Yesterday I climbed Snivelling Gully and Ice T on the upper weeping wall with Mike Stuart. The 1st pitch was in its normal state, not fat, but relatively good ice. The rest of the route except for the upper steep section, was less than desirable! The whole middle part was open water which was covered with very thin ice that barely supported your weight.
The approach ice to Ice T was not a straight forward grade 4. The first pitch was quite thin and we had to work hard to get good screws in, however you could definitely use 13 to 16 cm screws, just had to place them on the bulges of ice, or else it was rock. A 70m rope took you to a nice ledge. The building of an anchor was hard due to the quality of the ice. We built a 4 screw station. That second pitch was 35 meters to a tree. More slogging to Ice T. The book mentioned about two long Pitches, we climbed it in one long 60 meter pitch. There was some cleaning to do, but for most part the ice was quite good. The gear was excellent for 80% of the time.
I didn't take a photo of Ice T, but the photo attached is of the Weeping Pillar.
Marco Delesalle
Mountain Guide
