Walls to do in the Winter

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Messages 1 - 8 of total 8 in this topic

clustiere

Trad climber

phoenix ,az

Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 14, 2003 - 01:04pm PT

I don't know about every one else but I start going to Zion around the beginning of November every fall and I stay there untill May when I might start going to the Valley (and there are some bad winter synoptics then). So I was hoping to change that this year and I was wondering what are the drier months in the valley in the winter (ie in Silverton snows November, then stops untill February). WHat would be good freeclimbs to do, big walls (V-VI).

DEE

Trad climber

Orange County

Nov 14, 2003 - 01:16pm PT

Just a suggestion, but how about the other desert big walls? Red Rocks has The Rainbow Wall and others, Baboquivari near Tucson has a big wall, El Gran Trono Blanco in north Baja offers one of the more adventurous big walls around (Giraffe and Pan Am(don't let the info that the Pan Am is free stop you!)). The south face has great long free climbs. The 4 corners area has some "quasi" legal, as well as full on legal walls.

clustiere

Trad climber

phoenix ,az

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2003 - 01:23pm PT

Rainbow wall is great, but in the winter this is one of the few places that snow sticks around during the winter in Red Rocks and it slowly trickels down the cracks. Pan Am and GIraff Sound good, yet Im waiting till nex year when I live in SCAL to get Beta on this place. Sounds like you need to have good road info to get here, but I don't know. Wanna share some secrets. My friend Rusty Ballie and David Lovejoy have done a ton of climbing down there, but they are out of state for the year.

weekender

climber

Oaklanc CA

Nov 14, 2003 - 02:12pm PT

Half Dome is outstanding in winter; scenic and quiet. No waiting lines or parties to pass is an added incentive to give it a shot.

DEE

Trad climber

Orange County

Nov 14, 2003 - 02:14pm PT

Dang, I haven't been there recently enough to remember the drive. Took me two trips originally to find the place.It IS cruxy, so beta would help. Sorry.

Mike

climber

Orange County CA

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2003 - 03:25pm PT

There are always stints of great weather throughout the winter in YV; planning on them well in advance is a crap shoot, obviously. It could be all-time for a month straight, with south-facing descents relatively snow-free. Ya might be surprised at the lineup on the Column SF - lots of traffic going up there all winter. A bit less toward Leaning Tower, but super do-able, including the gully descent (in full conditions it helps to know the anchor location in the middle of the initial slab, but the rest are quite visible even with 3' of snow on the ground). Hardy types do the right side of the Captain - whatch for falling ice at the base and lower on those routes, esp around mid-morning. Bring more water than you think - the temps can be 15 degrees warmer on the walls than the valley floor. It's a completely different world there in winter - a nice change from "the season".