| Not much ice this late in Dec in Joe's Valley, suspect a bad season 08-09 unless this is all anyone expects normally. However, we wanted to explore the area thus this route which is suppose to be a classic for the valley. Only one curtain, needs to be soloed at the moment, which was no big deal, small easy curtain (Deadbolt). The cave was not what I had imagined, really just some chock stones. No other ice in. We dry tooled our way up a few other obstacles to the end. Really a lot of boulder hopping with crampons on. Also, tons of snow as of 12-26-08, which as you may or may not be aware causes a huge insulating factor, so all ice that was in existence was in fact wet. Highs had been in the 20's for a good two weeks, but to much snow covering what little drainage this route has going on. With Zach. |
Joes Valley > Deadbolt, aka The Highway to Heaven > Climber's Log