Genesis 1

On any given day, you might see some of the best and most experienced ice climbers anywhere right along side college kids out for the first time ever. Despite the occasional crowds, the G1 atmosphere remains pleasantly upbeat and encouraging. Historically, Genesis I is only the left side flow. Since the early 1990’s, not without some controversy, a small portion of the main flow has been diverted over the steep cliff band to the right. The subsequent amount of ice varies from year to year, depending on the cold patterns in early season. In some seasons, the area can easily accommodate up to ten top-ropes and other years it might be only four.

Approach: Walk north out of the entrance to the parking lot. Less than a hundred feet from the parking lot, look for an obvious trail through the trees to the right. This continues through clear cuts directly to G1 in about 20 minutes. You arrive at the route on top of a small hummock. G1 is the area to the right. There is a small seep just left of the hummock known as Willow Gully.

Setting Top-Ropes: To set up top ropes, reach the top by walking around to the right. Be sure to mind yourself near the edge and first check out your intended line from the bottom, to get a rough idea of the proper tree to use at the top.

Climbing: Due to the variability of ice formation, its short height and the local ethos of maintaining this as a top-roping area; none of the potential mixed or dry tool routes are bolted for leading, nor should they be. Although it varies year to year, the wall is characterized from climbers left to right as follows: The ice on the far left of G1 is the easiest at WI 3. It is often covered in small mushrooms and in warm weather may have several holes of open water. Historically, before the diversions, this was the original G1 route. The left-hand margin of the ice is often top-roped as a thin-ice or drytooling exercise. Typically, all of these lines use a large stump on the left side of the creek bed as the anchor. This long-dead feature can be backed up with trees some 50 feet up and left. Just to the right, the wall starts to get steeper particularly at the top (WI 4). There is a small tree near the top of the original route that can be used as a directional but under no circumstances should it be used as a primary anchor. The best anchor(s) for the right side of the original route are the series of trees in the flat area right of the main creek bed. Moving right across the wall, the lines quickly become steep pillars up to WI 5 depending on conditions. These often fail to reach the ground leaving interesting thin ice and dry-tooling sections. In fact, the “window” of rock between the original Genesis ice and the major pillar to the right is home to the best dry-tool line on the wall. In a big year, this entire area will be a solid wall of ice. The right side of the G1 Wall is home to another big ice pillar that also varies in size and consistency. This was historically known as “Wet & Wild”. It can form a single column with a free-hanging dagger to the right (with very hard dry tooling behind it) or as a broad series of icicly-pillars. Immediately right of these pillars is a slight corner that can be a brilliant thin-ice route or bulked out to WI 4. On the far right, any variety of thin ice problems might be found.

Descent: Rappel off tree anchors or walk off climbers right. If replacing or backing up the permanent sling anchors, please remove any worn out or tattered slings.