The 2012-13 Colorado Ice Conditions Thread

Bridalveil Falls near Telluride, 12/26/2012

Bridalveil Falls, 12/26/2012

Buddy and I are looking at possibly doing Glenwood Falls this weekend... I've seen her from the Hwy... as have others... but anyone actually been on her yet? Would love some beta.

Tammy Payne wrote:Buddy and I are looking at possibly doing Glenwood Falls this weekend... I've seen her from the Hwy... as have others... but anyone actually been on her yet? Would love some beta.

start early on a cold cloudy day. that one loves to fall down midday. rumor has it the spring that feeds it is always ~52*

friends got on it this morning... we'll see how it goes

Awesome! Thanks :o) If you hear from your friends, let me know how their climb went. Anything else in the area in and worthy of attacking?

not quite yet... hidden is very close, redstone is shaping up but not there

glenwood falls update... P2 was thin thin thin, and wet wet wet. Sun came out and those guys wisely bailed. Gotta catch that one on the perfect day to keep the safety margin manageable

Redstone: Drool pillar -nothing at all, not even a damp smear. Avocado Gully 1st pitch: nada. 2nd pitch is too thin and any ascent may blast it out for weeks.
Vail: thin but close. Dont bother with the racket club, very very incomplete.

Tammy Payne wrote:Awesome! Thanks :o) If you hear from your friends, let me know how their climb went. Anything else in the area in and worthy of attacking?

I did Glenwood Falls solo maybe in 1995(?) leashes one piece suit etc. It was a cloudy day very cold one chunk of ice came down while I suited up but the clouds rolled in so I headed up. Right at the top of the steep ice there was a hole in the ice and when I looked down the hole I could see my own shadow against the ice there was nothing but flowing water under me and the thin pane of vertical ice I was on...

Before I had begun the approach from the road a CDOT worker had tried to talk me out of going he apparently didn't want to have to look for my mangled body. I stepped over the guard rail en route and nearly fell over the memorial to the two guys killed when the thing had collapsed.

This is one to avoid I would say. Absolutely not worth anyone's life...

Anyone in Boulder see or climb ice/neve on Silk Road this week?

Cold in RMNP and no ice forming, mostly sublimating w/ 0 to 3' of snow depending on where you go.

And no Squid or Jaws yet?

Hey Eli,

Did the silkroad a few days ago...
It was pretty damn thin, and all of the snow was
mostly loose. No good neve snow that I could find.

It may get better, but my guess is not. I suspect it
will all sublimate away with the current forecast.

There was many no falling zones. One useful piece of
gear was a whisk broom to dust off holds.
All the pitches required gloved crampon climbing.

I will say I found one (can you believe it?!) spot to
sink a stubby ice screw to the hilt... There was rock
gear near by though.

Cor

PS: Any word on conditions @ Loch Vale ice park?

Silk Road P1.

Silkroad P2.

Did Lincoln today, like -5 with wind, ice is super hard and brittle a lot of dinner plates and some of the towers were pretty hollow. Enough holes already to just hook the whole way up though.

Thanks for the beta Cor, looks good enough to try today and maybe some heat will lead to quick neve formation?
The word on Loch Vale this week from a friend: climbed Mo Flow than Go, as Crystal Meth and L of Lochluster don't seem to want to grow much. The ice was brittle and old.

Dreamweaver is soft snow, no ice until May.
Lambslide is loaded with avi potential.
Martha is likely forming into a firmer snow and ice route under the current weather trend (sunny and warming).

Cotton Balls.

The Sherman Climb from start of pitch 3. Pitch 4 was WI-5.

Rick McL wrote:

Hey Rick, cotton Balls looks awesome, but, ehmmm, where is it? Couldn't find it on Mountain Project...

Nina GJ wrote: Hey Rick, cotton Balls looks awesome, but, ehmmm, where is it? Couldn't find it on Mountain Project...

Nina,
Hi.
We got the name "Cotton Balls" In Jack Roberts guide book "Colorado Ice" volume 1 on page 131. I believe that it was unnamed until Jack gave the route this designation at the time he wrote the book. The climb is a few hundred yards west of "Cotton Picker & Cotton Mouth", both a mile and a half up canyon from the mighty "Sherman Climb" in Sherman CO, 20 miles west of Lake City, CO.

Hey, I was curious too so I looked it up in Jack's book (and on the internet).

It's in the Lake City section of the book. Page 131.

Here's a link with a description:
books.google.com/books?id=i…

Cuba Gulch is the name of the area. Here's a pin on Google Maps to Cuba Gulch

maps.google.com/maps/ms?msi…

LOL. I wasn't quite fast enough. DOH.

Silk Road has ice and firm enough snow- likely improving conditions over the weekend. It was warm yesterday and we didn't see any water flowing and only minimal ice fall on the 1st Flatiron.

Art on the first ice section of Silk Road, 1st Flatiron.

A full double rack of camalots up to #2 plus a #4 made it a sew-up where necessary. Recommended to leave the nuts and screws behind.