Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP 4/22-23

Hi! I'm looking for someone to climb with at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on Saturday, April 22 or Sunday the 23rd. Happy to lead some of the chill classics or lead and follow on moderates. I have a standard rack, 2 years on gear, and a lot of stoke. I'll be camping out. Cheers!

fyi the colorado partner forum is just a scroll down the forum further or here is the link

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/105083612/colorado-partners

and good luck staying on route and not getting benighted maybe consider packing an oh shit kit with stuff to make a ledge emergency bivy suck less  

and maybe get the guide book and take pictures or better yet download a fancy rock climbing guide app like the one made via drone yeah that one is awesome and with google earth u can fly the black in vr too to memorize the routes

Yaman Peksenar wrote:

Hi! I'm looking for someone to climb with at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on Saturday, April 22 or Sunday the 23rd. Happy to lead some of the chill classics or lead and follow on moderates. I have a standard rack, 2 years on gear, and a lot of stoke. I'll be camping out. Cheers!

Is the gate open? I assume you mean the north rim, sunny stuff?

I'm not sure about the gate. I'll do some research tonight and update this post. I definitely want to be on north rim. Escape Artist has a few ticks in April 2019, but it seems like the season kicks off in May.

Yaman Peksenar wrote:

I'm not sure about the gate. I'll do some research tonight and update this post. I definitely want to be on north rim. Escape Artist has a few ticks in April 2019, but it seems like the season kicks off in May.

It kicks off whenever the road opens or is dry enough to bike in. Any route is climbable too.

FYI escape side is in the shade till after 12/1 ish if your looking for sun routes. 

Thanks Jay! I appreciate the info. I hadn't checked sun angles yet, but that's my plan this weekend. I'm going to call the ranger station tomorrow to see what they are forecasting for the next two weeks. Climbing Weather is forecasting below freezing temperatures at night for the next week which isn't promising.  

Directly from the National Park Services Black Canyon website - "peak climbing season is mid April to early June . . ." and "due to heavy snowfall, roads may open later than normal (late April or early May)." Again, not promising. 

I may pivot and go to the creek to climb or just hike in Black Canyon. I'll update later this week.

Gunnison snowpack is at 165%: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/quicklinks/states/colorado

Haven't actually been there to see, but I'd bet on a late opening.

We skied into the North Rim on Monday (4/10) for a few days of climbing and skied out this morning. On Monday the road was 100% snow from about 1.5 miles before the gated park entrance (closed) all the way to the campground.

There is a lot more snow than usual for mid-April. Pretty much everywhere on the rim was savage post holing by early afternoon, but once you dropped into the Cruise or SOB it was entirely snow free.

In the Cruise, the big, sunny, steep lines on NCVW looked dry and good to go. Maiden Voyage was dry except for the top of the last pitch. King Me looked wet. The descent off Maiden was ice axe worthy.

Getting off Maiden Voyage 4/10/23

In the SOB, the Comic Buttress looked soggy on the top (especially the Escape Artist corners). Getting outta there and back to the rim would probably be a drag at the moment. The Aretes looked dry. The South Rim looked like February.

North Vista was 90% snow, which was supportive in the morning, but knee deep post holing in the afternoon

Laurens was 100% dry

When we skied out this morning, we were surprised to see the entrance road being plowed. I don’t know what that means for a North Rim opening date, but the road should be fairly passable on a bike soon.

We watched a good amount of snow recede in 48 hours, so I would imagine conditions are likely to change fast, but it’s still pretty snowy and wet out there on a lot of routes.

Cheers.

Vic Zeilman wrote:

Fantastic beta, Vic; thanks for taking the time to write that up!

Vic's my hero +1

Thanks for the beta and pictures. 

Vic, that's awesome info. Thank you for taking the time to write that up!

Anyone make it in?

A friend of mine went on a hike there last weekend. Still cold at nights, a lot of snow/ice in the canyon. He didn't mention anything about the roads, so I imagine some are passable