Pinnacle Gully Conditions

Any updates or Beta on the conditions?  Looking to climb week after Xmas.  Any information would be greatly appreciated !!  Thanks!!

a lot will change between now and christmas, likely for the better. on friday 12/11 the first pitch was thin wonky, aerated 3-3+ but protected pretty well throughout. pitch 2 was super fun, cruiser neve with a few bulges but only took 3 short screws in its 60m length. thin but in! 

It should be fine unless there's a significant warm spell. Even the low altitude ice is building at this point. 

It wasn't great yesterday, the first pitch protected well but was definitely thin while the third pitch was especially sloppy.  There was a lot of moisture about and cold temps this week should fill things in a bit.  

What is the approach like now?   need Snow Shoes, Pons or Skis?   I know the conditions can change a lot in the next 2 weeks 

Approach is about 2.5hrs give or take and probably still a little rocky. but you'll only need micro spikes for the walk. 

Rob Rogowiczwrote:

Approach is about 2.5hrs give or take and probably still a little rocky. but you'll only need micro spikes for the walk. 

Just as another data point, we didn’t bring micro spikes 12/10 and didn’t feel like they were needed at any point. We did some wait deep wallowing, and the approach took us just over 3 hours.

FWIW when I was up there recently I was super happy to have micro spikes. Didn’t use them on the approach, but they were absolutely crucial descending the alpine garden and lions head trail. We smoked a party who started descending well before us since they didn’t have traction and removed their crampons. The spikes are unnecessary once down in the trees though.

jed wardswrote:

FWIW when I was up there recently I was super happy to have micro spikes. Didn’t use them on the approach, but they were absolutely crucial descending the alpine garden and lions head trail. We smoked a party who started descending well before us since they didn’t have traction and removed their crampons. The spikes are unnecessary once down in the trees though.

That makes sense about the Lions Head descent.

We probably didn’t feel the need for micros because we rapped from the top of P2 and retraced our approach back to Pinkham.

I shouldn’t have left that detail out!