Ice Conditions 2007-2008

Some info related to the current conditions reported on the iceclimbingutah website (which got sent back in a message to me as undeliverable):

As an update to the info on your website:

>Great White Icicle Still climbable, but may not be in
the best shape, lots of snow.

Looks good from the road and solid all the way to the
top. Plenty of traffic.

>Scruffy Band From the road looked OK, but may not be
in.

In and solid all the way up (we climbed it last
night). Several pillar variations available at the
top tier. Some running water straight below the lip
below the upper tree anchor: take care.

>Cold Duck May not be in.

Looked fully formed and enough ice, when viewed from
the road, to give it a closer look and maybe a try.

>Storm Mountain Falls May not be in.

Saw folks on the upper part of the first pitch on 1/13
in the afternoon. Still appeared doable.

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In addition to the above:

Scruffy Band: folks might not realize, but, Scruffy Band can typically be thin in the middle in a couple of places. Its common, even when the lower and upper stretches are fat. If you need/want pro, get it prior to stepping up onto these thin spots. And, if you top out far right (or, in general), place a screw above the last steep section just in case your partner comes off at the lip. The next decent pro is the stubby tree to the left off the top traverse and the swing from a falling second could be really bad (ie, they'd deck on the ledge at the base of the steep section). Take a stubby and find deep enough ice. Or two. And take care on that traverse, folks have blown it up there. Around 20 years ago a soloist fell from the top on slick snow over the rock. Surprisingly only broke a few bones and lived.

Photo from 1/13 on mountainproject shows the second pitch of Storm Mtn Falls looking plenty fat still. My bet is with continued sustained cold and plenty of snow, this ice will stay for a few more days.

One thing to keep a mind of, is, that with a big swing to colder temps, thin pillars and the like can get cracky and be much less robust. Also in sustained cold temp's, ice dams tend to bust and its not uncommon to find open and running water where you least expect it. That can be pretty scary and create an ugly situation very fast.

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

I don't know if this will help but I saw a bunch of people climbing the stairway, southwestish of bridal veil falls, on Saturday 1/12/08. The highest person was mabey a 1/3 of the way up.

Iceclimbingutah.com has been updated with the recent info posted here, and thank you for the info on the routes as well as on the email not working, its back and working again.

Spent a little time in Joe's on Saturday. The bottom curtain of Amphitheater was in, but has now fallen. The ice looked good if you can get over the lip of the overhang.

Most everything else looked good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jumar

Spent a little time in Joe's on Saturday....Most everything else looked good.

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Slip slidin', premadonna and spear of fear??

Maple is pretty good. North facing stuff along the road is plump.

-Brian in SLC

LCC ice is still hanging in there. Climbed Super Slab last night, can't believe how thick that ice is. Was pretty darn cold, too, so I'd imagine it "should" stay viable through the weekend. If folks haven't ticked this climb, now is a good time. Pretty good, easy to follow trail right now (3 parties worth), fat ice, although, pretty low angle and will hammer your calves. But, it just doesn't come in this good that often, so, get it while its (not) hot.

Scruffy Band is lookin' a bit heat hammered, but, still ok and from the fresh tracks last night, looks like folks are still tickin' it. Was a crack running across the bottom of the first standard pitch (we climbed the left side variation on 2/26), though, and visible running water beneath it so I'd be careful on that rig.

GWI looks ok from the road. Upper pitch has got a fair amount of open running water. First two pitches can be done completely as a snow climb (crazy snow year) with very little ice poking out. Bulge looks fat and sassy (and super pegged out).

At Maple, we climbed Get Whacked on 23 Feb and the next day or so it fell down, so, be careful on anything steep and sun/heat affected. Had friends climb in Santaquin that same day and reported that Automatic and Candlestick were in good shape.

Hard to say, but, my guess is these high temp's during the day are not good for the ice. I'd stick to shady, gully type climbing and be very careful about avy conditions in any rapid rise in day time temp's.

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

I'm 'un-sticky-ing' this thread since the season is winding down.