Climbed Unicorn up in the David Thompson today.
The route is extremely fat and is actually touching
down. It will need a bit more time till you would want
to jump on it as a pure ice route as the bottom of the
two pillars are only attached by a few icicles. We
found good ice on the first pitch with only a few
steps onto the rock needed. As well we only placed a
.25-.5 inch piece of gear for a small step over the
roof. All other gear was ice screws. The upper pitch
was much easier than the given M7 rating as you could
stem off the ice and rock throughout the difficulties.
The last bolt (the ones marked off route in the mixed
guidebook) protects the 10 feet of steeper ice.
Kitty Hawk is also in very good condition.
Although there wasn't much new snow in David Thompson
country, there was up to 20 cm's of new snow at the
Bow summit. This tapered off as you headed north. With
the new snow and high winds throughout the day we
noticed alot of snow moving around up high on Mount
Wilson and adjacent peaks.
You will want to think about the terrain above the ice
climbs you choose this weekend as I imagine there
will be some natural activity and soft slabs on some
of the approaches.
.Craig McGee, IFMGA
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