2011 Utah Ice Conditions thread

To put to doubt any questions and to save you some gas:
Maple is not in.
Not a speck of ice on the walls, but plenty on the road.
Rock climbing in the left fork and along the main road is doable in the sun.

Anyone been to Joe's Valley lately?

Was thinking of Mary's Lake and Slide lake Thursday through Saturday.

Despite the warm weather everything in Ouray is in and fat both in and out of the ice park. It may not be UT but it sure is close. don't believe me? See for yourself ourayiceclimbing.blogspot.com

Hows Joes Valley holding up the this "heat" wave?

Kai,
The ice at Mary's Lake is in and huge. We spent yesterday (Monday) there climbing. More ice then I have seen in the past but also easy access still this late. You could almost drive a 2 wheel drive car in there right now-Almost. For the hike in stay to the west until you get close to the wall then follow a ridge right up under the main formations. You can see all the huge ice lines up in the Slide lake area. I climbed there earlier this year and you could drive to the end of the road. There is less snow now then there was then. CCC is in fat the donercicle is in, highway to heaven is huge, Primadona is almost in from what I could see from the road. All the flows above Highway to heaven are in below the dam. Melty way does not have ice on it. Mary's Lake is the place to be really good steep lines at 9000ft. that are in great shape.
Dallen

Looking for a partner to head up to Mary's lake this Thursday, or perhaps this weekend. I'm a weak leader (WI3+) but a reasonably strong second. Let me know.

(208)721-77three3

Thomas

Anyone have an update on provo conditions?

Thomas,

The lines at Mary's lake are much harder than WI3+ so be aware before you head down there.

In Provo, Stairway & Bridal Veil are still in. Climbed there Monday.

Saw some lines in LCC east of the Y-Couloir driving down from Snowbird on Monday. Went up with some friends to check them out today. Climbed the one farthest right in the photo and had a fun day. The approach involved some bushwacking. There are decent anchors to rap off.

View from the road. We climbed the line on the right.

P.1

Flagstaff's "A" team.

Upper pitch. Camera ran out of batteries here.

Anyone climbed the other two lines?

I am hearing conflicting reports about Joes Valley being fat and weak. Anyone else been down there? I was thinking of going possibly Friday.

Matt Wolski wrote:Saw some lines in LCC east of the Y-Couloir...climbed the one farthest right in the photo ...

Matt, do you know what that line is rated, or your best guess? Looks like something I might get up. I'm at my cabin and available to climb any of that for the next couple of weeks, if anyone is interested...

Matt Wolski wrote:Anyone climbed the other two lines?

I've done those routes. They're fun. Pretty good amount of ice on the one to the right in the pics. Can be steeper and feel like WI4 for a bit when its lean.

They're mostly easy WI3 type rambles. Should be old tat on most of the tree anchors. Rumor has these as being done for a number of years, with, some folks soloing and walking off the tops (probably down to the east, I'd think).

They usually get pretty buried by snow. Nice options to the crowded GWI.

Thanks for the photo's and update on conditions!

Brian in SLC wrote: They're mostly easy WI3 type rambles. Should be old tat on most of the tree anchors.

WI3- seems to be my recollection as well, but it's been about 10 years. We climbed the one on the right and downclimbed one of the two on the left. Like Brian said, they're a lot of fun.

Climbed the first two technical pitches of the GWI today, bailing before the curtain, which was rotten, chandeliered, and in generally bad shape. P1 was amazingly stepped out and thin, but the ice was bonded to the rock well enough and it could have taken screws up to 16cm. P2 was hollow and running with water, with enough ice to climb and protect safely on the right side of the flow. P3 looked awful, and the pillar on P4 had a huge diagonal crack that was clearly visible.

Just to keep this thread on the top, I heard some big blocks came down from the upper pitches of Stairway a day or so ago. Anyone have conformation on that. Planning to climb on Tuesday in Provo Canyon, hopefully, colder temps prevail and firm things up...

Maybe I should just go ice fishing (Strawberry Reservoir today)...

anyone been to santaquin lately? Whats in?

I was on the stairway apron saturday morning and there was no sign of anything coming down from above. Looked like the upper pitches were barely (if at all) there though.

Climbed Bridalveil left and right on Sunday. Both are in good shape. White Nightmare is in poor condition.

Bridalveil 1/8

Stairway looks in through 5. Though the top out on 5 looks to be tough/dirt.

petercoe wrote:Thomas, The lines at Mary's lake are much harder than WI3+ so be aware before you head down there.

I was under the impression there was WI3 to be had at Mary's Lake. The guide book also indicates this is so. Is it maybe the lower pitches on longer routes are WI3? If so, are there raps off? Or, should non WI4/5 climbers just stay away?