Ice crags for SF bay area residents (yeah, right?)
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So, I'm newish to ice, but I'm hooked. With the winter approaching, and I'm excited to get out for as many trips as I can mange. The problem is, I live in the SF bay area. |
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lake tahoe will get ice in cold, low snow conditions. |
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Plan a multi-day trip to Ouray, CO. this winter. It's a bit of a drive, but you'll get to climb a HUGE variety of ice, and its pretty much all top-rope. Your arms will give out long before you run out of routes to climb. Hotels are reasonable, and you can even soak in the hot springs in town when the day is done. |
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I used to live in the Bay and, with all this climate change/ drought business, it'll be hard to find ice to climb in California.k |
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tahoe ice is best in drought conditions. 2 years ago, lowest precip winter in 100 years, had great ice for the better part of 2 months. |
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I'm no ice expert but the previous posts seem right to me. I've seen good ice at Lake Audrain (at Echo Summit) but it's hard to time right and doesn't seem like it'd be easy to TR. Did you check out June Lake when you were down by Lee Vining? There are TR anchors there that you can access without leading and the approach is a lot shorter than Lee Vining Canyon. It's still kind of a trip from the Bay in winter but if you don't want to go to Colorado it's nice too. |
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Don't forget abut Widow's Tears and Silver Strand in Yosemite ... it could happen |
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Thanks for the responses everyone. I guess there is a little more out there than I was aware of, that I can manage as the most experienced person in a group. If I want to really spend more time out on ice, and mixed, I need to pound the ground and find some more experienced climbers that need a belay monkey. |
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if ice climbing comes in in tahoe this year (it does most years), go. |
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Michael Sammartino wrote:I used to live in the Bay and, with all this climate change/ drought business, it'll be hard to find ice to climb in California.k That being said, I now live in a small town on Colorado's Western slope. I'm a short drive to the ice climbing up the I-70 cooridor near Vail, within two hours of about twenty different 14ers and countless peaks of lesser height known for epic ice floes, as well as am about a three hour drive to Ouray. So, I'm putting a call out. If you're from California and are itching to climb some ice, come to Colorado! I own a condo up here and will happily swap room/ board for a belay.Sick offer!! I may take you up on it ;) (also from SF Bay) |