While it may be spring in your neck of the woods we are still full on winter up here! This weekend brought a mix of conditions with a sunny Saturday to a white out on Sunday. Most climbs are still in and some are actually still growing! Check out the following photos from this weekend to see if one of your favorites is still in. As always if you are planning on coming up please use good judgement on choosing your route as these climbs can change daily.
Midnight Rambler
Dairyland
The Ampitheater
The Dryer Hose
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Thanks to Bryon Thelen for contributing to this conditions report!
Gloom, despair, and agony on me….deep dark depression excessive misery……if we had no bad luck we’d have no luck at all. Last weeks warm up had a devastating effect of the ice in Munising. We hit the Curtains today and found several pillars that had fallen down and only one climbable route. The good news is that winter has returned and hopefully we will be back in business in a week or so.
We found this little pillar on the way over to the Dryer Hose and it is something that I have never seen formed before. With all of the water in the ground table, new seeps are forming all over the park!
The Dryer Hose on the other hand has been devastated with all of the melt. Looks like we will have to give it two more weeks before it will be climbable. Keep checking back for current conditions or call the store at 906-226-7112 to get up to date information!
Another glorious weekend in the U.P. and many folks were out searching for climbable ice! The last few weeks have been a perfect storm for producing early season ice, lots of snow combined with warm day time temperatures, and cold nights have seep climbs nice and fat! The true waterfalls are also a couple weeks ahead of schedule but are still not suitable for climbing.
In Marquette, there are two climbs, the Lakeshore Climb and near Hogback Mountain and both saw ascents over the weekend. Bryan DeAustine and Mike Tyron reported fat conditions on the Grotto. The Lakeshore Climb near Hidden Beach is fatter then normal at the base and very thin conditions at the top. Also to note, with the high water levels in Lake Superior this year, there is very little room at the belay compared to years past. Keep this in mind if the lake is kicking up some waves there might not be any safe ground for a bottom belay.
The Dryer Hose is starting to form up with a very large cone for this early in the season. The front side of the pillar is extremely thin and with lots of water flowing over it. Please use patience on climbing any pillars at Pictured Rocks as these formations are extremely delicate and need a few more weeks to solidify. Seeps on the other hand are very fat given that it is only early December! The Curtains along Sandpoint Road are slowly developing with a few routes climbable. Today we headed out the Lakeshore Trail to climb some of the curtains that form between Intersection Falls and Sweet Mother Moses. Snowshoes were not needed up to Intersection Falls but came in handy walking along the base of the climbs.
There are dozens of shorter climbs that have formed along this section of the park. If you are psyched to get on some early ice, there are certainly some short climbs formed and ready to go………might be another two weeks of cold temps before we can start climbing some of the classics that Munising is famous for. Check out the following photos…..pretty amazing for December 7th!
Early snow and cold temperatures the last few weeks have local climbers itching to get out and get this season started! Conditions this weekend have seen a warm up with temps in the 40’s and rain threatening for tonight. We thought we would head out this morning to see if there might be any ice that would be climbable before it deteriorates any more.
While all waterfalls are not climbable yet, (Munising falls pictured above) we did find some small seeps that were thick enough to climb on. Things may change drastically tonight depending on the amount of rain we will get, but in the long run more water in the ground table will produce bigger and better climbs for us this season.
Start sharpening those picks as this ice season is REALLY close to starting! As always this time of year please call (906-226-7112), for up to date conditions before planning a long road trip up.
Another great weekend for climbing ice in the Upper Peninsula! Not to sound like a broken record but conditions are amazing right now and will be for the foreseeable future. Why? Well check out the forecast below to see that our temps are holding steady for the remainder of the month. Could we possible break our record this year and be climbing the second week of May?
Scott Thomas, Michael Donhost, Jack DeAugustine, and Bryan DeAugustine sent in these photos of their outting Saturday. They had sunny skies and fat ice. It was a beautiful day to be climbing for sure!
Planning on coming up this next weekend? Pack yer long undies as we are still full on winter! The lake ice to Grand Island is still solid as is the shore ice along the Lakeshore Trail.
For all of our Michigan Ice Fest fans cold temperatures have not released their grip on the Upper Peninsula (thankfully) and our ice conditions are excellent! Several of the Michigan Ice Fest staff gathered Sunday to travel out to Grand Island for a wee bit of climbing along the West Shore. Right now conditions are EPIC with big fat beautiful blue ice and it really looks like long term forecast show the ice is not going to go anywhere anytime soon. If you haven’t been to Grand Island be sure to get up here in the next month or so as you will be treated to long routes, perfect ice and NO CROWDS!
The West Shore of Grand Island has more routes concentrated together than any other climbing location in the Upper Peninsula! Only a ten minute snowmobile ride from the Grand Island public access, the West Shore is the closest major ice formation to the mainland. Unlike the major climbs at Pictured Rock National Lakeshore, many of the West Shore climbs are less than vertical, offering moderate leads well above the waters of Lake Superior.
Death and/or old age is coming…..we must live sweet.
The time is now. Why ration passion?
Dream big…..and climb those dreams.
After all, it is not only life, but the quality of this life.
Mike Libecki
As our good friend Mike says- The time is now! Don’t wait….start planning your trip up and get after the amazing ice that Grand Island has to offer. If you have any logistical questions about the island or the climbs don’t hesitate to drop us a line.
I really don’t like to rain on anyone’s parade but my newsfeed has been filled lately with notices and photos of the Apostle Islands Ice Caves. Seems the lakeshore ice in Bayfield Wisconsin has not formed in 5 years shutting people out from exploring the caves. I keep looking for something that might be climbable but honestly there doesn’t seem too be much ice at all. What really sent me over the edge was that 8500 people showed up yesterday to explore “the ice caves”.
Ice Caves of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Andrew Burr photo
In my humble opinion the ice cave formations at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore are far “superior” and you don’t have to wait for the lakeshore ice to form to explore them. On second thought, with 8500 visitors in one day maybe everyone SHOULD go the Apostles to check out the ice!
With an early am start and -6 degree temperatures as you can imagine the ice is still in excellent condition. The lakeshore trail is firmly packed to every climb (thanks Ice Fest participants!) all the way to Dairyland.
The shore ice is still in and climbs are accessible along the lakeshore as well as Grand Island. Even with the negative temperatures, surprisingly climbs varied today from bullet proof hard to totally soaked.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Giddy Up
All in all a good day today with a report of great ice conditions, safe travel still available along the lakeshore ice and out to Grand Island, and most importantly only two ice climbers in the park today!
With brutally cold temperature engulfing the entire Midwest, I thought it would be a lot colder then it was today. The good news is that conditions are excellent and we are experiencing one of the best ice seasons in decades! Shore bouldering in Marquette has formed but could use a little more shelf ice to provide better access.
The Dryer Hose
Some Michigan Ice Fest staff hit up Munising trying to get tuned up for their road trip out to Ouray. The Dyer Hose is in amazing shape as well as the seldom formed Amphitheater. We also have a report of some folks that headed into Twin Falls and it was in excellent shape as well.
The Amphitheater
Things are really starting to shape up for Ice Fest….you won’t want to miss this one as all of the major formations will be in and access to Grand Island is almost a certainty!
While it may be spring in your neck of the woods we are still full on winter up here! This weekend brought a mix of conditions with a sunny Saturday to a white out on Sunday. Most climbs are still in and some are actually still growing! Check out the following photos from this weekend to see if one of your favorites is still in. As always if you are planning on coming up please use good judgement on choosing your route as these climbs can change daily.
