Wayne Barnard and I traveled to Ricketts Glen in search of ice.  Conditions were marginal in the Ganoga Falls amphitheater, but we got our fix. We ended up on the Cradleboard route on the right end of the right wall, as all other routes were not yet touching down or were a bit too candled to hold screws. The low angle wall to the left of Ganoga Falls looked in as well. Video here: Cradleboard, Ganoga Falls - January 30, 2016 (YouTube)

 Too much water and not enough single digit temps have left Ganoga Falls running strong.

 Right Wall (Left to right): Savage is not quite touching down, War Bonnet is not filled in enough to hold screws, but Cradleboard is in fine shape. 

 Dutch Eagle is touching down, but the lower third is extremely candled. We left that to hopefully grow.

 Wayne on Cradleboard (WI 3+)   

    


Left variation on Cradleboard

 Seconding Cradleboard

 On warm sunny days, be aware of what is hanging above you. We witnessed several large daggers cut loose from the upper wall today.

Seeing the dismal weather forecast this coming week, we decided we should try to get a bit of an "Ice Fix" this evening. We grabbed the ice gear and caving helmets, and setup a couple top ropes on several variations at Rosecrans Pillar. No photos, but here are a couple videos from tonight's activity.

Night Climbing Ice at Rosecrans Pillar - January 25, 2016 (YouTube)

Ice Climbing, Rosecrans Pillar - January 25, 2016 (YouTube)

Neal Sailer provided some recent ice conditions from the Poconos region.

We went climbing Sunday, January 17, 2016, first to Raymondskill Falls, which was just flowing water — lots of water. Nothing in at all.

Then we headed to Slateford Falls where in the past huge crowds of guided lessons fill the climbs — we found an empty lot and ice again not yet developed. We did manage to climb (top rope) a side wall with a “good” icicle closest to the trail and a water pool and with some dry tooling/pointing. This feature presented some interesting moves, hooking, lie backs and sometimes bear hugging a shaky ice column with tools dangling (still ice climbing, right?). We were soaked, muddy but happy enough to go three times each on the same problem.

Still need a long cold snap...

Too much rain and not enough cold temperatures have kept us off the ice so far this season. Single digit temps during the first week of January did give us a good start, but a warm front and heavy rain on January 9th wiped it out. This past week did give us some growth, but the main falls are still running too strong to form, and only the weeping walls and seeps are growing.

(L) The low angle approach to Roadside Gully is running too strong to form.       (R) The vertical pillars up high on the third tier of Roadside Gully are showing potential.

We also checked on the Rosecrans Pillar in the McElhattan Gorge. Just down stream from McElhattan Falls and Rosecrans Falls, this short steep pillar requires a lot of ground water to form, and this year it is nearly touching down. Check out this old 2005 Video of the Rosecrans Pillar in stellar condition. Hopefully this flow will be ready by next weekend.

Roadside Gully along Rt. 120 North of Lock Haven has plenty of water, but desperately need 2 solid weeks of single digits to bring it in. Seasonal temps have finally come to Central Pennsylvania, and we can only hope this trend continues.

So far this season has not been favorable for cold weather activities. Hope Winter soon comes!

Feel free to check our Ice Condition Archive Pages located along the right sidebar to see what we can expect if the weather cooperates. Please use this site and www.NEIce.com to assist you in determining where to climb.

HELP WANTED! Please help keep this site up to date. Use the conditions form listed on the "Submit" tab above, or email your Pennsylvania Ice Climbing trip reports and photos to dave@hikebikeclimb.net and I will post them to this site.