Ice - Evan Thomas Creek

<p>Approach: Parking lot was mostly unplowed with knee deep snow covering where you should park. Same knee deep snow up the fire road too. Someone had punched some tracks after the storm but wind had partially filled them in. Breaking trail took twice as long as the usual hike. By the time I left it was much better from about 6 parties in ETC. I broke trail to Chantilly and called it a day, others busted through from there but I didn't care to go take a look at conditions. A couple of holes to keep an eye for as you cross the creek but generally not bad. Chantilly Falls: Getting to the ice was more vertical wallowing. More snow accumulated than anticipated. While this climb doesn't have overhead hazard, it didn't escape my notice that the slopes between the lower and upper ice would have enough to bury a person if they slid. Fortunately it seemed fairly stable and took a bit of work to punch upward. Lower ice was good but had some ice lensing much of which will be gone now. Upper ice is still relatively narrow but decently thick so would probably take screws. It was a little featured so some hooks and good feet on somewhat steeper ice than you'd expect from a W2. Nearby: Noted quite a few peaks such as Kidd had spindrift plumes through the day. In the valley bottom it was a chilly breeze but obviously windy up high and moving the new storm snow around.</p>