North face of First Brother Climbing

There is good ice back in them thar hills!  Here's a virtually unknown, or at least a never-previously-reported, area. Reliable ice across the full grade spectrum from 70 degree slab to arm-busting vertical. All are half ropelength or less, with the easier lines being especially top rope friendly.  There are two distinct areas a few minutes apart: the "Pillar Sector", home to, as the name implies, steep ice including a pair of testy pillars; and the "Slab Sector" which is like a backwoods version of Pitchoff Right. If you were to follow the alternate approach given in Blue Lines 2 to the DuBois route "Romantic Date", you might walk past the slab as it lies just 200 feet from the bottom of the drainage mentioned for that route in BL2. (Show of hands... How many of you have climbed Romantic Date?  Yeah, that's what I thought.)

The first 3 routes described here are in the Pillar area. The others are on the slabby wall. Each is best approached from below, with the pillar area lying higher on the mountain side. Both lie at the lower edge of the evergreen trees. You want to hike in through the lower, open hardwood forest, staying below the boulders. Then head up when you see the pillars (or stay mostly straight to reach the slab). Travel between the two areas is not long, maybe 2-300 yds, but it is a mess of large boulders and is a real chore in deep snow.