Bush Stream – out in a Frozen Playground
The lean snow fall this season combined with the cold temps of early July has kicked Bush Stream into producing some very good quality lines above 1300m and the low snow levels have exposed some previously unseen ice. In total I saw 4 new serious lines from camp with some of the older unclimbed lines well formed.
Bush Stream Ice Climbing Guide
Image Gallery – 2010
(click through to largest images for best Resolution)
This was my first trip back into Bush stream in about 3 seasons – other things take prioritory and you want to see new ground. Getting back to the base of the South Face of Mt Brown was a pretty exciting. This was a guiding trip for Alpine Guides and I took two lads from Australia in, Dimitri and Tom.
After meeting Tom and Dimi we got sorted ( the pack nazi was in town) and down to Glentanner for the flight in. We were ready for a walk out in case of rapidly changing weather so luxury items were at a minimum. The heli is able to drop off just a little further up valley from the south Face of Mt Brown near the large " Big Rock" Bivvy – so after a quick camp set up we went looking to get some tools in. There had been "rumors" of poor ice quality in the region and I'd not been able to look up the valley the night before since it was dark …. but my first view of bush stream as we drove to Glentanner allayed any fears of no ice. The "Indicator" routes were in – so the rest of the valley would provide …
From the southern end of the bridge over Bush Stream you can just see the ice that forms the top of Reality Bird Bath and the unclimbed pillar beside it. No other climbable ice is visable. Seeing these lines and knowing the region temps helps to make the call on going in or not. Temps overnight of -1 or -2 pretty much ensure that there will have been reliable melt freeze occurring above 1300m. colder temps sitting near -7 or -8 for a few days normally brings the lower section of Bush Stream into condition – called the Grotto most of the climbs there start near 1000m.
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View from Southern end of the Bush Stream Bridge |
Reality Bird Bath (right) and unclimbed pillar (left) Thunderbirds are go …. |
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 The enterance gully to the Reality Bird bath Area – a very dangerous avalanche pathway normally. |
I was amazed to see just how little snow we'd actually had by the fact that the creek leading to the area under Reality Bird Bath was exposed and in some places – running. Again in "normal" snow years I would either avoid going in there or only go in there if there had been a recent avalanche. The avo hazard was low at the time and with little snow Tom and Dimitri were able to get their first feel of crampons on ice on the walk up the creek … We only played on the low ice in there but that was enough to get both the lads fired up. We finished out first day climbing in the near dark and we shot off back down to camp – all ready to go since we'd put it up before coming out. A good fresh cooked meal and hot drinks then it was off to bed – too cold to hang around outside.
The next few days were pretty much perfect weather although day 2 the temperatures did rise. Choosing places to climb in wamrner temps meant looking for the thickers shadier ice flows that didn't drip – Diving In at the Deep End (WI 3+ 40m) was a good place to get the boys into steeper ice. The approach to south face of Mount Brown is via a large scree slope – the smart money on the approach is to find a good snow slope and your your crampons so you don't need to traverse too much frozen scree – but be careful of the gullys above you – don't go wandering up a large avalanche debris field (is anybody seeing a pattern here?)
Ice is a funny thing – it forms differently all the time – play in a large enough area and you see all sorts of things come and go. The Thin White Line (WI 3 3 pitches) is a line that doesn't like too much snow – 1 it makes it shorter and two since it' so thin is can accumulate snow on the climb due to crossloading wind effects and becomes rotten. This year I was pretty certain that it would be in great condition – it looked good (which means it looks very thin from camp!) and closer inspection showed only pure untouched water ice. Dimitri had a sore calf muscle and elected to remain in camp so Tom and I went back for what I think might have been the second ascent. 3 short 25m pitches on varying angles of ice lead up to the narrow neck where the gully is only afew meters wide and the ice has a small curtin and is about 1 m wide – a very kewl climb on moderate terrain.
Day 4 rolled around and with a poor weather forecast and higher freezing levels for day 5 we chose to climb til the end of day 4 and then fly out. the day wasn't wasted. Once again the low snow provided a great chance to look at a new line that is normally to hazardous to get too. 2 pitches of ice were visable from the south face of Mt Brown on the upper right hand side of the Portals – the bottom of which has a great Curtain and a piller – however they were wet when we got there – so off up the slope we went. The result is I'd like Mine Raw WI (2, 2+) 2pitches 80m. The two pitches are separated by a rocky gully and a small snow field – (not a nice place to be with more snow – same theme again eh?). Both Tom and Dimitri were stoked to be able to put up a new line.
Day 5 was a chance to catch up on some formal learning back at Unwin hut. All up a great trip back into Bush Stream for me and Dimitri and Tom couldn't really have gotten better weather conditions.
Unclimbed Routes
The image Gallery has all these and more in them.
Image Gallery
The Sunny Side – the 2 newly spotted routes shown below can be found near the very faint sunny section on the cliff band – far right hand side of teh sunny side. The unclimbed pillar to the left of Reality Bird Bath has been unclimbed for years although many people have had their sights on it.
The line to the left of Reality Bird Bath |
High right on the sunny side. beyond Comme el Vient |
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Oblique view of route above |
