Day two of our ice climbing adventure started a little later this morning. We met Melanie and Ryan for a leisurely breakfast and then headed out for the ice park. Today we stuck to moderate, but long, climbs at the School House section and then below the lower bridge. The climbs were all a good 100 feet, my guess would be WI4 or so. We climbed until we couldn't climb any more and returned the gear around 3:30.
This picture shows the last two climbs we did (where the rope is and the climb to the left):
Back on the road we saw some amazing landscapes with the sun setting on the snow and the full moon lighting the white mountainsides. We finally got into Monarch at around 7:00. The Monarch Pass is the highest point on highway 50 at over 11,000ft. On the way out Sunday there was a veritable snow storm as we drove through. Tonight, though, it was clear and much easier to drive. We're saying at the Monarch Mountain Lodge and hope to get some swimming and skiing (downhill) in tomorrow based on how Dan feels. Poor guy is still fighting bronchitis and a wicked head cold.
We will post more pictures when we get a better wireless connection!
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