Hyalite Canyon, MT

12/29-12/31
Well after plans a, b, and d didn’t go why not just take c? 3 days of ice climbing in Hyalite Canyon outside of Bozeman, MT……….

Plans started back at the beginning of December. Hmm, where to go for 5 days at the end of the year? Wanting to avoid the city as much as possible (and reality) for New Years I had the idea of a winter ascent. Plan A, my 3rd shot at Redoubt, this time in the winter; or plan B, a winter ascent of Mt Olympus. After convincing Joe of what a wonderful idea they were we started planning. Looking at maps, coming up with schedules and talking gear.

As the time approached things looked worse and worse; La Nina was DUMPING snow in the mountains all around us……non-stop!!! Time for a new plan. Neither of us wanted to play avalanche dodging…..now what. Joe through out the idea of a few days of ice climbing in Hyalite. At first the idea sounded “eh” to me. Especially after spraining my ankle last winter on an ice lead, I was still feeling a little “gun shy”. What about another summit somewhere I asked and Joe quickly throughout the idea of the Grand Teton. Plans C & D were born. Now it was a question of Rocky Mtn weather. Not typically as bad as our NW weather, but of course the wind chill in the Teton area was predicted to be about -20, plus the heavy snow they were predicting. When leaving Seattle after work, we still weren’t sure where we were headed.

We left Seattle at about 4pm Friday and decided right outside of Ellensburg to head to MT. The weather was better and we had a place to crash. Some friends of Joe’s were in the area and we were invited to stay with them at their parents….SWEET!!! Saving $$ on food and a warm place to stay….PERFECT. Driving through the night sucks!! Especially when at every mtn pass is was dumping snow…and I happened to be stuck with that driving shift.

We arrived in Bozeman around 7am, fueled up at the local IHOP and planned our day.

Driving in was pretty sweet after the road was recently plowed (something we found out never happened) a good sign. Headed out of the parking lot and hiked up to our first objective:

Mummy 2: Joe on lead

While belaying we got to watch a pretty large loose snow avy come off the neighboring climb…which we then set-up a TR from.Sceptor, WI-5

After some runs on that and after only a few hours sleep, it was time to call it day 1. We headed to the Story’s house for a HUGE dinner and a warm bed. Ah, the life of climbing bums.

Day 2: we were up early with a huge breakfast and off again to the canyon. This timed we carried Joe’s buddy Kyle along and climbed a little guy called the Fat One: WI 2-3

We each got a climb and then headed off to a much better objective just a few yards away. This was my first true mix climb (both dry tooling and ice climbing). It was a super fun chimney with 5.8 and WI3+ climbing. Kyle took the lead

Pretty sweet. It took each of us a while to climb it and we soon ran out of light…and body warmth. Once again headed back to a big dinner and a hot shower. Joe and I decided it was time for a beer and headed into Bozeman to discuss our thoughts on the remaining days we had. Tetons? More Hyalite? hmmm.

More Hyalite….but with a little flair. The plan. Head into Hyalite, climb Twin Falls (WI3), haul up the ski gear, skin up and ski the basin above and then rapel out….all in a day. Oh yeah! Things started off just fine at the parking lot.

After missing the right trail we headed off into the woods and broke trail for about 2hrs until finally reaching the trail. Another 30 minutes and we were at the falls. My turn for the lead:

I set up the anchor and belay Joe’s other buddy up. He and I haul some ski gear and then belay for Joe.

Time for the quick change over and to start skinning up.

It continued to dump on us for the next 2hrs or so as we tried to reach a 10,000ft saddle. The work of the approach, the climb and altitude started to take its toll on both Joe and I and we struggled to keep it going. The powder on the way down was worth the effort though!!!! Sweet Rocky Mtn powder!!!

After reaching the flats above the falls, my skins gave out and I had to plunge step my back to the rap. By this time the east coast in me started to come out and I became easier and easier to frustrate. I was cold, my skins didn’t work, my harness gave me a hard time, I dropped my glove in the snow…it went on and on until the climax of having my safety back-up on the rap freeze up on the line and I was hanging half way down, with my full pack…near darkness. The profanity began and the anger stepped in….ah my temper. Finally got myself loose and to the ground, just as all the light disappeared and one more pleasant surprise….a missing battery in my headlamp!!! I hiked out in the dark and just wanted to cry…or scream, I can’t remember which.

We finally made it back to civilization and had another of our huge dinners and it was time to pass out. That’s right, asleep at 9pm on New Years Eve!!!!!

Oh and my toes at the end of the weekend. PRETTY