2009/2010 Colorado Ice Conditions
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Kelly Cordes was skiing up in that drainage today. You could ask him. |
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Thanks Stich and Dougald! |
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Time to become popular with the West Slope crowd (sorry guys, but I give the the goods from the East Slope too)... |
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It's OK Kevin to talk about the west slope ice as long as its in the guide books. |
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Just returned from a weekend at Rifle, which is in excellent shape. Stone Free is in easy 5 shape with a moderate top out. Ice Palace was led by my partner Dan Battin, 5++ with a pretty exciting top out, doubt it will last much longer.... |
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~6" of new snow in Officer's Gulch. Micro sloughs on the west side. |
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A little alpine update for the N. Face of Longs, Jan 30th. Cables Route. Quite a bit of ice forming back in the corner (under the snow). Full TR on my blog |
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Here a shoddy report for Bridalveil Falls which we climbed yesterday. Climb is in excellent condition, although rather hooked out. No running water to speak of. Pitch 1 is pretty reasonable. Pitch 2 is the business, steep with good hooks and decent pro. Very classic and not as hard as it looks. Enjoy! |
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With quite a few new mixed routes going in this season at East Vail, I've posted a sequential listing of all the climbs at the Firehouse West and Spiral Staircase areas: tinyurl.com/ybop4au. The new climbs are accessible to mere mortals and they seem really fun. |
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I was at Hully Gully today. A nice 44 degrees when I got back to my Jeep around 1:00pm. Great ice conditions on both pitches. |
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Clear Creek Canyon update: |
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There is steeper ice (sort of) at clear creek too but it's beat up. The higher "pitches" are a little fresher. Both Mickey's and Coors Lite P1 must get climbed constantly. |
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Rifle ice is still largely in good shape. Soul on Ice is 5 +/- and the top out has receded from the tree a bit further making it a bit spicier. Stone Free looks a bit thinner than a couple of weeks ago. Ice Palace and Final Curtain still look about the same. |
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Used up one of my nine lives today (2/14) when, approaching Stairway to Heaven and no more than 100' from the base of the ice, I got a huge "WHUMPF." No settling or visible cracks, but I beat a hasty retreat anyway to my partners, who were waiting/watching from the nearby ridge crest, and we bailed. Worth noting, the avy danger for the Northern San Juans was "only" Moderate for west-facing slopes near and above treeline which this is. No other signs of instability were noted prior to that point (though later in the day, when it was actually light out, we noted some old slide activity on the west-facing slopes right before the bridge at Eureka). Just proves the adage that, like politics, all avy conditions are local. |
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Nice to see folks posting some Shotty Ice reports, right on! Here is my "shot"... |
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Anyone take a walk up the flatirons lately? Or anyone want to take a walk Tuesday (2/16) AM with me? |
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Looking pretty snowy up there at the moment. As you posted this in the Ice forum, were you thinking about checking out a mixed line to climb manana? Or just a stroll to check out conditions? |
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I'm interested in any of the flatirons ice/mixed lines. Hoping this 2nd snow storm helped reform some ice but that might just be wishful thinking. |
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Has anyone climbed All Mixed Up recently? Any beta would be appreciated. |
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Silk road looks like it might go. I walked up there this afternoon to get a better look. No promises. It's out of the sun at noon thirty, there is snow, ice and water up there and it looks continuous enough to climb. Anyone up for the challenge drop me a PM. |