Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sherpajosh69]

Hi All,

I am an intermediate climber who has taken formal leader classes and some not so formal lessons with friends. I have done some leads in the ADKS and have a good comfort level on 2/2+ ice. I want to do Silver Cascade, which would be my first lead in the Whites. I am going up in couple weeks and if the snow level stays low or minimal as it is now I think it would be a good window of opprotunity.  I am looking for any information as to best anchor areas, pitch descritions, rack, etc. as the guide book is a little vauge. 

[frik]

Um.... i would be semi concerned about something like silver cascade - not because of the difficulty, but because of the water danger. Very often this has a significant amount of running water just under the ice.... lots of times it doesn't completely freeze over. And I know someone who fell through, which perhaps jades my judgement. However there are plenty of other options at your level in the vicinity: Shoestring, Cinema, Willey's slide.

[sherpajosh69]

Thanks for the warning, always suspected that at the bottom. Have done some of the waterfall routes in the DAKS and figured Silver would be somewhat safe. My learning curve at this point is setting anchors and protecting the belayer. The leader classses were taken with Ben Gilmore and I have learned alot climbing with him. At this point I am looking for nice moderate climbs with the best options for bomber anchors.

[DMan]

I climb this route a few times every winter. The last time was a couple weeks ago:

http://davidlottmann.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/ice-climbing-201/

Drove by it this past weekend and was reforming really rapidly... I would expect it to be do-able now and possibly best shape ever within a week. This is a climb that is most fun when there isn't much snow in it IMO as there can be alot of great plastic ice...

There are no descriptions as you can wander almost anywhere with relative ease... but I'll do my best to give you my latest route description;

Pitch 1 has a left or right option. Left is the actual cascade which may not be fully frozen based on conditions. The right option is easier, and avoids any potential polar bear swimming should you feel the ice is thin... Belay 120ish feet up at an island of trees in the center...

Pitch 2 lots of grade 1 ice up to the next cascade, stretch the rope to a nice fat tree on the left side of the drainage...

Pitch 3 Follow the main cascade (or climb over the boulder if ice is thin here) until you run out of rope and/or reach the flat spot before the next grade 2 cascade... you could do a hip belay here the last pitch was so flat and anchor is almost not needed...

Pitch 4, climb the last significant cascade, and explore higher as you see fit...

Descend through the woods on climbers right...

Gear: 4-5 ice screws... a cordelette or two... a long sling or two... a few quickdraws...

It doesn't take much skill for this to become a fun solo...YMMV

[sherpajosh69]

Thanks for the detailed beta DMan. I think if the weather stays as is for the next couple weeks I think, as long as I'm there early, I might get to do it this year.Do you have any other routes that you know of the runs 2+/3-ish??

[DMan]

Early shouldn't matter... there is never a line there... Cinema, Slab to the right of LHMW, The Cleft, all very good in that area... and Willeys of course...

[sherpajosh69]

Not to sound pretentious but I will take a pass on Willeys. But I do want to explore Willard. When its fat it looks like some beautiful ice!!!! Again thanks for the detailed route description. Cheers.

[neiceclimber]

You shouldn't pass on Wiley's, it's a fun route. My suggestion leave it for the end of your day and carry a few beers. Once at the top, kick out a big seat, plop down and crack one open. Always a good spot to kick back and view the world. Walk off can be a pain in the dark but not bad.

[sherpajosh69]

I should clarify the reasons for passing on Willey's. I had done Chapel Pond Slab and between the bending over and the French Technique it was alittle monotonous. This might be because I was following, maybe leading it would put a new perspective on the experience. So thank you neiceclimber for making the argument to give it a go. I would just need to make a trip to Moat and grab some Big Cans. Cheers.