Devil,s Lake in the Snow

How much snow did DL get in this recent storm? 2 feet? Sounds like fun! We (dlfa) use to make the most of these types of fricking weather events. Tromping thru the snow, suto mountaineering training. X-country skiing on top of the bluffs. The best was when ya hit it just right and the entire lake was frozen glass smooth for some awesome ice skating and hockey playing for the full length of the lake. Or also when you felt really lucky and drove your car out on the lake for some winter rally driving. Of course all of these activities envolved a certain amount of "refreshment" so to speak.
And there was ice climbing at Starved Rock but that ain't Devil,s lake.
Any other stories from other folks? Peace and f-nes.

Made a true igloo one Jan. in west loop (quartzite) campground by cutting blocks, shaving the angle of tiers, and then packing in the cracks to totally seal it up. Camped in it for 5 days,,and it was the last hard chunk of snow left in campground in late spring. But if you are ready to give up your fancy climbing shoes for a few months, I'd suggest doing the ice climbing thing in winter,,either around Wisconsin area or down to Starved Rock in Utica, IL for real winter cold sporting fun.

Steve,

We didn't get quite that much snow, maybe 6 inches, much of which melted away as the sun started to bounce off the quartzite. Climbing on Sunday was great. I do agree that winter is a special time at the Lake, and there is much fun to be had.

I recall winter days up there getting all bundled up and practicing aid climbing in the quarry. Good fun on crappy rock! But now I live in Colorado and it's pretty awesome how many nice winter days we have here for climbing.

James, thats too bad about not getting 2 feet. But a little snow at DL can be beautiful ! Most I remember was about a 2 foot dump and we found the old ski hill across the road from the north shore campground. We then proceeded to try and throw tele turns on our x-country gear. We got worked! TFPU

Dr Dre, I forgot about the aid climbing in a snow storm at the quarry, pretty heinous conditions and rock somewhat dubious. alpinism training?!! Going to the quarry on a cold and snowy day usually led to some profound trundling, sometimes all the way to the road. And ,yes we do get a ridiculous amount of warm climbable days here in Colorado.....and we can still go skiing. Ski Eldo!!!!