Elephant Butte

[Scott P]

Yes, it was kind of dicey then. My nine year old daughter, 11 year old son, my wife, Matt Lemke and I did the climb that time. Matt led the crux pitch though; it was intimidating when iced up. At the top of the crux there was a bunch of climbing gear including full backpacks, ropes, books, etc. Apparently a group tried to surmount the climb with pack tosses, but bailed out, leaving all their gear behind.

Even the descent was a little dicey in the ice. I kept hoping that the big icicle hanging off the exit rappel would not break off.



It doesn't look that hard in the photo, but rappelling over the icicle was tricky and extremely slippery. The lower half of the icicle is actually hanging away from the wall.

[peakbaggers]

Wife & I did the Butte on January 25 this year. There was no problem with the sand dune other than it was frozen very nicely. Quite a bit of sand must have moved to create the problem described. The only problems we had on the route was 1. That last crux climb before you drop over for the first rappel had ice in the crack which we avoided by coming in from the left side as in Scott's photo instead of trying to go directly up the crack and 2. the little pool just before the one rappel down had a detached sheet of ice. We were able to place a foot on the edge of the ice sheet, half on the ice, half on the rock and gingerly walked across. Sheet of ice moved some but got across dry. Otherwise, route was surprisingly free of snow & ice.