Finley Conditions

Submitted by snojonz on Sun, 01/10/2010 - 19:20

"Daggers" hasn't touched down, is wet. "Thing in between" is ghat, also wet. "Graineater" thin, bottom pitch still hasn't filled in, "Fox's" looks rough. Weedeater is in. Faily moderate temp in Finley today.

Was last in the canyon on Monday the 25th of Jan. Graineater was not to the ground, but it looked like you could get up it if you wanted to. Weedeater was fine. There was a pretty decent hunk of ice which I guess is Thing inbetween that was fine, if short. And the Dagger? look fun but a serious challenge

Thing in between: in, drippy, not as big as usual, but good. Mule Palace: curtain is not in, but can definitely be led. Daggers: probably wont touch down this season. super sketch. Graineater: first pitch (foxes corner) was not in at all Weedeater: the start looked super thin, but we saw some people on it? (who?, I dunno.) overall nice day... mission falls is probably awesome right now by comparison. ps: who were the the folks on weedeater? how was it?

Climbed Weedeater today. Definitely plenty of good thick ice on the route, didnt see any dripping water. This was my first time climbing it, so I dont know how it compares to "normal" conditions.

My partner greg and i were on weedeater today. we started up on the side of it, which was really thick. the start (maybe 15 more feet ) did look thin, but totally skippable. all the ice was amazing, really fantastic climbing in a great setting. we did the route in 3 pitches, short pitches.

awesome dude! we ended up leading thing in between and TRing mule palace. it didn't look thick enough at all. glad you guys were able to send. maybe we'll try next week. i've been trying to climb graineater for two years now--i'm wondering if it'll ever come in again.

was at mission 1/24/10 good ice dry but not as big as it usually is in Jan.Whispering Ice not in. A very big wet slide hit the trail from the N side of canyon looked like a D-12 Cat came down. Look out on o hot wet sno day. Orrin

Got a late start out on Tuesday. Quite a bit of snow on  the road up there, definitely worth keeping the shovel in your vehicle. Chained up the truck and made it mid-way up the last hill before the trailhead, we opted to back down and park lower. Weedeater looked in for the most part.  First pitch of Graineater looked rather thin but the second pitch looks great. Daggers is coming in nicely as well but has yet fill in (already looks fatter than last year). Thing in Between was wet with some sloppy conditions, should probably be left alone for a bit and allowed to fatten up in my opinion. The Grinch (?) mixed line was fun dry tooling as well. The upper curtain that spans the Grinch and Thing in Between was pretty thin but doable, given a little time it should plump up nicely. Overall a great day out for late November.Travel safe, -d

 

p.s. what's the consensus on the mixed line's name next to the Thing in Between? I had heard it referred to as Mule Palace, but the Big Sky ice guide has it listed as the Grinch?

 Thanks for the update, I was planning on heading up there this weekend.  The bolted mixed line just left of the thing is Mule Palace and goes at M5-6.  The Grinch is on the wall to the left and goes up the various horizontals.  

 On saturday, after failing to get to mission falls, we went to finley. Damienp your truck must be a beast, we couldnt get up the very first hill, apparently neither could  a tacoma or a forester parked at the bottom. we forged on adding an extra 1.5 miles or so to the approach, but it was well worth it. climbed weedeater which was good conditions the whole way. there was a lot of deep snow to fight on the approach but with the other 2 parties there some nice trails are forming. 

 Climbing Sunday 12/5.  Road is pretty snowy, made it to the lower parking area.  Chains would be a big help.  Take a shovel, too.  The climbing conditions are far better now than they were at anytime last year.  Climbed trucker's world and leatherman to good ice finishes.  Lower graineater has ice all the way to the ground, but it was pretty rotten.  Upper graineater is fat and wet.  Upper Fox's corner was the best ice by far.  Sticky and featured.  Lower fox's corner had a good bit of ice as well.  As long as the snow doesn't shut down the road, it'll be an awesome year out there.

Missoula Area Ice Conditions