Necrophelia 

Scott DeCapio and I climbed Necrophelia Oct 17 (sorry I didn't report conditions sooner!) - wasn't really that much fun, kinda spooky, scrappy, early season grovel. Some verglas covered parts of the route, but was mostly rock. No water running, either.

It appears to be totally devoid of any ice.

Kelly's right on about the conditions and pro'. With the exception of the first 40' the thinner the ice, the better the pro, and the harder the climb. Walked into the Loch once, and there was almost nothing of the climb visible. 2 other parties were there and they turned around. We walked up to the base and, sure enough, it was climbable. First 40' is slabby and somewhat desperate (Ever try friction in crampons?), but once it gets steep, the cracks open up and climbing becomes memorable.

11-18-05 looked like the perfect day to explore Necrophilia and Deep Freeze. Beautiful day, a full moon over Hallet Peak. Didn't really post hole until we left the lake and headed up to Necrophilia. I'm joking with Brian about the last time I tried the climb and got so cold I couldn't feel my hands, face or elbows, just then the wind kicks up..... We refuse to acquiesce, too much approach and not enough climbing. Brian is kind enough (or stupid enough) to belay me on the first pitch. The first pitch is the real meat as far as I can tell. Cam a tool, place a cam, pull up over a serious bulge right off the deck. No gear, thin rotten ice, climb, climb, climb, crappy blade=mental gear, climb, climb, climb & place good #2 Camalot after 40 feet. Get on the vertical bongo ice, start hooking and place a stubby that hits air after an inch. Not much ice to rock bond at all. Climb, Climb and fire in another stubby, it sucks too (Brian tells me later that it froze in so was better than I thought, maybe). Finally get a yellow Alien and an old pin towards the end of the vertical ice section. Pull up onto some cream of wheat neve and hook some ice shards. A hundred feet up and it probably took 12 hours. Wind has been howling and driving snow the whole time. The belay is sheltered up there so the guilt sets in and I bring up my frozen cohort. He says to me "that was stupid hard, you can be proud of that!" And we went home.

A team of three climbed Broken Axes in October, maybe adding a pitch or two in the process. I know they had a somewhat exciting time on the [descent]. I think they would [recommend] rapping the route instead of walking off.

Thanks AC, sounds like I did miss some quality bits above. The climbing was spicy throughout the bottom sections and sounds like I have a good reason to go back and finish the top. From where we stopped it looked like the angle really eased off and the climbing got simpler. Of course it always looks that way from the bottom. Have fun out there.