The ice return

Laura and I decided to take the trip toour local cliffsto see what we could climb. We found that the ice has mostly recovered from the warm snap,although most of the longer routes need a little more time to be safe. The weather forcast calls for cooler temps this week and by next weekendmost linesshould be in great condition. We ended up getting a late start and only did one line, but we sure did pick a good one. The line was about 150' long and had some serious funkiness to it. The bottom was nice and phat (but took much removal for good reliable sticks).As I got towards the middle of the route the pillar got worse with very new unreliable surface ice. A nice rest made above this section made the final push to easier ground very doable. The upper section was very thin and didn't take very good screws. The last 20' of steepness was a horrorfest of hollowed out shit from the previous freeze. The final topout was an overhanging lipconsisting of sloppy mud on my right andon my left was a 300+lb block of oldice with nothing but 10" of air between it andthe wet rock.Not really sure what was holding it in place. My last piece of gearwas 15+ feet below me. It was my last long screw into a blob of ice not fit for the using.It made it toabout the 4th thread. After a serious hesitation, mental prep.and almost sharting in my goretex, I commited to the final moves of mud and deathblocks.It seemed like an eternity, but I made it to the tree and slung it with pride.Iwas happy to be standing in 3" of muck and water for my belay. I cringed as I peeped down over what I had just overcome. I swapped golves to bring life to my hands. They were wet and cold from being onthepitch for 1hr. and 15min. I'm sure Laura was freezing from her extended belay session, so I quickly put her on and got her climbing. She did very well coming up the steep section and made quick work through the easy section. The top proved to be tricky for her as well as she rolled herself onto the top, muck and all. No style points, but success was ours. We setup a rap madeour way to the ground. Wedecidedone was enough and opted to head home. Our day was not without incident though.I ended up gettingnailed by a UFO on the back while cleaning upropes. It left a nice knot on my back. Wrong place, wrong time. All in all it was a great day. Wedubbedtheline G Gully WI5- with fullpucker rating for the topout in current conditions. Here's a few photos from today!