Best ice cragging location?

If your main desire was to get alot of days in every season ice cragging and climbing short approach multi-pitch ice, where would you spend the winter? In the US only! Bozeman? Keene valley? Cody? Somewhere in CO? Alaska? Some where else? 

Mt Washington Valley NH

Hyalite.

Cronwrote:

Mt Washington Valley NH

I can see the argument for Hyalite, but why dose the Mt Washington Valley beat out all the others? 

Burlington, VT

~2h to 'dacks, Willoughby, NH notches

jdejacewrote:

Burlington, VT

~2h to 'dacks, Willoughby, NH notches

Yes burlington is towards the top of my list for where to move! Whats the closest consistent ice to Burlington, is there anything you could realistically get on after work on a week night?

You could swing tools at Bolton Quarry after work (by headlamp, sun sets early in winter). Nothing to write home about compared to the spots I mentioned above but there be ice. I don't think you'll find much there early/late season but mid-winter, sure. It's about 25min to the parking lot. It's a longer walk to the climbing than it used to be because a bunch of selfish idiots who can't have nice things pissed off the neighbors, but still not much of an approach by most standards. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/118203159/bolton-quarry

There is also allegedly a spot in Shelburne. I didn't see much ice the time I went there and I haven't been very motivated to go back. I'm not much of a weeknight climber though. 

I moved to (central) Vermont the past winter specifically to climb ice...and climb ice, I fucking did.

Made multiple trips to Bolton, Bristol, Smuggs, Willoughby, New Hampshire (North Conway and Kinsman Notch), and Adirondacks. So much ice. 

ryan Smithwrote:

I can see the argument for Hyalite, but why dose the Mt Washington Valley beat out all the others? 

Because unlike Hyalite, you don't need to drive 45 minutes each way up a potentially buried road to go climbing, and occasionally get your car mega stuck when some bro in a lifted truck runs you off the road.  The ice is probably a bit more fickle, but the season is still pretty long, and there are a TON of spots with a wide range of climbing styles.  Oh, and NH is granite, not semi-petrified lava mud, so the trad is more rad.

Realistically, if you want to get a ton of pitches in, Ouray can't be beat.  Cody is super cool but let's be realistic, it's not really a crag.  Hyalite is great but driving in and out daily is a bummer.  In Ouray, you can walk to the crag.  From North Conway, it's like 20 minutes or something to Frankenstein, and the walk is like 5 minutes to Standard.

For pure quantity of ice, Ouray gets my vote.  For accessible quantity and quality, MWV.

I know you said the US only...but my vote for the best ice cragging is Nipigon, ON, Canada.  After you get used to the cold(and take rest days when it’s really cold) it’s the best place to do single pitch Ice and mixed that I have ever visited. 

JJ beat me to it.  Nipigon if you don’t need typical gentrified amenities.  Think of it as like a mega ice version of the Gunks only along a road instead of a trail.  Some climbs you can practically park and belay out of the car.  Plus, it’s off the beaten path so your odds of being free of crowds is almost guaranteed.  

If you had free time to spend a month or two cheaply and just wanted the most ice laps for minimal driving and approach hiking, hard to beat Nipi and the nearby areas (Kama, etc)

Years ago I helped a noob who was doing just that.  He planted himself up there for 2 months.  Started raw, left honed, fit, and skilled and went out to guide on Rainier (asst guide) immediately afterwards.  

Thanks for info everyone! I dont think the drive into Hyalite has ever taken me 45 min, maybe im the ass hole in the truck? Haha. It seems like the season in the NE is getting less reliable and shorter? i know this last winter i was glad i went to Hyalite instead of the dacks, I remember seeing photos of wet iceless clifs in chappel pond canyon while i was climbing fat routes in Hyalite. How early do things usually form up in NH?

I love Hyalite but I'm biased because I live here in Bozeman. However I went to Ouray back in February to climb some backcountry routes with SJMG. My God that place is incredible. Its simply hard to put into words how beautiful that place is and the ease of access to ice climbs is amazing. One could make a strong argument for Ouray. Just saying. 

If you are ok with climbing in the park I think Ouray blows the rest away in regards to cragging, sure it's busy on weekends, the rest of the time you can pretty much get on whatever you want, you can get more mileage on TR solo in a week than you will in years most places...

as far as multi-pitch Ouray is probably similar to Hyalite, most stuff takes a bit of driving and maybe some approaching, if multipitch is what you are after Cody is far better than anything else in the west, sure, you have to walk, it's totally worth it IMO...

jdejacewrote:

You could swing tools at Bolton Quarry after work (by headlamp, sun sets early in winter). Nothing to write home about compared to the spots I mentioned above but there be ice. I don't think you'll find much there early/late season but mid-winter, sure. It's about 25min to the parking lot. It's a longer walk to the climbing than it used to be because a bunch of selfish idiots who can't have nice things pissed off the neighbors, but still not much of an approach by most standards. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/118203159/bolton-quarry

There is also allegedly a spot in Shelburne. I didn't see much ice the time I went there and I haven't been very motivated to go back. I'm not much of a weeknight climber though. 

I would also add a plug for Smuggs as an after work destination - from BTV its about 45 minutes to the trailhead. get yerself a pair of approach skis and some decent lungs, and you can be at workout wall or south wall in a half hour or less. and then you can avoid the quarry all together. :)

Weather is fickle and it's getting warmer everywhere. Ouray closed the ice park in February a few years back. Shasta doesn't have a drop of snow on it right now but exactly one year ago I skied Trinity Chutes in all time conditions. It's not really an East Coast problem. I climbed at Chapel Pond in mid-April in 2018. This year my last ice day was in the Presidentials in late March. Hard to say what you're gonna get any given winter. I think the younger ones amongst us are going to have to go to Canada to climb ice one day as we continue to plague this planet. 

my plug would be for Northern New England. Daks, Vermont (Smuggs, Willoughby, etc.) New Hampshire (Frankenstein, Cannon, Mount Wash, etc.) all within 2-3 hours. And when that border opens back up, the Quebec ice options are insane as well...

Is Ouray getting rebuilt, after the loss of the bridge and water line? Haven't heard how that's going, or any updates on funding....

jdejacewrote:

Weather is fickle and it's getting warmer everywhere. Ouray closed the ice park in February a few years back. Shasta doesn't have a drop of snow on it right now but exactly one year ago I skied Trinity Chutes in all time conditions. It's not really an East Coast problem. I climbed at Chapel Pond in mid-April in 2018. This year my last ice day was in the Presidentials in late March. Hard to say what you're gonna get any given winter. I think the younger ones amongst us are going to have to go to Canada to climb ice one day as we continue to plague this planet. 

I really hope your wrong about having to go to Canada, but i fear you may be right. I know its not an issue only effecting the east coast, but i think the elevation plays a huge factor in season length / consistency. ~8k in Hyalite vs ~1-3k out east (i know there are a few things higher)

What about Alaska!? Anyone spend alot of time ice cragging up there? Valdez? Stuff around anchorage? Maybe having a snowmobile up there? 

Jamila W wrote:

JJ - Can you talk a little more about why you like Nipigon so much?  I'm intrigued and looking to branch out from my default ice cragging yearly trip (Ouray).

To jump in and elaborate, it has easy access WI2 thru high level M’s within minutes of each other.  You can just about climb a new climb every day for a year within about the same hour radius.  It’s cheap.  It’s casual and rustic and you can have almost a similar gym-like convenience that Ouray provides without the zoo, and then if you want, you can have a remote wilderness multi pitch experience a short drive away.

If it were anywhere other than Nipigon, Ontario, you’d all be drooling and raving about it.  As it sits, I’m glad it’s in Nipigon ;)

ryan Smithwrote:

Thanks for info everyone! I dont think the drive into Hyalite has ever taken me 45 min, maybe im the ass hole in the truck? Haha. It seems like the season in the NE is getting less reliable and shorter? i know this last winter i was glad i went to Hyalite instead of the dacks, I remember seeing photos of wet iceless clifs in chappel pond canyon while i was climbing fat routes in Hyalite. How early do things usually form up in NH?

In my experience good ice where you won’t obliterate you gear is in in early December or earlier. This is lower elevations. Up in the alpine or on cannon mid November for good ice, for any ice anytime in October if it has been cold enough up high.  The season length depends on the winter itself , you can probably climb on mid November  and climb in the end of April most years