Ganoga Falls - Ricketts Glen - February 10, 2013

by Dave Seasholtz Sun, February 10 2013 23:35

Randy Edelman and I enjoyed warm winter conditions today at Ricketts Glen. A "classic" PA Ice Climbing area! Other than open water on Ganoga Falls, most routes touched down and were in climbable condition. The warm sun did cause the routes to the left of the falls to bake out, and they became a challenge to protect.

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Crossing the stream was a challenge. Setting up to climb.

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Cradleboard was an easy lead. Randy led two seperate variations.

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Dutch Eagle (L) and two separate pillars on War Bonnet (R) were touching down. Dutch Eagle was quite baked out in the sun, and screws would have been suspect. We opted to toprope.

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Savage, War Bonnet and Cradleboard (L to R). Ganoga Falls was running strongly.

Bucktail Canyon - Lock Haven/Renovo - February 9, 2013

by Dave Seasholtz Sun, February 10 2013 22:23

Took a quick recon up to Roadside Gully and Hidden Amphitheater and Roadside Gully this morning. Unfortunately there has been minimal ice growth in the past week. Conditions have not improved much due to the excessive runoff remaining from the heavy rain event 10 days ago. Both Roadside and Hidden are still flowing strongly, and we will need at least a solid week of single digits to recover those routes. The Gemini Gullies look to be the best bet for climbing at Lock Haven.

 

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Still open water in both Roadside Gully (L) and Hidden Amphitheater (R).

It's coming back! - February 7, 2013

by Dave Seasholtz Thu, February 07 2013 19:44

Ice is coming back from the wipe out we experienced last week. Wayne Barnard has recovered his ice tower, and is shown doing laps on this ~50 ft free standing pillar that is setup in his back yard. It is quite the ice gardening project.

 

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It's time to "Go Climb"!

Damage Report - Bucktail Canyon - Montgomery Cliffs - February 2, 2013

by Dave Seasholtz Sat, February 02 2013 16:15

The ice really took a hit from the record warm temps and heavy rain this past week. Below are some pics I took this morning of the Bucktail Canyon climbs, and Wayne Barnard took some shots of the routes at the Montgomery Cliffs.

 

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Roadside Gully has open running water the distance of the low angle approach, and the first steep tier appaears to be partially washed away. Hidden Amphitheater is currently a strong running waterfall from all the runnoff coming down Green Run.

 

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Looking across the river from Rt 120, it appears that the Gemini Gullies did not get hit as hard as the other locations in Bucktail Canyon. At Montgomery, Route 2 was wiped out with only new ice re-appearing.

 

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At Montgomery, Route 3 fared a bit better than than the others. Route 4 was washed away. It is interesting to look at the same routes in last weeks conditions posts and see how much the routes suffered. With the cold temps this weekend, they are starting to recover.

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