Ice Fall in Muir Valley!

[weber]

Liz and I spent three days exploring new areas of the Valley last week. With all the rain this area has experienced this fall, the ice buildup was significant. Last Wednesday, the temperatures soared into the 50's where they stayed through Friday (and probably much of the weekend.) Of course, this caused much of the ice to fall away. The Valley was alive with sound. Constant tinkling of small ice sickles falling with thunderous roars when the big stuff let loose.

We noticed several climbers were climbing in areas below ice buildups they could not see from below. Here is a section of the Great Wall on Thursday:



Be careful out there folks! Unless you know for sure what is above your head, don't climb in Muir at this time of year! It was common to see chunks the size of bathtubs come off.

And, please, no ice climbing is allowed in Muir. In later years when toprope protection can be provided, a few areas may be opened. This is a beautiful place, but it ain't Ouray!

Photo below is Liz looking at a 200-foot high waterfall with 15 steps. Really breathtaking -- the photo doesn't do it justice.

Rick

[Zspider]

Beautiful pictures, Rick. Glad to see that you and Liz are getting out there and enjoying it this time of year.

Several years ago I was at the Gorge and a freezing ice storm came in overnight and coated everything thick. The next day a wind came up and trees came crashing down everywhere.

Happy New Year.

ZSpider

[Ben]

Damn! Was any of that ice worth climbing? Was it in better shape durring the hard snap a few weeks ago? Is ice climbing allowed in muir valley?

I second that, those are some cool pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[busty]

FYI

And, please, no ice climbing is allowed in Muir. In later years when toprope protection can be provided, a few areas may be opened. This is a beautiful place, but it ain't Ouray!

[CincySam]

Here's hoping those areas are set up for toprope sooner rather than later!

And of course, that it gets cold enough to form decent climbing ice sometime this century...

What if standard rock protection could be used to protect an ice climb? Would that make it more acceptable? Just curious.

[busty]

We were there on Thursday and could hear ice falling all throughout the area.

It looked like the area could have some potential as a future ice climbing area.

[dipsi]

What a beautiful scene. Thank you for capturing that for us! And of course for everything else you do!

[haas]

we were there yesterday and today and didn't see any ice left. Just a lot of damp routes, overhang or not. None the less, tons of fun

[weber]

One week later with this heat wave and all the ice in last week's photos is gone! Sunday was tee shirt weather climbing on dry, relatively warm rock in Muir. Strange place, this Red.

Next week, the temp is supposed to drop back down, and the ice will be back... especially with all the rain we've had. The creeks and waterfalls are really flowing.

Rick