Southern Utah Ice

This winter has been the season for ice in Southern Utah. First the deluge of rain and then came the cold temperatures. Every mesa top, cliff and wash in the area has snow and running water in it. Now with the sunny afternoons and crisp clear cold nights the water flows during the day and freezes during the night. This has produced some impressive ice flows where before there has been none or at least nothing visible or climbable. If I had had the right partner and the time and the boldness I could have gone around the Zion greater area and made first ascents on multiple ice falls, pillars and flows. The Kolob finger section of Zion had some particularly long ice falls. I can only imagine what the deep back country of Zion had in the slot canyons. I did do at least one ascent that my partner and I think is a first for the area. We called it "Checkshani Pillar" and I climbed it on two different days. I have climbed "Camp Creek" our reliable ice fall behind Kanarravile and a couple of days ago I climbed "Cedarcicle" for the first time as I have never timed it right to climb it before now. Across from that ice fall we climbed what we call the "Cedar Slabs". This section of ice flow was a little less difficult as the angle was less than vertical and made for some fun and moderate climbing that allowed use to test our skills at leading and placing ice screws. Also the sun touched down on this area early in the morning allowing us to climb in the sun briefly which is unusual for ice climbing. I hear that there is a big ice fall just north of Kanab that has been climbed this year. One of my dilemmas is whether to get up early and venture into the snowy cold canyons to ice climb or stay close to home and climb with short sleeve shirts on the rock in the desert. Sometimes it is hard to get motivated to get up early and freeze just to climb.