After the two weeks of storms, the last week in February was unseasonably warm down here in the valley with bright sunshine and occasional highs in the 60s. Julie and I have been climbing indoors at the gym all winter and we saw the last weekend in February as a great opportunity to see what the outdoor rock climbing conditions might be like after a week of sun and relatively warm temps. We decided to head to American Fork Canyon which is just a few minutes away and check on some of our favorite south facing climbs that receive direct sunlight all day. Even though it was warm enough to drive comfortably with the top down, we were both worried that there might just be too much snow to make the approach hike. And, as you can see in the picture below, there was a good 3 feet of snow at the trail head for the approach...
However, as you can see in the below picture, even though there was so much snow on the trail the actual rocks were completely free of snow and receiving tons of direct sunlight to warm them up.
We walked up the road just a bit from the parking area before cutting into the snow so we could make the most direct approach possible.
Fortunately for us, even though the snow was extremely deep it was also packed down pretty well so we didn't really sink while walking on it (unless you stepped off the trail in which case you would sink up to your thighs).
As we started to approach the steeper sections with less trees and more direct sun, the snow became more and more sparse.
On the more exposed sections of the trail there wasn't even any snow at all.
Here is Julie rounding the final bend before our climbing area.
And in this picture we have arrived. We chose this particular area because it had the best chance of being dry and it offers many moderate climbs with great hand holds and very safe protection.
In this picture I am preparing the rope and getting all our gear organized.
In this picture you can see most of the gear necessary for sport climbing. Hanging off my harness are two different lengths of quick draws which clip to the bolts already on the wall, a prussic safety knot for backing up a rappel, two slings used to attach me to the anchors, and finally a belay/rappel device. In the upper left you can also see the figure eight retrace knot that attaches the main rope to the harness.
In this picture Julie is preparing to climb.
This is what the rope looks like once the climb has been completed and the climber has been lowered back down to the ground.
At the top of the climb the rope is going through two different anchors for redundancy.
Here's a picture I took looking back down while attached to the anchors at the top of the climb
Also, from the top of the climb I noticed this interesting rock formation. I will be calling it "Eye of the Needle" unless I hear it is already named something else.
I also took a short panoramic video from the top that you can view below.
Looking back down the canyon from the top you can see the road we drove in on and our parked car is blocked by one of the pine trees in the middle of the picture.
Since last weekend, the weather has turned much colder again and we have received two more snowstorms with more on the way. Julie and I definitely enjoyed getting out climbing in the brief warm weather we had, but we are also looking forward to many more weekends of snowboarding. (Last year it was still dumping feet of snow in the mountains through April and Snowbird didn't close till the end of June.)
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