California Ice-Jan 16th

At the beginning of last week's storms, Matt Herman and I heard the approach to California Ice was all the way to the trail. We didn't get there until the first wave snow hit and found the approach ice to be quite high up the gully with 6-12 inches of new snow over Beartooth Talus.

The slog up took us a little more than 2 hours to the base where we found the ice to be in nicely, but not fat like I'd expected. Even in the cold temps, this flow always drips. It made for a rimey day with the ropes and gear. We rapped off a v-thread to the treed shelf and out we went glissading the much of the top half of the descent. The left side pillar is in nicely. We didn't hit it this time, but it looks to be in V- condition.