Marla Pickens, Peter Heinz, Grace Geng and I went ice climbing in Lillooet from Dec. 31 through Jan. 4. We knew the area had been very dry, but we figured we could count on climbable ice at the Rambles, Marble Canyon, and probably other relatively cold spots.
On the way up, we scouted some of the routes around Hope that had gotten so much attention during the cold snap of the previous few weeks - Bridal Veil Falls, The Mousetrap, etc. They looked generally out of shape, but it’s worth keeping in mind that you can reach these climbs from Seattle in roughly the time it takes to drive to the Mt. Baker ski area. Good targets for the next bout of really cold temperatures.
Grace and I fooled around on this nice WI 2+ line called Sailor Bar Gully right beside the road about 22 miles north of Hope:
Meanwhile, Marla and Peter discovered an impressively fat man-made ice feature somewhere near Cache Creek:
The next day, we all piled onto the WI 3 steps of Rambles Center. The ice was all there, but not super-fat, and we got to contend with a bit of snow-ice mix and icicle matrix. Here’s Marla leading the first step:
The usual central flow on the top step was a free-standing pillar, and a bit thin at its base, so I opted for a left-hand finish:
Friday at Marble Canyon was a bit crowded. That's Don Serl about to finish the right-hand line on the first pitch of Icy BC:
When it was our turn, Grace and I traded leads on the first two pitches before joining Marla and Peter on the ample top-roping available here.
Saturday, we split up – Marla and Peter drove back through Cache Creek to Oregon Jack, and Grace and I decided to try out Loose Lady (the first WI 3 sections, not the WI5 finish). After a bit of brush on the approach, we were glad to find decent ice. Lacking the time and skills to handle the final curtain, we had to rap off in the dark and leave behind the tantalizing last pitch...
Marla and Peter climbed at Sailor Bar Gully on their drive out, and Sunday was Grace’s and my turn on Oregon Jack. But before we could leave the car, the local farm animals interrupted us to beg for food:
After watching the cows lick my car clean of road salt, we found the climb in true WI 3+ shape, with strangely discolored ice beneath five inches of snice, lots of dinner plates, and a thin finish:
All in all, it was a great experience each day on all kinds of ice, in various temperatures and conditions. A good start to the season!