Dale and I had a great time climbing ice in the Methow Valley over New Year's. We spent New Year's Day doing laps on a fun, fat pitch of ice way up in the Goat Creek Drainage (which we believe was the Regular Route) and then decided to boot up to the base of Goat's Beard that afternoon to have a look at the classic, etherial route. It had clear discontinuities, but at least a couple hundred feet of climbing before the first one, so we decided to get an early start the next day and give it a try.

We made it up two 35m pitches of fun ice that rambled a bit and had steep sections as well as some areas that weren't well adhered to the rock behind before hitting a dry roof. The traverse left, past the roof, and back right looked relatively sparse and now well protected, so we decided to call it good for the day.

While it was incredibly cold during our stay, it was also bright and sunny, which produced enough thermal energy to turn the route into a dangerous cascade of water in the afternoon. Regardless, it was an awesome time high up on the Goat Wall and we'll certainly be waiting for any reports that the route is in.