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coleman headwall / coleman glacier


thelawgoddess

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quote:

Originally posted by fishstick:

Don't get me wrong, it is worth going. If less experienced, or travelling with less experienced, get onto the glacier via the lower trail (via usual AAI campsite). The normal upper trail offers better bouldering, but the route through the icefall has exposed sections.


thanks! another q: less experienced ice climbing or with glacier travel? also, i've never "bouldered" on ice - is that just like sport climbing, to mean climbing without ropes?

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By less experienced, I mean less experienced climbing ice. There are places in the icefall where a fall on relatively easy terrain could prove to be fatal.

 

By bouldering, I mean soling around on ice without a rope. The Coleman glacier is like a frozen Fontainebleau. It offers more variety, more stability and a better approach than anywhere else I know of (except maybe Ouray).

 

GB

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whatever...the ice climbing on the coleman is as hard as you want it to be. You can traverse, go up short faces, top rope, place screws...anything.

 

I went last october and it was great. But be prepared for the cold and wind, i.e. bring a puffy coat for standing around in.

 

Look out for fresh snow drifts that may hide holes/small crevases.

 

Ice climbing is dangerous, have a blast! [big Grin]

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I haven't done the Coleman headwall, but have done a bit of seracing this year.

 

Overall conditions aren't as good as previous years. It's more broken up with fewer options in the intermediate range of climbing. In previous years there were quite a few options in the 85-90 degree range that offered superb highball boulder problems. This year walls tend to be steeper or suffer from objective hazard due to neighboring instability. A number of difficult top rope problems exist, but running laps on such tends to be tiring not only for the arms, but also for motivation.

 

Don't get me wrong, it is worth going. If less experienced, or travelling with less experienced, get onto the glacier via the lower trail (via usual AAI campsite). The normal upper trail offers better bouldering, but the route through the icefall has exposed sections.

 

In terms of conditions, I can only guess (missed last weekend). Given the colder night time temps beginning this week, expect the ice to become increasingly brittle especially in the morning and in shady areas. If bouldering, it makes sense to climb in the sunny areas high on the icefall for the first few hours of the day. Ice conditions will vary remarkably with solar radiation. Pray for a bit of rain. The moisture pumps heat into the ice and will improve conditions (or maintain them) for another few days.

 

GB

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I was on the lower section of the glacier on Sunday, and conditions were great. There is hardly any new snow, so crevasses and slots are still pretty obvious.

 

I also saw two huge seracs collapse out in the middle of the icefall with zero warning, so its always a good idea to be aware of what's above you.

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avenues are leaning in that direction...where all will you be pitching camp? Look for you there, praps. I'm trying to russle up some perpetrators of similar ilk for a weekend of lowgrade icebashing french footwork and frointpointing-anyone else?

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i'd give ya a ride, but i am comming from the north. we decided to skip the summit and just crag and do crevasse rescue for a newbie buddy instead, so we are bringing some BC Merlot from the Okanogan to go with our green stuff...seey a friday night and saturday and mabe asturday night guys...lawgoddess...are you comming as well?

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my latest season of gainful unemployment just ended today and am sorry to report I will not be bringing the cornichons and grand crus this weekend...DAMN my unemployed climbing stint didn't last nearly long enough, i was hoping to avoid work like I did in the eighties

 

[ 10-31-2002, 12:04 AM: Message edited by: Beck ]

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quote:

Originally posted by Fence Sitter:

see you guys up there...we will be camping at the foot of the glacier friday night (as we are leaving canada late afternoon). we'll have some KGB form canada if interested in some o' that B.C. goodness... cya up there...
[big Drink]

Will y'all be up there saturday night as well? cause the canada KGB is oh so tempting.

[Wazzup]

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