Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 10, 2011 - 04:32pm PT
silver strand is shaping up
Credit: mctwisted
silver strand and artist bowl
Credit: mctwisted
tis the season, and some things are starting to look climbable, thought you hardcore guys like vitaliy would want to see this.
the strand is getting fatter every day, still has a hole in it where theres running water, and the first pitch is a little thin, but crux ice pitch looks thick enough. it probably is climbable but not protectable. ive seen it be alot better for leading, might be good in about a week???. artist bowl is looking thin. widows tears is not even close to having enough there
i have a bit of carpentry work to do up in foresta off and on this next month, so ill try to take pics every week when i drive by
also when reading the tahoe ice thread a guy was asking about easy to get to ice to play on in yosemite. we used to go up near nevada falls, not the mist trail but i think its the john muir trail, and right before the top of nevada falls, theres alot of ice on the trail itself, with t.r.ing below the wall (100+ feet?) and leading/bouldering on a blast cut above the trail, this is like 12' vert and then slab ice for 50'? all fairly mellow and a great spot to play for a few hours, with incredible views
That was me looking for noob ice beta... Thanks for the tip!
... wife and I met Sue last year while staying in one of the cabins. Didn't connect the names to the faces! Might have been stoopit enough to say we'd been climbing (you know, like some gnarly 7's?...).
<sheepish grin>
holly's right. upper sentinel falls looks pretty good, thats the section above the unconnected fang, (the fang i believe only had one ascent when walt and fosberg went up and did the whole enchilada from the ground (pretty sick stuff)
that upper sent. is i think 4 pitches of fun wi3, and stays good for awhile(stable)
where the strand and widows tears will fall off with a warm spell,sent. stays good
two ways to approach, now with the lack of snow, the four mile trail is the way to go, or if it snows a bit climbers can ski/snowshoe from badger, actually now if the road was open to badger you could ride your bike out there with the lack of snow (on the glacier point road)? but i bet its closed to the bottom till the ski area gets up to speed
Thanks for the pics and conditions comments, mctwisted.
Scoped out ice conditions with binoculars on Wednesday (12/14/11).
Despite our wishful thinking, the Widow's Tears, Silver Strand, and Artist Bowl ice (also called Octopussy?) still appeared too thin. Developing, but not there, yet. We went with our fall-back plan (as expected) to climb warm rock in the sun on Wednesday and Upper Sentinel Falls ice on Thursday.
Widow's Tears, Silver Strand, and Artist Bowl ice on 12/14/11.
Credit: BMcC
Sentinel Falls - with 4 well formed upper pitches, Yabo's Tooth touching down, and water pouring down the bottom 4 pitches of the falls (the Dream Stream) on 12/14/11.
Credit: BMcC
Upper Sentinel Falls on 12/15/11. The 3rd and 4th pitches from the top were pretty wet in the early afternoon (the temp had been 25 in camp at 4 a.m. in the Valley, but rose to the mid-40s).
good job BMcC
yeh every ice climb ive ever done here has been wet, just part of the west side ice program, i remember on the crux pitch of upper sentinal putting in my tool and punching a hole that immediately started covering me with water like a hose on full blast
19 degrees here in e.p. so ice is still building
i bet it was nice not having to trudge around in 3' of snow up top to get to the base of the route
thanks for the pics, that is very inspiring,
if anyone is thinking of doing any ice in yosemite please let me know so i can take some pics from down below, thanks
dan
p.s. glacier point road open, which saves many hours of hiking to get in position to do upper sentinal falls
Wow. Those Valley ice climbs could be the ultimates if they would only freeze up. Tempted to make the poor choice and buy a plane ticket as I have two weeks of vacation right now.
Let us know!