Smooth Emerald Milkshake

Smooth Emerald Milkshake is one of the longest moderate routes to be found on the South Fork Valley of the Shoshone River. This fantastic line can be reached in just a little over an hour's hike from the Deer Creek trailhead in good snow conditions. Approach as for Bitches Brew; after reaching the Bitches Brew drainage, walk and climb down the drainage to reach the bed of Deer Creek itself. This may involve some down climbing using a fixed rope or some rappelling if the fixed rope is gone. Once in the bed of the creek, hike upstream just a short ways to reach the base of the route where it pours directly into the creek.

Begin by climbing a nice curtain of ice to where it lays back a bit and then go up to belay from some bushes on the left. Continue hiking and scrambling up the climb for several hundred meters over a few steeper bulges of ice before encountering the double tiered crux pitch.

At the crux, climb the first tier to reach a ledge and then start up the main curtain, which is about 40 meters in length. It may be steeper on the left and a little easier on the right. Look a tree with rap slings on the right at the top of the climb.

Continue up the drainage to encounter a couple of more pitches that are steep, but shorter than the crux. The first of which is a nice, steep curtain that could be bypassed to the left. Above that a twisting, turning section of ice ascends a gully to the top of a band of rock.

You could continue up the climb further from this point; the drainage splits and there are several bulges or curtains between 5 and 15 meter in length to be found. If you decide to start going down, rappel and down climb the route. Double ropes are really handy as well as some webbing that you can use to rig rappels. Enjoy; this is a wonderful long ramble up lots of moderate ice.

WARNING: Smooth Emerald Milkshake, while certainly one of the great South Fork Classics is prone to high overhead, hard to assess AVALANCHE DANGER. There has been one fatality and a couple of close calls. During a big snow year, a significant storm cycle or rising temps bring a beacon, shovel & probe and assess weather, wind and snow loading. There is no avalanche forecasting for the South Fork. A high snow year for the area and/or significant new snow/winds is a no go time for this remote route.