spionin

hey doug! thanks a bunch for the returned anchor! hope the climb was good - a little heady, huh? dave and i tagged it - he pulled but burned out at the top of the crux and i re-lead it with the placed gear (totally clipped at my shoulder at the top of the column - was burning up!). -veronika

Trip: Hyalite Canyon - Date: 11/21/2009 Trip Report: Dave_S, t_rutl and i spent the past week at Hyalite. we drove out of seattle on friday, 11/20, at 7 p.m. and arrived in bozeman about 12 hours later, in time for breakfast at over easy. troy's friends steve and austin met up with us and took us to twin falls area. we started off on some WI3-3+, 45 m lines. it was cold, the ice was definitely fatter than anything i've seen this early in the season. the second day we met up with pu (joe). we did mummy II and then ganged up on the scepter and lapped that a few times. both are in good conditions. joe crashed on the floor of our totally sweet pad for the night, gave me a lesson on skinnin' a deer with the help of a toyota truck (true story, people), and the dudes had their bacon for serious MENergy in the morning. we headed to champagne slot and champagne sherbet. the approach was super easy compared to the previous days, and the routes didn't disappoint. sherbet was a sketch to protect, so chandeliered. i looked for a place to pound in some pins, but the rock next to the flow did't look too solid. nonetheless, the climbing was awesome. and the company was rad. t_rutl should post the report on days 4-5 shortly. cheers. approach notes: WI2 on the road. bring 4-wheel drive. gear notes: stubbies. bacon. powerthirst. group notes: fantastic sense of humor. no ego.

tested and approved. thanks for setting them up!

thanks guys for putting this on, it was great. my favorite part was graham getting the crowd totally riled up during bryan's go at the finals. it got pretty wild.

scored a few days off and going for a scenic drive north, ~sun -> wed? i'm going through bugaboos, selkirks, and on to banff. might take a look at skaha. climbing is always an option. come with or catch a ride.

thanks guys for the good time at the party. catherine, randy and i had a blast talking to everyone! from saturday, birthday tour: -veronika

thanks guys for the good time at the party. catherine, randy and i had a blast talking to everyone! from saturday, birthday tour: -veronika

ok, i should have said that it "wasn't as fat as a few weeks ago" when i last climbed those lines, and it "killed my stoke to see them so famished". alex, thanks for the corrections on the names.

on saturday my buddy dan and i went out to scout at alpental, but falls i-iv looked dead and rotting. it was quite warm. across the valley the ice was looking a little more blue and promising, and there was word of a few people climbing chair. around noon we saw a group of climbers (the human dots are on the right side of the image) getting off the ice fall in center-left: this also looked ok-ish: then this morning i drove by vantage and saw that fugs has been basking in the sun a bit much, and this (can't remember the name, across from sunshine wall) - was looking a little sad too: on the drive back across the pass, i swung by the upper lot at alpental and snapped a few pics. things looked a little more promising than on saturday: then again, i think they got a little bit of snow, and the dusting simply filled the visible holes in the ice. if it gets colder, maybe the stuff will look a bit more solid, but for now nothing to get too stoked on.

i second that. pretty sticky, nice. not sure what this route is, it's on the left of the alpental falls group. the bottom set of pillars was a little brown, but was actually easy to protect. the top was a little styrofoamy, also enjoyable. ...this is very sad - i can't seem to embed the photo. but it's uploaded into my profile.