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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 21, 2007 - 11:57am PT
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My buddy KC only had a day this weekend to spare, so we went up yesterday to see how the ice near Eagle Lake in south Tahoe had shaped up after the arctic air. Another buddy who lives in Gardnerville (you know who you are :) had reported that Devils Coat Tails (WI4-5) had almost touched down Thursday but fell down on Friday.
On the way we saw a big column of ice on the East Wall of Lovers Leap
The trail to Eagle Lake was well-packed, and the lake itself seemed pretty well frozen. Nobody had even bothered to walk around the south shore.
We headed up the inlet of the lake, on the way to Sunny Falls. The north-facing south cliffs of the canyon seemed to have some good climbs, including this one which was being gang-toproped.
Sunny Falls itself of course was in the sun in the morning.
I was not one to deprive KC of the fun of leading, and anyway I'd had a flu earlier in the week and wasn't feeling that strong. He led a few lines and I followed.
The ice looked like it might be kind of nasty, but was actually quite good and solid. In some places it did drip a bit though. High hazy clouds dulled the sun's exposure, and as the day went on, the sun's angle changed so that our climbs were now in the shade.
A couple of guys with big nice dogs showed up to TR a mixed line to the left of us, and told us that the climb we saw being toproped was called Cutty Sark and rated WI4+. I'm not sure about this though - according to this source, Cutty Sark actually forms near Echo Lakes (?)
We headed back down to look at the climb we'd seen earlier, since it was now unoccupied. Turns out KC had toproped this years before and it was his dream to lead this thing. So he did.
The bottom part was a pretty solid free-standing pillar. A rock undercling, some stemming and pumpy climbing led to what seemed like WI4. KC headed up a chimney that contained some pretty solid ice, then traversed back left.
The climb was about 100' and well hacked out, as you might expect (lots of hooks). At the top were two bolts.
There were a few other climbs that looked to be in on this wall, but we decided to get a lap in each on toprope on this one after climbing it. Hiked out by headlamp and booked to SLT.
We joked in the car that we would have gone and done Widow's Tears on Thursday except that the prior party had probably gone and hacked it up already :) :) :)
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cultureshock
Big Wall climber
Wall Climber Wannabe
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Jan 21, 2007 - 02:53pm PT
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Great TR!!
Yah for pictures!
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David Nelson
climber
San Francisco
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Jan 21, 2007 - 05:42pm PT
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Thrilling photos! I showed them to my daughter (I took a short break from working on her 9th grade homework problem: the similarities and differencest between Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story), and she thought it was pretty scary.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 21, 2007 - 07:05pm PT
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Now that's adventure!!
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clustiere
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Jan 21, 2007 - 07:23pm PT
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Great to see, now I will bring my tools to San Francisco
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10b4me
Trad climber
California
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Jan 21, 2007 - 10:11pm PT
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Hey Rob,
thanks for the climbing tr. those climbs look like fun.
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climblight
Mountain climber
Northern NV
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Jan 21, 2007 - 11:08pm PT
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The s cyn climbs look nice. Shoulda gone there instead of pissing around the mayhem cove and eagle falls.
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atchafalaya
Trad climber
California
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Jan 22, 2007 - 12:31pm PT
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sweet tr rhyang. We also were out checking out Tahoe ice this weekend. It was phat...
code red
code red and candle spooge
code blue
Sport ice park
Rainbow was huge, Donner Nordwand huge, Indian Springs (wtf?!?!) huge....
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2007 - 12:59pm PT
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Sweet ! Indian Springs ice ?! Actually I'm not surprised. Bridalveil on US50 (~3000' ?) looked like it probably had quite a bit of ice on it last week, though by the time we passed it there was running water down the center.
Jeff - no ice master am I, master Yoda. KC and climblight are true Sith Lords :)
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Jan 22, 2007 - 01:27pm PT
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Yea Rob! *jealous*jealous*jealous*jealous* ;^)
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2007 - 01:53pm PT
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hey Carolyn - KC mentioned to me that he was in Utah a couple weeks ago and climbed in Little Cottonwood Canyon. He said Miller's Thriller (should be on SP) and [something else I forgot the name of] were pretty good. Ya need to persuade Craig to go to Ouray or something :)
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Shano
Social climber
Pacific Beach, CA
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Jan 22, 2007 - 04:03pm PT
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wow that beats my weekend. Cant wait to get a whack at some ice soon. Nice job Rob
-shano
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Jan 22, 2007 - 04:50pm PT
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Ya, I know! We've been so busy moving, working on the house, etc... trying to get all settled by the time spring rolls around. Things should be together in about a month but that doesn't leave much room for ice climbing this year. ::::^( On a brighter note, base camp is lookin' SWEET! ;^)
Edit: Hi Shano!!
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atchafalaya
Trad climber
California
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Jan 22, 2007 - 05:34pm PT
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one more...
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2007 - 05:38pm PT
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Very nice !
hey Shano, whassup ! Carolyn, you would rather go to Home Despot than go ice climbing ?! Priorities ... heeheehee, hope the new Chateau de DOA is coming along nicely :)
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Standing Strong
Ice climber
still decidering
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Jan 22, 2007 - 05:44pm PT
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ze new chateau de doa IS gorgeous - high ceilings and beautiful hardwood floors for sliding on in wool socks :) and you should see where they're doing the climbing wall. awesome! C$ i'm so happy we're nearer to eachother now! can't wait til the days get longer
p.s. i was serious about those rhinestones!
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Jan 22, 2007 - 06:28pm PT
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"Carolyn, you would rather go to Home Despot than go ice climbing ?!"
Of course not! But when duty calls, duty calls. And having a comfy base camp, complete with a 22ft high left dihedral climbing wall in the dining room, is pretty darned cool! (Not that it's built yet...) I just owe all that nice ice out there a raincheck...er, I mean, ice check! :^D
Yah, SS -- You is gunna bust yer butt this spring. Hee hee! I'm bringin my WHIP! 8^0
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Standing Strong
Ice climber
still decidering
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Jan 22, 2007 - 06:35pm PT
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word. can't wait :)
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Jan 22, 2007 - 08:23pm PT
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Thanks for the TR and pics. Looks like fun
Zander
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2007 - 08:32pm PT
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complete with a 22ft high left dihedral climbing wall in the dining room
Wow, sounds great - I think that earns a "Dr. Philang Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" :)
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james Colborn
Trad climber
Truckee, Ca
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Jan 22, 2007 - 11:25pm PT
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I didn't step back to see how huge the ice was.. nice shots Atch. Temps today were the highest in two weeks. Good for work bad for ice.
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Andrew
Trad climber
Marin
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Jan 30, 2007 - 03:58pm PT
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It's been pretty warm in South Lake lately. Any updates on the ice conditions? Has anyone been out in the past week?
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2009 - 01:09pm PT
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Two years later, I returned with my friend Pavel and a new climbing buddy Justin. Spent the night before in Kirkwood at a timeshare condo that Pavel & his wife own, and drove over Carson Pass early. Around dawn in Hope Valley the car thermometer read 0F, and there was even one reading of -1F ! But as we crested Luther Pass and headed into South Lake Tahoe it warmed up.
Still, it seemed rather chilly as we hiked into the still-shadowed Eagle Lake Canyon on snowshoes. There were tracks for most of the way, around the south end of the lake, but we had to break trail up to Sunny Falls. By 9am or so the sun was baking the ice.
Pavel led up the one line that looked good.
We took some laps toproping the line into submission. Soon we were joined by Doug, who was breaking in some new nomics. The ice was getting slushy, so we headed to the south side of the canyon to look at the still-shady north-facing climbs.
Cutty Sark (some background here) was looking good, though a bit thin. With all the snow at the base it seemed to be in WI4-ish condition.
Pavel was again up to the challenge and led it.
We all took a few laps.
Justin
Me
By mid-afternoon a skier came through the valley and watched. As the sun rose higher, the base of the climb got warm. I felt a little drowsy even. It was a nice day, spent with good people.
We hiked out and went for pizza in Meyers at Bob Dog, then continued on to Lee Vining Canyon for the weekend.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Mar 16, 2009 - 01:31pm PT
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So many pics AND a climbing thread! I've not climbed ice - just looking at it makes my stomach get queasy. You guys are rad.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Mar 16, 2009 - 01:34pm PT
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Pretty neat!
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WhyCantGerbalsDrive
climber
Lee Vining, CA
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Mar 16, 2009 - 03:14pm PT
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rhyang,
just to clarify, the climb you refer to as "cutty sark" is.
the entire cliff is called "the whiskey cliffs"being quite popular in the early eighties due to lots of snow+rain+cold!
nice shots!
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2009 - 10:09am PT
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Thanks all !
Crimpergirl -- you know, ice climbing is somewhat addictive :) There are generally no bugs to deal with in wintertime too ..
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climblight
Mountain climber
Northern NV
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Mar 17, 2009 - 11:29am PT
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I am quite disappointed there is no picture of ME...or at least my new nomics.
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2009 - 11:42am PT
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Oops, sorry Doug :( Pavel said he was going to burn a CD with the pics from his camera, which I'm supposed to pick up at the gym tonight..
In the meantime, some pics from Lee Vining Canyon -
Hiking in on Saturday
Pavel leading on the Main Wall (Saturday)
Pavel leading Chouinard Falls (Sunday)
Me having a go at some drytooling (Sunday)
I gave up not too long after this .. but here's Pavel - he made it up all the way to the ice above
(not to worry, I managed to thrash my way up a mixed route near the Tree Route -- no pics though)
Me practicing with one tool on Sunday
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2009 - 12:30pm PT
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Fat Guy -- I will give yo a call later if I am going to be eating a lot of pepperonis and wanting to discuss politics. Heh.
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2009 - 10:59am PT
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I picked up Pavel's pics and posted some of them .. here are some more, starting with Doug :)
Some more shots from Sunny Falls -
Me
Pavel
Justin
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| Messages 1 - 33 of total 33 in this topic |
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