Horsetail Falls/Where are all the reports?

Submitted by Pudner on Sun, 11/17/2013 - 21:51
I know people are getting out and climbing but there aren't many reports going up. I always hear people talk about how there are so few recent reports, but those same people don't write anything. Let's keep it going so we can focus on routes that are in, especially this time of year. Headed up to Horsetail Falls today 11/17 since the column could be seen from the trail last Sunday. I figured if it had already formed last week, it should be pretty decent a whole week later. Well, the first pitch was ok - lots of snice, junk, and a few holes in the ice but it still took screws after the shitty top layer was removed. The next ice scramble was fine and good fun- about 15 feet of soloing easy ice between the two pitches. The second pitch (the Horsetail) was completely dry on the outside but just a giant straw still. It looks to be a thin shell with lots of space and water flowing through the center. I scrambled up, put in a screw to see how thick the ice was and it went right through to the hollow void. It looks like it would be a lot of fun to climb but not protectable and the top doesn't look very adhered to the rock. I know some folks probably would have climbed it, and I thought about it, but I think it'll be more fun when it's not so fragile. Decided to come back later in the season once it fills in a bit. I wasn't looking to collapse the whole damn thing. We did see some old melted out footprints leading to the creek crossing - I'm curious if it was climbed already and what that was like.