Ice Day Play Trip Report - Lower Green
Michael Deckert | Published on 1/14/2024
Meeting at Flaming Geyser State Park, the group suited up with extra clothes.
A temperature around 20 degrees Fahrenheit prompted discussion about using heat packs, and where to use them. Experimental placement inside the dry-suit at the feet, and inside the pogies resulted from our discussions. The discussions also covered the mechanisms heat packs use to generate heat . As only the available packs utilized oxygen, essentially rusting to produce heat, would there be enough oxygen inside the dry-suit feet to produce heat?
I haven’t heard the results yet.
The trail down to the put-in was mostly clear of snow and ice until the penultimate pitch. At this point the micro-spikes came in handy walking down a thick sheet of clear ice covering the rocks. With everyone down, we watched the river flow by filled with slush and solid icebergs floating past us. Putting in, it was an eerie sound as the floating ice clinked against our hulls.
The trip didn’t disappoint. Ice clung to nearly every wet vertical surface in the canyon.