Hyalite Archives

found shockingly good conditions on this typicaly shoddy route this morning. fat-fat-fat first pitch with little sun rot and decent ice on the top. do catch it early though; I topped out a little before 11 and it was starting to get hard sun...could be a mess in a few days. cheers just realized I should add that the notorious bushwack topout has been tamed considerably. just take the obvious line left of center and head for the hole in the willows.

[img]http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F8/1D/8E/iF81D8E4A-2B66-4C47-82FC-1BE1A277…] This is Brutus, a 3 year old, 600 lbs, grizzly bear, who tryed a little ice climbing himself. Though equipped with claws that would rival the best tools of the trade, he just could seem to muster up the energy to pull his big butt up what i would rank a WI 1. FYI- Brutus is one of three Grizzlies who call Montana Grizzly Encounter home. He was a captive born cub who was going to be euthanized since he could not be released.

Went up to the mummy on Friday. It wasn't touching which gave us some doubts but a closer look from the top of the rock pitch decided other wise. Dry tooling over on good ash/moss/choss sticks gets you to the ice comfortably despite the fact that it is not touching. Unfortunately once I was on the ice she came falling down though my tool was fortunately just above the fracture and I was able to finish the route. My partner Mike didn't have many problems reaching the ice, so despite the appearance the upper mummy ice is still reachable. One of the best routes I have ever climbed, enjoy.

Went up the main fork on saturday and climbed the dribbles and silken falls. The dribbles were fat, but hollow in spots with running water a few inches below the ice. This could easliy be avoided if needed. Silken falls, to the right of the Dribbles, was in great shape and we watched another party climb silken slot which they said was good but with a intresting last pitch. The climb above the dribbles looked to forming up good, but as usual the lower pitch was not touching down. Welcome back winter! Cheers

Looking for a group of climbers that wouldn't mind having me along to photograph some climbing. If you don't mind an extra along, let me know! Eric Lamanna elamanna AT mac.com 919-619-8431

Last weekend Jerry Johnson and I climbed the Silken Slot. This was a great climb and I've included 3 pictures in the order of the pitches. 1st pitch: [url]http://shares.lib.montana.edu/~eguss/sslot/ss4a.jpg[/url] no picture of 2nd pitch but it was VERY cool WI2. Part of it was like climbing a pile of golf balls frozen together. in between 2nd and 3rd pitch: [url]http://shares.lib.montana.edu/~eguss/sslot/ss5a.jpg[/url] 3rd pitch: [url]http://shares.lib.montana.edu/~eguss/sslot/ss2a.jpg[/url] All pictures by Jerry Johnson. Have fun! Erik Guss

Any body been up Hyalite in the last week who can give me a road report. A Blackmore ski report would be great also.

if anyone was out climbing in hyalite yesterday (sunday) they will really understand what it was like. we arrived late in the morning to the trailhead and stepped out into gloriously hot sunshine. traditional clothing was definetely a poor choice, so chris, becca and i, stripped down to our skiveys. i never thought i would really enjoy walking or even climbing in tights, (long underwear in our situation) but i quickly became quite fond of the strange looking, but very comfortable item.

apparently following whit magro's lead, kyle amstader and i followed the gully above elevator shaft to the ridge. about an hour above elevator shaft was a rock band with at least 5 separate climbs from WI2-5. buyer beware: heinous slogging involved. above this we kept slogging and ran into another rock band with a WI4 pillar and some little stuff to the side. above this, and with some nasty chest-deep slogging, we hit the upper rock bands and skirted (due to time) towards the right to top out a bit north of the true gully above elevator shaft.

Post up your info if you got out this weekend! Climbed Hangover on Saturday (along with lots of other people). Found the ice wet, but well formed, and had a great time on it. Road conditions: Really nice, no worries whatever your means of transportation. Now get out there, and stay safe.