Went up to Upper Greensleeves on a claggy, blustery New Year's Day. There was reminants of a trail so the approach wasn't too bad. We did belay across the loaded gully just below the routes. They are in fine shape, if not a good exercise in variable WI3 conditions.
It seems the high avalanche hazards have extended to Hyalite, as there were whoomping little pockets all over the place.
With the new access situation, it seems to me that we all need to pay closer attention to the avy hazard in Hyalite. Most of us are not familiar being up there later in the season so there is collectively less experience with the snow conditions throughout the season in Hyalite.
Fortunately for ice climbers, there are plenty of routes in Hyalite where you can avoid the bad snow. If nothing else, most of the pockets you'll need to cross are short and can be belayed.
The G2-Hangover area can be bad for sucker pockets of loaded snow. The big gullies like Avalanche Gulch (imagine that), The Scepter, Mummy Cooler, Zach Attack, Silken Falls, Responsible Family Men, Solstice, Land of the Lost, Kansas Cornfield and others are undoubtedly of great concern. Twin and Cleos are relatively safe except for the big slope directly below Cleos. Unnamed Wall has little, if any, avy concern.
Don't forget about the great East Fork/Flanders routes that are free of avy hazard: Palisade Falls, Slight of Hand, Champagne Slot & Sherbert.
In general it seems most people are spending their time at G1. Despite rumors I've been hearing to the contrary, the ice all over Hyalite is in great shape. The more we all get out there and have fun on the ice, the better the trails will be and the easier it will be to get around. We have three full months of great climbing to enjoy while the road stays open.
Hope to see you out there!
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thanks for the update jojo -
thanks for the update jojo - we found significant windslab in the pocket below g2 yesterday and I was wondering how the traverse over to sleeping giant might be for you...
I'll note that while the unnamed wall is objectively free from avy hazard, the common bootpack approach is not and that as the season progresses, we may collectively consider pushing the trail to the right, into the trees lower down and resist any urges to bomb straight down that huge open field below the left-hand routes.
Speaking of avys ...
My partner and I climbed The Dribbles on Dec 28 in the wind. On the descent, we kicked off an avy on the last rappel at the bottom of the lowest ice step in Avalanche Gulch (Imagine that). The wind and spindrift coming down the gulley just pounds the snow there and created unstable windslab. My partner had just unclipped from the rappel rope and was traversing over to the cave climbers right when one foot started moving down hill. There was about a 2 foot crown starting near the ice.
Glad to miss that one.
Hyalite avalanches
I second everything JoJo wrote, especially in light of the avalanche fatality in Cody on the Main Vein. Although its rare for large slides to happen up Hyalite, the small ones are the ones that will likely kill you.
JoJo correctly mentions the climbs to watch out for. Thankfully the snowpack up Hyalite is currently more stable than the Cooke City area and other southern ranges. But as the accident in Cody shows, we need to be vigilent in our snow assessments and back off if it feels weird. Postholing across a wind pocket above a cliff is high stakes. Lets be safe out there and keep each other informed if you find some instabilities.
Safe Climbing!
Silken Falls avy
Our group was up on Silken Falls on Jan 2, and we ran into instability as well. The wind was unbelievable all day long, pounding us with graupel and wiping out tracks almost as fast as we could make them. I topped out via the low-angle gully that angles up and right above the second pitch, and then went left to a tree belay. The second came up to inspect our descent options on the right side. As he stepped onto a rib just below the first big tree on the right, he triggered a slab about 20' above him that broke about 18" deep and 40' wide. Fortunately he was on belay and able to get out of the way, and our partners below were far enough to the left to be safe from the slide too. We got out of there quickly, but the wind was definitely reloading the same pocket as we rapped out of there. Unless you're heading up to the climb above the dribbles, I wouldn't recommend going any further than the top of the second pitch, which now has a v-thread in it.
Garrett
Gully right of feeding the cat
I was at feeding the cat yesterday and the gully to the climbers right of it made a huge whomp as a fracture ran across the width of the gully.