Hyalite 1/29-2/5

[Lambone]

Well, it's almost three in the morning...but after several Red Bulls and too many cigaretts...I'm much to wierd to pass out yet. That is a long freakin drive by yourself. After a 2 hour nap at a rest stop and many puppy pee breaks it took Mia and I 14 hours to get home. But it was worth it, and here's the scoop on Hyalite.

 

Access: After a whole bunch of new snow the road is getting sporty for sure. Fortunatley there haven't been too many poor suckers getting burried in the banks and ditches, so as of Monday night the ruts are in good shape. It snowed a bunch more last night, so I didn't make it back up there this morning. The road should still go, but keep an eye on the snow depths. Shower Creek

 

If it gets much deeper it will be rough going. I'd suggest bringing a stout vehicle, chains, shovels, a tow strap, extra pushers, and perhaps a come-a-long or winch to avoid an epic. In three days we spent about 2 hours total pulling other peoples cars out of the ditch before we could get by.

 

If you are planning a trip send me an email and I can give you the number of my partner up there. He goes up a bunch and should know how the road is. But beware, he's a sandbagger.

 

Avalanche Danger:

advisory

 

In short, realy freakin sketchy. There has been a HIGH avalanch warning for about a week now and this last system dumped about 20 inches on top of a very bad weak layer. If the temps warm up things are going to cut loose up there, and when they do it's going to go big.

 

Personaly I'd stay away from routes that have large feeder gullies and slopes above, and/or exposed slopes on the approach. Unfortunately that rules out some good climbs, but there are still many which are relatively safe. If you'd like suggestions on the safer routes, send me an email or PM and I'd be happy to help out.

 

Conditions I saw:

Most of the moderate routes are in fat and blue. Genesis Area, Mummy 2/Sceptor, Twin Falls, Dribbles/ Silken Skien, Cleo's Needle, Climbs below Winter Dance, Horsetail Falls, Alpha, Palisade Falls, etc are all very good.

 

The unnamed wll is looking pretty good, saw people on Thrill is Gone and Come and Get it. Black Magic, etc. are not in.

 

Unfortunately some of the true burly Hyalite routes are not in. Mummy 4, Winter Dance, Rocket Boy, and most of Alex's sick shit are not in. The Big Sleep and Killer Piller might be in over in Flanders, but I didn't see. You'd prolly need a sled or ski's to get in there now, and brass balls to face the avy terrain.

 

Other Stuff:

Cooke City- It was reported that a slide 6ft deep and 3/4 of a mile long ripped of a ridge near Cook City. Enough Said. Some of the easily approache routes like Hydromonster, Park Gate, Silver Gate might be safe. Don't even think about Barronette.

 

Pine Creek- Some of the routes on the north side (south facing) of the canyon might be safe. But the Green and Blue Gully are death traps.

 

Basically, If you were planing to go to bozeman I'd say go for it. But watch the weather closely and double check that the road is still ok before you go. If it doesn't snow much more this week it will be fine over the weekend.

 

Also, be smart about the climb you choose. Bring shovels and Avy gear, it's worth the extra weight. We saw some some parties doing some stupid shit this weekend. One group of four approached the Dribbles straight up the creek bed/avalanche runout, and then went over to climb Silken Skein Falls,which has a 2000ft avalanche gully directly above it... Many of the climbs can be safely approached in the trees. We spent 2 1/2 hours post holeing in the trees up to Cleo's Needle only to get turned back 100 yrds from the route due t a scetchy slope. I quoted Marsalis Wallace, "When you feel that sting, thats pride fuckin with you. You fight through that shit Butch..."

 

The next day we went up to the Dribbles, avoiding the scetchy boot pack. We opted to follow the trees and belay each other across the slope to the base of the climb, hugging the cliff band. Plowing through the deep snow pillows on the ledges on the route was the scariest part of the climb. We rapped of threads rather then decsend the normal Avalanch Gully raps. This took longer, but we felt it to be the safest choice.

 

Ice climbing rocks

[Skisports]

Good TR I will get back to you when I have time and when I get closer to heading out there

Dave