The 2012-13 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

Hey Phil or dmurph

How is the ice in the Ouray/Silverton area right now. Thinking about taking a trip up there for the long weekend but noticed lots of high 40's low 50's temps during the day

Notchtop's East Face (aka North Face) on 11/20: No ice at all through the first rock band: fairly sketchy climbing. All other ice pitches are in. Deep but pretty stable snow on the upper pitches. Lots of spindrift. Below the face: Grace Falls has a cool looking steep ribbon. Hot Doggies and other rad climbs in the area are getting close, but you likely wouldn't call them "in."

No real ice on Camp Bird. Stairway is lean, we climbed the gully to the West of it though and found a solid pitch of ice. Campground is in well, and DNF looked very thin down low.

phil wortmann wrote:No real ice on Camp Bird. Stairway is lean, we climbed the gully to the West of it though and found a solid pitch of ice. Campground is in well, and DNF looked very thin down low.

On the other hand, climbing on the Pool Wall these days is awesome.

Thanks for the info guys.

Anyone been out to Eureka?

There is some decent early season ice to be found in the San Juans now if you look around. Eureka has enough to keep your attention for a couple of days but the best climbs are not in the commercial guidebooks. Look around and ask some real locals, not the transplants.You may be surprised what you will find. Have fun and be friendly as we are all trying to get what we need.

MAN YOU GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN!! Here in Idaho, we are getting nothing but rain. Even SLC is thin.
Oh well.
Kevin

Climbed AMU on Tuesday. I recorded the descent with my GPS - maybe it is helpful for somebody in white out conditions - it is maybe not the ideal route down but you can see where the gully down to the base of the climb starts: gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=vv…

Jamie Jones wrote:sorry but luke is wrong. There is very little ice anywhere due to high freezing levels and record high temps. Its 54 degrees F in Telluride today. That's at 8700ft. There is no water and any ice in the sun is soon gone or funky. It aint worth the trip!

Hell ya it's way worth it!! Moss is a good substitute for ice. And there is ice to be found up at higher elevations too.

Climbed Lincoln yesterday, lots of good ice but its getting dry.. The front most bolt on the left side of the boulder at the top of the bowling alley is loose and will pop of unless tightened...

Noah8000 wrote: Hell ya it's way worth it!! Moss is a good substitute for ice. And there is ice to be found up at higher elevations too.

Awesome pic!

eric kramak wrote:...Total Abandon is in what appears to be pretty fat shape right now. Like WI4-, M-not really necessary fat...

If you plan to get on Total Abandon, make haste. Mike Murphy and I climbed it on the 23rd, and it is certainly starting to sublimate. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of ice left and we thought the conditions were kick-ass, but it will not last long unless the weather changes, which doesn't seem likely until after this week at the earliest. The road hours do not really allow for time consuming mistakes up there, so I would recommend being at the gate before they open in the morning, which is 9am. I am no expert on this route, but I think it is a safe bet that it received a record number of ascents this year and for good reason! She's a classic!

Here's a shot of Murf in the crux:

Down south...

Eureka area:
Highway to Hell - IN, awesome
Stairway - lean and mean, sublimated
Whorehouse - first pitch fell down

Mineral:
Campground Couloir - IN, awesome
Sundance - IN, sublimated, needs snow
Snowblind - looks in
DNF - upper is in

Camp Bird:
Slip Sliding Away - IN, thin and awesome
Chopo's - forming, needs snow
Senator's - really wet
...a lot of random WI3-WI4 flows if you're willing to look/hike

Sneffels area:
North faces are IN

Up north...RMNP is good now, too.

Some pictures of the Loch Vale area on Saturday. Sorry for the poor photo quality, they are with an Iphone in bad light and from a distance. Let me know if I titled any climb wrong.

this is getting depressing, my first winter in CO and the ice was here, now it's gone-ish??? can a CO veteran reassure me that indeed, this is still early season, and that there will be a plethora of ice eventually?

I mean hell, I've seen more snow in the Great Smokey Mtns this time of year than we're seeing in the Rockies now, I've been bummed out about this for the last week.

Go rock climbing and enjoy the weather. The ice will be here when it is time. Always funny to see so many people jump the gun for ice. Go climb a rock!

willeslinger wrote:this is getting depressing, my first winter in CO and the ice was here, now it's gone-ish??? can a CO veteran reassure me that indeed, this is still early season, and that there will be a plethora of ice eventually? I mean hell, I've seen more snow in the Great Smokey Mtns this time of year than we're seeing in the Rockies now, I've been bummed out about this for the last week.

Highlander wrote:Go rock climbing and enjoy the weather. The ice will be here when it is time. Always funny to see so many people jump the gun for ice. Go climb a rock!

but... rock climbing is hard and you don't get to swing sharp pointy shit

The lower stuff will start to form up soon IF we ever get snow. If not, the Ouray ice park will open in a few weeks or so.

Does anybody know if there is ice on the second pitch of Notch top yet.

Are you able to get to the upper parts of DNF if the lower part isn't in?