General Observations

Submitted by JoJo on Sat, 11/04/2006 - 06:44
Went to Hyalite on Friday and been talking to a few people. Lots of people are concerned with the warmer weather so for whatever it is worth, here is my take on what's in and not in: G1 is getting climbed but wet and slushy in places with the steeper pillars a little behind where they usually are. G2, Hangover and Through Four More all looked good. Zach Attack looks like THE harder route to do in the main fork right now. The Scepter is a free-hanging dagger. Mummy II looks climbable with spotty ice. Upper Mummy was climbed on Friday with Mummy III being quite fat and Mummy IV formed but skinny. The Matrix and Feeding the Cat look great. The Unnamed Wall run down is as follows: Elevator Shaft and the Fat One are forming but not good yet. They'll come in fast but they both have tricky open water. Thrill is Gone looked like it could have been in early in the day but needs some love yet. The Good Looking One is in but really, really wet. Some of the interesting lines on the edges need some additional bonding (ie cold). Magically Delicious is great! Take knifeblades for the bottom crux. We walked under both Shores of Pluto and Black Magic. Both formed but we were there at the end of the day and the warmth was making the thin ice obviously "un-bonded." They are probably climbable but you'd need to hit them in the morning or otherwise wait a bit longer as they fill in. Unless the weather goes completely nuclear, they will only get better. All the climbs below Winter Dance look to be in and good. Dielectric Breakdown is a full pillar. I've seen it like this before but get it ASAP. Sun and wind will eat it away and I bet it will be mostly gone within a month. I bet Equinox and or Solstice should be in. They are good pitches and a must do before it snows any more. The rest are things I've just heard: Cleo's is formed and probably climbable but probably wet. Responsible Family Men has been climbed. Kansas Cornfield and The Four Horsemen are working hard to become climbable. From the Unnamed Wall it looked like even Dribbles had some ice on it but in this warm weather heaven only knows what it's like. No word on Avalanche Gulch or any of the Silken climbs. Hope it helps. JoJo

[quote]All the climbs below Winter Dance look to be in and good. Dielectric Breakdown is a full pillar. [/quote] Mostly. Dielectric is in fat, dry, and takes good gear. Slot Corner pitch 2 fell down yesterday, though there is ice on the lower pitch. Curtains is sporting a nice wet pillar on the first half, but we didn't do it. Over Easy was mostly dry and plasticy. We didn't go up to Land of the Lost. The corner climbs and switchback are in, but the top outs look spicy. That was the case on Hangover too. G1 was getting smaller by the hour yesterday, especially after a decent chuck fell off the right side. lower greensleeves was ok, but gear wasn't great.

Went up to Poseiden Adventure, Disco Party and G-Spot saturday. The upper pillar of Poseiden was hollow and running water at the lip. The other two climbs were in great. The top of Disco was a little thin, but doable. Snow slogging up the gullies was getting ridiculous by the end of the warm day. Did not get over to the Persueder, but Monkey Ass wall is freakin' huge.