Any Ice Up in the Park?

Anyone take the tools for a walk in Park recently? Seems like they've been getting quite a bit of precip lately and with sunny days and cold nights I'm wondering if anything is forming up (probably up near Longs). I'll probably head up that way in the next couple days, but I was just wondering if anyone could save me the hike if they've seen otherwise or knows it hasn't been getting cold enough.

Took the kids to upper choas on Friday and not a spec of snow, we wore shorts and played in the water .....
People still bouldering, the kids scanned the area since I told them if they found a crash pad they could have it .... no pads where found.

A friend of mine climbed a two pitch smear up on Meeker, on the face between Right Chimney and Dark Star. A long walk to two pitches of ice and mixed, but its probably still there.

This weekend will likely provide a few routes. The crux may be dealing with the other people who are also craving ice after the long off season.

If you're looking to get away from the crowds, you may want to try Zumie's Chimney on the north face of longs shown here.

Flew over Long's this morning but was at 20,000feet so I couldn't see anything closeup. I could tell that the Smear of Fear, Wrecking Ball, etc weren't formed up yet. Field's/Alexander's may be however. Both were visible. Conditions are prime for great ice forming so take a walk...
Mal

Nice Mal! Thats one way to check on conditions.

Walked into Chasm Lake/Long's cirque on Saturday. Our objective was Alexander's. If it was in. There was ice on much of the route, though thin. By the time we got to the base of the chimney, around 9am maybe, it was running with water. We probably would have knocked off any ice we swung at. Not to mention gotten soaked. Needless to say we turned back. We enjoyed a beautiful day though. The Smear had tiny patches here and there. Lambslide might be a decent ski again. There were smears all over the N. Face of Meeker. Eighth Route looked like it may have had ice too but it just as easily could have been snow. The forecast for the week at 12k feet is for lows in the upper 30s. Godspeed.

Sort of climbed Alexander's on Sunday. We were planning on checking out the Eighth Route, but the wind was a freight-train up high so opted for a lower option. Lots of ice on Alexander's but unfortunately, it was really slushy and poorly bonded. For P1 we climbed the mixed ledges to the right of the normal ice corner. P2 was climbed normally on fat but hollow ice - took the left side mixed option up to the chockstone as the ice on the right was poorly bonded. From the chockstone belay, we traversed right on the ledge and took what I think was the Kuncl Direct finish (really slick in boots on wet rock - glad I wasn't leading!) then rapped off. Good day of climbing and didn't damage the route. LOTS of ice and potential if it gets cold enough. OTOH, what ice was on the Smear fell off during the day. Used approach shoes all the way up to Lamb's Slide. Boot-top new-ish snow on the Slide.

A friend and I hiked to Chasm on Weds and there was just a glazings on the Chasm Wall and there was a lot of stuff forming on Meeker. I don't know the names since I'm still learning the area. There is a decent of snow on Meeker as well.

I've been hiking around the Park and other places the last week or so looking for ice in all the right places but I've come up empty.

Basically, it is just too warm during the day and the night. Night-time lows have not been low enough long enough to freeze anything up. One location that typically ices up early and people sometimes miss is the Necrophilia/Deep Freeze area. This location keeps the cold longer than some other spots and there is usually a constant dribble of moisture to feed ice . We need at least one big (9" or more) of snow followed by melting and freezing to get things goin'

Right now all the snow that has fallen is melting without freezing. Enjoy the warm temps and climb steep rock so that when the ice does comes in you'll be ready.

Cheers,
Jack

Am heading up to climb Dialogue on Zen Saturday. If the danged rain ruins this climb, we may opt for DreamWeaver. Anyone been up there to see how its shaping up? Or, how 'bout Alexanders...in? Out? Thanks!

I was up there sunday. There's enough ice on alexanders for a good day of climbing. The more important question is how well bonded it may be. The early september cold weather formed a fair amount of ice, but then the two weeks of warm and dry weather detached a lot of it, but left it sitting there.

Anyway, Alexander is a good route to do for in the sense that there is usualy a good easy rock options to the right, with the exception of the WI2 pitch, which is probably fine.

Check out the pictures i posted under Joe's Solo for a little better feel for conditions.

Thanks Chris. I will probably not be doing Alexander's until later near the end of this month. I'm wondering, what's the best way to the summit of Longs from Broadway after doing Alexanders? We're thinking Kieners, but possibly the Notch. Will the Notch be a snow wallow, or does it typically have ice in it? Looks like a good amount of snow coming in this weekend.

either the notch couloir or Kieners would be a good way to go right now. The waist deap snow of a few weeks ago has probably all consolidated by now and there's probably some good ice in the steeper sections of the notch couloir.

I guess this could all change if a lot of snow comes in, but if you head up there, I'm sure you'll find a fun an interesting way to the summit.