Ice climbing conditions

Unknown Uinta Ice on the Mirror Lake Hwy back in early January.

Ice on Mirror Lake Hwy

Uinta ice

Unknown WI4-ish routes in the Uintas. Nick and Marcus on the sharp end.

Allen

Holy hell, MarkEMark! I'm getting on aplane right now! How far east of Kamas is that? Can you see it from the road?

(Being sensitive, of course, to secret areas and such; totally understand if you don't want to give it up!)

Yeah it was about 3.5 miles past the end of the road (in winter). Its on the left side of the road a bit past Soapstone. I don't think the area has been devloped yet, but it has potential. We had to build rap anchors on the routes we did, so bring some gear. Happy Sending!

FYI, Frozen Assests looked in from the highway...go check it out.
Also, anyone living in cedar city or st. george, what's the story on the ice on the west side of the highway (near mile 37 and 44)? Looked like some cool slabs and pillars?

Went down to Santiquin today...Automatic & Angel of Fear were not in, but Candelstick was in great condition. Several of the climbs across the canyon were also in.

Climbed in Maple on 2/11 (for the first time), and I know ya gotta get the conditions posted quick before that place goes off its medication, so I apologize for the delay. Mostly, though, I really wanted to give a shout out to the super-friendly and helpful local folks who freely gave positive direction and info to the guys from Colorado who had successfully forgotten their guidebook.

And MarkEMark, thanks for the beta on the Kamas ice. Didn't get a chance to get back there, but maybe next season.

So, as of 2/11:
Dagger: In, but getting a full-on natural tan by 11:30 a.m.
Cobble Cruncher: In, thin up high but manageable.
Maple Syrup: In, but brittle up high and all of Ice 6 (and maybe the best single pitch of ice ever).
Box Canyon Falls: Fat.
Frozen Lizards: Not.
Golden Plum: In.
Maple Corners: Not. Not.
Maple Moon: Very, very thin from the start to about half way, then probably just unprotectable.
Tennis Shoe Slab: You could probably link the ice blobs between the cobbles, but we'll never know. We kept walking.
Get Whacked: In and hooked up quite a bit, but still a good pump test. Top was getting baked by late morning.

Thanks again. Maple is awesome.

Loweball wrote:Maple Syrup: In, but brittle up high and all of Ice 6 (and maybe the best single pitch of ice ever).

Concur, really a neat pitch.

Folks should realize that the season is wrapping up, and, we've seen super warm temps, and, not much in the way of freezing since before last weekend. Hit 61 last weekend in SLC, and, I'm sure Maple has been in the upper 40's/low 50's at least. That's a bunch of heat. Might not recover.

Take care.

Anybody know the coditions of the stuff by cedar city?

MarkEMark wrote:Yeah it was about 3.5 miles past the end of the road (in winter). Its on the left side of the road a bit past Soapstone. I don't think the area has been devloped yet, but it has potential. We had to build rap anchors on the routes we did, so bring some gear. Happy Sending!

hay people have been climbing on those for years they probably all gt climbed in the 60s alot of ice in the unintas thats the easyest to get to though never seems to be in very good went there yesterday climbed preaty roten now maby it will come back but doubtfull.

Anyone have updated ice conditions on Great White Icicle or something else around a WI3-WI4 grade? I'm going to be in town march 4th-9th and would love to get out.

Conditions would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks,

Nick

Clay Borne wrote: I am sure that the climbs along the Mirror Lake Highway have been climbed.

I'd heard about it when I moved here in '85, and, skied up there around then to look for it, but, wasn't in that particular time.

Nick Mazzocchi wrote:Anyone have updated ice conditions on Great White Icicle or something else around a WI3-WI4 grade? I'm going to be in town march 4th-9th and would love to get out. Conditions would be greatly appreciated!!

We're in a pretty moist flow right now...so...consider that and March temps usually pop up quite a bit.

Geez, Clay Borne, didn't I see you on the road on Tuesday night by the GWI? How many laps you get on that rig a season?

If it was Kenny G coming through the doors and windows, It was Brian in SLC behind the wheel.

He should consider "Smooth Jazz" as his forum handle.

PT

Yeah, well, I got some moist flow for ya right here...

Har har.

My musical tastes run a bit more to the angry side.

Clay Borne wrote:Nick, I was on the GWI last night. Conditions are good on the climb. It is basically a ladder now, not much of a need to swing tools or kick steps. I hope that temperatures will stay favorable for your visit. Enjoy!

Clay, may I assume this includes the 4th(top) pitch? I'm guessing the gully is nice and full of snow for the descent.

well if you read close there is a quote in the guide saying there is enough ice in the unitas for its own guide. plus i heard about the climbs on the miror lake 5 years ago from locals who have been climbing those climbs for 10 or more years. i have been up to those and other climbs in the unintas now a hand full of times and i usually rap of the trees by raping my rope around them and not leaving any garbadge to just rot and thats what those guys do as well!

Clay Borne wrote: I am sure that the climbs along the Mirror Lake Highway have been climbed. It is even possible that they could have been climbed as early as the 1960's. It seems though, that David Black would have known about this ice and included it in his book (Ice Climbing Utah). David Black did extensive research for the book, and gathered the most accurate information from the most reliable sources. If it had been climbed in the 1960's, I am sure that Jeff Lowe, Doug Coats, Brain Cabe, Brain Smoot, Ted Wilson, or members of the Wasatch Mountain Club would have had information about this and shared it with David Black. I doubt that David would exclude the Mirror Lake Highway area, yet include only Mt. Emmons. It was very nice of MarkEMark to share his photos of the climbs they did. It sounds like a fantastic adventure in a beautiful setting. I hope that more information will surface about these climbs so can all share in the great history of climbing in this area.

David Black didn't list quite a few climbs in his book(all over Utah). I definitely would not take his book as "the Word". I think it is a good start, and I would never want to take on the task of publishing a guide because I know I would miss a ton of stuff. I have climbed on the Mirror Lake Highway up to 15 years ago. I have climbed in Naturalist basin, that area is amazing. There is Ice on the back side of bald mountain. I am still looking up there because there are going to be some more goldmines to find up there. The great thing about Ice is that you can climb it and leave no sign of your climb so that future parties can climb the same climb and have a first ascent type experience. Some of the other climbs in Utah used to be like this until bolts appeared on them for anchors- it takes from the experience.
Dallen

Sunny-D wrote:David Black didn't list quite a few climbs in his book(all over Utah).

I think it was a pretty good effort, though. He went with the beta he had from folks that were willing to share. And, he ran into more than a few folks who didn't want to divulge their areas.

He spent a fair amount of time on it. Did a pretty good job of soliciting for information. I think since its been published (over ten years ago now), some stuff has become known, or, folks have come out of the woodwork with information. Will it ever be updated? Hard to say.

Sunny-D wrote:Some of the other climbs in Utah used to be like this until bolts appeared on them for anchors- it takes form the experience. Dallen

It sure can. Especially when you show up at an area and there's four topropes set up and only one party climbing on them...and no one actually climbing the routes to the top. Sound familiar? Ha ha.

Too funny...cheers!

2-26-11, note the extra pitches! click to enlarge.

Climb to top of pitch 5 yesterday 3/1/11. All pitches were in great except for the last 6 feet of pitch 5. The top out was a bit worse than the usual limestone scratchfest. Detached and thin, delicate to say the least. Pitch 6 wasn't in and 7 is still a dagger or JUST touched down.

Even with the warm weather it was solidly refrozen in the AM. We were off by 2PM and it was just starting to get drippy.

Lost a petzl attache 3D somewhere up there.