BCC Ice

looked like ice to me...

Great pic as usual Andrew.

Not in BCC, but Scruffy Band was pretty good today. Not thick like the last couple of years. A couple of very easy mixed moves were mandatory above the starting slab, but they were VERY easy.

The start is very thin also, but it gets thicker as you get higher on the slab, and more reasonable.

GWI is, of course, in also.

Andrew is that storm mountain?

scottish gully

Lee and I did a cool 2 pitch variation to Storm Mountain Falls today. The first pitch of storm is awful and the 3rd pitch is completely gone.

Has this variation been reported? Like everything in the Wasatch, I'm sure someone's been on it.

Pitch 3. From pitch two anchors keep diagonaling left passing a few buldges. M3/4 This puts you above the anchors and overhang for the new 5.8 route. Gear anchor. Blades helpful. M4

Pitch 4. A very tight and extremely awkward pitch. Drytool into the tight corner/ramp with the obvious ice flow (that forms the left border of the wildly overhung "catcher's mit" formation). 6" of swing clearance and lots of swearing on thin delaminating ice gets you out of the squeezebox and into a tight mixed ice choked corner. Belay from the chains at the top of the new 5.8 route. WI4 M5

Anyone who's ever done NY gulley in the Cascades will appreciate this variation I'm calling "Glass Case of Emotion" WI4 M5

The angle's a bit weird on the photo, but so was the climbing :)-

Looks cool! I've seen the ice in that corner before, who knows if its been done, but someone's gettn' it done, hell ya!

nice work, mike! i drove past the storm mountain picnic area this morning, then again in the afternoon on our way back from skiing--seems the recent warm temps, combined with its aspect, have all but brought the thing down...

Through a combination of years of wondering about Scottish Gully, seeing ice on my way to ski and that damned pic Burr posted burning in my mind I ended up on it yesterday.
The ice at the bottom was good and the gully looked doable so off I went. The ice at the bottom was indeed good. The rest, not so much, more rock and mud than anything else lurking under the snow. At least the pro was marginal.

anyone know what happened on the GWI today? lots of rescue folks on the road

michael layton wrote:anyone know what happened on the GWI today? lots of rescue folks on the road

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5588205

That is bullshit. There is really no good reason why they couldn't have self rescued...

I found this interesting, I had no idea:

The Great White Icicle is "located at about 5500 East in Little Cottonwood Canyon"

This has to be the ONLY ice climb in the world that has its own address. I wonder if the post office delivers mail to that address...

John J. Glime wrote:That is bullshit. There is really no good reason why they couldn't have self rescued...

That's what I thought. The news made it sound like the hardest climb in the state.
Kinda lame but, the morphine was waiting at the parking lot.
I might have to try it sometime.

Some of the news reports said: "they were difficult to get to"

It looked like they (the climbers) were at the base of the bulge. It also said that they were "experienced climbers".

The news also said that it took "4 hours to get to the climbers."

Hmmm...

bsmoot wrote:Some of the news reports said: "they were difficult to get to" It looked like they (the climbers) were at the base of the bulge. It also said that they were "experienced climbers". The news also said that it took "4 hours to get to the climbers." Hmmm...

Yeah, the new reports made it look like they were at the anchor at the base of the bulge. To me, that'd be an easy self rescue from there. The 2nd pitch looks like a low angle snow ramp. First pitch is so short. Kinda weird that the sheriff made it sound absolutely horrendous as a place to have to rescue someone from. Makes me wonder if it had happened a couple of years ago, when the SAR guys were climbers, if it would have been a different "story".

Foot got caught in a "safety device"? Fell with crampons on. News says there were experienced. Makes me wonder what type of experience.

They sure seemed in fine spirits. Hmmm...

Glad everything turned out ok. Does make me wonder about the SAR folks though. I can't imagine an easier ice climbing rescue than from the base of the bulge. But, maybe the climber was higher up?

The news could have easily reported that the GWI is one of the most climbed ice routes in the state and is considered my most climbers to be a casual romp...but instead, they made it sound pretty out there...again, maybe further info that the SAR folks are pretty out of touch with local climbing, which in itself is kinda scary...

-Brian in SLC

Man injured while ice climbing
February 13th, 2009 @ 6:19pm
By Randall Jeppesen
Rescue crews have successfully brought an ice climber off a cliff in Little Cottonwood Canyon after he fell and broke his ankle.

Hiker David Deakin, 47, smiled and sounded like he was doing well as he was loaded into an ambulance. "Fell about 15 feet," he told us.

He and his friend Blake Christensen, both from Tremonton, were climbing up a frozen waterfall area known as the Great White Icicles. It's located at about 5500 East in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Christensen says Deakin's foot got caught in a safety device as he fell.

"We just went through scenarios, went through options. Luckily, we had a cell phone with us," Christensen said.

The two called for help. It took rescuers about five hours to climb the steep, icy cliffs and then get Deakin safely back down.

"We had water, we had food. Luckly we had lunches. We stayed warm, and everything was under control," Christensen said.

Christensen says the two are experienced climbers, but this was their first time climbing in this area.

This reminds of a few years back when my brother and I stumbled upon someone that had broken their ankle in the Kermits wall area in LCC. SAR was already on its way so I decided I could be most useful by heading down and guiding SAR to the where the accident was. 40 minutes or so later a handful of VERY overweight "rescuers" showed up. We started hiking up the man made(LDS) talus field towards the slabs but only made it a hundred yards before the "rescuers" were completely torched and wheezing. Granted it was a warm day, but their faces looked like over-ripe tomatoes. I asked to carry their packs which they gratefully relinquished. It went on like this for probably at least an hour. I hiked down, grabbed another pack and helped an overweight fireman(wtf??? I thought they needed to be fit?) up to the accident site. Finally a few people showed up that really knew their stuff however and a couple more hours later the injured person was carried down in a litter, belayed the whole way.

I can only imagine the kind of junk show the GWI rescue must have been.

I just have this image of those guys pulling out their packed lunches, and waiting for a few hours for help to arrive... they didn't have anything better to do? Like have one guy lower the other???? They really went through all of their options before pulling out the cell phone? I am not sure why this situation bugs me... I think I'm just a dick.

wow,don't believe everything you hear in the news. no it didn't take 4 or 5 hours to get to him. it did take 5 hours before the VOLUNTEERS had all their gear back in order for the next call though. A lot of it is their personal gear by the way. the climber was very thankful for their help. if you dont want to use SAR dont, but some people are thankful that no matter what their skills they will drop everything (family, work, etc.) to go help. if you would like to see it improve feel free to join rather than chat on mountain project. they both pay the same.