Millennium Walls (Top Roping)
- Gear Used:
- 60 meter rope
- trees
- slings
February 10, 2009
The Approach
Mark and I drove to Leavenworth Monday afternoon with beautiful sunny sky's. The temperature was reading 47 degrees in Leavenworth while we driving over the pass! If we would of gotten an earlier start we could be rock climbing! Mark needed to take a nap before we left as he had very little if any sleep on Sunday night. When he finally showed up at my place we loaded his subaru with every possible piece of equipment. We had rock gear, ice gear, alpine gear and snowboards just incase Stevens Pass gets dumped on overnight. Ya never know!
We were staying in my condo in Leavenworth so we could get a good nights sleep and be up early for hopefully some ice climbing! We drove through Icicle Canyon before we got settled into Leavenworth to check the ice conditions from the road. To my surprise there seems to be a lot of it! Even Pearly Gates was all iced over! We drove to the end of the road to check out our options as it seemed that we had many. After some discussion we decided to go for a hike tomorrow and check out the Millennium Walls up by Snow Creek Wall.
The Climb
Once again, our early morning alpine start failed us! or, we failed it! We had a somewhat late night at Duck's and Drakes in Leavenworth discussing the best climbing towns in the U.S. We both agreed that Leavenworth is in our top 10! Top 5 for me! This picturesque little town is just loaded with outdoor opportunities! Hiking, fishing, white water, rock climbing, alpine climbing, ice climbing, mountain biking, bouldering, ski/snowboarding! I spend so much money coming our here I might as well just buy some property here and stay put! Imagine that, no more 2 1/2 hour drives to climb multi-pitch rock!
Anyway's... We parked in the deserted Snow Lakes Trail parking lot and quickly packed our bags for a day of ice climbing. The trail switchbacks steeply for about 1500 vertical in a little over 2 miles. The trail was mostly snow free and when there was snow it was hard pack and sometimes just straight out solid ice! The ice made travel a bit difficult at times. We made decent time to Snow Creek Wall in about an hour and fifteen minutes. We were both getting a bit worried as there was very little ice that we could see. We kept hiking the now flat trail with the Outer Space headwall pitches rarely leaving my view.
Hiking into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
We walked around the bend in the trail and to our surprise, right off of the trail, thick ice flowing over the rocks! We immediately hiked around to the top to set up a top-rope. Once we got to the top of the ice we found more ice a little bit above and to the right. We were getting pretty excited as our fears of no ice have now left!
Mark hiking to set up a top-rope on our first climb.
We set the top rope off of a couple of burned tree's are started climbing. Not only was this the first ice this year for both of us but it was Marks first ever and only my second time on waterfall ice. I'm sure we both looked ridiculous! Good thing we were the only people there.
Mark climbing the first flow.
We each did a lap up the +/-30 foot flow and immediately felt the burn from using ice tools. But it was a blast! We figured this was maybe a hard WI2 or maybe and easy WI3?
We moved up to the next wall which was much wider and not as steep. We had a bunch of room to play around and get used to the new movements. I'm pretty sure everything on this wall is WI2. It was all pretty easy and we didn't get that burn that we both felt from the first route.
Me climbing on the second wall.
Mark climbing a different line on the broad second wall.
After a couple of hours of play time on the ice and a lunch break we moved over some more to see what else awaits us. To our surprise we found a huge flow coming off the rocks and into the trees next to the trail. This was by far the most impressive ice of the day! Mark set up a top-rope from the conveniently positioned trees and off we went.
Mark climbing on the much steeper and longer falls.
This climb was at least 80 feet and much steeper! It started off vertical and then eased for a bit. The top was the hardest part for both of us as you had to push through another vertical step with big bulges everywhere. I found it easier to stem with my feet on this part. After you power through this section there is about 20 feet of low angle WI2 to the tree.
Mark at the crux of the climb.
The pain that I felt climbing this waterfall was intense! Maybe I grip my ice tools to much but my fingers were throbbing!
Mark climbing the right side of the flow.
-Useful guide books-
