Jeremiah coils a rope after we topped out on Pinnacle Gully on Mount Washington in December 2005.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Chapel Pond Canyon: Be my Valentine
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.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Adirondack Ice – N. Face of Pitchoff & Roaring Brook Falls
About a week and a half ago, I decided to head up to the Lake Placid area to do some ice climbing. A few phone calls later, and a crew of 3 (later expanded to 4) was assembled to tackle some ice. We started in DC, with a car full of people and one dog.
After a brief stop on the side of I-95 to give Butter (the dog) a chance to relieve herself, we pressed on through the traffic, finally escaping to I-83 on our way up to Scranton.
We arrived in Scranton around 9pm where Mike was waiting for us. Three of us moved into Mike’s car, and continued north! We arrived at the Cascade Inn just after 2am. After some gear unloading, we hit the sack.
The next day started (not too) early, with an 8am wakeup and a trip to the Noon Mark Diner for some breakfast. Then, after picking up some snowshoes at the Mountaineer, we drove to the North Face of Pitchoff, and hiked in. There was a bit of fresh snow, and we used snowshoes. Stopping just below “Central Pillar of Pitchoff”, we ditched the snowshoes and hiked up to “Arm and Hammer” and “Tendonitis”. Mike and I took “Tendonitis” while Sarah and Eric took “Arm and Hammer”.
It was a chilly day (8F in Lake Placid, considerably cooler up on the North Face 
), 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.
We went to Mr. Mike’s Pizza with 4 more ice climbers from DC. Delicious as usual. Post-dinner we headed to the Lake Placid Brewery to cap the night off right.
Sunday dawned earlier, rising at 7am. We racked up and drove past Keene until we’d reached “Roaring Brook Falls”. We’d apparently just been beaten to the climb (two climbers hiked in right as we got there), so we relaxed in the car for a half hour or so, figuring we might as well wait in a warm car instead.
Sarah and Eric headed in first, with Mike and I following 15 minutes later. On our way in, the two climbers we’d seen in the parking lot came hiking out… Must be another party on the route already!
We got to the bottom of the route to find a party of two working through the first pitch. Looking like it was going to be a wait, we settled in. Eventually, they finished the first pitch. Eric started up with Sarah belaying him as Mike and I got ready to follow them up.
As soon as Sarah had cleared the first section, Mike started up the climb. After a while, I felt the rope come tight on me, and I started climbing…
I arrived at the top of our first pitch (we linked P1 and P2) to find a large, flat, snowy area at the bottom of the final pitch. The first party had just started up this last section. Fortunately, today was much warmer (the Sun was even out!), so waiting wasn’t so bad.
Eventually, I started climbing. I got to lead the final pitch to the top. As with the previous pitch, it was great climbing. Even close to being a bit too warm with the Sun out! We topped out around 2 and hiked out. Getting back to the car, we pointed South, another weekend of ice climbing behind us.
The rest of the pictures are available on flickr: Adirondack Ice Climbing on flickr.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Failure
“I thought, dear, that you would rather have a live ass than a dead lion.”
- Sir Ernest Shackleton to his wife Emily, after deciding to turn back 97 miles from the Pole.
I spent Thanksgiving in North Conway, NH doing some ice climbing. The day after Thanksgiving, my partner and I headed to Mt Washington. Our aim was the well known Pinnacle Gully. I have climbed it before, but never led it. We were well aware of the reputation Mt Washington has for extreme weather.
After finally getting started around noon (several parties were ahead of us), we worked our way up. We reached the top of the third pitch late in the afternoon, with the weather clearly worsening above us. Only a short snowfield lay between us and the top of the gully.
But, with very strong gusts of wind coming down the gully (almost enough to buffet me around), it was clear the winds on top were quite strong, perhaps too much so to continue. I thought about the choice while I brought Sarah up the pitch. By the time she’d arrived at the belay, the choice was clear to me… we were headed back down.
In the fading light we donned our headlamps and started rappelling down the climb.
Before this climb, I had never failed on an alpine climb. Admittedly, my resume is small. But in all cases the weather was sufficiently cooperative and my fitness level good enough to complete the climb. Knowing when to turn back is a very important skill in a climber.
In fact, I am confident I learned much more from this failure than I would have if we’d done the climb successfully. I’ve learned things about managing a retreat, and perhaps more importantly, what I could have done differently to increase my chances of success. The climb ended succesfully in the most important way: the safe return of the climbers. And, I feel I’ve come away with some good experience which I can build on and utilize on future climbs.
EDIT (03 December 2008): Pictures have been uploaded to flickr: NH Ice Climbing on flickr
Friday, 19 September 2008
Collapsing Ice Climb
From Black Diamond (via their new Ice Climbing catalog), comes a wild picture and story of an ice climb that half-collapsed while two climbers were attempting the first ascent. Fortunately, they were on the half that didn’t collapse. The picture alone is worth seeing.
