Silver Creek Ice

Drew and I headed into Silver Creek today to climb some steep ice. Last year we bought a snowmobile together and then Drew promptly blew out his knee. So today was the first time he'd ridden it after purchasing it almost a year ago! 

We rode tandem about 3 miles in with Kaya dog surfing the seat between us. It was pretty comical, but we managed to stay on the sled and not get stuck. Next time we'll have to get some helmet cam footage of the approach! 

After shutting the sled down, it was still about an hour approach on skis to the ice. I climbed this steep pillar about 10 years ago with the Leidecker brothers, and had always wanted to come back. The ice was in, but was very "chandeliered"... not so good for placing screws! So we scampered around the backside and set up a top rope and gave it a few burns.

Sorry for the crummy photos... it's difficult to belay and take pictures at the same time!

We gotta get Drew to wear something colorful! That "rock" colored jacket isn't cutting it!

Pumped! It's steeper than it looks!

We each gave it a burn, then I tried to dry tool up this steep face to the left. I did pretty good, but when I came winging off near the top I swung under the wettest part of the ice flow. It was as if I was dangling on a rope in a cold shower wearing only soft shells... I was instantly drenched to the bone! Dry tooling? More like wet tooling! Last time I climb ice without a hard shell.

All in all we had a good day. I'd like to get back out there and put some rap anchors in and have another go at the dry tooling! Let's hope the snow keeps coming and the ice keeps building!

Thanks for fun day Drew and thanks for reading.