VALDEZ ice conditions

VALDEZ ice conditions

would love to find out current valdez ice conditions, gonna be up march 9th, hoping the climbs are still going to be good quality.

REquest for info please.

I heard it was absolutely pissing rain in the Canyon for the last several days. Temps have been solidly warm. Nick Weicht and the other Valdezians would have better knowledge, but I would definitely not plan on it being prime. Our winter is essentially over at lower altitudes with the massive, warm low pressure system that has been sitting over us for the last week. I would suspect that all of the big climbs in Keystone will not fare well.

Bring skis. Thompson Pass will still be good.

forecast.weather.gov/MapCli…

I am currently visiting valdez. the day before yesterday we (with Nick W. and Tim S.) got keystone greensteps done in very favorable conditions. ice was super sticky (a bit picked out though). last week conditions were better because colder and right now its getting wet.
I can post some pics or provide more specifics if there is something you want to know in detail. heads up: march 9 for ice climbing here sounds a bit like a stretch to me. need to run, cheers, axel

any suggestions for higher elevation ice or any spots around ANC that might still be good?

(that don't involve an airplane)

thanks for the info.

If you've come exclusively for ice around anchroage or valdez, you might be a little disappointed by March 9. On the other hand, there's a chance that places like Caribou Creek could still be good. Perhaps Nabesna as well.

Unfortunately, the AlaskaIceClimbing.com conditions forum has slowed down quite a bit. Still, check that for possible updates.

Going for a couple weeks of skiing at Thompson Pass, but wanted to get in some end of season ice while I was there!

well, in that case, sure bring your ice tools, I'd say.

alaskaiceclimbing.com/keyst…
alaskaiceclimbing.com/brida…
alaskaiceclimbing.com/cryst…

will not be gone by that time. hole in the wall canyon does not get much sun, so, you should have a fair chance to get something done.

The ice climbing in Valdez has been excellent. The majority of the big climbs held up well against the last spell of warm and wet weather and now it is clear and cold in the 15-32F temps range for the next few days. The Ice Fest bridge is still in across the Lowe River at Bridalveil/Greensteps. And the skiing has been super good!

During the next warm storm(?) to hit Valdez and crap-out the ice and the skiing I would recommend going to Chitina for a day or two of ice climbing and its only a 2 hour drive from Valdez.
-CHEERS:)

awesome thanks for the update!!!!!

THANK YOU!

we tried Chitina today; first we tried to make it to blackbird alaskaiceclimbing.com/black…
you can see it here in the background:

the climb looks burly and really nice and seems to be in great condition! temps were in the twenties.
I think it was only climbed once this season (please, correct me if I am wrong!)

the problem is the approach as you need to cross the flood plane/river: the rivers are running fast, with high volume and even when finding a way to avoid the principal branches we didn't think hat the ice would be save for smaller side branches either. this is how it looked today:


so, we did the chitina route instead
alaskaiceclimbing.com/chiti…
ice quality was great and we had a super nice day out and the route was ok.