Edit (28 February 21:00): Link added below to my pictures on flickr.
I spent my Valentines day doing what any rational person would do, hanging off the side of a frozen waterfall. That’s normal right?
Once again, I packed up and headed North. Hoping to climb in PA, warm weather limited our options and it was back to Lake Placid, NY. With 2 never-climbed-ice-before climbers in my car, we left DC in the late afternoon, battled beltway traffic, and were on our way. The weather was quite nice and we had an uneventful drive. We finally arrived in Lake Placid just after 2am. With a little bit of gear sorting, we headed bed, with 6 of us crammed into the hotel room.
Saturday morning dawned earlier than we liked, somewhere around 7:45am. After the usual fussing around (it’s quite a chore for 6 people to get ready for ice climbing in a room that would be cozy for 4!), we headed back to Keene Valley to rent ice climbing boots and crampons from The Mountaineer.
Our destination for the day was to climb in Chapel Pond Canyon. We parked at the main turnoff, and set off across the lake. Several of the climbs looked to be in great shape. Chouinard’s Gully, Power Play, etc..
We hiked back into the Canyon, and found it quite crowded. Our first choice (Positive Reinforcement) had a guide+clients on it, so we continued on down the canyon. Eventually we stopped at “Midnight Cruiser” (NEI 3+) and “Quinn the Eskimo” (NEI 2). There was a party on Quinn, so I led Cruiser, hoping to find an anchor point halfway up the climb (it is a full rope length). With not anchor to be found halfway up, I finished the pitch and brought Julie up, trailing another rope. We tied the two ropes together, giving us a 185ft top-rope climb.
For 3 of the folks on the trip, this was their first ice climb ever! It started with a short snow/ice slope to a narrow funnel with some awkward climbing (and some optional drytooling!). After getting through this 8ft section, there was another snow slope which gradually turned into ice and steepened as one went up, with a fully vertical, chandeliered section to top it all off. Almost all kinds of ice climbing in a single pitch.
By the time everyone had a go, “Quinn the Eskimo” was open. I set up a top rope on this shorter climb and several of the folks had a good go at it, and we called it a night. As we hiked back across Chapel Pond, we were treated with a gorgeous night sky filled with stars. Perhaps not as well appreciated by the parties we saw descending climbs in the dark.
After hanging up some gear to dry we got dinner at Mr. Mike’s pizza in Lake Placid before enjoying some refreshments at the Lake Placid Brewery.
Sunday morning dawned a bit earlier, with Sarah and I leaving early to lay claim to a climb before the crowds appeared. We returned to Chapel Pond Canyon and managed to get to “Positive Reinforcement” (NEI 3+) just as another group of two had started setting up a top rope. They were opting to scramble up to the side and set a rope. I tied in and lead the main line to the left and set a tope rope as the rest of our group arrived. The climb was fairly messy, with lots of chandelier ice about. Protection was difficult to find, especially up top.
I set up another rope to the far right of the climb, which would enail a more vertical line. We spent about half a day there before taking down the ropes and heading out. After a stop at the mountaineer to drop off rental equipment and drool over gear, we hit the road a bit after 3pm. After a solid drive south, we arrived back in DC just after midnight.
), so the climbing was a bit slow. We finished the climb and rapped off around 2pm. Figuring we didn’t have enough time to go do something longer, we headed over to the opposite side of the gorge, and spent the remainder of the afternoon climbing “Harlot” in the sun.
