King Ravine/ Mt. Adams question

Anyone been into the king ravine in the last few days?

What's the snow depth at the ravine base?....

the wall.....

Snow depth at the ravine base was about a foot.. maybe a bit more. The ravie itself looked very intimidating. We opted for Chemine de Dames (or whatever that trail is called), which was not a cakewalk, but doable. We ran into two guys who tried to get up Kings but turned around.

Hey
not sure about the depth of the snow at the base, but I did King about 3 weeks ago and while it was a long day out it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The actual trail on the headwall is tough to follow this time of year, but other than that it is more of a lungbuster and a down on all fours scramble than anything. Have a great time and be safe

King Ravine conditions

Thanks for the info.

We're actually planning on climbing up the Great Gully - fairly prominent gully, just to the right of the great gully trail, and basically on the far (western) corner of the headwall, as compared to the king ravine trail.

Did you notice the standard snow-field that makes up the gully?

Did you have any pictures of the headwall from the ravine?... if so, could you forward me one on a PM, or attach it in this thread.

It sounds like the base of the ravine has very little snow. In prior years, by Feb., there is usually 2-3 feet of snow at the base, making it almost impossible to follow the king ravine trail through the bush, just before you get to the base of the headwall. We always ended up snowshoeing cross-country in a b-line towards the base, but the monster boulders and the thick brush made it interesting.

the wall.......

Don't quote me on this but I think king ravine is a somewhat technical snow/ice climb in normal years via these trails - I think this becuase I have been researching easy/moderate snow/ice climbs to do and this came up.

This is anything but normal year and this is probably a damn rock scramble by now.

If anyone has more info on that - I would love to know what it is like.

I haven't been in there yet this year, and the times I've been north of there visibility has been insufficient to see the "Magnificent Seven". I do know Wally knows what he's doing in the Gully -- this won't be his first technical ice climb there.

giggy said:

Don't quote me on this but I think king ravine is a somewhat technical snow/ice climb in normal years via these trails - I think this becuase I have been researching easy/moderate snow/ice climbs to do and this came up.

This is anything but normal year and this is probably a damn rock scramble by now.

If anyone has more info on that - I would love to know what it is like.

Click to expand...

I have done Great Gully as a snow climb in a more "normal" year. As I recall, it was moderate--we didn't use ropes or belays. (We carried a rope in case we needed to protect the klutz in the group.) There is a cliff at the bottom of the main gully--bypass it on the right.

The gully does avalanche and, if it does, you are likely to go over the cliff. There have been several injuries from climbers avalanched out of it. It is a remote area and help is unlikely to be unavailable.

Doug

Climbing the king ravine

Once again, thanks for all the info. As mentioned, I'm familiar with the gully and its' techincal challenges and objective hazards.

Our success rate is 3 out of 6 so far - primarily due to the conditions of the snow/ice and risk of avalanche.

Mixed terrain (snow/ice & rock) will not keep us away, and we don't bypass the ice cascade and the cliff - it's the reason we go there. We do employ all safety systems requisite of the conditions though - especially since we go alpine style, packed for a long weekend (a simple climb gets not so simple once you do it with a 50lb pack on your back).

There are 2 reasons I'm looking for the info on the snow conditions:

1. I'm trying to assess what kind of gear I will need, for packing reasons. I don't want to bring it all and decide when I get to the parking lot, because incase of break-in I don't want to loose gear that's left in the car.

2. We're bringing a new guy with us this year - need to know how bad (read: fun) it will be.

the wall......

cool guys - thanks

have fun wally