McCauley Lake, Friday, January 21, 2011

Quickly Out of Trouble, McCauley LakeBlue Esther, McCauley LakeThe WailingMortgage Derivatives, McCauley LakeBlue Max Wall, McCauley LakeBlue Max, McCauley LakeI was at McCauley Lake on Friday with Antonio, Pietro and Jon.

McCauley Lake conditions:

Quickly Out of Trouble - fat. No need for figure 4s or mixed moves at the start, although Pascal's sling is still hanging up high in the tree, if you want to go that route and can figure out how to get to it). The ice is spilling down all the way to the base of the cliff. (WI3)

Western Cwm - didn't head up there, but there is good ice visible from below.

Gift by Ommission and Lightweight ID - looked too thin at the bottom to me (but that's how they looked to me last year aswhen the FAs were done)

Valentine Slabs area - some good ice visible, but not sure how continuous it is
because of the snow cover.

Blue Esther - in fat.
Grey Alan - in
Three Stooges - in.
Yellow Fever - no
The Wailing - in.
Bifurcation – hard to tell under the snow
Mortgage Derivatives - there, but thin
A Dick, 6 Tits, V-Tree - not in

Blue Max Area - Big fat, top heavy pillars just barely touching down. Looked
like a very dangerous heavy suspended mass. One of the pillars at the left end
of the wall (the Forked-Tongue Devil exit pillar?) had sheared right off. Adopt-a-drip project won't be in the same as it was last year - the ice has formed differently. With -20 temperatures that whole wall is probably a very dangerous place to be right now.

Manon - looked fat from afar.

There is a small plowed out parking area (ice-fishing hut put in) about 1 km further down the road from where we normally park. This will add about 10 minutes to your walk in but is safer than the roadside parking we normally use (if you're worried about your Mercedes).

Danylo