So it seems while many are really itching to get back onto bikes for the season..im still really enjoying the cold we have...if you cant beat em, join em. right?
this past weekend Aly and I headed back up to the adirondacks for more winter adventure. It started out with a super cold night of car camping on friday night.
we pulled into keene valley about midnight, and hopped into our makeshift bed in the back of the truck. for camping like this, i use our inflatable backpacking mattresses as a base, then a 2" memory foam mattress, a fleece blanket, our down sleeping bags, and then 2 more fleece blankets. Its actually a really comfy setup. the 6' bed is just a bit too short for me, but i make it work. As im crawling into the back, onto the stiff mattress (memory foam hardens in the cold, usually your body heat is enough to soften it under you for comfort) i heard the entire mattress crack and snap beneath my weight...holy crap..thats a first. it must be REALLY cold out.
5:30 am rolls around and i have to pee so bad. its keeping me awake. this is the worst part about camping in the cold. so i get out of the warm bed to do my business, and i figure..well, im up...might as well start the day. we start up the truck..get the cab warm, and then head over to the diner to await the 6 am opening for some hot breakfast and a bathroom. At 7 AM we are meeting my friend dwight for some ice climbing.
during breakfast, chatting with the waitress, she tells us that last night it hit -20 F. yep...thats cold..that explains the snapped mattress. looks like its time to go ice climbing!
today we are climbing Chouinards Gully. its a 300', 2 pitch WI3 that ive had my sights set on for about 2 years now, but could never find the opportunity with the right partner. Its a VERY popular route, so we beat the crowds by gearing up at 7 AM in the frigid air.
Chouinards Gully is the fat ice flow, just right of center that ends up in the trees.
Pitch 1 is the crux pitch, that has about a 15' vertical section. Dwight leads this pitch. Im ok with that because i feel very much not warmed up. he is also a better, more confident climber than I am.
after he sets the anchor, Aly goes next. at this point, another party of 3 climbers has arrived and is waiting their turn. good thing we got here early. This was a big deal to climb this route for Aly. Its her first multi pitch climb, she has a habit of over-thinking stuff and psyching herself out...but she handled today great, and just swung away methodically. Never had any issues. made me super proud!! (oh, all picture credits are hers too)
as she climbs, ice routinely falls from being whacked at and kicked. it is custom, to yell "ICE" when you knock chunks down, so that people below you can be aware and get out of the way/take cover. everything is going fine, and the party of 3 next to us is in a very sheltered spot, where no ice is falling near/on them. im the one who is dodging chunks. As aly get to the anchor, a big chunk got loose and was tumbling down. I repeated her call of "ICE". something must have bounced the wrong way, because one of the climbers in the sheltered spot took a chunk of ice right to the face and started bleeding all over the place. apparently it got her right on her upper lip. It was bad enough to end her day right there. they had to go back to get some medical attention. I felt really awful...but i dont know if theres any blame to place...this is what happens and it was an unfortunate accident. at least it was only a messy cut and not worse.
its my turn to climb, and I swing away into the bullet proof, super cold ice. the cold weather has made the ice incredibly hard, which in turn makes the climbing feel a bit more difficult. But i make it up to the top of the first pitch without incident, and get geared up to lead the 2nd.
the 2nd pitch is super fun climbing. WI2 rating, i would say, with a great mix of dense ice, and styrofoam snow. I feel warmed up and am having a great time on lead. I get to the top belay station, anchor in, and bring aly up, then dwight. Its still cold, but everyone is smiling. good day to be in the mountains!
at this point there are 2 ways to descent. we can rappel down the gully that we climbed, or there is a ledge system which you can use as a walk-off through the trees. Since there are a number of other parties below us, we decided to walk-off. we didnt want to cause any more issues with falling ice and rope entanglement. I prefer climbs with walk offs, because it feels like you are making a complete round trip, instead of just going straight up and straight down.
crossing an exposed gulley during the walk off. we short roped ourselves on this section for fall protection
the boot pack zigs and zags through the forest down the steep slopes, and then dead ends itself at a rappell station. we werent expecting this, but cool..this is all part of the fun. We rigged up a rappel, with dwight going first, then Aly, then me. the rap took us through some trees then over the edge of a great exposed cliff, dangling down to get back into some trees, then back over another cliff edge and finally at the bottom of the overall cliff. It felt very adventurous with the views and mixed terrain. good stuff!
finishing the rappel
three victorious and happy amateur climbers
we ended the climb back at the diner from this morning for some well earned hot soup. Dwight headed back to Albany, and Aly and I drove up to lake placid to check out the olympic center and museum. it was pretty cool.
