Midwest Ice Conditions 15/16 season

Starved rock is looking good. I would think one more week and Wildcat and Tonti should be good to go. They are both "in" now but extremely wet and not super solid yet

Tonti. 1/21/16

Heard some people are going out there to climb today, Sunday. Also hearing very bad 'juju stories of others from MP who should know better, who were in park recently 'poaching' on ice that is closed, forbidden to be on. This will only end up bad to worse folks. I met 2 years ago with the then 'new' supt, who now I hear is also retired,,but have not yet met the newest one. Need to work with EACH new person , as often as they change, to give them a history, and try not only to get back some of our lost , closed canyons, but to work a good feeling with the park to just KEEP the few left open for use. Bad misuse and poaching will only get us totally kicked out for good, after all the work done to get this sport allowed since day one, back in Feb. 1980, I'd hate to see it get even worse with more closures or finally done, nobody allowed, because of misuse.
I know people get impatient,,,,shit, about 6 years or so ago we had 3 complete NO ice winters down there, as far as the park making the decision was concerned. But the last I knew, the 'ice is good' call is now up to US, the experienced climbers who keep the forum up to date, and the park will not shut it down because they see a few melting icicles or thin ice they deem not climbable. But again, I have not yet met with the new administration, so they may have already made changes that I'm unaware of. Just stick to the formations we are allowed to use, and always sign in and out at the lower ranger station location we have always used for over 30 years. Don't go off trails back to Pontiac, Kickapoo, Sac, or Aurora, or hike up over ledges to top of Illinois where they tore out all steps and access back in the 'boardwalk' era of redesigning the park, to close every one of those ice formations to any use. No Hennepin rap-ins, no scratching up of any rock covered in thin ice in Owl, or other smaller backcountry' canyons. No French at all, not even the Ice Dagger,,,it's all closed to us for many years now. No Fox canyon use by the lodge. Bushwacking steep trail down to Tonti seems to still be accepted , only in winter by ice climbers. and for gods sake, don't ever wear a crampon on any precious boardwalks. You gotta walk those terrible ice covered things in a stiff mountain boot with no friction, and fall on your ass like every body else is expected to do and even break an ankle doing it like I did 8 years ago.

Ice Hobo 01-23-16

Main Route 01-23-16

Junk Yard Dog (looking burly and with just enough ice to protect OK) and Eagle Eyes 01-23-16.

Quarry Monster in burly shape 01-23-16.

Lone rock is no bueno as of today. On to gov dodge.

Stephan's falls is phat and super fun. Probably the best local(Madison/Milwaukee)ice right now.

Looking for a partner to climb at Wyalusing this Friday coming up. I can drive from the Madison area.. I want to go after some of the burlier routes in Todd's quarry.....

burtacus.l@gmail.com

So today I was out climbing at Starved Rock. Thought you guys might like to see how everything looked, and by everything I mean Ottawa Canyon and Wildcat.

Ottawa Canyon

Wildcat

Was wildcat wet or could you climb it?

Black River, Michigan. 1/28. The river is cross able below Paradise.

Crystal Chandelier

Leaning Tree

Paradise

Pneumonia

jon jugenheimer wrote:Was wildcat wet or could you climb it?

It was completely dry, but due to the rain from this past week there was brittle ice on the surface but as you climbed up and cleaned everything off it was solid and quite enjoyable.

But... with the warm temps coming this week we'll see what happens.

jon jugenheimer wrote:Was wildcat wet or could you climb it?

Hope to get out for a quick early AM hike to check them out myself on Sat. Will get some pics, check the sign-in page for any recent use or comments on conditions. My first trip out to the SRSP ice in 2 seasons! Got spoiled staying at home, minus the drive and gas, with our home built pile of ice to play on.

I know the rain is due on Sunday,,but ice looked pretty good today in every canyon I went to. Wildcat has very thin horizontal crack near top, but still looks pretty solid. Ottowa Canyon also in nice shape yet. And the ice silo had a few climbers too, mid afternoon with very little melt or water on it.

same as a pic I saw posted on Friday ...not much change.

Ottowa canyon also still good.

not too much melt damage in last few days....still holding up nicely.

Casket was super warm and in the sun both days this weekend. Lots of ice, but very, very wet.

Casket

Tom Sprague climbing Quarry Monster left side Friday Jan 28th.

Tom Sprague doing a lap on Quarry Monster rightish side Friday Jan 28th. There was one more nice pillar option to the right still but we left it alone until it formed up a bit more stable. There is now a new tree top anchor on the right side of Quarry Monster (3 wraps of 1 in web, a leaver biner, and a new rap-ring.

Photo was taken from The Starved Rock FB page on 1/31 of Wildcat canyon. 45 & rain today (up to 1/2 inch!), but good temps are coming for overnight Wednesday then back to crap for Sunday. The temps between Tuesday night and Saturday night are OK for the area to keep growing some ice, as long the rain doesn't do too much damage to the canyons. I'll be their Sunday looking to climb and will post conditions after, please post up if you are there between now and then.

Wildcat

wow,,some massive damage to the center of ice since just Saturday morning when I was there....but if that center 'tube' melts open more,,that does make for a really fun climb. Done it before, get to straddle up both sides right up the flowing water, and then decide on your exit direction up near the top. Hope it holds up, but next temps in 20's aren't forecast until a week from now....not looking good. Heanwhile , just to mess with your psyche,,here's a pic taken from about eary Feb. of 1983.. THIS is how big the falls used to get back in that decade when we had REAL ice formations built up a week before New Years each season. Absolutely the best repeat ice years ever in the park were 82 to about 92'.

about the fattest Wildcat ever got in last 36 years was winter '83'.

Damn that's fat!

How much rain did you guys get Woodchuck?

Wildcat as of 2/3
Wildcat as of 2/3

WOW. Short season at SRSP.

Anyone have an update on the ice conditions at Pikes Peak State Park or Wyalusing State Park? Thx