Just west of The Shroud is another gully. This is Tony's Nightmare. Ever wonder who was Tony? Why did he have a nightmare?
If you belay it, there could be a pitch of easier ice lower. Maybe 30 ft? Maybe WI 2 to 2+.
The main attraction here is a good pitch of WI4 ice above for 70-80ft. This is really fun but can be wet. In good conditions, it might make a good first WI4 lead. In really fat conditions, it might be WI3+.
There is more ice above, but it looks fairly low angle. There appeared to be rappel/anchor points above.
Beware of avalanche conditions. Expect an aerobic approach.
This was my second pitch of ice climbing ever (TRed) and I wanted to submit something on the ice section. My first was the lower ice section along the approach (same gully). It was good enough for me to want to swing axes again. Anyway, there is a sling anchor for a descent to the left of the flow.
A fixed TR anchor exists as some slings and biners 15ft left of the top.
Ice is not as fat as in the pic above from Feb 02, but quite wet and plastic. It should form up some more w/ colder temps here. The gully below is in the same soft condition, but neither are thin by any manner. Snow depth in the gully is low and conditions are stable from brief inspection (no weak interface layer).
Nice ice and hearty approach, but the I-70 traffic is a little annoying to hear all day long.
FYI, after reading the beta on the sling anchor, it is note worthy that there is a good bolted anchor with shuts for TR and rapping, it's a bit higher up from the sling anchor, on the left, look for a giant boulder.
Tenmile Canyon aka Officer's Gulch
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