cfire Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 (edited) Trip: Hyalite - Some ice 2/19-2/24 Date: 2/19/2009 Trip Report: Sometimes getting old gets old. Multiple aches and pains seem to take longer to heal and something always hurts. I hurt my thumb?? skiing the previous week and it still hurts. The year old tendonitis in my elbow still nags. My shoulders are trashed from years of ice climbing. Yet we still go. The 3 Geezers went on their annual ice climbing/drinking fest for February and as usual all of the aches and pains melted away on the cold ice, and the multiple brews we tested each night helped as well. After 10 straight years of going to Canmore/Banff, we decided maybe it was time to start a new tradition and try somewhere else. I have relatives in Bozeman, so accomodations were cheap. Same drive time as Banff, lets go! I'd been there a couple of times, but neither of the other two had ever been climbing in Montana. Geezer2 drove up to my place from Portland the previous night and Geezer1 met us at my house bright and early for the drive. This was when Geezer2 announced that he thought he might have forgotten some key piece of gear. He described some metal sticks with pointy things on the end and after some sign language and jumping up and down we figured out that they were ice tools. Early stage dementia had reared it's ugly head early this trip! We loaded up in the car and drove up to Geezer1's house and grabbed his old Pulsars. Ominous start to be sure. The drive to Bozeman was uneventful and Geezer2 slept in the back of the car 4/5's of the time as we old people are want to do. Arrived in Bozeman, checked out the accomodations that happened to be a relatives empty house as they were on vacation in S.Cal. The "Clumsy Lovers" were playing in town so we went out to hang with the college kids and drink until the wee hours while listening to great music. Next morning was clear in town, but as we drove up to Hyalite the skies darkened and it was blowing snow in the lot. We decided to go up and warm up on Dribbles and blow the cobwebs out. Dribbles middle right. Pic taken from across valley. We left the car in the driving snow and proceeded to wander around in circles for almost an hour looking for the right trail. "No those aren't our tracks, I know where we are".We finally found what we thought was right and arrived at Dribbles in deep snow. Fun climbing, although Geezer2 opted out of pitch 2 due to a ski injury to his back. Geezer1 and I continued up good ice. We spent the rest of the day playing on top-rope while Geezer2 worked the kinks out of his back and was soon up to form. A night of drinking again led to a foggy next morning, although the skies were clear. 3degrees at the car was a bit extreme, but we decided to go for Mummy CoolerII and the Sceptor. Both were great, although we were hiding from the waterfall on the Sceptor when the sun hit the climb. The next morning, Geezer1 awoke looking like poo-poo and crawled back into bed with the sweats and announced he wasn't moving for a day. Geezer2 and I decided to give Cleopatra's needle a go as I hadn't done it and the temps were mild. Cleo's. Notice the 2 caves behind the main pillar. ] We humped our way up to the base and decided that we should "thread the needle", which requires going up the right side. The first pitch was straightforward: Nice belay cave to check the views. Airborne Ranger not quite thick enough: You can find a WI5 pitch anywhere, but when do you have the chance to climb up the back of a pillar, through a small opening into another cave and then do a wild exit onto a WI5 pillar? Looking up at the hole I wasn't sure I would fit through the opening, but I gotta try. After barely getting my shoulders through, I'm doing light wrist flicks onto bad ice to try and get sticks. I couldn't bend my elbows to swing. I also couldn't bend my knees, so I had to walk my toes up chandeliered ice. After grunting groaning spitting and cussing my way up I finally emerged in the upper cave. I had to take 5 just to catch my breath after the thrutch. The step out of the cave had big exposure and was way cool: Geezer2 had a bit of a easier time in the birth canal as he's a wee lad. What a great climb! 2 Buds on top. Doesn't get any better. The rappell: The next day Geezer2 had rallied and was ready to go. Geezer2 &3 were a bit whipped, so we chose something a bit easier and went for Slot Corner and Land of the Lost, which brings you directly under Winter Dance. After chatting with Conrad Anker and Peter Croft in the parking lot we headed up valley. Good climbing with a alpine feel. Slot Corner: Leading up to Land of the Lost: Geezer1 topping out: Good thing that climb over his shoulder wasn't in or he would have made us go for it: That night we celebrated a great trip by closing down the bars and making the drive home looong. Geezer1 drove the whole way and dumped us out in the driveway. Great trip with good friends. Seems like the ice trips get better and better despite the aches and pains...go figure. Gear Notes: Leashes(we're old), pointy things, Guinness Approach Notes: Wander around on wheelchair trails, foot paths and dog trails until you figure it out. Edited March 4, 2009 by cfire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Awesome! Nice job Team Geezer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Nice work! Great to see people taking advantage of the road being plowed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Awesome. Posting from the road. Heading in tomorrow.Thanks for posting the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trent Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Chris: Sounds like a great trip; at least you all did more climbing than we did! Happy to hear that Jim was not out of play for too long. Go team geezer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfire Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 Great to see people taking advantage of the road being plowed The parking lot was loaded all weekend and there were always cars in the lot even on weekdays. 10-15 skiers passed us on the way out Sunday. They all were up at Hyalite Lake skiing the bowls. Ice climbers all over, day hikers, dogs. Anker and Croft were guiding a bunch of people on Genesis. Everyone got along and we saw very few people on climbs we wanted to do. Seems like the place begs to remain plowed and open all winter from now on, but Conrad said we should all write a letter to the Forest service stating how much we enjoyed driving to the end of the road as the long term is still up in the air. Team Geezer plans on a return engagement next year as I think we missed tasting a Nut Brown at the Ale House. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.