The 2012-13 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

Anyone been on Alexander's lately? Is there good ice? How are avy conditions in the longs cirque area?

EDIT: After digging around on Eli's website I came to the conclusion that Alexander's was out (too dry) and that upper kieners and the diamond have more avalanche danger than other areas of the park.

Eli's jan23 conditions report

Loch Vale - Saturday 1-26-2013. Everything was pretty beat, or thin...

Mixed Emotions

Mixed Emotions.

Faces of Meth:
Meth.

Loch Vale
Loch Vale, 1-26-2013.

Mo Flo
Mo Flo.

Anyone been up to Wolf Creek Pass? Particularly the west side?

AGough wrote:Anyone been up to Wolf Creek Pass? Particularly the west side?

I saw Treasure Falls from the road last Monday and it looked pretty fat but not sure how good as I didn't hike up to it. I am gonna see it again on Thursday and hopefully if its still looking good I will get on it this weekend. Tasty Freeze also looked pretty good from the road but it pretty far out from 160 to know for sure. I will report after I see Treasure again soon.

Hidden Falls, Glenwood Canyon- I put up the tyrolean just upstream from the Shoshone powerplant yesterday to get across the river. I was able to cross the ice, but it was dicey and not likely to last very long. The tyrolean will need to be tightened, but is otherwise all set. The ice is way fat...all we need now is some young bucks to get up there and break trail...preferably before Friday!

Went up to Hidden Falls in Wild Basin yesterday. The ice was great, but the main flow was the steepest that I've ever scene it. I'm gonna go on a limb and say WI4+ maybe even WI5. As you move up on the upper pillar the ice gets pretty thin, chandeliered, and hollow. The small flow just left of the main flow was in FAT and offers a good way up for a TR if you so choose. The mixed lines to the right appeared to be "IN" but are way above my abilities so take it for what it's worth.

Hidden Falls-main flow.

Hidden Falls from afar.

Hidden Falls from afar 2.

Small flow just left of Hidden Falls-FAT.

Longs from CO 7.

Climbed alexanders chimney on 26jan13, pretty dry making for more mixed and some "blob sticking" the more exposed pitches.

brain freeze?

Portwood wrote:brain freeze?

Or any other routes of the same aspect up there?

rmnp updates anyone???

I was thinking black lake or west gully but im open to whatever's in...

Got out to the park today but ultimately ended up turning back after hopelessly post holing up to the crypt. Oh well, so it goes. There's always scotch lol.

The Crypt, 2/3/13.

Deep Freeze on 2/3/13 from afar.

Unknown ice near Deep Freeze zoomed in, 2/3/13.

Went to lincoln falls yesterday, conditions are awesome. Main flow right and the pillars aren't doing to well, but everything to the left is huge, plenty of great ice.

...also, found a screw there yesterday morning, tell me what kind and where you might have lost it and its yours.

Humped into Black Lake yesterday. Doinked around at Jewel Lake overflow on the way. Got to Black Lake too late for W. Gully (partner had to catch a flight) so we climbed this flow/mini-pillars thing right of Black Lake Slabs. Seems like a separate climb that I haven't seen in before, named route? someone had been on it. Good short WI4 pillars. Slabs are in REALLY FAT with a lot of cool options. West Gully looked a bit lean/sublimated and the Stoneman/Black Curtain area was really thin...bummer. The stuff on the left slabs below Black Lake is in pretty good and could make for some decent bouldering/short solos or beginner leads.

West Gully, 2/4/13.

Further right from W. Gully...Reflections?

Stoneman area....

Anyone know if this is a named route?

Closer view...Black Lake Slabs Pillar?

Rest ledge between two short pillar/steeper flows....

Hiked in to check No Thoroughfare Falls 2/3/2013.

No Thoroughfare Falls in Colorado National Monument:

No Thouroghfare Falls, 2/3/2013.
Doesn't look like it will form this year.

Checked out Train Route in Cimarron on 2/3/2013. Climb 5.17 in the Jack Roberts book.

Train Route, 2/3/2013.

The bottom of the curtain just touched down and didn't look like it would hold so we didn't climb it. The rest of the pitch was 2-4 inches thick with some pockets of snow behind the ice. Looks as if it just formed after the last snow. Not a lot of snow in the small bowl above to add moisture to the flow.

We also walked a couple of minutes down the road to the dam and looked at what we think is Derailed. Climb 5.18 in the Roberts. There was a maybe 20 meter blob/slab to the lookers left of the actual dam. Getting to this would require climbing around a razor wire covered fence with some pretty serious no trespassing signs on it. Definitely not worth it. I'm going to cross this one out of the book.

Well folks, this is getting kinda sad methinks.

Shameless Shaemus wrote:Got to Black Lake too late for W. Gully (partner had to catch a flight) so we climbed this flow/mini-pillars thing right of Black Lake Slabs. Seems like a separate climb that I haven't seen in before, named route? someone had been on it. Good short WI4 pillars.

Greg Sievers and partner did that nice steep climb at Black Lake a couple of weeks ago. He had never seen it appear before, and it's not in any of the photos of this area. But of course that doesn't mean it's never been done before!

The Moffatt Tunnel ice (north facing) was good this weekend, with a bit more ice than usual (probably because of less snow at the bottom!) and the opportunity to set up fun dry-tooling top-ropes on either side. It's still a short, overcrowded smidgeon of ice, but it's better than usual. Someone's been trying to farm more ice, and although there seems to be good potential for it, the new stuff that started to form is brittle and unclimbable.

Thanks Dougald...was a nice option for the day. Wondering if there are some other "named" routes or lines up on the ridge and slabs below Black Lake? I guess one is Reflections? Seems like there are more flows there this year, some stuff up high and one good long slab that's frozen over. Thanks again.

Shameless Shaemus

That is not Relfections. See-

mountainproject.com/v/refle…