Alpental Ice Climbing
Loading ...December 2009 – Seattle, WA
A week of very cold temperatures in the Pacific Northwest with no precipitation had led to some promising conditions for ice climbing. So we took a scheduled play day, initially intended for skiing, and we headed up to the Cascades for some ice fun in the Alpental area.
When we arrived, Alpental Falls was looking good. We knew that the higher we went, the better things should get. About 30 minutes from the car, we arrived at the Mushroom Couloir and had the whole place to ourselves.
I eagerly took the sharp end and headed up, only to scare myself a bit, and chicken out up the snow ramp to the right. We arrived at the top, set a great anchor on a massive tree, and proceeded to top rope the falls via a couple of routes.
The ice formations were just absolutely beautiful. Ice was very thick in many spots and pretty solid. We worked on a little mixed route on the climbers left that ran through a few trees toward the top.
What a killer day in our own backyard, to get charged up with a little winter fun!
