As it turns out if we had rapped the Pencil and brought headlamps we could have finished the climb and been back to our packs just about at dark. As it was we still had an hour and half of daylight left when we got to the car! In any event it was the most amazing day of alpine snow and ice climbing I have experienced, in the most spectacular setting I have ever seen.

Even if you don't finish the climb, every pitch you do complete is still worth doing. You could climb to the base of the 1st Tier in 5-6 hours round trip and have a wonderful alpine day. If you did it late in the season as we did, there are some interesting 80' pillars on the right side of the canyon near the start of the 1st Tier that would be destinations if they were located anywhere else.

Climb safe,

Al Hospers

Hints & Tips:

1) Unless you are very fast, plan on leaving your car at the pullout an hour before dawn so you can be at the start of the first real pitch of climbing at sunrise.

2) The ideal rope setup would be 2 70-meter 8.5 mm. That way you could be sure of making the belay on the 1st Tier and not having to do any downclimbing on the descent.

3) If you have 60 meter ropes avoid the snow slog on the descent by rapping the Pencil. There are chains at the top and it will knock at least 45 minutes off the descent..

4) Do not start climbing the 1st Tier if someone is in front of you on the 2nd because you will have no way to avoid the ice coming down from them. This is why the Ranger we met on the climb turned around.

5) Guide book: Waterfall Ice by Joe Josephson.