Admin’s Trip Reports

First trip back to Black Run Falls since May of 2021... it's been a long while for me, but on this trip my focus was climbing the frozen waterfall. The hike in was easy until I hit a bottleneck with the creek just downstream of the waterfall where I threw on my climbing crampons and made my way up the frozen creek. I initially started at the lowest cascade, about 5-feet tall, and climb up to another short 4-footer to reach the base of the main waterfall. I forgot how short Black Run Falls is from its main base, excluding the cascades located downstream. Regardless, the waterfall wasn't fully frozen and in the center was rushing water that continued down the creek. I found two really solid routes, first on the left-hand side to reach the base -- located under a super sketchy shale rock cliff. Then I focused on the right-hand side of the waterfall where the best blue ice was formed. Climbing Black Run Falls is not difficult, even for a beginner ice climber. The right-hand side of the cascade forms large step-like ice formations that can easily be traversed to the top. Just be super careful of the potentially-loose ice that sits near the rushing water... with that said, the spray from the waterfall was a nice addition to the climb. I made it to the top of the frozen waterfall, hiked down through the loose annoying rocks, and did the route one more time before leaving. Beautiful and easy ice climb!