[TR] Hyalite - Various 11/25/2010

[dan_e]

Trip: Hyalite - Various

 

Date: 11/25/2010

 

Trip Report:

2 1/2 days of climbing in the canyon with Jpark. The ice was super fat for this time of year. Highlights of the trip were The Elevator Shaft, The Thrill is Gone and The Dribbles (p1+2). We also got on G2 and Hangover.

 

The Elevator Shaft was fun, great ice and a beautiful climb. One thing to note is that climb (to the highest tree anchor) is 50m, not 75m as stated in Winter Dance.

 

The Thrill is Gone was fat, ice all the way to the ground and took decent screws (no rock pro).

 

The Dribbles was good, but the approach was a bit longer than I expected and the approach trail to the base of climb was postholing. We were both a bit injured so we decided to bail. We also learned how the climb got its name, at around 60m the left and right sides were dripping like crazy (in full sun). I would go earlier next time or climb it when it's overcast.

 

Approaching the Dribbles

 

 

Jpark on The Elevator Shaft

 

 

Gear Notes:

Standard ice rack, smaller screws for The Thrill is Gone.

 

Approach Notes:

Lots of snow, most trails packed out in the woods, but wind blow snow created deep snow on some of the approaches.

 

The road is in great shape and if you have a truck of awd it takes no time to get to the parking lot. Not so great for the guy in the Corolla that lost it while were coming out.

[kevino]

Any pictures of 'the thrill is gone?" Its fun to see it in its always varying conditions. Good climbs you got on! Good job.

[Alex]

Hi Dan, I've been here since Thursday, I'm surprised we havent run into each other!

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Any pictures of 'the thrill is gone?" Its fun to see it in its always varying conditions. Good climbs you got on! Good job.

 

Here are some pics of Thrill, as was stated it is all ice and ice gear now, although I found a spot to place one cam so I could pretend I was mixed climbing.

 

 

 

 

Mummy Cooler II was also fat

 

 

The Scepter looks good in this photo but was hollow and running at the bottom so I TR'ed. Actually, except for 20 feet of runny, wet chandeliers at the bottom, it would have protected pretty well.

 

 

It was nice to run into about 3/4s of the Seattle and Bellingham ice crew out there. The ratio was about 1 MT climber to 10 WA climbers. All the locals I know thought we were dumb to play on the ice since the skiing was better than anyone could remember at this time of year. Bridger's epic opening day on Friday was a perfect rest day in between two nice ice days.

[phil_tatman]

Nice seeing you guys out there. You should have ventured over to Frenchman falls with us on the way home. . . .looking goood. I'll try to get a pic of it up shortly along with the stuff we did in hyalite as well.

[kevino]

That is a lot of ice!

 

And yes, the skiing for the last week has been amazing!

[dan_e]

It seems like WA climbers do dominate Hyalite. I think it's mostly due to the road being open on a regular basis. This is my second trip and I am hooked!

 

As for snow vs. ice, IMO that's a no-brainer, but that's me. If MT ice climbers lived here for a season they would understand. Sure the snow was great, but the ice conditions were amazing for this time of year.

 

 

 

[prussik1]

Headed there in two weeks, thanks for the stoke!