Lacee Ankeney and I went up to Chasm Lake in the Spring of 2024, planning to make a spring climb of Alexander’s Chimney. When we reached the lake, we spied two ice flows on the cliffs of Mount Lady Washington which we had never seen before. It was a cloudy day, the perfect chance to climb these south-facing lines. We changed our plans and popped over to take a look. This was fortuitous for us, as RMNP SAR was searching for a lost hiker, and they ended up locating his body at the foot of Lamb’s Slide that day. We would have been the party to discover the body if we had continued with our original plan.

The ambiance in the cirque was moody that day, both due to the unusual grey weather and the repeated sweeping turns from the search helicopter.

There were two distinct lines formed. We climbed the right-side line for one 30-meter pitch, finding it around M5+. The second pitch looked yummy, but we passed due to extremely poorly-bonded ice, warming temps, and disappearing protection. We wrapped a cordalette around a boulder and rappelled from there. We saw no other fixed gear. I was not able to track down firsthand accounts from anyone who had climbed this before, but probably some old-timers have. It’s not mentioned in any printed guidebooks or online sources.

Some pics:

The ice lines in the center and the entrance to the well-known Martha couloir on the left.

A closer look at the ice climbs

At the base

Engaging in some mixed climbing

Lacee topping out the pitch

On the belay ledge with the Diamond in the background

Ice on the second pitch

Poorly-bonded vertical ice. The picture doesn’t look it, but this was vertical for several body-lengths. We mixed-climbed around this. In safer conditions it would have been good fun.

By the time we reached the ground, the entire thing was dripping like a popsicle on a Miami beach.

Anyways, two to keep an eye out for. The left-side line looked harder. This was a wet spring in which tons of rare South-facing ice climbs were forming – the Squid came in fully, as did some other new and obscure lines. You’ll need cold temps and/or a cloudy day.

If you’ve climbed these or have any more information, please leave a comment!