Stairway to Heaven 

Climbed this amazingly beautiful line on Feb. 7th. The first pitch was a little thin and looked like it would be difficult to protect with screws, so we hiked around left to the base of what I understand is the 3rd pitch. The ice on this had a thin layer of crusty ice followed by a 3" snow layer followed by solid - a little scary to climb/protect but doable for those well versed in leading WI4. After that, the ice was BOMBPROOF and spectacular the whole way up. Avy conditions were a little high still this time of year, and with the snow piling up higher each week, be cautions - as always. We skirted/slid down the avy gully for a quick exit, but what can I say, I'm a little foolish at times and this is not advised.

Stairway to Heaven is in really good. The ice is in good condition, with the upper flow being nice plastic. The middle flow, maybe 3rd pitch or so, is the crux of the route, but is easiest on the right. The snow is pretty deep on the approach. The decent was not too bad with regards to avalanche conditions. I screwed up and left my climbing gloves at the base. Don't know who the other folks were that I shared the route with, but if you picked them up, please drop me a line. Many thanks. Cheers.

As of 12 days ago Stairway was thin and running with water. I climbed the first pitch mixed... hopefully it's fattened up lately, but the weather has been warm.

Climbed it last Thursday. It's not as fat as the photo in the guidebook, but is fully in and a nice outing. The crux pitch is indeed vertical for a ways...

Stairway was in great shape Sunday-not too wet at all! Not a lot of snow makes the descent real easy....

Tim and I finally sent this one on the 14th after being turned back last December. Everything came together, just one of those days...Blue sky, warm, no wind, quality ice, first party (of three) on the route. Snowshoes were helpful, though there wasn't much of the white stuff on the route. P1 starting to get a bit hacked out. P3 was the crux, felt like 4+. Could only get one good screw 8 feet into the 40 foot vertical start to the right. Lefthand start per Jack was the same. A bit chendeliered here, lots of air pockets. Tense. P5 fat, blue, plastic. A much welcomed finish. Reasonable walk-off and a sustained glissade down. Still smiling!

Matt and I approached STH by crossing the drainage on a bridge near the cabin. We headed up from there and traversed northeast-ish to the climb. It may have been a bit quicker, but the normal approach is probably safer in terms of avoiding slides.

As of 2010 February 19, SWTH is in FAT!!! Unfortunately we picked a bad weekend to head down there. Avi danger went from considerable to high. We started climbing Whorehouse, but got hammered by very heavy spindrift that knocked me off.

This is a great route! Maybe it was the day, but when you have 300 meters of fat ice in mid April things are pretty good. T-shirt weather and sticky placements. Still steep though on Pitch 1, 3, 5.

This was my second back country lead on ice. The conditions were great!
I lead pitch 1 & 4, Tom lead pitch 2, and Mark lead pitch 3. At pitch 4, we decided to rappel because of ice melt from afternoon sun. Next time, start earlier in AM later in the season.

We got a bit of a late start heading up at 12:30 pm, but it ended up being a good day.