Friday, January 11, 2008

Devil's Den

This is the bottom of the bowl. You can see where ice is starting to form. I am told it'll go all the way to the top of the cliff.












Today at work I mentioned to my co workers I was going to go ice climbing in the evening. Jay told me about a spot back in the boonies of Wisconsin called Devil's Den. He said ice forms there and it's a pretty steep drop...maybe 100 feet! Well we got the topographical map out and he showed me the location. Since I had time I went over and hiked some bluffs to scope it out. To get there, you follow an almost dry wash to the cliff edges of the Kinni and it falls away into this carved out steep canyon. and then down to the river. The ice is minimal right now but that maybe due to the thaw?? I'll be checking back in a few weeks to see if there's anything more there. It could be something good later this winter! The chuckle of the week came when my foreman upon hearing I was going to hike in to see it warned me to "be careful".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been their allot in the past 4 years. We would call it the Devils punch bowl its a fun place to snow shoe to but unfortunately I have never seen enough ice for climbing....When conditions are right at Willow River the upper falls can provide some good practice routes.
Peace Chad Thurow

Nora Whitmore said...

Thanks Chad! Good to hear from you!! My co worker Jay said it had been 20 years since he was there. I guess the climate has changed alot in that time. I was hoping for something close to home. I'll have to check out Willow River sometime and keep looking locally.

Anonymous said...

Hey Nora, My husband showed me the devils Punchbowl in college. We got seriously tunred aroun back there in the winter, at night with slipery shoes on. I wonder why I am still hanging with that guy. It is a cool area. I don't remember all that much ice either.