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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Deleted based on ducky input.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Damn!!!! Stuff around glacier point looks WILD!!
Any other tacoers around the valley now? Want to meet up?
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Glad to see it got done.
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fosburg
climber
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I talked to someone about ice climbing in Yosemite about 25 years ago who said he onsight soloed Widow's Tears on Christmas Day one year.
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WBraun
climber
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Temperature is climbing above freezing today.
Ice can and may break and fall off now.
Extreme caution is advised .....
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Beautiful winter Valley
Looks like Werner has the stats. I'm just going by feel and it's COLD (but then I'm not gonna ice climb).
Susan
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WBraun
climber
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Click to resize larger and you'll see the temps have been rising above freezing and now may cause unstable ice.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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werner is right to caution
also remember the rather dramatic temperature differences as you get off the floor of the Valley, temps usually go up as you rise above the floor.
but there are so many different "micro climates" depending on lots of different factors there is no one "rule" to follow
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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I'd like to caution anyone trying to climb ice in yosemite from doing so in the next days. Yesterday, my friends and I tried to climb even though it seemed a bit too warm and the line we attempted was thin. To make a long story short after a difficult and heady pitch a friend led, I was having a hard time finding screw placements I could trust to even weight and was getting hosed by the dripping water. After a bunch of contemplation, I left a screw and bailed to the safe belay stance below an overhang. Only a minute later an ice fall/avalanche swept the wall directly from above. If I was out there placing sh#t gear and leading I'd be screwed. Maybe not, as the wall was fairly vertical.but when we got down and ran away from the wall, while we packed our bags a smaller slide swept the face again and we literally were pushed back by the force. I had enough time to be shocked, take out my phone, unlock it and take a few photos of the aftermath. SO, MY ADVICE, DON'T CLIMB ICE AFTER TODAY. THE TEMPERATURES LOOK BAD FOR ANY TO BE REASONABLY SAFE.
After majority of the second slide passed:
Some chunks of ice after the slide
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rwedgee
Ice climber
CA
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To not pay attention to the warnings about unstable ice then issue your own warning.....did we learn something ??
That's called learning the hard way and I've done it many times when I was younger, with ice and lightening/weather.
Really glad you are ok cuz that would have cut off 85% of the trip reports.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Ignore the warnings written when we were climbing? Werner posted his first warning at 8:30am on the 2nd of January. That is exactly when we were there. Sorry I did not have the supertopo opened. :) It was not as cold as it was the day prior, but before we started it got colder than before and begun to snow briefly. Quickly changed as I was leading the second pitch and we bailed. Than the avalanche.
I issue my warning for today (I am gym climbing today) and later on. Multiple people saw I and a few parties climbed the widow's tears and asked me to go climb it with them the following weekend. Many people do not look at temperatures and don't understand how different the conditions in Yosemite Valley could be compared to Lee Vining. It is completely different game with temperatures changing in course of hours. Could make or break the climb, literally. Whole point of my 'warning' was to keep people that check the thread and think it is safe to climb things for the next week, safe. That's it. No harm in throwing an example that illustrates the dangers of pushing it right? It is not always about the success. Sometimes being safe is the thing that matters more than the climb.
My post is to encourage people to stay safe and aside from the readings that were not optimal in the morning I saw no warnings in internet threads.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Yesterday, my friends and I tried to climb even though it seemed a bit too warm and hye line was real thin.
and aside from the readings that were not optimal in the morning I saw no warnings in internet threads.
Sounds like classic human factors at play. Specifically cognitive illusion, goal blindness or loss aversion.
Get some education so you don't get killed, sparky.
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climbingcoastie
Ice climber
Sacramento, CA
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Didn't you post this on MP 3 days ago???
"It was a day or two ago. Based on current temps everyone who goes up it in the near future, is gonna f**king die! Unless you are half way up right now!"
Were you just trying to keep people out of your way?
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Also, I am wondering if anyone has taken photos of me climbing on Friday the 1st of January?
I was daydreaming about soloing a route like the Widow's Tears for a while, but only daydreaming as I usually have friends to climb with. Because it was the Holidays and the window to climb the route was so tiny and iffy, I had trouble finding the partner to do it with. Two guys I knew were gonna try it Saturday (2nd), but still hesitant a bit due to situation at home and temps that did not look great. We all thought the perfect day was Thursday (when two parties did it) or maybe Friday. I had the Friday off and instead of partying all night, drove to the park, woke up early and hiked up to the base. My point was to check where the trail is, stash the rope and screws at the base and check if the ice looks climbable for our comfort level. I told one of my climbing partners that I have thought of soloing the route, but likely will only check it out and stash the gear. When I got to the base, my mind was clear and I was confident. There was no one on the route above or approaching below. I stood there in solitude full of excitement about finally getting a chance to climb the route. So I started to climb. Midway up, when I was climbing through one of the steeper sustained spots I piece of ice dinged me in the nose and blood started dripping onto the ice. I was able to keep it together and only pay attention to the task at hand, which was to climb, rest when I could and not get pumped at all cost.
As one could come up with all sort of nonsense reasons to why I did it; I did it because I REALLY wanted to climb the route and I was daydreaming of soloing something like this for a long time. I was not suicidal or accepting death as a very likely outcome, even though I would be totally ignorant if I said it was not risky. Climbing a waterfall like this onsight, without knowing what I will find up above, in conditions that seemed barely doable, without taking a rap line which could be used as an option to bail, IS risky. I did take a few screws and slings along, so that it could give me an option to make an anchor and suffer for a night while hoping someone will climb the route the next day. And a cell phone so that I could call the SAR if I totally freak out. Lucky for me, I avoided freaking out or blowing my onsight, which is not an option when free soloing. :) Climbing in general is risky and I do not feel like debating my choice with anyone here. If you want, ask me in person or email me the questions. I exclusively climb with partners and do not solo. It was not supposed to be an example or a statement. I did it purely because I wanted to finally climb the freaking route! If you don't believe me, check this thread. I probably have posted the most comments here. :) So I am excited that the day went well, I climbed the route fairly quickly, even though I was not trying to go for speed. I took like a hundred photos with my phone and took lengthy rests on ledges so that I am rested for sustained climbing ahead. Because how long is the question that was already asked by several people, my photo stamps suggest a little under 2 hours and 40 minutes maybe? I took my last photos before climbing at 8:15am and first photos from the rim at 10:55am. As I was not at all paying attention to how long I waited before beginning to climb after the last photo was taken, or how long was my 'moment' on top before taking the first shot of the ice below, I do not want to make any false claims, as I personally, again, did not care about speed, or being the first person to solo the route. My only point was TO CLIMB THE WT FINALLY. As safely as possible, take pictures, have fun and be as calm as I can. If there was a party that showed up at the base as I was thinking about my course of actions, I would be happy to join them on a climb, even if they said I have to follow all the pitches. I am no ice bad-ass, so if someone wants to go for speed, I bet it could be SIMUL-CLIMBED by the GOOD people in under that time!
Anyway, I will post a report with photos later, as usual, post a few now, AND WOULD LOVE TO SEE ANY of me from the Valley, if anyone took some. Please, post up or email me the originals! xxvitaliyxx@yahoo.com
I would advise against attempting the route now due to the elevated temps, as for the post above. Although, I am not in the Valley any longer, and have no idea what is REALLY going on there at the moment. NOAA does not suggest great conditions for climbing. :(
The route itself is really COOL and LONG. I am super excited that I finally had my chance to climb it.
Were you just trying to keep people out of your way?
Yes. On MP I post as an unidentified individual. Everyone should use their own assessment while climbing. The statement was not a serious one. :)
If you wanna solo the tears, bring a selfie stick brah! Would come in handy!!
Close to the top and ice is GOOOOD here!
Skipping the NY eve party to tick one of the coolest ice routes in the world...PRICELESS!
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Stewart Johnson
Social climber
lake forest
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It might've been me that you met all those years ago Kevin but it was the silver strand that I soloed not the widows tears. January 1988 to be sure ,was in good nick, and the climbing
Straightforward.
Nevertheless even though it was quite locked up and
Chilly when I began by the time I topped out the ice was mush.
And the snowpack was horrendous
When I returned to the base soaking wet and looked up
A large hole had appeared and water was
Shooting out.
"F*#k this place for ice,
Too dangerous" I thought .
I had been lucky but and vowed
Too never
Climb ice here if warming temps
Are predicted
Now we have exellent forecasts
Which will tell you when this will occur
Please use them Vitalspray
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Interesting.
Humility encourages longevity.
If you bother to look at the photo I posted, you might notice the first stage of Avalanche knowledge is "Don't know that you don't know."
Whether you asess your mistakes and learn from them, that's your call. Sometimes an ego has to be set aside before you can start sincerely educating yourself.
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Good job, Vitaliy.
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fosburg
climber
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Fantastic effort Vitaliy M.!
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WBraun
climber
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A valley local free soloed it yesterday.
That makes two free solos of Widows tears in the last few days.
Way to go men .....
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