[MCR] Sea of Vapors, Feb 1

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Climbed half way up Sea of Vapors with my buddy, Blitz, yesterday,  
Feb 1. Didn't see any gophers, hoping for a bunch more winter. There  
is a 'modern' trail blaze marking the short cut trail into the  
drainage -old timers use to blaze trails by whacking a scar into tree  
trunks with a wood axe ... this blaze was picked in with an ice pick!

Good trail leading to the route right now. The route is challenging.  
Postscriptum is thin at the crux with patches of rock showing through  
and a fragile spooky curtain for the right foot. I don't think that  
it will support many more ascents, treat it delicately. The bolts  
that make for the uncomfortable hanging belay at the top of  
Postscriptum are corroding, as are all of the fixed pins on the  
Whipper Traverse. We stepped down one meter from the aforementioned  
bolt belay and drytooled across 2 meters of rock to get to the Sea (I  
climbed to the top of the Postscriptum ice and placed an overhead  
screw, and clipped the first rusty piton before climbing back down to  
the belay, then one meter down to start the traverse). Thin and  
serious climbing for 10 meters. I placed a couple of 12 cm screws,  
one 16, two angle pitons, and clipped an old rusty knifeblade. Having  
a couple of stubbies and 4 x 12 cm screws is nice (I tend to place  
more gear than many, no one has ever been able to convince me that  
taking a 60 foot fall is better than taking a 20 foot one). 30 meters  
out from the Postscriptum belay the Sea becomes a proper green and  
blue ice climb, and it is getting more water up there and will get  
fatter yet.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide
http://www.barryblanchard.ca
barryb3 at telus.net
1 403 609 4615
cell 1 403 609 1321












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