ROAD CONDITIONS

Submitted by rminton on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 20:25
Anyone been up to the Hyalite reservoir lately? Is the road passable? Chains needed? Thanks for the info!

Made it up to the resevoir today. Didn't go any further but the road is very passable if you have some clearance. Hard but very very bumpy. Areas where its sloppy are easy navigated. Pretty easy to get up. Don't know about the climbing...it was 54 at the top when I was up there... Anybody know the status of the climbing?

Probably not to the resevoir...but we made it to practice rock with no problems in a subie. I havn't been up the road since saturday however...and I'm betting it's melted a considerable ammount.

Climbing is still OK on the shady northerly aspects before noon. End of season ice is a treat, but be careful! Heard Cody is out for the season and Coooke is still holding tough. Best, Conrad

Went up on Saturday 4/1. Ice was fat at G1 with most stuff still being climbable. The nicest part of all though....was that you can drive right in. The road is free! If you have a truck with decent ground clearance (I have 31 inch tires) you should be able to make it...if it doesn't snow too much tonight. I'll post some pictures of the ice later! Good times!

Aaron - Sorry about the bad Cody beta. We ran into some climbers who had just driven up and were lamenting the lack of ice. Guess they didn't know where to go. The Hyalite road is scheduled to be gated to vehicles, but still open to snomachines. (Need a confirmation on this.) We cilmbed Cleo's on Sat (Apr 1) - excellent condition - and nice weather. It recieves sun untill about noon (w/ DST). A few trucks ventured up but were sinking in once the snow softened up.

If you own a light toyota truck or something comprabale you can make it with no problems if your a fairly experienced winter driver. Don't drive your landcruiser up there quite yet...they are still far too heavy. Also be nice to your fellow climbers...even if they do piss you off by following you up in your pimped out $60,000 landcruiser with a little 1990 $4,000 toyota truck. We had an experience (us being in the little toyota) of running into a guy that had a little to much macho man testosterone poisoning. Refused to accept any help from us at all...instead made us sit around while he dug himself out. Rather inconvenient for all. He also sunk himself in the parking lot...and refused to accept help..so I had to park him in not being able to get around him. When he wanted to leave he said he'd winch me out of the way if I didn't come down and move my truck right away and [i]leave my partner who was up taking an anchor down[/i]. Although I highly doubted his ability to do this as he obviously was a rather poor offroader and in addition I was in park and had my e-brake on. This lack of patience did not sit well with me...especially when he made us sit behind him for hour and half while he was stuck right in the middle of the road...and refused help when offered...half wanted to go up and ask him to move because we really needed to leave right then just out of spite...but I held my tongue. He after digging himself deep holes would just leave us to navigate them by ourselves. If we had gotten stuck it could of been a nightmare as these holes were DEEP. Not the Hyalite code of ethics at all. My horror story being said...I've never ran into someone this inconsiderate up on the road before...and hope to never again...however if you are in his position at least have the balls to ask for help when it is offered. Don't make the people behind you wait. And what is often said: What goes around comes around...Karma. I'm assured by the fact that he'll get whats coming to him eventually. :roll:

Tyler, I think you misunderstood my parties' condition....no hard feelings buddy! I sent you a private message. This isn't the place to rip people apart. Alaskans don't be hatin' Alaskans. Take it easy!

[quote="conrad"] The Hyalite road is scheduled to be gated to vehicles, but still open to snomachines. (Need a confirmation on this.)[/quote] Any word on this?

Hello all, I was curious about the rumors of a road closure up in Hyalite, so I called up the Forest Service and asked about it. I was concerned that it was part of the travel plan, and that they would be closing the road early in the season down low. It's all OK, though. This is the deal: They are [i]considering[/i] closing it for a month or two this spring. Its not a part of the Travel Plan, and it wouldn't apply all season long. They have done this the last few years for a couple of reasons: 1) As the road melts out, its gets hammered during the mud season by traffic. This mainly only applies above the reservoir. 2) MSU graduation, combined with, shall we say, 'irresponsible forest users', results in trash, campfire remnants, shotgun shells, abandon couches, shot out signs and restrooms .... you get the picture. Again, this is not part of the official travel plan, which is still "under construction," and won't be implemented until next year ( at the earliest). I was told that the FS may even choose not to close the road this year, because of the confusion between this action and the Travel Plan.

Jim: Thanks for the update; but more importantly, thanks for another year with this terrific forum. Cheers, Et
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