Cooke City Ice Conditions

Bruce Miller (Boulder, CO), Rusty Willis and I went to Cooke City during the LOW avalanche danger on Fri/Sat Jan 25 and 26.  We climbed Marlboro Madness which was way fatter than the guidebook picture.  Great ice on first pitch and ran the next two together with a 70m rope.  The approach nor descent were pleasant.  We had skis (2hr 20min in); snowshoes would likely be no better.

 I can quit climbing now because I finally got on The Hyromonster. Got a little lost on the approach but it was in great shape and every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be.

Sam Hennessey and I spent a great couple days down in the cooke city area climbing some ice.  We climbed Triplet and found it to be a very enjoyable route and it is still in good shape, although the sun is starting to affect the first pitch a bit.  We agreed each pitch to be about WI4+, with the spectacular "crack pillar" pitch being the crux.

 Anyone know how to get there before the road opens later on? I'd like to climb it, but would prefer to not wait until May for safety reasons. Honestly, I'm pretty unfamiliar with the park so I don't know where it's located but I've heard it would be difficult to reach. Know what map I should look for?  Approach via skis? Snowmobile (was told this is illegal)? foot? 

Just looking for adventure.

Anybody been up to Barronette Peak lately? How's the creek crossing?  Avi potential? Any info is most appreciated.

yo-

trails broken and tracks are set to Dancin w the hippo. she's in great shape, still getting fresh feed on the upper half, but the column won't last forever.  the approach heads west past the hippo drainage gaining the rock band at the skull cave and traverses back on exposed ledges, be careful!  its possible and basically essential to skin all the way to the base.

Hey yall,

Does anyone know the conditions of things in Cooke?  I have some German friends in town.  They are looking to get down there and get busy.  How much snow, whats in? Cheers.

I was sad and a little shocked to read this yesterday:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_3d96…

Although I didn't know them, these guys sound like classic ice climber / adventurers, aiming to climb one of the spectacular climbs in a pretty remote part of the park. My condolences go out to everybody who climbed with them or knew them.

Let's be careful out there.

Dana, Megan and I had a great day over by Cooke City today. Here is what we saw/found. Considering the warmish weather we've been having, it's going off over there!

The South Face of Abiathar (above the picnic area) has some drips but nothing is formed.

Marlboro Madness looked big, blue and FAT! There is a curtain to start that you can't see that is the crux but my educated guess is that it's pretty good. This is one of the best routes in the Cooke area and really only worth doing early season before too much snow. Which is NOW!