bedellympian

Trip: Black Spider on Wy'east - Arachnophobia Trip Date: 01/31/2026 Trip Report: Climbed Arachnophobia the other day. Good ice, a little brittle first thing. Snow is very icy which makes for some tiring front pointing. Not as sun baked as it might appear. Five long pitches does it. L side of schrund went easily. Thanks to G for being a great partner, and Kyle and Matt for going up the route first so I didn't need to leave the family just to have a look-see. Pictures... Luckily sunrise had some cloud cover. Starting up the ice-looking bits, after some snow-looking bits that were still icy Snow-looking icy bits on P2 Starting up P2 Leading P3 Looking down P3 Coming up to the final belay at a rock anchor Descending S Side Hoping we get some snow this winter. But while we wait the sticks are quite good. If you need more beta, please feel free to DM me. -Sam Gear Notes: Single rock rack (small cams and nuts useful, nothing bigger than 0.5), pins, 10 screws Approach Notes: S Side and traverse over White River and around.

Also, N Face Cleaver FWA!? Look at those ice steps! Never seen them in before.

The snow is bullet ice from the freeze thaw right now. Black Spider has been climbed multiple times by multiple routes in the past week. If that ice is not all rotten and sun baked, and the "snow" patches are hard ice, then you can bet N facing routes are also in good nick. Re the schrund, I think it will probably go on the L side, but if not you can climb one of the snow fingers on the Lhand buttress and traverse in on the snow ledge or go all the way up and then rap/downclimb that snow finger onto the snow above the schrund.

Hopefully you got on it or plan to. Probably all time on the N side.

Did anyone claim these?

For sure! I'll send you a DM. Probably won't be out there again until summer '27 though.

Trip: New Hampshah - Black Dike and Frankenstein Classics Trip Date: 12/30/2025 Trip Report: Was in New England visiting family for the holidays and got to sneak away for two days of ice up in New Hampshire. Lots of beta out there on these routes, but I will just reiterate what you probably know... the ice is plentiful, plastic and easily accessible. Worth a flight out from the NW? Maybe not given the other options much closer, but if the opportunity arises I recommend. I found this website to be very helpful for partners and conditions... https://www.neiceconditions.org/ ...They also do some great things (like the instagram hack) that seems like it might be useful here too. Day 0 scoping after freezing rain Like every road cut... Day 1 Black Dike High of 8F, 50mph gusts Pitch 3, harder than it looks Looking over at Fafnir... next time! Day 2 Frankenstein Clif Pegasus Rock Finish, Hobbit Couloir, Dracula + some thinner TR laps... 10-20 min walk from the car park. Pegasus Rock Finish is a second pitch alternative that goes up the pillar... Partner topping out on the Rock Finish... Partner's shot of the top/crux of Hobbit Couloir... HC and PRF from the ground... Approach vibes... Dracula... Gear Notes: Standard ice kit Approach Notes: Micro spikes were helpful

What time of year was that Wayne? Seems like a pretty low elevation route?

I did a Wadd trip, like 10 years ago? Was definitely a scary place in August heat but we did S Ridge of Serra 2 and Bravo Glacier up Waddington. Very cool area, but I'm not super excited to go back with climate change affecting more and more at those low elevations.

Update to this, and hoping to tap into more collective knowledge... will probably spend some time in Bham and that might be the place to take a climbing day from... thoughts I've had: -Mt. Erie rock (weather dependent) -Colfax peak (road snowed in? conditions in late March?) -Pan Dome falls (worth it? conditions in late March?) -Twin Sisters? Guessing that area is a PITA to access late winter? Other options in the Bham area for a quick day trip? Thanks y'all.

Sounds fun, weather seems like a similar gamble to Patagonia? Got any TRs to recommend a winter trip?

Yeah, I love rock, but I'd like to go play the pointy things game. Seems like most of the routes in the Alps will be rock or shorter high elevation mixed in summer? Agree on what I've heard about Pakistan and Blanca.

After that vague intro... I'm turning 40 summer of '27, I also have a lot of flexibility from mid-June to end of August. I like climbing big alpine routes that involve technical climbing but also have snow/ice. My work makes the Alaska season very hard. Where should I go? For the sake of fun, let's assume there are no limits... Pakistan? Patagonia in winter? Cordillera Blanca? Bolivia? Kyrgyzstan side of the Tian Shan? Thinking about climate change and glacial recession as I would like to not die and actually climb something.

Ah, saw this too late. I guess I actually need to check spray more regularly.

Well, spring time in November continues. But don't worry everything is fine ?. This next storm has the freezing levels over 10k so any ice that is there will get washed away. The next day temps drop to freezing level around 7k which would be perfect with all that water up there, only it will spike again over the weekend. Hopefully the second round will stay cold as currently predicted and we can actually start moving toward some semblance of normal start of winter conditions.