Got to BBW around 1000. 3 cars there, mine included. Moved up to BBW, and put on crampons. Need to put on crampons as you exit vehicle, otherwise it's a waste of time.
BBW
Looking to Baldy
Looking up BBW
Nice shots of the ridge to the right of BBW (South)
Was nice going up, til' further up where rime ice was falling off the trees and flying down the intended route (Lightning Couloir 260M AI2), to the South Ridge of Thunder Mountain, so I got out of that couloir again, further down than last time. I have a prominent lump of bone in my right hand from where I was hit by rockfall on Baden Powell's East Face. Waiting a while longer will just help anyway, as there was lots of snow in the couloir, and the ice wasn't even real ice at the moment. Needs some time to do its thing. The ice that's now buried under snow was quite nice and strong, with some semi-consolidate snow in areas which wouldn't support crampons without kicking steps. There was a lot of thin, but strong, water ice on rock around BBW this morning.
Steepening, where I turned back
From here, I just went to Miners Bowl again, and onto San Antonio Falls Road to the Notch. Spent some time enjoying the view and getting a sunburn at the Notch, talked to some folks (Pat who works there, and Steve I think, who was hiking). Need "business" cards for our forum here. Ate a mid-1990's MRE main course (Chilimac, my fav), and am now processing it with a strong odor.
Typically, MRE's constipate you. I digress. Ate, booked it down, and am home.
Overflow from the reservoir
Check out all the snow!
Looking up Thunder
Baldy
Taking a random ridge down from the road to Manker Flats, with the ski lift lot at center.
Don't park here
Looking up at BBW and Lightning Couloir
My goal this whole time (while waiting for snow/ice to harden) was to link up Lightning Couloir with Thunder's South Ridge, which looks really cool from SAF Road. The ridge looks like it gives quality traditional mixed climbing, and the couloir had some strong alpine ice/very hard snow up to maybe 50 degrees (I don't have a thingy... incinometer?). Thunder Mountain needs a real climbing route. Anyone who wants to go with, is welcome. Should be a short day climb. One axe, crampons and good stiff mountaineering boots, harness, maybe a couple pickets kinda deal. I carry rope, harness, one picket, slings etc, in case things go bad or are impassable, and one is forced to rappel. I like the added security this provides, even if the little extra weight slows one down a tad (not typically an issue climbing in a party in this area).
Blah.
So yeah, we got a lot of snow!
