Ice Conditions (continued...)

[Fred]

Peck, Corey, and Berube out for a great day in Grand Falls. The main flows under the rap line are formed nicely. Stuff around the left end of the cliff is in but was not climbed. Peck led a sweet pillar at left end of the big cliff. Impressive lead which earned him the MVP again. Finished with a sweet TR of the big cliff. Very wet and as always very pumpy.

[PeterA]

Steve, cory, and I trekked out to the quarry yesterday. It's in, but thin. Iced cheese is pretty good, but not many of the other lines were thick, although they might still be doable.

-PJ

[Paddlerx]

hillsborough is out. 50% of it is gone from the melt and high tides.

don

[joshp]

Headed into Parlee Brook yesteday, thanks to Shannon's help with directions. ATKH was lead in very poor conditions. Thin layers of ice covers a foot of snow with better ice underneath. It's clean now! The steeper stuff looks fairly good thought. Hiked in from the bottom approach without any troubles. Enjoy.

[Paddlerx]

Parlee via parlee brook road...how?!
we snowshoed in yesterday. parked at the hobbit house by the bridge. kept going on the logging road. past the vertical wall up on the left, past the cabin on the right that has the abandoned house beside it...and up the long long slog of a hill. we turned around at the top because it just didn't seem right.

how far off were we from parlee proper?

[darrell]

Paddler- Instead of continuing walking on the Parlee Brook Rd, you go up the rd right before the "Abby" hobbit building ( the Arnold hollow Rd). follow the directions below, and make sure you park well past the Abby house, where they stop plowing, as we don't want to interfer with the owner's parking!



Parlee Brook Rd, which is just a couple of kms before Poley mountain ski hill. Just park at the end of the road, where they stop plowing. Do not block the road totally in case a 4x4, ATVs want t ogo through / over the snow bank. You can then walk / ski (or probably drive in my 4x4) the 2.5 kms in the Arnold Hollow rd, where we start walking up the brook, that you find at the right edge of a large cleacut, to the hidden valley / climbs. Be respectful of the owner of the stone "Abby" building, at the end of the road - park past it a bit, where they stop plowing. However, if anyone tells you you are not allowed to go in the Arnold Hollw rd, just tell them they can phone the police if they like (in a nice way)- as you KNOW it is a public rd!

[Shawn B]

One thing to consider incase anyone has not thought about it before is the potential for avalanches in parlee. With all the snow and wind we got I'd expect the potential to be there. The whole ravine is a terrain trap as well and a slide wouldn't have to entrain much snow to bury a person. I'd expect Sunbake and 3 amigos to be the most likely areas due to their aspect. But expect cross loading on probably most areas in Parlee. Just thought some people may not consider this and having it in the back of your mind might be a good idea if you venture there anytime soon.

[martha]

Good call Shawn. I never would have thought of it in Parlee.

But really.. who the heck is going to make that slog into Parlee now? NOT ME! ha!

[Paddlerx]

is anyone planning on going in either saturday or sunday from the bottom? unless some smart/lucky person has a snowmobile to pack down the first 2k it'll be a tough snowshoe. Michelle and i are planning for sunday to explore and climb in there, saturday will likely be right off the road in hillsborough.
i suspect these 2 days of deepfreeze will help everything form up nicely.

[Matt Peck]

I was in to Cochrane lane yesterday to check out some mixed lines and this warm weather we've been having has deteriorated the ice significantly. I'd say today (sunday) will be the last good day we'll have for a while with the temps this week coming up. There was lots of delaminated ice yesterday, so be careful climbing late in the afternoon/evening, folks.

[STeveA]

I hiked over to Ministers Face Sunday. The ice is not too great. The upper section is not formed at all, and the right side would be a thin lead. The ice on the river was only 8" thick and with this weeks warm weather I would recommend staying off it for a while.

[Mike D]

So ... does anyone have some thoughts on the status of Parlee Brook after the last few 'lovely' days?
The walk in should be significantly easier.
.... but would the ice be still there

[martha]

my guess is that the hike is definately easier, and that the ice will probably form up nicely once we get a few cold cold nights. There could be some weird crust issues on the lower angle stuff like ATKH etc though. Dunno for sure.

Why don't you make the hike in and let us know?

[Matt Peck]

Was in to parlee yesterday with Fred and Dave, looks like just about everything is in and fairly fat. Patricks is out but that was about the only one. left of three amigos is fatter than I have ever seen it, and Yellow pillar is fat but very moderate at the moment.
Approach from the top was about 1.5 hours from the stopsign, Joe "longlegs" Kennedy said that approach from the bottom was about 50 strenuous minutes.
Yellow pillar, Yellow opposite yellow, and blue pillar were all lead on long screws.
Matthew.

[DanR]

We were at parlee sat. and took the bottom route in for the first time. Took us much more than 50 minutes (over 2 hours), but maybe we took the wrong way? From the end of parlee brook rd., before the bridge we took the road that goes past the camp. up the hill then down then left to PB after the clearcut.
Like matt said, most of parlee is nice and fat.. if you have time to climb once you get there.

[Joe]

Dan, thanks for breaking the trail! We followed your tracks all the way in (you weren't lost) so we moved along pretty easily, making the hike in less than an hour. It's certainly slower when breaking trail with snowshoes. Someone needs to pack it down with a snowmobile!

[Matt Peck]

Great day out at Grand Falls today, with a possible two first ascents to record.

Lunch Gun. WI 3+ 20m
FFA Matthew Peck and Fred Berube. 27/01/08
Newly formed narrow pillar of ice climbers right of "Into The Woods" before the "easy Gully" ramp. Short and steep.

This is the first time I've seen any ice on this climb, but it took 22cms the whole way.

Goof Juice. WI 5 30m
FFA Dave Peabody and Matthew Peck. 27/01/08
leftmost major pillar of the left area. Steep and sometimes overhanging chandaliers. Abalakov Rappell.

An awesome but cold day out. Conditions are good in Grand Falls again, though the usual sunbaked and sometimes rotten ice forms the Dirty Cliff.

Matthew Peck

[shannon]

Matt,

You guys interested in hitting Grand Falls again this Saturday? I'll be around and eager to climb.

shannon from PEI

[Matt Peck]

sorry bud, Im off to the Hali this weekend.

[Fred]

I'm probably out as well. Was given a home reno project to finish

[martha]

I'm probably out as well. Was given a home reno project to finish

yeah, if Fred opts to climb instead of finishing the reno... then he will have to move in with one of you guys!

[Peabody]

Wa-pshh wa-pshh...I can hear that whip cracking Fred.

I'm on leave starting Friday eve until thurs the 7th and looking to go climbing if you know of anyone else interested. Might be going to quebec this weekend though.

[Fred]

LOL

[Fred]

Here is a photo with Goof Juice marked in red. Can anyone confirm if this route was ever led?

[shannon]

Peabody, Or anyone else...

If you're not going to Quebec, where might you be interested in climbing? (ice climbing)? I can either do Hayes or Grand Falls on saturday, and am looking for a partner.

shannon

[justin]

Fred I dont think anyone has every led it .... wanted to snag it last yr but it never came in .
Shannon ... not sure on my goings on this weekend ..we are suposed to have company over .. I'll let ya know if they back out.

[Fred]

sweet! that's what I thought. The gentlemen from Maine was there this weekend and said he led the route around the corner that finished with a rock top out but I'm guessing he's talking the stuff just right of the line Dave did. Goof Juice would be impossible to finish on rock in my opinion hence the albacove.

[Adam]

Abalokov

[mathieu]

albacurkey

[Joe]

naa... he talking about some kinda tuna...