Thanksgiving Ice, yes more ice- 3 posts going back in time

On Thanksgiving, John and I went up to the 2nd Gully in Eureka Canyon west of Silverton. Peter and I climbed this a month ago and I knew the ice would be in thick. The drive in the Subaru up the snowy road was probably more exciting/scary than the climb. We sighed out of relief once we finally got the car turned around and pointed back down the road. Yeah Subaru!

Below- Heading up the 2nd pitch. By now the 7 degrees of when we'd left the car had turned into above freezing and I was way over-dressed.

The view back down and across from the climb is one of my favorites.

Putting in my last screw of the climb from a comfortable stance.

The rappel and hike down from this climb are WAY easier in the snow than on the rocks exposed a few weeks ago. We ended up being on the climb from about 9am to noon. It was a great start to a thanksgiving day.

Ice 11/22

On Sunday, Peter, John, and I did the middle gully between the two Peter and I climbed recently. Peter led the 3 ice pitches up this deep, cold gully.

Ice 11/22 continued

Ice 11/21

My 2nd day out on the ice, Peter and I climbed the Direct North Face, 2 gullies down from our first climb. I led the second pitch, which was disappointingly short. Here I am wondering if I'd lost my mind.

Starting up.
After this, there was mostly snow, with one more tiny ice bit.

Ice 11/21 continued

3rd pitch? Peter had to go for a little personal trip around the corner, so I studied the ice formations around me.

These cauliflowers were small, but strong enough to get us up this super steep pitch.

The last pitch of ice was longer and steeper than it looked from below.

My First Ice Climb of the Year

Peter and I got a 6am start and drove over to Silverton on the 8th of November in search of ice. We found this nice 400 ft flow on South Mineral Creek. The approach was made super easy by the lack of deep snow- only a couple of inches are left on the ground.

Here is an ice screw partially removed. Though they provide essential protection, one should never fall when ice climbing... if that makes any sense.


After finishing the first climb and grabbing some hot coffee in town, we drove east of town to scope out other climbs. We couldn't resist climbing this gully with ice reaching clear to the road. I love early season approaches! No snow means clear roads and no avalanche danger.

Here are a couple pics of me taken by Peter from the belay stations.



After a rocky descent, we were satisfied with the day and ready for a meal. Here I am looking back up at the lower part of the 800ft + just climbed.

My Favorite Babies

Hiking with Ginny and Granite on the Chief Ouray trail during a warm November day.

Johnny with 8 month olds William and Peter. 2 wonderful weeks were spent in October hanging with the twins and Julie and Ben in Missoula, MT.