Another Sunday , another storm!  Lots of blowing snow and cold temperatures today are making for phenomenal ice conditions at Pictured Rocks national Lakeshore.  Most climbs are mid season form and growing everyday!  Once again the seeps seem to be doing the best and high flow waterfalls about a week or two out from being climbable.  The lakeshore trail is packed to Giddy Up and no snowshoes are needed.  That could change over the next week as snow is forecasted but we will keep you updated.

 

 

Reports from the field of climbs that are in and have been climbed are: (there are many, many more but these have been confirmed!)

Potato Patch Falls

AGF

Window Waltz

Dryer Hose

Amphitheater

Three Sisters

Sweet Mother Moses

 

 

We also have a report of ice fishermen that have crossed to Grand Island already!  On Sunday the bay was open water but from Grand Island public access to Trout Bay was covered in ice.  As always I would check with the Park Service or Forest Service headquarters before heading out on the lake ice.  The good news is that if this weather holds….we will be on Grand Island for Ice Fest for sure!

With the early cold temperatures I thought it might be prudent to head over to Munising to check on how the ice climbs are starting to form up.  Being optimistic, I threw the crampons and tools in the pack….just hoping that there might be something to play on!

Looking across the lake, the East Channel climbs are just beginning to develop but it sure won’t be too long before the whole curtain is touching down.

As usual, the true waterfalls are behind the seeps in their development but the Dryer Hose and Giddy Up pictured here are coming along quite nicely for November.

The only climb that I found that was remotely climbable was the grade 2 Sunny Day.  This low angle climb had just enough ice to make it worth pulling out the tools and having a go at it!

Munising has around six inches of snow right now and a trail is packed in as far as Sunny Day.  The great news is that all of the feeder streams seem to be full of water, and with our early snow, we should be climbing the major formations right around Christmas!  Couldn’t think of a better gift then that!

What a difference a week makes!  These shots were sent over by Andrew Brodhead as he visited the Curtain’s yesterday.  Won’t be long now!  Thanks Andrew!

After a few calls from some very anxious ice climbers wondering about conditions- I decided to take a ride over to Munising to see how the climbs were progressing.  Needless to say we need a little more time, but there is some ice starting to form!

Check back as we will now start to post a weekly conditions report.