2009/2010 Colorado Ice Conditions

Hessie Chimney is out.

Did Blind Assumption today. Lots of ice. It's getting hooked out and broken up though.

Drove by Silver Plume today, and its forming. The creek down to I-70 is frozen, but it didn't seem developed enough to climb.

Photo of the Big Thompson, Upper Flow. . .

My trip report and additional photos of our climb . . .
bradshawclimbing.com/Bradsh…

Non- conditions, but Silvertip has some good deals on axes & boots, especially the BD venom and Vipers.

site.mawebcenters.com/silve…

Headed to Lake City a couple days ago. The approach to Sherman had little snow and there was a boot track heading in.

Some good RMNP ice updates on the CMS blog: coloradomountainschool.blog…

New ice conditions for Colorado posted this morning.

There's a new mixed line that just went in at Vail.
As yet Brad Grohusky, one of the first ascentist's hasn't named it but it looks pretty nice. At 100 feet long, protection consists of 8 bolts and a couple of cams.......size unknown. Located in the Firehouse area and just right of the rightmost ice flow. Powerful roof moves take you up and over a roof (crux), protected by a cam. After the rest above the roof continue upwards on thin, technical face moves straight up to the top. Lower off.......

If you check for updated conditions search the areas not the individual climbs section. Thanks.

Clear Creek Canyon: dang, looks lean.
Beer Garden - not.
Coors - P1 looks fragile. Let it fill in.



P2 - in enough to climb. Chains on all 4 bolts are rusty.



Mickey's - P1 anemic. Let it fill in. P2 - not seen, may be climbable.



The Ticket - doubtful. Parking area blocked off. Other trail signed as closed?

Now that it's finally gotten cold, I've posted an updated for ice conditions in the park:
climbinglife.com/current-rm…

In RMNP, Jaws is in pretty fat as is the Crypt (climbed the former yesterday and the latter a week or so ago). The Squid may be good too since it shares a similar aspect but I haven't been up there to check. As has already been noted here, lots of ice in Glacier Gorge is in but Loch Vale area seems to be suffering another thin year as is AMU and the Chasm Cirque area. South facing ice routes seem to be doing fairly well up here in the Park.

Lots of good ice around Vail with Booth Creek stuff starting to come in (as of 12/7/09). I do my best to keep a current (weekly) update of ice/skiing conditions on our company website: totalclimbing.com, if you're interested. The Colorado Mountain School also puts photos of recent trips on their blog which may be helpful. Have fun out there!

Just an addition to Andrew's post. I was up in the Tyndall drainage yesterday and the Squid is not yet in. There is some ice up high but there would be a lot of mixed climbing to get there. I was there to ski but that too needs another 50cm of base to be decent.

We climbed AMU last Monday (12/7). It is thin. The direct line had a lot of (fun) mixed climbing on pitch 2 and 3. The last pitch had some good ice, thin near the top. If you look for pure ice climbing skip this one but if you're into mixed it's a good climb right now.

Valier

Soloed up Three Tiers today. Thick ice the entire way up. If leading, it would take screws. I posted pictures over at the Three Tiers section.

Was out at Jaws today...definitely a little early for this route as it was pouring water and one of the partially formed WI5 pillars had collapsed, leaving a heap of debris in the approach gulley- plenty to kill a few climbers. It was possible to climb up the left side of the flow but only enough room for one party willing to take the risk. I'd recommend leaving it for a few more cold weeks to fully form and freeze. There's plenty of winter left!

The snowpack is shit at the moment following the hurricane winds of the last week. Large propagating fractures (30') were occuring yesterday on lower angle slopes and boot penetration was to the ground- almost a meter in spots. Likely need at least another meter of snow to make skiing worthwhile and I'd avoid any south-facing ice this weekend or avalanche prone terrain as the danger from warm ice falling (Jaws) or large slab avalanches (above and below the Crypt) seems to great to be worth it...be smart, and let conditions come around to the positive side of the equation!

NE gully would be good, Hidden Falls, or the ice around the Guide's Wall could be worth the hike.

I'll be doing a web update sometime this weekend but that is the current summary.

"Hidden Falls" is very much worth the hike, lots of ice up there; it's been in for quite some time by the looks of it but isn't as hacked up as it often is. I'm sure that won't last long...

And I want to echo what Eli says about S-facing routes, especially "Jaws." When we climbed it a few days ago, the temps were in the single digits, the sky overcast, and still water was running. Clear, sunny days are best spent elsewhere. Have fun out there!

Well, despite Eli's very good advice (I'm only just now seeing it), we had a good day at Jaws today. The colder weather and cloud cover keep things acceptably below freezing. The route is in good shape with a great 4- line on the left, a harder variation up a pillar just to the right of that, and a great hard line on the far right side.

Stay well away from this thing if its at all warm or sunny. The refrigerator sized chunks at the base were pretty scary looking, and there's more still up there where those came from.

Thanks to the great folks who shared the route with us.

Jewel Lake................

LOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLL

Just for fun we hiked in there on the 5th with packs loaded to climb but didn't expect to.

When we got to the base at 9 am there were already 6 people there,

We walked down slope to be in the sun, and watched 6 more people walk to the base.......

12 people for 30' of ice.......

We walked out......

Going to Cody this coming weekend and we know we'll only have competition from the sheep......