Ice Climbing Valdez Style: Hung Jury and Horsetail Falls

This climb feels as weird as it looks. I saw what I thought was a pretty straight forward line on the left, but when I got close up to the bells it was a lot more eerie than it looked from the ground. It wasn't necessarily super hard climbing, just a little awkward...which made it super exciting...for me anyway : )

Hung Jury

 

Looking Up Hung Jury

 

It was an awesome pitch to lead and I'm psyched that I pulled it off. It felt like it went on forever, it was a solid 200 foot pitch of ice with 15 ft of snow to the alders. I even got to do the hook a huge hole and look down the climb from the top...

Climbing Between the Bells

 

I've never climbed Horse Tail falls so I convinced Ry that it was the best option for the rest of the day. It turned out to be a much more exciting pitch than it had looked from the ground...there was lots of large holes where it felt like I could fall through the climb....I think one of my biggest fears is falling behind the ice....

Horsetail Falls

 

I was super psyched to get to climb two routes that I have never done before...and I've always really wanted to do Hung Jury, its such a beautiful route, and I'm so happy that none of the bells collapsed!


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