Due to popular demand, I have uploaded a printable version of an Astro Dog Topo I created a number of years back. I’ve added some new information, especially regarding the finish. Route finding should be mostly straightforward as you’ll have rappelled over most of the climbing.
Note: rappel beta is for climber’s left or right, not skiers.
The route gets sun until about noon or 2pm depending on what time of year you’re doing it.
Astro Dog Topo (PDF version, 4.8 mb)
Lisa and I went for a ski in the Black Canyon National Monument to check out an ice climb called Gandalf’s Beard. Seeing as we were in the Black Canyon with 2,000 ft. rock walls everywhere, I dreamed of a giganitc ice flow cascading down the steep cliffs. Instead we found a short easy pitch of ice at the top of a measly gully. The ice was only about 150′ tall and WI3. The skiing to get the climb was fairly substantial however, 4 miles each way. We did the skiing real fast as we had to be somewhere leaving us with a good workout.
