Mt. Misery produced some excellent ice yesterday. Conditions there are not the fullest I'd ever seen, but there's more volume than has been in the past 2 years. There's been some type of change in the flow pattern since this place was found. The lower tier of cliff, particularly at the left end, is almost non existent where several fat lines used to be. On the other hand, the upper tier seems to be fuller than ever. If anyone is looking for a project, redirecting a bit of water flowing down the path onto the cliff would be really easy and really productive!
Formed by the past week of deep cold, the ice tended to be fragile and prone to shedding big hunks. We smashed off lots of big ice... but tried to be delicate on golden pillar, which had just touched down nicely.
I got a lead of
Strait Up, a nice big pillar which I had been thinking about. Dom offered to take my camera around to the top and get some photos of me. Thanks buddy! Good line.
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Wish I could have had a photo of the look on my face later on that day. I was leading another vertical line at the upper tier. Had a few screws in good ice below me and had just committed to a fairly daunting pillar. Just as I was leaving the security of the low-angle ice below a huge hunk of ice gave out under my left foot. The detached icicle dropped about 10 feet and snagged my rope on the way down. The whole thing just about pulled me off the pillar. Yikes. With my nerves fried, I decided to bail to the side to the easier ice ramp. Spooky. For me, it's a good reminder for why I usually have a bail plan when I lead ice. Bailing is a better alternative to a fall... 100% of the time. After I got back down Dom and I both top-roped the pillar, and had fun blasting off even bigger hunks towards the top. It would have been a a hell of an icicle had I continued on.
Cheers.
