California Ice

I have a vacation week coming up and would like to hit some ice. I'm new to California and based out of Fresno (willing and able to drive north if need be), so I don't know where to go. I know there is supposed to be some stuff near Lee Vining, but with Hwy 120 closed it seems like something else is probably closer.

I plan to be in the Tahoe area for much of my vacation, so climbs near there would be ideal.

Preferably accessible single pitch ice, since I'm not very good.

Scott O wrote:I have a vacation week coming up and would like to hit some ice. I'm new to California and based out of Fresno (willing and able to drive north if need be), so I don't know where to go. I know there is supposed to be some stuff near Lee Vining, but with Hwy 120 closed it seems like something else is probably closer. I plan to be in the Tahoe area for much of my vacation, so climbs near there would be ideal. Preferably accessible single pitch ice, since I'm not very good.

Scott, it's been a long time since I've done any ice in CA, but yes there is stuff at Lee VIning.

Closer to you, I have climbed on this:
mountainproject.com/v/the-w…
but it felt a little more "serious" than your average single pitch ice, and I'm not sure if it'd be in this year.
Check out these threads too, they have seem info about other stuff, including some climbs up near Tahoe:
mountainproject.com/v/2013-…
mountainproject.com/v/looki…

Good luck. Let me know if you find anything.

Unfortunately you may be out of luck. The Tahoe area has had pretty warm temps recently. As of last weekend Cascade Falls was completely ice free. Eagle Creek Canyon didn't have enough ice to climb (including Sunny Falls). We ended up just rock climbing at a wet 90' wall.

I'm not positive, but I would guess Coldstream wouldn't be worth the hike in as it was thinning out and in rough shape several weeks ago and it's been relatively warm since. I might head up there this weekend to verify this though.

June Lake and Lee Vining would probably be your best bet.

Thanks guys. Obviously not the news I was hoping for. Anything within a couple hours north of Tahoe?

Not that I'm aware of with these temps. Sorry.

Didn't go up to look, but I can't imagine there's any or much ice left in Lee Vining. Chouinard's formed a lot narrower and thinner this year. Not sure about June lake area ice, but driving through last weekend it felt pretty warm. Having a hard time seeing ice returning to CA this "winter."

Heard there was a big horizontal crack on main wall right now in Lee Vining, which was thin at best this year