Alaska Ice Climbing Conditions

by **The Dude** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:21 am

While hanging out in SoCal, The Dude has but one question...
Is Eagle River, namely Echo Bend and the delicious drips in the area...in or out?

Speaking of In-n-Out...

Animal Style...

by cd » Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:39 pm

Word is, the river is not crossable, well, at least not by foot, bring a raft or arm floats.

by **i_ray** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:04 pm

Headed back to Three Ring Circus on Saturday the 5th. The river was nice a frozen which made for a straightforward ski (definitely recommend skis, cuts the approach time significantly). Hiking up to the climb, the alders were thick (as usual), but there are a few more open paths to make more tolerable. The first pitch was in pretty nice, a little thin at last 10 meters to the anchor, but most of the ice is covered with about 6 inches of snow. The second pitch is, for the most part, not in, and when it is, it's really thin, so tread lightly, or you'll get wet in the falls. There is one or two spots to put in screws, bring some pins if you want to protect it (you could get up the thing without being roped up or get, but one or two pieces don't hurt). The third pitch the best by far. About 20-25 meter 3/3+ pillar, was nice and sticky, again, with snow on the first step, followed by 60 degree ice to alders and the anchor. Anchors are in place for the three double-rope rappels, and it makes things go a lot faster. It makes for a long easy-moderate climb. It makes for a fairly full day, but if you have the time, definitely worth it.

by **ozman** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:39 am

Kozak and I skied into spruce pitch yesterday. Temps were amazing and climbing without gloves is great!. Be sure to check out the mixed routes just under the overhanging ice in the center-left section of spruce pitch. They were a lot of fun and multiple TR option from pre-slung trees above.

River is in great shape. hardly any holes, classic skis are the best option the snow is pretty crusty.

by **alpineessence** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:32 pm

Anyone notice other stuff in good shape up there?

by **ozman** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:14 am

three ring circus looked like it had quite a bit of snow on it. spruce pitch was good, and hollowhead looked good. the cupcake climbs up the first drainage to the south looked blue with ice if you are motivated.

by **Chicks with Sticks** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:19 pm

Beautiful day on Sunday 1/17/10 in Echo Bend.
A 2" dusting of light fluffy snow made the ski in on the trail and river super smooth!
Snow is light and fluffy with temps in the 15-20degree range. No wind and clear blue all day!

I have attached current pictures of Hollow Icicle in case anyone is headed out that way.

The ice was wet and juicy in many places on both pitches of the climb. Lots of hooking on the left side of the first pitch. Did not complete the last 50 feet of the second pitch due to very thin hollow ice conditions at the top. Did finish at a nice ice cave on the right side and rapped off a huge icicle from there. The left side of the top of the climb was clear and black looking, so did not attempt it at that time. Right side of the top was in much better shape for climbing.

Get out there and enjoy!
~Cindi

by cd » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:52 am

BLN and I made a trip out to ER yesterday. We traveled back to Icicle Creek to check out the three high bluff formations. They looked like they were in fat but what a hell of an approach! We were feeling lazy and turned around and got up on the Hollow Icicle. Have to agree with Chicks with Sticks, the main pillar is in thin but did not appear as difficult as I have seen it in the past. Another couple of weeks with cold temps, it should be set up real nice. We backed off at the same point. The first two steps on the first pitch are in good, but brittle in places. Evidence of a recent avi exists on the approach.

3-Ring Circus was buried with only one small face of ice to be seen in the whole climb. The high pillars have not formed.

Spruce looked climbable.

Enjoy.

by **The Dude** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:33 am

if you're planning on heading past Echo Bend, bring your water wings. It's negotiable, but there are certain spots where overflow (maybe extreme laziness (and the dude is certainly lazy)) had us skiing in water up to our ankles/shins...knees and necks!

Icicle climbs are huuuuge, but good luck on the approach! The entrance terraces to icicle are extremely verglassed now!

Heritage falls are snowcovered!

by **Nate** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:23 pm

Went out to 3-Ring Circus today. The temps were cold and as expected the bottom two pitches were brittle and snow covered. The steep face on the third pitch was soft, plastic ice. Have fun

by **Mike C** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:31 pm

Skied out to Echo Bend Saturday. 2 feet of fresh snow, slow trek. Soft and sweet ice on spruce pitch.

by **mountainmidget** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:30 pm

Ski'd out to Spruce Pitch with Dean yesterday. The ski out was awesome with the new snow. Dean made navigating the river's sketchy spots seem easy. The river is still in good condition. Spruce Pitch has some rotten lines, but there is definitely some areas that were trying to heal with those warm temps. Hollow Icecicle's upper section didn't look very good judging from the color and the color of the rotten ice we found on Spruce Pitch. The lower section did look better than upper on Hollow Icecicle. Three Ring Ciicus looked like it was holding a fair amount of the new snow we had just gotten, but we did hear that it had avi'd earlier in the week. Still looked a little to caked for me. Here's some pics of Spruce Pitch, Hollow Icecicle, and Three Ring Circus. If nothing else, the skiing out there is great.