We decided to get up early and run over to the Big Horns and make today a Superflow Sunday by hitting up the Ten Sleep flow and getting back to Spearfish before the big game.
We had a good day by getting out yesterday morning and climbing some steep ice in Community Cave and then Jack and I went skiing in the Bearlodge Mountains for a bit getting a thousand foot climb in on the Road that goes up Warren Peak. It was inverted and it made for some dramatic scenery.
We left town at 5am and got to the parking lot at 9am after some fuel and breakfast in Buffalo. The Ten Sleep Flow or I think some people call it the Liegh Creek Flow is a real beast if done in one pitch it has a calf burning 100ft of steep slap that leads to 60 very steep feet of ice and another 25 of low angle to the trees. I had followed it several times and lead the first half to some anchors on a rock route one or twice, but I had not got the business in especially in one pitch. It went fairly well with a good run at the crux, but I was pumped out of my mind on one occasion but held it together by punching completely through some thin class ice to have some great hook and pulls with the pick stuck into the head.
We took a few pictures of the great terrain where we have done some big mixed routes in the higher peeks of the Big Horns.
All in all this was probably my hardest ice lead and is certainly 4+ and probvably a 5 which would be my first foray into that grade on lead. I had been thinking about doing this one for about 20 years now and to finally get it in truly did make it a Superflow Sunday and we made it back well before the start of the game. I did take a good chunk of the half to write up the TR.