Here's a look at the Lee Vining Ice Climbing Scene. My first time trying ice climbing. MUCH more fun than I expected. Compared to rock climbing, some things are much easier, others harder. 2 new dangers are:
dodging ice balls falling on you while belaying. And avoiding getting hurt with the crampons and axes during fall or on rappel.











Barry from our office teaches ice climbing, and can be hired through the guiding service he works for. He spends a lot of time in Lee Vining, and is a good contact for possible ice conditions in tahoe.
EDIT 4/1/10
(barry guides full time now, call him at 530-386-7097 to hire him for East Side ice climbing)


here's the wall we sessioned on top rope, after barry climbed to bolted anchors above. There are bolts above in at least 5 spots. This is the furthest spot up the canyon on the left, and was pretty easy. Easy partly because the angle doesn't quite get vertical anywhere, and also easy because we had very good conditions.

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

went back today and did the Bard Harrington wall. Barry led the climb in 2 rope lengths, with a little scrambling above that. Lots of ice is gone since last week. 3-4 days of rain. Ice was great for climbing however, and we didn't see anyone in the canyon all day. Perfect weather. Barry says it'll be thick again soon after it stays cold for awhile.

We climbed in the center of the wall. check out the 2nd and 3rd picture in the string from my last post.

I'll have some pics in a few days from barry's camera.

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

Mike,

Hey, great ta see some good climbing posts here too... Great pics!

Yeah man, it's crazy how many Cali BC/outdoor enthusiasts don't hit the ice that much, or even really know what's out there (although i've never been to Lee vining w/o crowds).

For those yall that love to hit the rock or ski, but havn't given it a try yet, definitely do so... Dude, given the history, It's almost our duty as a californian; this is where Chouinard/robbinson invented the modern tools and techniques.

Here's what I wish i'da known when i first came to cali:
--Lee vining's great for sure, as ya can see from mike's pics... with good steep, blue ice for gettin the skills. Sooooo fricken accessable too:) 'nuff said.

--Shasta(hotlum ice fall) gives a nice "filler" activity as you wait for snow in september/october with easy top ropin' on the big cracks. My view is that top roping on the steep side of the crack there best matches ice/snow conditions, and best preps ya for your first lead on schrunds on the high sierras. There's also lots of Serrac climbing to do, but it's more for the fun of walking around in the "ice world" than for good ice climbing.

--Palisades: You do all that other stuff so you can come here (or mendel). The trick is always to find a way to cross the crevasse of the schrund, followed by leading the hanging edge, sometimes with mixed ice/snow. But after that ya got some low angle(unotch) or medium angle(vnotch) ice, followed by some easy 5'th to get ya to the top. The biggest difference from the shorter climbs above is when you finished leading the 4th pitch on the "V" and realize that your arms have about half the strengh of pitch 1:shock:

So much more out there too (north peak, Dana, etc)....
And I gotta think that some of these will won't be the same climbs by the time we're old... All of the glaciers on shasta are thining, and when ya rap the unotch ya can't help notice the ridiculously high piton placements, until you realize they may have beenset in a time when the ice was much thicker/higher.

Yikes, just previewed the post. Sorry for the long rant... Ignore the above and just go do it (i'm sure you can stop off at the back country and rent the gear too :wink: )

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More BC action next week, right here on ESPN 8, "The OCHO" :)

We used to ice climb the lower West Face of Flagpole Peak due North of the old avalance platform on the last curve on Hwy.50 heading towards Meyers. Until they closed that to Winter parking ,we would park at the platform pullout and ski the short distance to the ice . By February there was usually one to two ptches. After they stopped letting us park there we instead went to the subdivision East of that area and skiid over. It was easy to set up top ropes because unlike Lee Vining there were handy trees and you could try some interesting overhangs ,etc. The old Lovers Leap guides used to describe ice areas at the Maggies,Angora Falls,Ralston,Lake Audran, Cold Stream, And Old Donner Summit . All of these of course depend on weather. The best ice I ever climbed was Canada and combined that several times with the best skiing, Rogers Pass,B.C. Nicelys used to be the only place open to eat in Lee Vining in the Winter so you had to be hard and desperate.

neat :)

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Stuff

went back to the Bard Wall with Barry. Here's some pics if you haven't been here. Ice coverage is excellent. 10 degrees this morning. My assumption was right (never having tried ice climbing in real cold), you're pretty warm up there other than having to shake blood into your extremeties a few times. Ice was a bit brittle, but not a problem.



Don't wear a ski helmet like I am here, you can't see around or move your neck as well. Plus I'm sure it's not as safe. Also, don't go when REI shows up with 60 employees. Pretty cool that they do this actually, and they only occupied the top rope area.




Today took us the right side of the wall, just right of the hole in ice. It's a really cool near-vertical curtain that spans the cave. Last time we went up the middle. I see the advantage now of going near rock. You can use rock pro, and also belay in better protection from ice fall if you get lucky.

if you're curious about this wall, It took us 2 pitches using most of a 70 meter rope, and then a 20 meter 3rd pitch to the walk-off ledge. Easy to walk down unroped. The wall probably ranges from 500' high on the right, to 700' high on the left.

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

went back to do the line in left of this pic with Barry yesterday. Doesn't look vertical but sure felt it in the middle. We found a 70 meter rope took us to the top in 1 long pitch. No rope left.

Ice is a little brittle, but fun. I was a little sketched to see all the horizontal cracks and dinner plate shearing on this particular route. We treaded carefully. Was about 10-15 degrees at night and in the early morning. I'm new to this. I didn't realize low temps ruin ice just like high temps.

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net