[TR] Hyalite Canyon - Mummy Cooler Area - 11/27/2009

[AlpineMonkey]

Trip: Hyalite Canyon - Mummy Cooler Area -

 

Date: 11/27/2009

 

Trip Report:

 

Having a blast here in Hyalite. I've never seen so much ice all in one area. Weather is not too cold, not too hot, not too much snow...everythings perfect.

 

Mummy Cooler II

 

 

Crypt Orchid

 

 

 

The Matrix - The Winter Dance book has a picture of this route describing it in fat conditions, showing mostly rock as a mix climb. We climbed it all ice.

 

 

 

Cave & Gully

 

 

Gear Notes:

Winter Dance

[cbcbd]

The Matrix looks pretty sweet - nice!

[spionin]

hey,

how's the weather looking?

it was getting quite inverted and warm up in the canyon by the time we left (wednesday) - 28F in town, 51F on our drive up to the main lot!

 

hope the ice is keeping stable for you guys.

[chimbo]

Any south facing stuff in? I haven't been to Hyalite and am interested but wonder how crowded it gets. Glad you guys got some early season ice in.

[John Frieh]

Any south facing stuff in?

 

Yes

 

Nice TR Craig! PS: told you so!

[AlpineMonkey]

Climbing somewhat slower as a party of three, we got in 11 different one pitch routes over 3.5 days of climbing.

 

Our first couple of days (during the holiday) at the end of the Hyalite Canyon road there were about 4 cars total in the parking lot and we had all the good stuff to ourselves. On Sunday when we left there were about 30 cars by around 11am.

[dan_e]

Climbed with a local on 11/27-28. First day was warm, above freezing. The second day was much better, a bit of new snow, clear and sunny with temps around 20 degrees (near perfect ice climbing weather).

 

Spent Friday climbing G1, G2, Hangover and then finished with some TR on the stuff right of G1. All the climbs were a bit thin, but felt like the grades listed in the guides. Hangover was the thinnest, however the shortest screws I use are 13cm and I only had a couple that only went at 10cm.

 

Saturday featured a warmup on Mummy 2, which is in 4- conditions and was a really fun climb. Next was The Scepter, it's in 5/5- shape and it's fun. Technical climbing on and around huge mushrooms with a bit of stemming on rock for the lower section. The upper section is 85 deg ice for about 10-15m. The ice was great and was easy to protect. The last climb was Crypt Orchid which was a nice, mellow cool down route. I wanted to stay and climb on Sunday, but I was riding solo so I only had two days of climbing for two days of driving, but it was well worth it!

 

Here's a couple of shots

 

Washington climber on Mummy 2 (I forgot his name)

 

The Scepter

 

This is my first time to Hyalite and I am hooked! I also would recommend the Backpackers Hostel for a cheap place to stay. I met a bunch on cool folks from all over the place.

[kublaicon]

[video:vimeo]7933428

 

 

Craig Gyselinck climbing The Matrix WI 4 in Fat Conditions. Normally this climb goes at WI4 M5. livin the Hyalife fo sho.

 

 

if you click the vimeo button, you can go to the vimeo site and watch full screen.

 

 

[JoJo]

To answer some of the questions posed above:

 

If you are looking at the Bozeman weather, the temps over the last month may have looked sketchy for Hyalite Ice. Quite the opposite! 50 degrees in Bozeman more often translates into perfect temps for Hyalite. It's been going off up there for over a month now. It's the best year in years. It's getting quite cold right now so it's only getting better.

 

Hyalite doesn't get very crowded, at least when compared to most Canadian Rockies or Colorado routes. The Genesis area, Mummy II and Corner climbs get busy on the weekends but the scene is very low keyed with a great vibe. I typically do The Matrix and Champagne Sherbert at least a couple of times a year and I've never seen another person on either. Even the Unnamed Wall is surprisingly uncrowded most of the time. During the Ice Festival Dec 11-13 it might get a bit busier than usual since the clinics take up Genesis 1 & 2 and Mummy 2. But that leaves about 130+ other routes (with everything from WI 2-3 to easy mixed to as hard as you want to climb up to WI7 and M12) for you to go do. The canyon is used by more than just climbers so don't let the number of cars in the parking lot scare you. I did Dribbles last year in March and there were 20+ cars in the parking lot. We didn't see another soul all day other than in the parking lot. Go to the East Fork or the Upper Main Canyon and you'll likely have it all to yourself!

 

Some one asked about south facing routes. Aspect isn't as big a deal here as it is in the South Fork of the Shoshone near Cody. Hyalite Canyon runs north-south.

 

Guy Lacelle and I spent yesterday in Hyalite and I put a condition report up at Montana Ice Dot Com http://montanaice.com/node/1227 with all the details.

 

Hope to see you up there!

JoJo

 

 

 

[JoJo]

If there was ever any doubt about the ice in Hyalite, check out this stat:

 

At 3:00 am December 1st it was 27.5 degrees Farenheit at 8,100 feet in Hyalite Canyon.

At 11:00 pm December 1st it was negative 5.7 degrees Farenheit.

 

From: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=754&state=mt

 

Bring it on!

[John Frieh]

Note to self: never ever give Craig the entire rack of screws. Ration as needed.

[tomtom]

For Montana 5.9, that first column of The Matrix took screws pretty well.

 

 

The moss at the top of Feeding the Cat did not, however.

 

Edited December 2, 2009 by tomtom

[AlpineMonkey]

Note to self: never ever give Craig the entire rack of screws. Ration as needed.

 

I was alpine training...birthday boy.

[JoJo]

The top of Feeding the Cat is "Mossome!"

 

FYI: When I first published "Winter Dance" no one had ever seen The Matrix fully formed. That is one reason the caption calls it "fat." In fact, it had only been climbed a handful of times as late as 2003. Now it's a trade route, not to mention being more accessible thanks to the road being plowed. It's about every third year or so that it comes in big like this year.

[AlpineBEAU.509]

hey im thinking of heading to hyalite this weekend. how is the access road??

[JoJo]

The road is fine. It's plowed now to the Grotto Falls Parking Lot between December 1st and April 1st. The Gallatin County crews might not get to right away after a snow storm since it's lower on their priority list but it will get done none-the-less.

 

This dreamy situation is the result of several years of negotiation between climbers, skiers, other community members, Gallatin County and Gallatin National Forest. Two years ago the Forest was planning on gating the entire road at the bottom all winter long. To make a long story short, that is no longer the case and it's not only open but also plowed. Thanks to the recent stimulus packages, guard rails were installed along the lower road to keep the yahoos out of the creek and polluting Bozeman's water supply. On that note, the road can get quite slick or if it's snowing hard for the day it can pile up quickly. A good car, snow tires, a shovel and a healthy dose of respect, patience and common sense is still required.

 

The East Fork Road is not plowed but is still open until January 1st. After that you would have to ski into Palisade or Flanders or the other East Fork Routes (the road is a popular XC ski trail so there is usually a good track).

[AlpineBEAU.509]

sounds great, my partner was concerned about the road due to a sticky situation some years ago. Thankyou very much for the information.

cheers