The 2010 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

Avocado Gully is almost out for the season

I would say 1 to 2 more weeks

Lincoln Falls is still in great!! Super fat and awesome. It was a great day on great ice till the blizzard ran us off.

How is Vail hanging? Looking to get out tomorrow and the recent snow has me looking for avy safe routes.

Also open to other FR suggestions, WI4/5, m4-7 depending on bolts or gear. Multi pitch would be great but I'll take what I can get.

Thanks!

Brain Freeze in RMNP was in great shape on Sunday. Very cold up there today so even firmer and likely great manana. With all the fresh snow it wouldn't be smart to be hanging out up there in the heat.

Put up a new conditions report for RMNP here - enjoy!

Vail Conditions: Vail is in stellar shape despite the warming temps. The Fang has finally formed enough to be climbed and it saw it's first lead. It was a long wait and I really thought I wouldn't get a chance to climb it this year (not into top-roping routes like this), but the 20-40 temps helped alot. I climbed straight on the front, gapping the upper/lower mushroom (Cruxy on shitty, thin death flakes) and pushed (not screwed) some gear in the foamy base of the pillar. The pillar was a bit wet on one side and brittle/cicled on the other. Monos were tough as they sheared a bit through the 20' fragile pillar, not a good place to lose your feet. Sketchy hooks led to bomber ice above the fractured roof. There was nothing safe about the route, and 3 of the 5 screws would have probably held. Don't even think about placing pro in the pillar. Kinda was like a solo, for the most part, delicate, bold and heady but not strenuous, I'd give it a WI5+ R/X. Warmer temps are predicted for all of next week, this may be the end???...get on it!

The warmer temps are great for the drytool lines and ice routes like the Desi, Staircase, Belfry and 7th are all in great, although the composition of some surface ice is changing. Check out all the new drytool lines like Kozata Baba M6+, Hair of the Bear M7, and The Mauling M8.

Below is a link to the Fang lead a friend videoed from his home, across the I-70 highway. Elias apologizes that he didn't have time to link in some Disco.

youtube.com/watch?v=ts4bbBh…

Was in Ouray climbing Wednesday we did Fractured Fairytales in the CampBird Rd skylight area. Ouray's Ice is there but def wet and sunbleached in alot of parts. FF was some good ice with some real shitty ice more of the latter. Good mixed route though. We moved onto Telluride on Thurs. Climbed in Bear Creek Gorge. Really fat ice but running water behind alot of it, some steep shit still in. But while Eric was climbing the climb to our right totally ripped off and collapsed. Bridalveil and Telluride's Fang looked good though. Thanks Eric for partnering up and climbing some so so and good ice this week. Get on it the ice isnt going to be around much longer.

Dreamweaver?

We were at Lincoln today. Its still awesome and super fat. For once actually nice weather today up there, little wind.

I was out training on the Jewel Lake ice on Saturday. It was cold, brittle, and very fat. I would assume that any route on a similar aspect & elevation to be in good shape (shaded, east facing, ca. 10,000').

Anyone know if the ice is still in at Silverplume?

Extremely unlikely. Keep driving to Lincoln Falls.

Quite a bit of ice still in the Park. Was in Glacier Gorge sunday. Climbed West Gully, lots of ice (and snow) up near Black Lake.

VAIL: Firehouse- The Firehouse is in exceptional condition and the routes are great. The East Firehouse Pillar finally touched down (8" across and 2" wide) and was a fun lead at WI5. Lowe Pressure still has a nice open window from when I chopped it, so turning the curtain is alot easier. The ice has it's usual Spring time surface to it, but underneath it's solid. We skied the Raquet Club Chute after climbing and caught Stephen Marley for a free concert- a full-value day in the mountains!
The Desi is in decent shape although getting sun (when it's out!) on the top. The base of the Fang area is muddy and the Fang pillar has melted back from the top curtain, with a gaping hole mid-way in the back of the massive cone. Staircase still holding strong and there's lots of drytooling to get you strong!

Does anyone have updated conditions for the park? Have any of the transient spring alpine ice routes formed up? i.e. Womb with a view on cathedral wall, Vanquished Wall, etc.

I've been up in the park the last two weekends. Its still pretty cold up there, but I think the south facing stuff on Otis and Flattop is probably pretty good right now. South facing stuff at higher elevations like in the cathedral spires is only going to get better in the coming month.

I think we're still a long ways off from any north facing routes like Vanquised or The Slit on Hallett, and even longer for the high elevation north facing stuff like Dreamweaver or The Window. Case in point, I set off a nice large slide skiing on the north side of Hallett last weekend. 12" off soft fluffy stuff.

I have no idea on Womb with a View. I've never been able to catch that thing when its in.

Thanks Chris. It looks like Saturday is shaping up to be another one of those "great" days in the Park...Drytooling snow covered rock in near whiteout conditions getting beat down by spindrift, wondering why you're not cragging in the desert with all your friends...Wooo yah!

Womb with a view in RMNP did not have ice on the crux pitch, at least as we could see from the base and further away. The other big cleft to the right (Tunnel Vision, i think that is the name) looked climbable. However, it may be wise to wait a few days, as we set off a scary slab avalanche trying to get up the steep snow before the first pitch.

Yikes! Glad you guys are OK and thanks for the reccy info.

Anyone have any info on Martha? I'm guessing it's a few weeks out but I'm anxious for some spring ice/snow routes. I don't want to hike up there if it's not in shape yet. Thanks!

Some pictures from a recent walk up to black lake...

Surprisingly, there were boot tracks up the avalanche debris by west gulley that cut across the open slope above stoneman.

There are some big cornices up on Mchenrys as well. The recent avys and big cornices turned us around from an attempt on Mchenrys. Cheers!