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Finding New Ice in Whittier, AK 11/21/09
Dane Ketner and I wanted to get out ice climbing before he got lasik so we headed toward Portage and decided to see if we could find Horsetail Falls and the surrounding climbs. Alaskaiceclimbing.com mentions avalanche conditions but since the snow load has been so little we figured this was the perfect time. Instead, we chose to go exploring! After arriving at my familys cabin we checked out the surrounding ice flows, nothing to be write home about for sure. We took off further down the road toward Salmon Run 2 and walked the few miles to a waterfall I often swim in during the warmer summer months. The waterfall turned out to be also not so impressive but fun climbing at about WI2.
We thought it looked generally straightforward so we soloed up the first two pitches.
And then since we were having fun we decided to continue on up the creek and see if it lead to any good cliffs.
We went quite a ways up the creek and eventually the ice ran out and it turned to snow everywhere so we backtracked to a small fall we spotted on the way in and decided to head up to see if we could find anything further up that icefall.
I would say overall this was probably 50-60 meters of total climbing but not that kind you would come all the way up the creek for. Still it was fun to explore. Mostly very easy ground with some spots of WI2. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be using the ropes at all today.
We were thinking about heading back toward Horsetail Falls and something a bit more steep and sustained but instead we let our exploring sense take us around the corner and toward a rock face Dane spotted high above.
Soon we were rewarded with a wonderful view!
We kept looking across the water as well and seeing what appeared to be 1000ft long ice routes right out of the water! We are not sure if they have ever been climbing. If anyone has any information on them please let me know!
But that was for another day! For today we decided on the main line in the formation we had stumbled on and headed into WI4 territory. Dane had a great lead and I followed on some great climbing. The Views were incredible and we managed to actually get back to the ground before dark. This is an oddity for us.
Not sure if any of them have been climbed. We gave the name of "Minor Letdown" to the first WI2 route, if we are the first. Probably only the first two pitches are worth climbing and its 50-60meters total is my guess.
The Second Route up the gully we didn't attempt to name, its about 50-60m of total climbing...max and WI2 at the very hardest.
The last route we didn't name, mainly because we just don't know if its been done before or not and we don't want to go around renaming routes. Its WI4 at our guess, 60m and theres veggies for the belay/ rappel.
I hope to get back soon and if anyone has a boat and wants to go out and get some long ice let me know!
We thought it looked generally straightforward so we soloed up the first two pitches.
And then since we were having fun we decided to continue on up the creek and see if it lead to any good cliffs.
We went quite a ways up the creek and eventually the ice ran out and it turned to snow everywhere so we backtracked to a small fall we spotted on the way in and decided to head up to see if we could find anything further up that icefall.
I would say overall this was probably 50-60 meters of total climbing but not that kind you would come all the way up the creek for. Still it was fun to explore. Mostly very easy ground with some spots of WI2. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be using the ropes at all today.
We were thinking about heading back toward Horsetail Falls and something a bit more steep and sustained but instead we let our exploring sense take us around the corner and toward a rock face Dane spotted high above.
Soon we were rewarded with a wonderful view!
We kept looking across the water as well and seeing what appeared to be 1000ft long ice routes right out of the water! We are not sure if they have ever been climbing. If anyone has any information on them please let me know!
But that was for another day! For today we decided on the main line in the formation we had stumbled on and headed into WI4 territory. Dane had a great lead and I followed on some great climbing. The Views were incredible and we managed to actually get back to the ground before dark. This is an oddity for us.
Not sure if any of them have been climbed. We gave the name of "Minor Letdown" to the first WI2 route, if we are the first. Probably only the first two pitches are worth climbing and its 50-60meters total is my guess.
The Second Route up the gully we didn't attempt to name, its about 50-60m of total climbing...max and WI2 at the very hardest.
The last route we didn't name, mainly because we just don't know if its been done before or not and we don't want to go around renaming routes. Its WI4 at our guess, 60m and theres veggies for the belay/ rappel.
I hope to get back soon and if anyone has a boat and wants to go out and get some long ice let me know!
My Pictures can be seen at http://prezwoodz.smugmug.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
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