2014 - 2015 Utah Region Ice

It's up to each one of us to decide what's in or out.

Good point, and I guess that was my gripe. Some ice might be considered in to a more experienced climber but might be out for someone who just got their first set of tools.

Chad is solid, his assessments should be accurate

Has anybody checked any of the other regions? Provo, Strawberry, Joes, Huntington... Anything up north? Reports are welcome, we are all ready to get out and relieve some stress (@kevin included).

I was in Diamond Fork over the weekend and nothing was touching down, from the road it still looked too thin to get on.. I did not hike past the hot pots to look at the upper canyon climb.

I've got some up north beta, I think (if "up north" means what I think it means).

This is Malan's Falls this morning (11/23/2014), forming, but clearly not in yet:

Malan's Falls near Ogden, UT 11/23/2014

First pitch close-up:
Malan's Falls, Ogden, UT, P1, 11/23/2014

Haven't been up to the Willard ice gully personally yet, but a friend reports it still needs about 2 weeks.

Also, upthread someone mentioned sticking to high elevation for the time being. Does this mean the Cottonwood Canyons? Or are there other places that would be high elevation as well? I heard about some mixed climbing near Park City today--anyone have beta on this?

Regarding diamond fork...is the lower road gate closed?

I know were all jonesing, some of us have fallen off the wagon but let's be patient, mother nature will do her thing. The alpine, winter land is upon us!

Looking into BCC, toward's The Sundial and the Room of Doom. 22NOV2014, still a little thin...

Mark Lewis wrote:Regarding diamond fork...is the lower road gate closed?

Think I know but, not 100% sure where the 'lower road gate' is... I took the road just before Thistle and then drove the entire loop to come out at the service/gas station on Highway 6 (where all the snow-machines fill up). There were campgrounds that had gates closed but, the road was open (icy in sections) and cleared enough that my 2 wheel drive car did just fine.

Price today.

Hell, that's the best the dirtcicle has looked in years (cosmetically at least). I'm free this Tuesday if anyone wants to go hack the poor thing up a bit.

I've been climbing in Little Cottonwood and Provo Canyon in the weekend.
From the tone of this thread I won't say if it is in or not.

The conditions are ephemeral, its changing very fast, like in a matter of hours. Don't rely on conditions report from the internet. In any case, if you cannot tell it by yourself you shouldn't be going there anyway.

Little Cottonwood Canon - Great White Icicicle - 22 Nov 2014

I've lead climbed the fist pitch at 11am, the ice was wet but not much, thin and detached in several places but I still could find pro placements. The second pitch was so thin and wet that you couldn't put any pro (I gave up and downclimbed).
The afternoon rain made things really bad, so I just stayed in the first pitch top roping a couple laps. There was very little or none snow anywhere.

Great White Icicicle - 22 Nov 2014

Provo Canyon - Stairway to Heaven

Started at 9:30am, the ice was dry and brittle (from the cold night).
The first pitch has 3 separate sections of fat-ish ice. I climbed the middle one.
The second pitch has two ok-ish ways to go on the right side, I climbed directly above the mid section. The ice gets super thin in the upper half of the pitch. The top out of the second pitch is super sketchy, I dont recommend.
The ice bulges are thick but they are all detatched on the top and toping over frozen turf and loose scree sends a lot of rocks down to your belayer. Don't do that.
I recommend staying in the first pitch only.
The afternoon made the ice wet and less attached to the rock. If you plan to climb, you should be there as early as possible.
The good news is that there is still very little snow accumulated. So avalanche danger should not be extreme.

Stairway to heaven - 23 Nov 2014

Toping out in second pitch of Stairway to Heaven - 23 Nov 2014. Detached ice bulge and loose scree. Super sketchy. Dont do that.

Bridal Veil Falls - 23 Nov 2014

Very embarrassed but I think it is good to note.
Felipe,
I had a very close call on the GWI several years ago in, somewhat, similar conditions.
It had rained overnight but a cold front had moved through and temps were slowly dropping when most of the upper pitch collapsed and ran all the way to the bottom and another 100' beyond. I had some, new to ice, climbers with me so we were top roping the 1st pitch. We scattered and all escaped.

It is up to each of us to make our own decisions but I think it is safe to say that rain and ice climbing should never meet.

GWI old

Good advice Cdec.
That pic looks scary.

Stairway Apron was good to go. Solid enough to lead, even for those who aren't bold.

Stairway 11/25

White Nightmare was a maybe. Pretty wet but you might be able to sneak up it with some good screws. Bridal Veil Left and Right were most definitely not in.

BV 11/25

Pricicle was good to go. Wet on the right side but solid with good ice on the left. Could be led if you want a challenge.

Price 11/25

CCC Falls looked thin, but the first pitch might be possible if the weather doesn't cook it.

ccc

Donorcicle was a tiny blob of ice halfway up. Gonna need a long time. Deadbolt looked in, but more a pair of small pillars than the usual curtain.

Thanks for the update. Any idea how well the Stairway and Bridalveil might hold up through the warming weather late this week?

Dirtcicle November 26

It was really wet and melting a lot. By mid morning, the bottom felt a lot like climbing mush. Rocks falling from the rim.

Warm temps aren't doing much for this route.

Dirtcicle 11/26/2014

Derek DeBruin wrote:Thanks for the update. Any idea how well the Stairway and Bridalveil might hold up through the warming weather late this week?

Not good. They'll still be there, but things will be falling off left and right. Not pleasant climbing either.

Stairway had 3 or 4 lines in and taking good 16 cm screws on the 1st pitch apron. Climbed from 7am to 11am on turkeyday and decided to bail as temps warmed. 31F when we arrived, around 37F when we waked out.

Climbed CCC Falls around 11 AM on Friday 11/28. …ice was solid but thin in some spots…10 cm and 13 cm screws would have been nice ; ) …dead deer parts at the base smell bad….anyone need a deer skull can pick one up…I left it for you…upper curtain was not in…Melty Way, Spear of Fear and Donorcicle not in ...Deadbolt had a small pillar touching down on the upper curtain…lots of "The People of the Pad" hitting the bouldering scene due to the mild temps…climbed Dirtcicle around 3 PM…excellent ice conditions..every swing and screw placement was solid... not enough ice for two ropes…wet and drippy on left side (like always).. noticed small 2"-3" pine tree growing at top that has been equalized with the fence post anchors…thinking it might be good to stop using the tree and let it grow a bit more…it will be a nice anchor but there is already bark damage on it and if it continues it will kill it…found a pair of gloves left at the base…if you were there in the morning and know who they belong to let me know

Did morning walk/jog/run/scramble up in Santaquin Canyon this morning….only thing in was second pitch of Squash Head and it looked terrible

Was up in Little Cottonwood yesterday to attempt the Pfeifferhorn. If anyone is interested, we put the trail in and consequently didn't climb much of anything since we post-holed to crotch-deep for most of the day instead. But there's a trail to Maybird Gulch now. Alternately, if you're smarter than we were, just bring floatation.

On the way out, I snapped a couple grainy pics of ice conditions in the fading daylight.

This is the Hogum Z Gullies (I think?):

Hogum Z Gullies 11/29/2014

This is Great White Icicle:

Great White Icicle, 11/29/2014

And this was on instagram this morning:

instagram pic