Road and ice, 12/16-20

On Friday we wallowed up to Twin Falls. The snow was particularly deep after we turned left in the established track under the rock wall (sorry, don't know the name). Traversing from Cleo's to Twin was hip to chest deep. Twin is in good shape with accumulated snow on the lower angle sections. The topout on the left side was particularly reminiscent of my home-range, the Cascades, as we plowed through steep, deep snow to the anchors. Cleo's was led by another party. It looked to be in good shape, too. Saturday was butt-cold. The thermometer in my 4Runner got as low as -22F while driving in, but it 'warmed' to -15 by the time we reached the lot. I drove into the ditch and we had to winch ourselves out, but it was a driving error on my part, not the road. We spent the day at G1 and the Diversions so we'd be close to the car in case anyone got too cold. The routes there are in the same shape they were in when I was there in February 2002: Lots of water is making for lots of ice. Sunday was cut short by the SAR. We went up to the amphitheater area and climbed the two left-hand routes (sorry, names elude me) and the mixed line between them. The ice was an interesting combination of running wet and brittle. A route on the far right side seems to be in. I don't recall seeing it before. I walked out past Mummy I which is in but has a lot of snow at the top and bottom. Monday we went up to Mummy II and The Sceptre. Both have a good bit of running water on them. Mummy II is in fine nick, with good gear and mellow climbing. The Sceptre is in pretty easy shape, though gear on the first half was for looks only (we led on the left column which is deep chandeliers). The upper half was fun climbing with decent gear. The trail up is in good shape, though steep and a bit slippery in a couple places. We approached via the amphitheater rather than the more direct trail because the amphitheater trail is more beaten in. The road got better every day. We never needed chains. It was a great trip for us. You don't know how good you have it with an ice resource like that just outside of town. Edit to add: Some pics are posted [url=http://mtncommunity.org/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=101&topic_id=…] - L