Glacier National Park, Various Activity. The 1998-’99 ice climbing season was largely a feast of leftovers in Glacier National Park. Routes that had been on the table for years but were not as choice as the rest finally got devoured. Many of these routes were done early season and are included in last year’s journal. Later in the season, I skied in to the southwest face of Cannon Mountain and soloed A Walk in the Park, a nice 900-foot WI3 just to the right of Lost in a Crowd. I returned to Cannon with Julie Vance to establish Sunken Battleship, a 350-foot slabby mixed line to the left of Cannon Barrel.

On the south side of Cannon Mountain lays the Hidden Creek drainage. Through a series of scouting missions, local climbers discovered a reasonable approach (only five hours) into this narrow valley. Just below the level of the lake, the canyon opens into a virtual cornucopia of water ice. Here, partnered with Blase Reardon and later with Jim Earl, I climbed a total of eight WI3s and 4s up to three pitches long. Due to the high density of routes and the relative lack of climbers in Hidden Creek, thinking of names for all of that ice seemed pointless. Suffice to say that there are still plenty of hidden morsels for the FA-starved ice climber.

Kirby Spangler, unaffiliated