Ice - Masseys

Quick report

Weather

warm, sunny

Climb Name

Masseys

Ice Quality

ok

Climb is beginning to get bleached. It seems there wasn't an overnight freeze Saturday night but Sunday night it was forecast to drop to -11c. It was chilly when we got there but temps climbed steadily. The ice had some surface bleaching but digging a couple inches or so provided better ice for screws. I suspect it will continue to deteriorate over the next week or two. Get it soon. Also watch for some hang fire to the right of the first pitch. Lots of surface fracturing on bulges. We saw the bulletin danger ratings were mod.lo.lo and the problems of loose wet, wind slab, and cornices didn't have NW as a problem aspect. We thought we would be off the climb before the sun really came around but we were mistaken. We topped out around 1pm and the sun was hitting the drainage above us but not the steeper slopes higher on the mountain. My partner spotted an incident of snow being blown over the ridge high up but mostly we didn't notice transport as being widespread. Wind was very light at the elevation of the climb. We chose to try the walk off rather than rapping the route and being in the firing line. We went higher up before crossing the drainage for a clear view up the avi path. Crossing the snowpack was a slog. A hard crust sits over deep facets. The crust would not support weight much of the time but was hard to bust through when thigh or hip deep. I noticed no propagation or whumphing but busting across it was work. Likewise as we descended in trees we had to deal with a crust. We carried avi gear but other than wanting to be out of the way before the sun came around, conditions seemed stable.