Selkirk Crest - The High Traverse

August 5th I did the High Traverse with Joe it was a fun day in the mountains. We managed to do it in 6 hours 45 minutes even with two stops for water(pumped at snow melt & Harrison lake) and food not to shabby. The traverse is an easy day trip from the Coeur d'Alene area and should be done more. The lichen is showing wear so some one has been up there. Here's a <LINK> to a trip report I put on Cascade Climbers. The Selkirks are home to some good rock I need to get out and climb it more often hell it's in my backyard!

A Little Rock & A Little Snow

The weather has been pretty lame this spring/early summer lots of rain feels like October. I have found time and dry days to get out cragging but had not been on a road trip since ice season. I was ready for some alpine by the time I could make things work out it was getting a bit late for Cascade ice/mixed routes. Talked with Joe about a quick two day trip over to Leavenworth Washington to see if  Dragontail Peak Triple Couloirs was still in. The weather report started looking ugly so we opted to rock climb the first day at Vantage great day.

Crack climbing goodness!

Thursday evening we drove over to Leavenworth and camped.

Home Thursday night

Man 3:00am sure does come quickly! We packed gear for Triple Couloir but the light rain on the walk in made me think we were caring dead weight. After getting to Colchuck Lake we could see that the ice runnels were gone and the rock bypass didn't sound great with the weather.

Ice runnels definitely out but will be back for this one!

 So ditched the gear and did North Buttress Coulior on Colchuck Peak as a consolation prize.



Joe taking the escalator to the top



Still a heck of a lot of fun and I can't believe I had never been over there before. I will be back way too much alpine goodness to be had.

Saving Chilco Falls Park

Early Season Dec. 2011

Chilco Falls Park is my local stomping grounds for ice climbing it is great little spot. I go there multiple time every ice season. It is a 12.75 acre piece of property that is owned by Kooetnai County unimproved but known by locals as a gem! I only live minutes from the falls and have spent a little over a decade climbing in there. Once I found out that the county commissioners where considering liquidating Chilco Falls I moved into action.  Getting help from local outdoor groups the Kootenai Environmental Alliance and Spokane Mountaineers. It would be a great loss of the only local ice climbing area within a couple hrs drive but also public green space with a waterfall!!! It was deeded to the public to be a park and should be that way forever! I'm going to do what I can to keep Chilco Falls a public space the way it was meant to be. Fact: Ice climbers have been climb at Chilco Falls since 1973
GO TO accessfund TO HELP

In the news papers
CDA Press
Spokesman Review
On blogs
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2012/apr/30/county-jettison-chilco-falls-park/
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2012/may/03/county-may-sell-chilco-waterfall/
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2012/may/03/why-not-sell-chilco-falls-park/
http://kealliance.org/2012/04/30/kootenai-county-preparing-to-surplus-chilco-falls-park/

Josh Baker Jan 2005

2011/12 Ice Season Wrap Up

Ice Season 11/12 Is A Wrap
This last water ice season was a little strange the weather and avy danger didn't make for the best season for me any how. It was a good season just hoping next one will be better. We have been having an extremely wet rainy now snowy spring the alpine is a avy death trap at the moment. I am ready for spring to bring on bouldering and alpine pursuits. Come on Mr. Sun! I collected 22 days total on ice this season 5 Hyalite, 3 Canadian Rockies, 1 Banks Lake, 1 Libby Road Side, 1 Snowshoe Peak and 11 Chilco. As always ice season is my favorite so what ever I get I am thankful for. One thing I did notice plice boarding and the changes to my training regiment have helped my ice climbing!

Joe Lind sampling a little Hyalite mixed Dec 2011

A Quick Trip To Canada!

Got up to Canada with Joe for three days of ice and it was awesome. Man are the Canadian Rockies the shit or what? We went to Weeping Wall, Johnston Canyon and Marble Canyon you have to cross the border for the goods! I got to climb a line in Johnston Canyon just right of the falls which has been on my radar since I first started ice climbing. The first time I went ice climbing was with the Spokane Mountaineers for an intro to ice climbing class and I have been hooked since. We went to Johnston Canyon on the second day and I saw a climber leading a line just right of the falls and thought man that is what I want to do someday. I got to do that very line this trip and it was awesome for me to go back and get to do it! Now a days I have my sights on many climbs but this one had a special place with me.

I'm really diggin the shrooms !

Boots Out With The Old In With The New





Boots are the most important gear item in the mountains. With out a good set of wheels things will grind to a halt. I've retired my old Nepals for a new updated pair they never let me down. In fact they are like an old friend after all these years. So after trying on quite a few different boots I stuck with what works. If it's not broke don't fix it. I'm the kind of guy who buys gear and gets some use out of it not always chasing the next new thing. With a boot like this it was hard to make them better but La Sportiva did. Lighter, warmer, lower profile and goretex all add up to a smile on my face. Once you find the glass slipper they feel like home. 

Snowshoe Peak Montana Ice!

Climbed some good ole Cabinet ice with Joe on Sunday! Snowshoe nine miles round trip with 110M of ice a pretty long day. Amazing country back in there so much ice to climb we have done two lines more to follow over time. Spindrift was the word of the day lots of spindrift. Trip report from two years ago <LINK>

Having fun on pitch 2