Helena Area (Casey Falls) condition and pics

Sorry Didnt know where else to post these, but most importantly i am hoping to get a lesson in some ice terminology. I will give you my observations and hope to get some feed back on the lingo so i can learn, and not look like such a rookie everytime I am on this site. Made the long approach from the Casey Meadows trail head to Casey Falls (about 3 hours breaking trail). when we arrived the ice was fatter than i have ever seen it. The mountain temp was 7F, and yet a trickle sprayed off the front of the fall. The sides and back were still "dry" so i decided to give them a go. The fall was very icycle like, and with every swing and kick large chunks would just shear off making almost no holds. After climbing very little we decided the ice could be better and it was time to head back. Beautiful ice, good exercise, poor climbing, all wasnt lost and chalked it up for a lesson learned.