Suggestions for a Good Winter Mountaineering Trip

[sierra]

My rack for the Gully's on Webster would consist of pins and angles, rock gear ( cams and nuts) and ice screws, favoring 6 inch screws ( even those might be tied off). Typically, I would favor solid belays and fairly long runs in between gear, unless I was on mostly ice, then more pro would be used.

 

[DougPaul]

Thank you i have been also doing some research on neice. Did you do the traverse in the winter?

Yes, the traverse was in winter. Camped the 1st night in the woods behind Webster and the second night above T-line near Jefferson*. We considered descent via Great Gully but chose Valley Way.
* The site was legal at the time but is no longer legal.

Now THAT is a cool trip. Unfortunately, I suspect the route will be pretty thin in early December, but you could inquire at neice.com for historical experience.

DP, did you haul your packs, or did you climb with winter presi-traverse packs on? Wow. This is pretty intriguing, hadn't considered linking it to a Presi-traverse.

IIRC we thought of it more as an interesting way to do a Presi traverse rather than an extension to an ice climb. (All three of us were experienced ice climbers.) As it was only 2 pitches of easy ice, it could be viewed as a lot of work for not much ice... But the ice was in an interesting location. And, no crowds... Actually the gully would have been dangerous if there was another party in it--lots of loose bowling-ball sized rocks.

We climbed with packs. The ice was too low angle for hauling and was easy enough that climbing with the packs was not a problem. There was a short bit of steep rock at the end (literally finished right on the summit of Webster) but it was easy enough that we all soloed without roping up.

We only used a few ice screws for protection on the ice--don't recall how thick it was. Didn't need the rope or any protection elsewhere.

I think we climbed it in the winter of 1981-1982 so I could be stretching my memory on some of the details. My guess is that it was probably late January or February.

Doug