Coat’s Corner (WI4) and Inspired By Gravity (WI4-5) are the two classic climbs of Huntington Canyon, an overlooked ice venue nestled into the heart of Utah’s high desert.
On January 10th, 2025, Bobbi and I skipped town for a twenty day, and second annual, road trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Unlike last winter, Bobbi is officially an ice climber, and Utah was having a fortuitous early season ice showing. Having stalked the Utah Ice Climber’s Facebook group for many weeks, I knew some of the classics in Huntington Canyon and Joe’s Valley were in big. These venues are not premier ice destinations, both hosting only a half dozen or so sizable routes, and even fewer classics. However, what Huntington and Joe’s lack in variety is compensated for by aesthetics. Each of the four routes we climbed were distinctly different from any of the hundreds I’ve climbed across the American west.
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We departed Teton Valley at 3:00PM Friday, punched a long seven hour drive to a freezing van bivouac just outside of Price, Utah, and finished with a short one hour daybreak plug into Huntington Canyon. Beta for ice climbs in this region is scare, so we self-guided by blind faith, weaving through a bizarre maze of orange sandstone mesas, crumbling hoodoos and juniper on UT Highway 31 that evoked anything but visions of ice climbing. Fortunately, our fears of being unable to locate the Huntington climbs were dashed by an immediate sighting of Coat’s Corner less than a quarter mile above the road. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a spectacular ice pitch in such close proximity to a state highway. Was I dreaming? I almost rubbed my eyes.
A short ten minute hike over frozen dirt brought us to the base of Huntington’s most notable and reliable route, where an early-bird party was already lowering off, and a second party was racking up. The latter wasn’t particularly expedient, so we passed the time snacking and wandering the adjacent cliffs. The rock abutting Coat’s was friable sandstone to the tenth degree, with many ominous chimneys, honeycomb features and crumbly overhangs. Sagebrush, pinyon and juniper controlled the base. Despite single digit temperatures, an early sun gifted warmth. Even in the dead of winter, Huntington Canyon is dynamic.
Coat’s Corner begins with a steep 40 foot WI4 vertical pillar, and eases to 60 feet of interesting WI2 ramp climbing along a left trending ice shelf. A prominent two foot overhang halfway up the pillar indicated a significant mass had detached recently, making the climbing significantly more difficult. Furthermore, Coat’s south facing exposure, combined with a week of warmer daytime temps, rendered the ice aerated. Merge these sub-optimal conditions with a few weeks of no ice climbing – a product of Christmas travel and holiday work – and you have a breeding ground for flash pump. After beaching over the pillar’s edge with ballooned forearms, and taking a pause for composure, I punched the remaining 60 feet with glorious ease. I may have felt shaky in the business, but the dessert felt effortless. With every swing I felt my winter dance returning.
Bobbi, only a few months into ice climbing, followed with expected difficulties, yet managed to valiantly scratch her way to the top. Like I, she cruised the upper ramp with wide smiles, and over-gripped through the funky pillar. After pulling the rope, I felt a deep urge for revenge. The sun had rounded the corner and transformed the ice to drippy plastic. A second lead burn saw more confident movement, less screw placements, exponentially less pump and faster overall climbing – all good things, as my first ice screws were melting from their placements when I cleaned them on rappel. In the desert, things get hot quick.
We wasted the meat of our afternoon looking for a few ice climbs which proved either too thin or entirely not in. The flows just west of Coat’s showed the most promise, with Far Right (WI4) barely in, but just a touch too thin given the temperatures. None of the routes at the Wonder Wall were in. We knew the other area classic, Inspired By Gravity, was touching, but the longer approach kept us at bay. Bobbi suffered a knee contusion slipping on parking lot ice the day before, and was experiencing pain while walking. However, with less than thirty minutes of daylight we spotted Inspired through the trees, and she just couldn’t resist. We dashed over a flexing ice bridge spanning Huntington Creek and pounded to the climb with intention. Less than ten minutes before sunset I tied in, flipped on a Trampled By Turtles playlist, and dashed off beneath a nearly full moon. The steep and sustained 100 foot pitch began by chimneying between two thin freestanding pillars using only cauliflowers for feet and hooks for tools, with little trustworthy protection. 40 feet up, the pillars gave way to an off-vertical curtain of straightforward and trustworthy 85 degree ice. I dashed to a tree anchor minutes before needing a headlamp, and howled beneath an now wholly exposed moon.
I feared Bobbi’s ability to climb the hardest pitch of her life by headlamp, and threaded the anchor directly to preserve her right to bail. In fat conditions Inspired can form a straightforward WI4, but currently the work was featured, wet and technical WI5-. However, in trademarked fashion the Alpine Peanut rose to the occasion. She chimneyed between the pillars like a rock climber, and hopped onto the curtain with intention. After getting bullied on Coat’s she was fixated on redemption. The pillar glowed a deep emerald green as her headlamp refracted through the fresh three dimensional features. The unobstructed moon rendered the hanging upper curtain translucent. Every swing and kick echoed from the sandstone enclave behind the pillar, only to be muffled by the thick forest. Unlike the solar exposed cliffs of Coat’s, the shaded northerly riverbanks underpinning Inspired were overgrown with dense pine, fir and spruce. The magic of these two pitches will live on forever.
(continued in: Sandstone Ice 2025 Part Two: Joe’s Valley)
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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.
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