The 2010 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

Vail Conditions: Vail is in stellar shape despite the warming temps. The Fang has finally formed enough to be climbed and it saw it's first lead. It was a long wait and I really thought I wouldn't get a chance to climb it this year (not into top-roping routes like this), but the 20-40 temps helped alot. I climbed straight on the front, gapping the upper/lower mushroom (Cruxy on shitty, thin death flakes) and pushed (not screwed) some gear in the foamy base of the pillar. The pillar was a bit wet on one side and brittle/cicled on the other. Monos were tough as they sheared a bit through the 20' fragile pillar, not a good place to lose your feet. Sketchy hooks led to bomber ice above the fractured roof. There was nothing safe about the route, and 3 of the 5 screws would have probably held. Don't even think about placing pro in the pillar. Kinda was like a solo, for the most part, delicate, bold and heady but not strenuous, I'd give it a WI5+ R/X. Warmer temps are predicted for all of next week, this may be the end???...get on it!

The warmer temps are great for the drytool lines and ice routes like the Desi, Staircase, Belfry and 7th are all in great, although the composition of some surface ice is changing. Check out all the new drytool lines like Kozata Baba M6+, Hair of the Bear M7, and The Mauling M8.

Below is a link to the Fang lead a friend videoed from his home, across the I-70 highway. Elias apologizes that he didn't have time to link in some Disco.

youtube.com/watch?v=ts4bbBh…

Was in Ouray climbing Wednesday we did Fractured Fairytales in the CampBird Rd skylight area. Ouray's Ice is there but def wet and sunbleached in alot of parts. FF was some good ice with some real shitty ice more of the latter. Good mixed route though. We moved onto Telluride on Thurs. Climbed in Bear Creek Gorge. Really fat ice but running water behind alot of it, some steep shit still in. But while Eric was climbing the climb to our right totally ripped off and collapsed. Bridalveil and Telluride's Fang looked good though. Thanks Eric for partnering up and climbing some so so and good ice this week. Get on it the ice isnt going to be around much longer.

We were at Lincoln today. Its still awesome and super fat. For once actually nice weather today up there, little wind.

I was out training on the Jewel Lake ice on Saturday. It was cold, brittle, and very fat. I would assume that any route on a similar aspect & elevation to be in good shape (shaded, east facing, ca. 10,000').

Anyone know if the ice is still in at Silverplume?

Extremely unlikely. Keep driving to Lincoln Falls.

Quite a bit of ice still in the Park. Was in Glacier Gorge sunday. Climbed West Gully, lots of ice (and snow) up near Black Lake.

VAIL: Firehouse- The Firehouse is in exceptional condition and the routes are great. The East Firehouse Pillar finally touched down (8" across and 2" wide) and was a fun lead at WI5. Lowe Pressure still has a nice open window from when I chopped it, so turning the curtain is alot easier. The ice has it's usual Spring time surface to it, but underneath it's solid. We skied the Raquet Club Chute after climbing and caught Stephen Marley for a free concert- a full-value day in the mountains!
The Desi is in decent shape although getting sun (when it's out!) on the top. The base of the Fang area is muddy and the Fang pillar has melted back from the top curtain, with a gaping hole mid-way in the back of the massive cone. Staircase still holding strong and there's lots of drytooling to get you strong!

Does anyone have updated conditions for the park? Have any of the transient spring alpine ice routes formed up? i.e. Womb with a view on cathedral wall, Vanquished Wall, etc.

I've been up in the park the last two weekends. Its still pretty cold up there, but I think the south facing stuff on Otis and Flattop is probably pretty good right now. South facing stuff at higher elevations like in the cathedral spires is only going to get better in the coming month.

I think we're still a long ways off from any north facing routes like Vanquised or The Slit on Hallett, and even longer for the high elevation north facing stuff like Dreamweaver or The Window. Case in point, I set off a nice large slide skiing on the north side of Hallett last weekend. 12" off soft fluffy stuff.

I have no idea on Womb with a View. I've never been able to catch that thing when its in.

Thanks Chris. It looks like Saturday is shaping up to be another one of those "great" days in the Park...Drytooling snow covered rock in near whiteout conditions getting beat down by spindrift, wondering why you're not cragging in the desert with all your friends...Wooo yah!

Womb with a view in RMNP did not have ice on the crux pitch, at least as we could see from the base and further away. The other big cleft to the right (Tunnel Vision, i think that is the name) looked climbable. However, it may be wise to wait a few days, as we set off a scary slab avalanche trying to get up the steep snow before the first pitch.

Yikes! Glad you guys are OK and thanks for the reccy info.

Anyone have any info on Martha? I'm guessing it's a few weeks out but I'm anxious for some spring ice/snow routes. I don't want to hike up there if it's not in shape yet. Thanks!

Some pictures from a recent walk up to black lake...

Surprisingly, there were boot tracks up the avalanche debris by west gulley that cut across the open slope above stoneman.

There are some big cornices up on Mchenrys as well. The recent avys and big cornices turned us around from an attempt on Mchenrys. Cheers!

k. riemondy wrote: There are some big cornices up on Mchenrys as well.

Holy f**k

Climbed the Petit Gully yesterday. The route was in great shape with firm neve and ice choked cracks. We continued over to The Gash via one pitch of easy snow, then on to the summit of the sharks's tooth on warm sunny rock. The route should stay in good shape for another couple weeks, but an early start is important for getting the best conditions.

In other News: We had a great vantage point for watching avalanches poor down the East Face of Taylor Peak. Amazingly there's no cornice above the Central Buttress Route. This route should be good to go in a week or so, so catch it in the rare time of low objective danger. In early start will be critical for this face that catches a lot of morning sun. The face is deceptively far back there, so a bivy at the base wouldn't be a bad idea.

Womb with a view didn't appear to be in, and one party bailed off of Tunnel Vision. They said the route was in, but really drippy. Vanquished and The Inquisition had discontinuous patches of ice. Hopefully that's a sign that they're heading in the right direction.

Chockstones of Unusual Size was so filled in with snow, you could probably kick steps from top to bottom. The Wham Couloir has a really cool looking (but probably sun blasted) ice pillar on the direct start pitch. This route would probably make a great fun snow climb right now, on par with the dragon tail couloir. Again an early start is important for firm and safe snow conditions.

Overall, it should be a great couple of weeks coming up for some combination type routes like what we did on the Petit Gully/Shark's Tooth. Another similar route that will be lots of fun is The Englishman's route on Hallett. The lower half stays shaded, and has some great M4-5 climbing. Then by the time you get to the upper half, the east facing rock will have been baking in the sun for a while, and you can switch to rock shoes and bare hands.

Chris S., nice talking with you guys in the parking lot (and again when we took the wrong fork). Sounds like a cool climb you guys did!

My buddy and I climbed a variation of the Right Gully on McHenrys, Saturday. We opted against Big Mac due to the massive cornices already noted. The Right Gully appears to be well sheltered from them. Getting into the gully required one pitch of steep mixed climbing. Snow in the gully was quite secure for step-kicking, but the water ice steps are melting out fast. Very enjoyable. However, wet loose snow slides shedding from the rock-bands forced us off route, and we completed to the summit via the NE ridge.

We saw no evidence of slab activity except for a day or two old 6" crown below Stoneman, just above Black Lake. Minor wet surface slides were ubiquitous in the afternoon.

Climbed Dreamweaver Sunday May 8th. If you enjoy steep snow get on it! No ice. Rock steps were easily negotiable. Came to low on the descent off the loft and got cliffed. Scrambled out on a ledge, found a few pitons. We built an anchor and rapped down to the snow. Glissaded about 1000 ft and we were on our way out.

Route took three of us 2.5 hours from bottom of couloir proper to top of Meeker. Brought rope, ice tools, screws, cams, nuts (they never left our packs)....only needed mountaineering axe and Hoag kicking steps out front.

Another party was on Martha same day, not sure what they found. Probably at least two more weeks before Dreamweaver is "in". Nevertheless had a blast, beautiful weekend in the Park, great friends, and high altitude! Blessed to live here...