Mission Falls/Ice Climbing

Date: December 29, 2018

Trip Leader: Forest Dean

Participants: Megan Monahan, Dillon Burke

Megan, Dillon and I met up at the Wye and drove up to the Mission Reservoir arriving at about 7:45am.  We were on the trail up to Mission Falls at 8:00.  The approach hike took about 1.5 hours (2.5 miles, 1300’ of elevation gain- all trail).  With the warm temps over the past month, the ice was by no means in peak shape, but all 4 of the main climbs to the right of Mission Falls are climbable.  We chose to do the easier 2^nd and 4^th climbs (WI3).  The day was on the warm side so the ice was soft and tool/crampon placement was pretty easy.  For Dillon, it was his second day ever ice climbing, but he didn’t even remotely flounder on anything.  We each took a couple laps on both climbs and enjoyed the climbing, the camaraderie and the beautiful surroundings!  We had the area to ourselves- nobody else even hiked up the trail on this day.  Around 4:00 we packed up and began the hike out (took only a little over an hour to get back to the trailhead).  Hopefully we will get a stretch of cooler temps to get some more ice built up.  However, if you are looking to get on some local ice, you won’t waste your time hiking back there right now!  Forest Dean