Malignant Mushroom Driving conditions to the North Ghost were challenging. After several tows out of drifts and much shoveling we turned around and went to the South Ghost. As we left the off-road crew arrived and plowed the trails so access is better now. The drive in to the south was uneventful. -19C at the car in Devil's Gap at 1030am. We broke trail to The climb. With full sun at the climb it was quite warm and water was flowing freely down the left side of the climb. The Ice was highly featured with petals and chandeliers and few small roofs. Lots of digging and smashing through chandeliers and snice to get good screws. Have fun.

**The drive, TA road has icy surfaces in stretches where a little caution is warranted. More traction on the right going up Trappers Hill but watch for a large hole halfway up. The Big Hill is not too bad but bumpy. **The approach. The area hasnt had any significant snowfall in a while and some of the hard packed trail can be slippery. This includes the walk off. **The climb. In good shape mostly. The,low snow levels mean more ice still exposed rather than large accumulations burying the start of each step. Some steps are picked out or you can find fresh ice some stretches. The upper pitches got a little more brittle as you reach the top of the canyon, eplosively so if you take untravelled ice. Itook a small shovel with me to dig some of the belay anchors clear although most were still clear of getting buried. For some reason folks have been walking right past one to a tree off to the side. I assume they are a little blind or have an aversion to safe bolted anchors. A little flagging on the bolts should make them a little more eye catching now. Remember this climb is rigged to rap with a single rope but,you may need to look around or even dig the anchors out as snow accumulates. **The descent. My buddy liked the lunch spot and the increased views with the fire; his first time up there since the 2020 fire. Follow the bootpack trail and watch for the red reflectors. The steep sections between benches can be a little slippery but has boot holes punched in. Below the handline, and after the easy section of the hill, beware booby trap flagging. As you start to go down the steeper part there was a number of flagging heading off right. Dont follow this as it seems to have been placed by hikers or someone unfamiliar with the trail. Keep following the red reflectors which diagonal down to skiers left, pass though a couple switchbacks where a trail was cut through firefall. The last steep bit to regain the approach trail also has some icy spots to be aware of. The walk off should take 45 to 55 mins.

Wx: Temps hovered around just below 0C all day. There was significant wind in the valley below the climb & at the climb itself. If you ascend the shoulder to the right of the climb there is minimal avy hazard as this shoulder is completely windswept. This route was our approach to the climb. Although the top outs on both pitches are thin, there is more than enough ice to climb comfortably (& protect). There is no suitable belay anchor at the top of pitch 1 so we established an anchor at the base of P2 & extended it back to just above the top of P1 (There is an anchor left of the top of P1 but the stance is on rock & is more designed as a rap anchor as opposed to a belay anchor. P1 goes at +3/4. *P2 is a full 60m pitch, at a grade of 5. We climbed right of center, on great ice, great pro. There is an anchor at the top of P2, 25' above the ice on the left hand wall. Just goes to show how fat this route can get. We utilized an existing V thread as part of our anchor & rapped on this V thread. We descended the gully under the climb to reach the valley below. Given the faceted nature of the snow, I would not recommend this as an approach trail. The snow on the cut line is supportive, only if you follow previous footsteps.

Few bits I found interesting in the North Ghost generally from four recent rips in there: -Overall ice conditions are good, but surprisingly wet on many routes due to the recent warm temps -Generally the above treeline snowpack is really windblown to bare and not a major concern, but there were a lot of pockets of windslab that were very reactive down low in the gullies, as well as some extensive whumpfing. I would be concerned if getting out onto the bigger snow patches/sides of gullies, mid-route pockets, or with new snow/wind loading. -The warm spell didn't really "fix" the facet disaster as much I hoped it would. Still all the facets you ever wanted in the Ghost. HS in the valleys ranges greatly but about 20cms in the trees, deeper deposition zones. -This House of Sky has some terrain traps, especially near the start, that have some bigger than I expected slab debris in them. Chilkoot was less exposed than I was expecting, but same terrain traps there too if you go past Chilkoot toward Haines (and some neat small ice features up there too). Thin rain crust in some areas too. The Ghost is generally lower avalanche hazard, except when it isn't... -You can still drive across a well-frozen bridge about 150M below the Wully crossing, which is an ice ledge disaster zone. The ledges go with 33" studded tires or full send mode below that, but metal has been bent there recently. Trapper's Hill is icy. Fine with studs or chains, but a lot of sports action there lately too. -There's a truck-eating rock on the short, steep climb out after the last river crossing before Claw Creek (back end). This rock has bitten three trucks I know of know, you climb up onto it then get yeeted sideways on the slick ice, boom. Krave is good at welding bits back together. There's a bypass about 50M up the creekbed, OK in a double cab long box Tacoma on 33s but skid plates nice. Happy New Year!

We attempted the North Ghost access, but without another car for supportive, snow drifts encountered, and strong winds likely forming more drifts throughout the day, we opted for the South Ghost. Nothing notable to report for the drive into the South. On the approach to Wicked Wanda, we experienced a whumpf and shooting cracks and walked through punchy wind affect snow and/or unsupported facets. The ice on Wicked Wanda was very solid and took numerous swings to get a good stick. P2 felt stiff for the grade and had a few interesting pedal formations growing near the top of the climb. We then approached Malignant Mushroom and the right side was dripping wet. We decided not to climb it due to the time of day and wet spray being blown around by the wind. Between -3 and -6 degrees C today.