sill Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 The ice is generally still very good most places in the San Juans. The very cold temps of last week, -10 to -20 at night, have given way to pretty mild weather the last few days. The ice park is still very good, but the cold weather of the last couple of weeks have made the ice pretty spooky for leading. I saw two pretty big leader falls in the lead only area of the park, while I was in the bottom of the gorge getting ready to lead out, last Saturday. They happened within about fifteen minutes of each other. The ice in the park generally has quite a bit of air in it, so watch your pro and use long screws when you can. The backcountry ice is about as good as it's going to get this winter. Ouray Camp Bird Road -Most of the climbs at the skylight area are in, but thinner than usual, like the Skylihgt route. -The Ribbon-In, but you have to be pretty certain about snow conditions -Birdbrain Boulevard-pretty much just a rock climb this year, no ice -Talisman-has seen some ascents, but the climbing is full on, first pitch may have sublimated away after very cold weather Hwy 550 -Horsetail Falls-In pretty fat, probably a 3+ at the moment -Gravity's Rainbow, Abraxus, Kennedy's Gully-They were all in and climbed the 11th,12th,13th by several parties and then melted out this past weekend. Hwy550 North of town Dexter Slabs-In, this is a good moderate climb with now real avy danger Silverton- All the popular routes are in and being climbed quite a bit. Snow conditions have been good but will probably change with next weather system moving through tonight. Telluride- Ames Ice Hose-Contrary to popular belief this route is still in and going strong, I climbed it Sunday and it was outstanding. We took the mixed rock start on the first picth, which offers awsome pick torques, dry tool edges and hand jams. The direct start could probably go but it would be of the x-rated variety. I climbed the direct start in December and it was thin and 5+/6 then and has much less ice now.The second pitch is the money, good steep ice pulling chockstones with stemming onto rock for feet in places, protected with small cams screws, and two fixed pins. The last pitch is 60 meters of steep brittle ice with no real rests. Best ice/mixed route I've done in the area this year. If your in the area this one should be on the top of your list. -Howards Fork-Vince Anderson is putting up some new bolted mixed routes in this small area. The ice is steep and pretty hooked out in places but the routes that are there are pretty good. -Bridalviel Falls-Seeing a lot more action as the winter has gone on. First two pitches are steep and in the 5+/6 range. Get an early start on both bridal viel and the ice hose so you don't get scooped. I hope this info is useful for people. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 went to do the ribbon on tuesday and decided not to once we got there. the first pitch is rather thin. a little too thin for our liking. and the approach wasn't looking so great either. (good day for soft slab slides!) so we headed up camp bird mine to check out some other stuff. anything small was falling off and most stuff had streams of water running down them. it was warm - i think it hit over 40 that day. the park turned out to be the safest bet. there's a lot of hooking going on there ... which is to be expected when you've got that many people climbing there day after day. hopefully it will get some coverage during the current storm. wednesday was also unseasonably warm up and into the 40's. we headed over to silver pick falls in telluride. it's in and looks really fun, but it's mostly freestanding and after testing the thin portion at the bottom we decided the risk wasn't worth it. it was not strong at all and just weighting picks caused shearing. best to come back after the heat wave has passed. ames upper falls is fat. left side is moderate. [center is to be avoided.] right is shorter but much more fun and you can do a mixed variation if you want. cool to have all that water running behind within view. we drove out to look at bridalveil. unfortunately neither of us lead wi6, so we just got to ooh, aah, and drool. a local guide said it's the fattest it's been in years. it looks sweet as sin. Quote
mountainbull Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 So how is the access issue with Bridalviel now? It sounds like it has mellowed out with the Mine. Eric Murphy Quote
thelawgoddess Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 ask three different locals about bv access and you'll get three different answers. some are saying it's still a poach and you should go on the weekend when the watchman is off duty. i personally don't know what the official status is right now and i'm not entirely sure how to find out ... but people are definitely climbing bv and i haven't heard of anybody getting in trouble. Quote
mountainbull Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 Good enough for me. Thanks TLG. I hope it hangs around until I get back from Argentina, and make it down to Colorado. I was in Telluride 2 years ago, but was talked out of scooping by locals. That piece of ice is one of the most beautiful climbs I have ever drooled over- I want it real bad........ Cheers! Eric Quote
thelawgoddess Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 well, if i'm still here when you get here and you need a follower ... Quote
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