The 2014-2015 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

The Designator is down already. Surprisingly, the Fang was still standing as of Saturday; though leaning downhill (displaced at the upper fracture point).

-Chris

Did alexander's on monday- linked 2 pitches to top of chockstone pitch.

P1 (1/2)- very thin- sporty- crux was maybe a couple inches wide ice in corner

P2 (3/4)- some unconsolidated snow- big snow mushroom under chockstone, no ice leading to belay above chockstone.

It might fill in with warmer temps- it was ballz cold on Monday and very windy. Approach was good up until above chasm lake and then wallow-fest.

e

Climbed the Dog House this past Sunday and it was in pretty great conditions. Good snow in the gullys, nice warm rock on the steeper sections, and some sweet ice in the P3 gully! As it was nice and sunny we were able to climb barehanded for the majority but this came at the expense of softer snow and ice later on so plan accordingly.

All in all a great route with a fun variety of cruxes. There is a new anchor at the notch behind the Foil now so rapping E to the descent gully is pretty easy.

In case anyone is interested.... today 4/11

Martha in good condition as of yesterday (4/11/2015). Hard snow, plenty of ice in constrictions. We didn't rope up until the 4th "pitch"

First Constriction

Saw a group on flying dutchman:

And tons of tracks up the Loft. Hike to Chasm is a mix of dirt and hard snow.

Vail Update: (Saturday, 4-11-15)
since so many of you seem keen on doing routes out of season and out of condition, I figured I would pass on the word. The fang still stands. The designator somehow fell down first. Never been there in April before so I wouldn't know if this is abnormal.

My brother, Nick, got to do one of his first mixed pitches.

I feared for the life of my dearest belayer, Jack Rodat, quivering at the base of king cobra, grigri in hand. The fang is a multi-ton tower of slush with a deafening waterfall in the middle. It seems as if it fractured, bent over a few feet, and then froze and re-healed all wonky. Mmmmmmhhhhhmmm. I was glad to have a bolt in my face as I kicked into it. Thankfully the day was uneventful, and the thing stayed together for the afternoon. It has maybe a few days left(?? hours?). I wanted to kick it down, but for Jack's sake I carefully topped out and untied. (stemming over an open streambed at the end)

It's spring, and I hope you all can find it within yourselves to call it quits (at least for waterfall ice), as I now must... -JD

Thanks to all the great people I've met in the Ampitheater this year. We have a wonderful community of climbers, all of whom are a bit off in all sorts of ways.

Jikimika Dinglehoffer Merritt wrote:It has maybe a few days left(?? hours?).

We were up yesterday and the Fang was still standing...looked to be "healed enough", that we didn't give it a TON of thought except when we were directly underneath it in the gully on our hike in/out. Looks like it's completely hollow and displaced west and north about a foot. No clue how it's still up, yet the Dez is a pile of rubble. Tentacle actually looked gorgeous right up the center and Cupcake finish looked "decent"...everything else was pretty bleached white and small chunks were coming off throughout the day. I'm keeping fingers crossed for some more warm days and staying out of the amphitheater for a couple weeks to let Spring finish the job.

Jonathan Dunder wrote:How much longer do you guys think Dragon's Tail will be climbable this season? Would it be do-able in mid-May?

ummm maybe? Maybe not? Scroll up for my picture of last saturday.

No way to tell though. This new front based on the models could drop anywhere from 1 - 50" according to Joel G. at opensnow. Sure tongue in cheek, but that's a potential range of what the models (American & EU) are predicting.

It could be totally melted out, or after a spring storm or two be full and ready to go.

This year may be pushing it mid-may for PRIME conditions, but I'm sure it will still be climbable. There will most likely be a mixed step in the middle break though.

Just got back from Lake City. Climbed something on the N. Face of Half Peak. Not sure if it's been climbed to the summit before. Imagine it has. The Sherman Route looked like it's holding on but the crux was looking thin.

There are a couple other N. Facing lines that are still hanging on. Snow is looking good. Kicked a lot of good steps until we got near the rock. Then it of course turned to sugary shit.

Looks like it's going to get cold down there in the next few days so might be the last chance to get on some of this.

If anyone knows the name or info of the stuff we climbed I'd love to hear about it. It's the next most obvious ice route a little less than an hour beyond the parking area.

Hidden Falls is still good to go. Actually more ice than I've ever seen there with the exception of the very top where there's a small hole with some water running down behind the flow.

The far right steep flow (50ft right of main) is no longer touching however.

Hidden is still standing tall as of 4/19. Not much need for swinging as it's pretty hacked out and featured. One of the bolts to the left side could still use tightening (forgot to bring wrench this trip)

Big thanks to the guy (recognize you, but I've never caught your name) who let me borrow the rack for a go at the right side mixed line.

Cheers!

Sam Sala wrote:Hidden is still standing tall as of 4/19. Not much need for swinging as it's pretty hacked out and featured. One of the bolts to the left side could still use tightening (forgot to bring wrench this trip) Big thanks to the guy (recognize you, but I've never caught your name) who let me borrow the rack for a go at the right side mixed line. Cheers!

The bolted line on the right is Endo Daze, the moves up the block at the top can go up the center left of bolts 5 & 6 or up the edge of the arête right of 5&6. The line left of HF is called Fir Hang.

It's kind of a cliche on this thread, but has anyone been on/near Martha's since the last storm?

I went up yesterday to check it out. Skis on from the parking lot, and never took them off. One look up the route and decided I didn't want to trench a path all the way up solo. So, went up to the base of the diamond, then skied all the way back to the car. LOTS odd now up high. Also, lots of sluffing all over the place with the help of the wind yesterday. One small Avi noticed,but at least a day old. Small crown, small slide on the south side of the lake. No other Avi activity noticed.

Fang is still up, passed it about 10 minutes ago

I was there yesterday and didn't see anything. The road was being plowed clear down to the dirt all the way to the summer parking lot, so if it was dropped along there it got pushed off to the side.

bump for martha's conditions :-)

Sara Campbell wrote:bump for martha's conditions :-)

Climbed it on Saturday and it had good ice. Ice was thicker than a month ago but there was also a lot more snow.

Anyone been on Dreamweaver or TFD recently?