SW Pennsylvania ice climbing, weekend outlook

To climb or Not to climb? the good, the bad, and the wet!

I took a trip out to the local spots to see how the cold contributed to our dismal ice conditions.  Things are looking better, but still not quite "in".  UNLESS... you've had enough and really want to get out climbing in a bad way. Well its time to get after it.  Its not ice climbing, but its winter climbing.  The local mixed lines will go this weekend and here's the scoop.  

Ohiopyle

has a variety of options at Lower Meadow.  Season Finale actually has a thin ice start and is in really good shape for climbing.  Its the first mixed line on the approach.  Just before the full ice climbs on the trail.  There are ring anchors at the finish, if one's feeling froggy and jumps on the sharp end for this R rated mixed delight.  Otherwise the rings are accessible from the top for easy top rope fun for all.  Either way this climb is looking sweet!  Here's a picture of it today.

Season Finale could be your season opener!

The main ice lines of Lower Meadow Run are growing, but not ready.  Various mixed options exist, although some ice is poorly bonded and expected to get worse by the weekend.  There was a LOT of running water flowing and running down the ice and cliffs.  Expect to get wet and dress appropriately it getting out.

Main Flow and left and Lower Meadow Run,
Ohiopyle State Park, PA

Captain Caveman is thin and dripping with water, but it'll go!

IRISHTOWN

Sits at a lower elevation than Ohiopyle, but conditions really aren't that much different.  Lots of ice building, but its not bonded well and wet.  The only real climbable options at Irishtown are Dirty T the easier of the two bolted mixed lines or Dynamite the harder of the two lines.  Both have a bolt or two buried under a little ice which may need cleared away.  Good year for water, but bad for ice building temperatures.

  

Dirty T with ice all the way to the ground

Dynamite wet and climbable

This unexplored, unclimbed, potentially good drytool
line is left and around the corner from Dirty T

SCII

Son of Beast is coming along nicely. 

The Grand Central area is building well, but not there yet.
TONS of water coming down.  Scuba Style. OUT!

The SICK-le is currently an ice dagger
with a waterfall running down it.  OUT!

Bird of Prey for the day!

Today I was lucky enough to see this local American Kestrel eating a mouse it had just captured.  I've actually noticed it quite a few times recently.  It sits on the wires along the road almost daily waiting on a meal.  I was on my way to check conditions when I saw it with a mouse in its grasp.  I doubled back to get a photo and watch it pick the mouse apart for a while.  It moved across the road to some pines when I snapped this photo.  It still has the mouse with it in the photo.  The American Kestrel is one of two types of Falcons that we have in our area.  Currently this one is living in the vicinity of Brown's farm on Bear Rocks Road in Fayette County.

Winter hits the Laurel Highlands

Welcome indeed!

Well it looks like the winter weather has hit the Laurel Highlands and should get the Pennsylvania ice climbing season underway.  So far its been scratching at rock with little to no ice.  The cold weather hit and within 24 hours I had the itch to go see what I could find.  Here's a brief photo report for SWPA ice climbing conditions as of January 3rd.  I plan to head out Thursday and check again to see how things will shape up for the weekend.  Stay tuned...

Ohiopyle State Park

Lower Meadow Run has mixed options already. Both Caveman and Anger
Management are climbable. 

The upper, right end of Lower Meadow
still has a long way to go.

Upper Meadow has little to no ice but is building. The
mixed lines should be climbable soon.

SCII

Son of Beast is building fast

Final Obligation and The Awakening

Hard to see, but a potential cool new line!

The Infinite and SICK-le

Irishtown

Dynamite about ready to go, this weekend if the weather holds.
Could currently be climbed, but would better with more ice

Dirty T with a thin ice ribbon the whole way down.  Looks fun!

This one could be fun soon.  Not a route yet!

Mouth of Madness and The Prow both need a lot more ice

I'll leave you again with another one of those very questionable eerie things you find in the backwoods of SWPA.  This is somebody's yard art.  Meaning unknown...  Awesome!

Happy Climbing!

Laura's last free days

Well I'm sad to report that my faithful climbing partner has decided to become a full time student starting next week.  This leaves me well... needing partners.  This was her last free week to get out and climb as much as possible, not an easy task given the current weather trends.  Today we made the best of things (again) and since she's never been to Rattlesnake Rocks, we decided to hike there and make a day of it.  We had fun climbing the short, but challenging routes.  Here's a few highlights of Laura involved in some "mixed" action today. (If you look closely there is a wee bit of ice located in some of the cracks) This may be the closest thing Laura gets to winter climbing before school starts.  Best of Luck in school Laura, you'll be greatly missed as my daily partner.

Laura making some moves

SWPA ice climbing season continues (without ice)

This is by far the worst ice season I've encountered in my 15 years of South Western PA ice climbing. The 10 day forecast isn't looking so favorable either. This morning the Laurel Highlands were dusted with a little snow. Enough to motivate me to load up a full winter kit and set off for the woods in search of some new climbs. I figured if nothing else i'd get some mileage in whilst bushwhacking through the greenbriar filled jungles of Dunbar in "Fayetteville Cong".

I took a hike into a seldom climbed area named Rattlesnake Rocks. It's in the vicinity of Krahlick and Elk Rocks. Climbed mostly in the 80's by Ray Burnsworth and pals. It's a short crag that houses a fair number of climbs in the 20 to 30' range. No sport climbing here. All routes were either top roped or led trad. There are numerous moderate cracks and flake options for the aspiring trad climber.  Rattlesnake Rocks got its name from the rattlesnakes that are known to frequent the area during the warmer months. I spent some time dry tooling across the base of an overhanging wall.

The left end of Rattlesnake Rocks is a great place for dry tool training

 It's a great place to dry tool train with many variations and a nice flat landing. I was alone and climbed sans crampons in my mountain boots.  After about an hour of bouldering and a few shots of the area I set off further across the ridge to see what I could find new.  I was bushwhacking and scrambling around the hillsides.  All of a sudden out of no where I stumbled into this little place.

Slabs stacked like dominos this newly discovered crag is
approximately 50' tall and has some very clean looking trad lines.
There's more crag to the right of what is visible in this photo.

 The climbing looks awesome.  I didn't notice any signs of previous climbers, but a few ascents may have taken place here over the years. Ed Coll, Ivan Jirak, Cal Swogar... There were a few folks that thrashed through the thickets, climbed what they could and moved on.  Unfortunately many of the pioneers of the area are now deceased or have moved on leaving the history a little less than known.  Either way, the routes look like a lot of fun and we're planning our first climbing visit this New Years Day.  Here's a few of the plums that adorn this crag.

The first line I walked up to,
a seam system unlike many in these parts

Center section of the crag.  Nice flakes and corners awaiting us

It was getting later in the day and I still had quite a hike out.  I finished exploring a little and made my way to the car dreaming of the great new climbs I found.  I had a great day exploring old crags and finding new.  After all the time I've spent wandering the ridges and valleys of SWPA, the thing that I enjoy most is what I find next...

Not only new crags, but this is one of the things you might find in SWPA???

Pike Run Dry Tooling

The small outcrops at Pike Run work great for dry tooling

East coast ice climbing has had another dismal week.  Above average temperatures and rain are preventing the ice climbing season from getting underway.  Locally we've had 40 degree rainy days with evening temps hovering around freezing.  Yesterday Laura and I had some time to get out climbing and didn't want the lack of ice this season ruin our motivation.  With possible rain in the forecast, we decided to hit a small local spot for some dry tooling.  We decided to head over to Pike Run for some dry tool investigation.  Pike Run is predominantly a bouldering area with a few 25' outcrops that offer a little top roped climbing.  I installed a few bolt anchors on top of the outcrops in 2000 to help lessen the impact of anchoring off the small trees at the top.  For those that don't know, I used to own a climbing shop and guide service located about 5 minutes down the road in Donegal. Pike Run offered folks a place to climb very close to my shop.  Much to my surprise Pike Run is still being used on a regular basis.

Tim checking out the Citronella Cave V4 to V6

Laura getting ready to give it a go...

Laura on our 3rd climb

Enjoying the new opportunities

 The approach trail has had some impressive work done to it.  Someone also went as far as to build landings at the bottom of the Tower outcrop at the descent trail.  My hat is off to those ambitious folks that took the effort to help maintain this local climbing resource.  The rock at Pike Run is sandstone.  Its coarse, not nearly as compact and solid as the sandstone located in most places on Chestnut Ridge.  The outcrops at Pike Run offer some great dry tool options.  Laura and I had a great time exploring and trying out some lines.  We climbed 3 lines overall taking laps on each several times.  The moves varied  from easier M3/4 to M8 with the climbing being somewhat technical and not as straight forward as it looks from the ground.  Rounded and sloping are the norm with a few usable cracks here and there.  It was nice to revisit and take a serious thrashing at an area I haven't climbed in a few years.  I'm sure we'll be back to pump ourselves silly soon enough.

Laura practicing climbing in ice boots without tools

On a non climbing note:
On the way home from Pike Run we were pleasantly surprised to see a pair of Northern Goshawks near Acme Dam on county line road.  One was actively hunting and perching while the other perched the whole time far off on a field edged by forest.  It will be interesting to see if they are here wintering or passing through to other territory.  Goshawks are our largest accipiter and are irregular visitors to our region.  They live in the colder, northern climates of Canada during summer and migrate south for the winter.  The Goshawk is related to our summer resident Sharp-Shinned and Coopers hawks.  Here's a photo we shot of one perched on a dead snag.

Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis
near Acme Dam, Dec. 16, 2011

Improved ice bouldering 12.13.11

Laura making the best out of the limited ice currently in the area

Laura and I decided to head out and see if the ice bouldering was still "in".  The weather forecast isn't looking too promising for the next week, so we decided to get in what we could.  Laura had spent the previous day on the Laurel highlands hiking trail in the vicinity of the ice bouldering with "Shifty" our Doxie want-a-be.  He's a 30lb hiking machine that we found at Schoolhouse crag several years ago.  Their favorable outing prompted us to take the short drive up the ridge and see if we could scratch around a little.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that the ice flows grew a little since my last visit.   This was Laura's first visit to our new ice training resource.   We spent a few hours traversing the flows and rock getting a bit of a workout in.  Laura took advantage of the plentiful sunshine basking and warming when necessary.

Is that a climber in distress?  No, its just Laura basking.

Its a lot of fun and a great way to get a little training in.  Well worth our time considering it was 45° in Pittsburgh today.  We hiked back to the car in a plethora of sunshine and blue skies. A very enjoyable day for sure.

Plenty of training to be had.  Lots of traversing on
limestone with a little ice thrown in.

Ice tinkering 12.11.11

The ice bouldering conditions I found on Sunday 12/11/11

I wasn't sure there would be any ice and I was partnerless, but being an optimist I pack up my tools and crampons and decided to head out and see if I could find anything "climbable".   I made my way to an area in the Laurel Highlands that is around 2650' in elevation figuring that as all the lower stuff was sure to be a wash.  I drove as far I could until the icy roads and steep inclines would've trapped me for sure.  It was a pleasant day with the temps in the mid 20's to 30 degrees and the sun shining.  I ended up hiking about a mile down the the icy road to the crag slipping and sliding my way down the hill.

Happy to find ice and enjoy the colder weather.

The ice I found was a little delaminated with running water in some areas, but was tall enough and stable enough that I could get some early season mixed training in.  What the ice lacked in size it surely made up for in fun!  I was able to traverse several hundred yards covering both ice runnels and rock.  The ice varied in thickness from relatively thin (enough to hold body weight) to some decent swing and sticks.  It was nice to see ice again.  The temps up high have been cold since my visit and should still be good.  I plan to visit again this week for some more early season ice bouldering.

After ice bouldering I went to check other areas.
Here's the best I found.  Still has a ways to go, but winter
is almost here!