The early season ice climbing sendfest continues unabated with another day in Eureka. On Wednesday, the objective was Stairway to Heaven. The climb was super fat and the ice very sticky.
Yesterday, Jim and I made a return visit to Eureka with the intent of climbing Hoser’s Highway. We had both previously climbed the route in past seasons, but it does not form up consistently every year and reports were that it was in good shape. However, while racking up in the parking lot at Eureka we noticed that Bad Ass Pencil appeared to be in climbable condition. Additionally, there was another sun-rotted pillar further up slope that also appeared to be in decent shape. Both of these were absent on our local climbing tick list, so we quickly abandoned our original objective and instead slogged up the slope towards the pillars.
We did the sun-rotted one first. It won’t be around for long if the temps don’t cool down soon. The east facing aspect gets hits hard by the sun for a few hours in the AM. The second climb was the aptly named Bad Ass Pencil. It appeared to be in dubious condition at first glance, but it actually climbed and protected very well. Steep and pumpy!
 |
| Stemming the dead vertical pillar |
 |
| Bad Ass Pencil |
