keenwesh

A little ice hose beta for next time, bring 70's and link the first two pitches. You have to belay a super short pitch to the base of the final long flow (unless you're belayer likes getting clobbered) but you can avoid the belayer slaying at that crummy stance at the base of the hose. Sick route and a steal this year! If you've got time afterwards drive up to Ophir and do the short ski tour that starts right from town. The San Juans are one of the coolest spots I've been, rugged like the cascades, but with less bushwhacking and it actually gets cold enough for reliable ice climbing!

around a grand per person.

going to try a different way of fixing this, as I don't think grivel has ever made long center bars for these crampons. The Petzl heel pieces are a quarter inch longer and would let these fit. Anyone have a spare set of petzl heel pieces?

Airborne Ranger is gigantic. Place screws at will, it's 15 feet in diameter. Basically like Cleo's, but with a little extra vertical ice and a cool little roof type thing halfway up. You can see there's ice on The Matriarch too, it isn't in yet but is in the realm of possibility. Marc Antony's Wicked Tool is dripping, and awaits a second ascent. If the stars and conditions align it could come in. Looked across at Dialetric and it hasn't fallen down yet. With the warmer temps today it could have started dripping again and grown a bit.

Another Update: I climbed Dialetric Breakdown last Friday. It snapped into shape within a couple days, and will probably stay in for a few more, depending on the temps and how gentle people are when climbing it. First ascent of the season meant fresh ice and a grand time tiptoeing up the 40ish feet of steep ice. Excellent pitch with decent gear. Only comes in every few years, and usually early season. Airborne Ranger has reformed, and looks huge! I'm going to check it out tomorrow afternoon and will report back. This funky season isn't over yet and keeps dishing out the goods! Snow conditions are also very good right now. Last few storms have dumped a good amount of the light stuff and it's generally very stable.

Grivel stopped making their extra long center bars for the G20 and 22 (split at the front end). I'm one hole short to get my G20's to fit my double boots. Need them soon so I can train with the setup I'll be using in AK. Also need them so I can use crampons that don't spontaneously explode when I'm in AK. I'll pay. Someone has to have a set they're not using. Please help me out.

Most climbs are super sunfucked. With more warm spring days in the forecast things are only going to get worse. Crummy way to bring in the last 6 weeks of Hyalite season. Winter made a comeback for the last two days. Enjoyed the best pow turns of my entire season earlier today on the bowl behind Palace Butte. It was deep! There's more snow in the forecast later this week, so hopefully things get better!

Yeah, weather is sucking really bad. A year ago it was dumping 10-20 inches of 5% fluff every night, that's a much better reason to not go ice climbing. Anyway, conditions wise Hyalite should be holding up fine. When it's this warm stuff just becomes super hacked out, and unless you're absolutely dying to get over here you'd be better suited setting up a ladder in your backyard and climbing that with ice tools. If you're looking at harder routes I'm fairly certain that Climb Above Dribbles is still in (2nd pitch is for sure in, first is probably pretty jingus, but can be done w/o any ice). Avalanche Gulch has been done quite a bit this winter and is super good. Should still be in. Upper Mummy, M3 probably doesn't have much ice left, but again, can be done dry. The first 15 feet of M4 are M6 with pro that would catch you as you hit the ground, but it's really not that bad. Again, could be actually bad with these warm temps (might be more than 15 ft of drytooling now) but worth checking out. There's an alternate start to M4 in the crack system to the left, basically bypasses the scary M6 cobble start and 10 feet of techy steep ice. Still get to do the upper ice crux which is good fun, so at least you won't be totally skunked if you go up there. As for everything else, fully climbable, but hacked to shit. Snow cones. Dribbles probably has a hole in it. If you want a route off the beaten path and brought your skis: Monkey's Ass Wall on Overlook. Super good pitch, surprisingly long with a neat cobble finish. Will not be hacked out.

Jacob, if you can climb Fearful Symmetry you can probably climb any of the most technical portions of Torre Egger. Getting to the point where you can climb 6 pitches of WI6 with another pitch or two of easier mixed ground is probably more mental than anything else.

These are the best routes I've done in their respective disciplines Harvard Route Winter Dance (it's not as hard as people think it is, get on it and have your mind blown) Wisdom/Jules Vern/Lene's Dream/Naked Edge linkup (Still gotta go back and lead The Wisdom and Jules Vern, but even on TR they're both phenomenal) Can alpine rock be it's own category? Why not... Myopia on The Elephants Perch is probably the most enjoyable 5.10 I've ever done. Want to/will try to climb Reality Face Cassin Denali Diamond Scary things in the Canadian Rockies Leaving #3 blank.

North Face of Alberta was climbed last September by Nick Bullock and Will Sim. http://nickbullock-climber.co.uk/2014/10/03/it-takes-a-big-day-to-weigh-a-ton-climbing-the-houseanderson-on-mt-alberta-nf/ (Not so) Subtle Chest Beat: It's on list #2 for me next Fall.

I was going to say, something looks awry with yer whippet! I use my nomics on snow slopes, but that's usually a snow slope on a portion of a route that contains much harder difficulties. For Rainier or just standard glacier travel I'd bring a single BD Venom or something that's more of a classic piolet. However, I have been guilty more than once of bringing two nomics on piss easy snow climbs.

No permit needed. You want skis. Don't end up needing a rescue. Have fun.

Depends on the weather, if the melt freeze cycle gets going and it never gets super hot late March can be incredible. Cody came in super huge around March 20th last year for example. Routes like Dribbles and Twin, and generally Cleos will be for sure climbable, however it can be warm enough that screws melt out within 5 minutes. When that happens I usually go to the Gallatin and climb rock in shorts and a T shirt. Another fantastic option when it's that warm is skiing corn in your birthday suit. Check the weather and adjust accordingly. Now that I think about it I was skiing bottomless powder at the end of last March... In a word, it's unpredictable.

Winter Dance is in. 3rd pitch protects very well and actually doesn't require much in the way of a rack, besides screws. The pins are also good as I brought along a wall hammer and drove the ones that were kinda questionable home. Go and give 'er. Cleos is in, Airbourne was getting done but it snapped off with someone on it last weekend, so unless you have a 12 or so foot reach you can't get to the dangler.

I switched from a split to skis this season. I skied as a kid though so the transition isn't as brutal as it might be for some. Have yet to go to a resort, but so far I've been able to keep up with my skiing buddies on the downhill. Sliding on snow is fun no matter what's strapped to your feet.

I haven't been climbing in Hyalite much besides the last few days. Here's an update based on what I've been on recently. Dribbles has a big hole in the middle of the headwall. Still totally climbable, but looks a little jingus. Silken Falls is fantastic, I like it better than Dribbles, but that's probably because there's hardly any traffic on it compared with the Dribbling superhighway. Wayne and I climbed Alex in Wonderland (listed in WD as Climb Above Dribbles) last Friday. It's in fantastic shape and one of the very best gems in Hyalite. Bring a single set of blue through orange Metolius and a Red C4 to sew it up. A stubby allows for the first pitch to be reasonably protected. There's ice, but it's not cruiser. Come and Get It, needs to start dripping again if it's going to be got on lead anytime soon. Probably in the next couple months. Cleo's isn't looking very good. It has yet to touch down, or if it has within the last day and a half it's really skinny. Go check it out, but expect a rowdy time. Airborne Ranger is skinny, but more formed than Cleo's. What a weird year! Other things of note: The second free ascent of Nutcracker was completed on Saturday by a Bozeman local. It looks sick, and is entirely bolted for the 4 pitches before reaching the cave below the final pitch of Winter Dance. Also, the third pitch of WD is dripping, fingers are crossed that it'll come into shape.

I'll echo what others have already said, glad you're okay and that sounds like a heinous experience! A long road to recovery lies ahead, take it slow! I'm a little unclear on one part though, was someone actually murdered at your campsite? Seems pretty un-Canadian...

I've poured boiling water into them. They work.

powerade/gatorade bottles. They're cheap and have a really good water holding capabilities.

Please try to keep the posts strictly related to current conditions. At this point unless you're trying to climb WI5's or harder the routes will be in until the road closes at the end of March. High volume flows such as Horsetail and Palisade are not as great during warm temps but you can still most likely get up them. Mummy II, Scepter, Cleo's, Fat One, Dribbles, Silken Falls. All can survive and be climbed during warm spells.

I'm writing this from Canmore, this place is unreal. I can't believe that it took me this long to make it up here. This place is so unfathomably huge. Anyway, I heard that some folks went up Zack Attack a week and a half ago, and ended up turning around because the 3rd pitch wasn't quite formed yet. I could be wrong on the unformed pitch count, as I still haven't done that route. Not sure about it now, but chances are that it's climbable. Not sure about conditions around Cooke. But if dancing with the hippo is in Hydromonster is most likely formed. Both routes that I need to hit this year!

Horsetail is looking good!

The MT Ice forum is completely dead. For up to date beta with pictures check out the Southwest Montana Ice Conditions group on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/401228096671380/ Looks like Cali Ice is in!

It's been a couple years since I did this, but if there's interest I'll go ahead and keep it updated. I'm also going to put it in the MT forum as I don't want to interfere with the WA ice conditions thread. As of 11/16, going clockwise out of the parking lot. Scroll down if you want some heresay about Flanders or the East Fork Left side of G1 is in for your top roping pleasure Mummy 2 is in, and Scepter looks super fat. Bizarre, as both were dry 4 days ago. Upper Mummy was looking great, but the lower icicle on upper mummy had been broken off when I walked by it 2 hours ago. Will update when I get the story/if it's worthy. Feeding the Cat is in. If ya'll make the drive from WA do yourself a favor and walk over to Matrix and Feeding the Cat, both phenomenal pitches and no one seems to do them. The corner climbs are both in, along with Switchback. Alex's solos, probably in, go for a hike. Winter Dance, not fat like last year. Third pitch needs to double in length. Someone should rap in there and figure out a way to redirect the flow so it can form. Winter Dance area. Curtains looks to be in fun early season shape. Dialetric Breakdown didn't form this year, dang. Rocket Boy isn't nearly big enough, another dang. Couldn't see Responsible Family Men, probably formed. Go climb it. Avy Gulch, Upper pitches looked good, first pitch not quite, but could come in. Fingers are crossed. Dribbles has ice on it and the bootpack was bootpacked. Climbable. Overlook Mountain. Everything that's in the book had ice on it. Disco Party to the G Spot was great fun today. Strong Persuader was extremely wet. Monkey Ass Wall looks really enticing. I will have to go back for it. Skipping over to Twin Falls area. Twin is in, but wet according to folks who climbed it. Cleo's isn't in, give it some time. Penthouse Climbs, now is the time to do them! Unnamed Wall, Couldn't really see/wasn't looking very hard but I'm going to guess that most stuff on it is at least climbable. Come and Get It looks like it probably could be climbed! Ice is in to the top of the corner. Who knows, a few more days and it could be fully in! A strong contender for the best pitch in Hyalite! Black Magic has an anemic drip on the top of it. With the not subzero temps next week it might look a little better, it was flowing with water when I hiked up there a month and a half ago. Pray for its formation. FLANDERS Stuff is forming, Killer Pillar is halfway to touching, the last pitch of Bobo Like is incredibly fat, Big Sleep is meh, again, pray for its formation. Flanders Cirque Went up there last weekend. The 3 routes that are in the guidebook are in. It's gorgeous back there. Go check it out if you want to see a part of Hyalite that barely anyone takes the time to see. EAST FORK Palisade falls is in, Cold temps are the best time for this one. Alpha is in, and Omega looks to be climbable via the drytool start. If you haven't made it to this spot before it's worth it. While the climbs aren't the longest, both pitches are top notch, and drytooling out the cave to Omega is a great intro to this type of climbing. yahoo! Asteroid was in a week and a half ago, and it still takes the cake as my least favorite climb in Hyalite. Maybe if I did it on a day that wasn't 60 degrees I might think higher of it. Horsetail is most likely in fine shape. It's best after sustained cold temps, and this last week has been downright frigid. Other stuff I'm not going to comment on, chances are you won't be disappointed.