluster. And I seriously over-protected the first pitch. It was dark when we topped out, but luckily we'd remembered our headlamps, and there was a nice moon to find our way back down. Overall an awesome day!

Tom's Aid Class

Tom Lewis taught a great introductory course on aid climbing at the IMA wall last week. Kurt, Grace, and Veronika participated as students, while Kris and I helped out as designated belay slaves since we were students last year. As before, Tom did a great job of introducing newbies to the incipient tangle of slings and gear that is the aid climbing system. Just watching was a great refresher for me. Thanks to Grace for pushing to make this happen, and especially to Tom for donating his time to teach! Grace and I definitely intend to get out and practice these skills at Index sometime when the weather gets less ugly!