Climbed the Joker today in the South Ghost and had intended to climb Hidden Dragon as well, but experienced an unexpected hazard (more details below) that changed our mind.

The drive to the South Ghost is in excellent winter driving condition. Still a few slippery sections, but they are all very manageable with a 4X4.

The Joker was dry and in very good shape, except for a couple of minor sections with shell ice, which were mostly avoidable.

Candlestick Maker is not touching down, but online reports indicate that a mixed variation has been climbed recently.

We had intended to climb Hidden Dragon as well (there are several lines possible), but ended up giving it a miss due to an unexpected hazard. While on the Joker we observed a couple of groups of Big Horn Sheep on the cliffs above the Candlestick Maker. They were chasing each other around and feeding right at the lip of the cliff. They generated several rockfall events. The largest rocks we observed falling were the size of a basketball. Many of the rocks fell into the vicinity of the base of the CSM, the Hidden Dragon climbs and the base of the Hidden Dragon area. A little later in the morning the sheep also moved towards the Joker, and just as we were finishing our rappels, they kicked off some more rocks approximately 40m to the climber's right of the Joker. We decided to have our lunch in the valley bottom instead of hanging out any longer!

Not sure if this is a resident herd, or if the sheep are just passing through. In several previous visits to this cirque, I haven't experienced this issue. Certainly a hazard to be aware of as most of the climbs in this zone were impacted today!