January 15, 2004

Hi Folks,

On Tuesday and Wednesday the lowest wind chill on the summit of Mt. Washington was 102 degrees below zero! They also recorded a new record low on Wednesday of 45 degrees below zero. Now that's COLD folks! It's a bit warmer today, only ambient -25. That said, there were people out there ice and snow climbing. Dedication or obsession, which do you think? Interestingly enough I was out for a while on Wednesday. The sun was out and when the wind wasn't blowing too hard, it was actually pretty nice. Not balmy mind you, but not too bad.

I went climbing in Frankenstein on Monday with my old friend Mason. The ambient temperature in the Notch was a very moderate 25 degrees for most of the day. What's really wild is how that felt positively balmy after the previous days lows. The morning started out bright and sunny, and there was actually water running on many of the climbs. We had decided to get a "banker's start" and didn't get to the parking lot until about 9:30. We were very surprised to find 10 or so cars there in front of us. Many guides were out and we walked in just behind George Hurley and his partner. They were headed down to the same area as us, Welcome to the Machine and The Coffin.

The major changes in the Amphitheater was a welcome sight after the weeks following the last rain. Ice was on everything and climb like Bob's, Chia and Pegasus already had climbers on them. Walking past Waterfall, large parts of which was still in the tracks, it actually looked climbable for the first time in weeks. Standard Left and Standard in general were in excellent shape and the Penguin looked positively phat. I was pleased to see how well Dropline had returned. I'd heard it had been done on the weekend by Jim Ewing and friends, in absolutely brutal conditions. I want to give it another go this season, but I think I'll wait for warmer and more plastic times. We hiked up by Dracula and it was in superb shape. Both sides looked good and the center looked good too.

I was happy to see that George and partner were going to do Coffin instead of Machine. I had tried Machine several weeks ago before the 2nd rain, but it was mushy and very difficult to protect so I backed off. This time it looked solid. In addition I had spoken to someone who had done it over the weekend and they said it was fine, but to "enjoy the traverse." Whatever that was! Hmmm... I had also done the climb, again with Mason, in 2000 when it was in what was probably 4/4- conditions. Frankly it didn't look any harder, at least from the ground.

I racked up with an assortment of gear including 13 ice screws plus 14 slings and screamers. For a single pitch climb I figured that would be quite enough. George headed off on Coffin with his standard 6 ice screws. I felt like I was weighted down with led compared to him! By the time I was past the initial bulge I realized that the climb was in far more interesting shape than 3 years previous. In spite of the moderate temps, the ice was far more brittle and there were none of the hook placements that I'd found before. In addition what always looks like moderate angle climbing up to the ice curtains near the top, was closer to 85 degrees and very in your face. The ice was quite featured and somewhat difficult to protect. There was something about the quality of it that was such that in many cases as you turned the screw, it hollowed out the hole and the threads wouldn't get a grip. It was very annoying and made getting protection more tiring than normal.

As usual I try and mentally break a climb like this up into smaller chunks. Get up to the start of the "lower angle stuff." Get in pro and get up to the top of what I now realize is steep ice below the first curtain. Get over the first curtain. Get over the second curtain. Rest wherever you can. Breathe...

By the time I got to the first curtain I'd come to the realization that the climb was much harder than before. OK, no problem there. I'm a better climber than I was 3 years ago. <grin> I'd expected that I would be able to get a no-hands rest at the base of the first curtain, but the ice was somewhat beat up and the place where I'd expected to get a stance on the right was thinner than I had figured on. So, I placed a couple of reasonable screws, and worked my way into position. That was when I realized that this was going to require actually pulling over the overhang, stemming wide and pulling up into beneath another overhanging curtain. Oh my. Somewhere around this time I also realized that I was running out of screws. That's right, I'd already placed 9 screws in 2/3 of the climb. I would normally belay my partner from just above the second curtain so I could see them, but I knew that this time it probably wasn't going to be an option. I hoped that the final portion was in it's usual easy (grade 2) conditions. Let's hope...

Pulling over the first curtain was actually not as physically difficult as I expected, once I found the key to the body placement. Lean left, foot out right on thin ice, left foot under the overhang, right foot under & up, left out, good sticks and pull. I excitedly called down to Mason from the stance that it was an amazing move. At last I found my no-hands stance under the next curtain and I was happy to shake out and relax for a minute. I've been exclusively climbing leashless this season, and this was the hardest climb I'd done with them so far. This time I was using the Ergo's. I must say that I really liked how they were working and frankly I never found myself getting any more pumped than with my Vipers or Cobras. In addition there were several times when it was great to be able to swap hands with my tools as I was moving back & forth. That's something that is close to impossible with leashes.

George peered over from the finishing moves of Coffin and reminded me that I should belay from just above, so I could observe Mason. I told him of my predicament and he agreed that that wasn't an option. What a rare treat to be able to chat with a friend on the next climb like that. The final moves were a bit physically harder than the first curtain. I did get in a very good screw and fortunately there were a couple of hooks at the start where I was working my feet up under me that were very helpful. Zip, zip - I was up and over and staring at the wonderful easy exit and my last 10 cm screw. How sweet it is. I brought up Mason and he agreed that it was in harder conditions than our previous time and that it is a truly superb bit of ice.

Mason wanted to do Coffin, so we walked quickly around past the Hanging Garden and back to the base of the climb. He followed in George's pick holes up the left start and up tot eh tree belay. It's actually a very fun little start. Mason made short work of the climb. It was in easy 4 conditions and quite fat. Unlike when I'd done it, there was actually ice at the very top and the turf was frozen, making for much more pleasant exit moves. we quickly zipped around & rapped down a deserted Dracula in the twilight. We made it to the truck just before it turned completely dark. All in all a great day of climbing fun routes with a good friend that I see too little of. It doesn't get a lot better than this. Here are a couple of pix -

Machine
Mason on P 1 of Coffin
Mason on P 2 of Coffin

Accidents and Learning from them:
I got an email from a friend on Sunday nite that he and some buddies were at the Hanging Garden on Sunday and that a column had come off and injured one of them. Fortunately the injuries weren't serious, but they very well could have been. I'm supplying this account because we all can learn something from a near miss like this. Frankly it made me think a lot about the recent conditions, and the protection we all use and trust. People sent me their info and observations. I paraphrased it a little, but here's pretty much how it went down...

First by belayer, Jay Briscoe - Mike, the leader, was climbing the far left column in the Garden that was barely touching down. He climbed the thin ice behind the column and placed a stubby and a cam in the rock and stemmed out on the ice, placing a screw at the base of the column where it meet the rock. Then he swung out onto the face and began climbing up. After about a half a body-length he hit the ice with his pick and it came crashing down with no warning. It appeared more stable then the ice to the right that had just been climbed. There was a two part yank on the belayer. First the rope broke his fall and then the ice caught as well, pulling me about four feet in the air. The ice hit the ledge below and tilted over onto Mike. It happened very fast, with no warning...no cracking...no funny movement or vibrations.

Next from Dave Karl who was right there - I thought Mike was going to have more injuries then he sustained. Broken ankles and blown knees would have been expected for sure if I had taken that fall, but Mike's a sturdy dude and he just bounced! It was a very big piece of ice. He fell about 15 feet onto a hard surface, and the ice did a tango with him while it was clipped to his rope pulling him around. Getting sucked to the screw in the block as it slid down the slope was the cause of additional discomfort, and it could have caused additional injury. Jay, as his belayer, had stopped the fall, but was now holding them both in what amounted to a counter-balance rappel. Any slack that Jay gave to the system caused Mike and the block to travel further down the slope together. Meanwhile all of this load was suspended on a single small cam!
I held his head and neck while others ran over and tried to stabilize the block and get it off of him. Doug Madara was excellent as usual and ended up taking the lead of the block team. With 3 people they finally managed to get the block still. Only then could Jay pay out some slack to allow us to take load off the belay rope and unclip the block. Doug then cleared his leg injury while I cleared his neck and back. Mike borrowed my poles for his limp out and they looked quite helpful for him! The right knee appeared to be his biggest injury. (Apparently he is OK with no permanent injury.)

What if...do anything different? Below the Cam there was a 90% deep 10 cm screw on a load limiter in a good thin ice smear. The gear was rigged pretty well, but it might have been better to equalize both pieces and load limit the pair. Either way, he was definitely smart to leave the other rope clipped separately to the screw which was placed on the dagger itself. The bottom line is that he got good gear and it ultimately held! If the cam and the screw below were to have failed, he would was in for a ride. From the ground I would not have guessed that the cam would have held what it did. Worst case he could have gone down all the way to the tracks, with Jay who was not anchored, in tow. In fact, that is where the block and screw went when they were unclipped!

For me an accident also provides some interesting thinking, and hopefully I learn something. It was -20 F for a few days in a row, and it had been quite windy. Ice was brittle. I preferred to pick lines that have more of a safety net beneath me. Many off the deck test pieces are really serious, but not all. Conrad's hanging garden route Reasonable is quite hard but in it's "conceived conditions" it was not likely to have allowed a leader ground fall. Leaders still have to hang in there to place the gear, but there is plenty of it on this one if they are up to the challenge. In addition when you are really in the meat of the crux you are quite a bit higher. Height off the ground can often add some safety to a route. Nothing stops you like the deck! If you ARE really going to go for it, think hard about the consequences of putting gear in stuff that could come off.

As a belayer, being able to move around below a thing like that really adds to your safety but...? Maybe a ridiculously long and loose anchor tied into the closest solid anchor (tree?) is not a bad idea when you are even on a moderate slope? In more plastic conditions would it have been the same scenario? Probably not, he would have styled right up it! Pick your days for that stuff. It was cold and brittle.

Thanks to Jay Briscoe for the picture of the gear & the broken column.

Needless to say we're all really happy that there wasn't a tragedy that day. Mike was smart, and lucky, and we're all happy that he's OK.

George Hurley Slideshow:
George Hurly is giving a slideshow on Friday, January 16, at 7 PM. The topic is "Adventure Climbing From 1958-2004." Location is the White Mountain School in Bethlehem, NH at 371 West Farm Rd.

New Routes:
There are new routes going up everywhere you look. Here are another bunch in the immediate vicinity that I just found out about. Keep those cards and letters....boys & girls!

"The Militant", WI 4, 55m. FA Jon Sykes, Larry Boehmier, Jamie Cunningham 12-27-03. About 150' right of The Pilgrimage on the side of Mt. Webster. Climber: Jon Sykes Photo: Jamie Cunningham.

"The Power of Ethan Pond", WI 4, 2 50-60m pitches. FA Jon Sykes & Jamie Cunningham 12-20-03. Located above Ethan Pond on the back side of Mt. Willey. Take Ethan Pond trail to Ethan Pond Shelter. Follow orange flagging to base of cliff. P of EP is the first climb you come to when you emerge from the woods. Climber: Jon Sykes Photos: Jamie Cunningham.

Pitch 1
Pitch 2

" Way of the Peaceful Warrior" FA Jim Ewing and partners. Not sure on the grade but I would say the ice portion was not very hard but was a solid X 32m. The rock portion felt maybe around 5.10 (M6-drytooled the whole thing) but solid R 35m. Roughly 3.5 hours were required to lead it in one continuous pitch. It follows a line roughly parallel to a rock route called "Romantic Warrior" and to the left of "Bragg Pheasant". It joins "Romantic Warrior" near the top. It may have been possible to keep the line completely separate but the crack system I was following widened and I did not have any large cams left.

Last week we mentioned a new climb in the DAKS called Fecalator, climbed by Chris Thomas. What an amazing little climb. Chris was nice enough to send me a couple of pix, so here they are -

overview
Chris on the route

There is so much going on with new routes that I can't get it all in this week. Stay tuned...

Selected Ice Conditions effective March 21, 2024
I can't actually say that there is nothing out there that can't be climbed. That would be foolish. But for the average, or a little above average climber, that's probably correct. That said, I did hear that there is climbable ice on Parasol in Dixville Notch. Not sure how that will be after we get a foot of heavy wet snow on Saturday. Regardless, here's a few pix I took today just to document things.
	Huntington Ravine	AVALANCHE
	Repentance	OUT
	Standard Route	OUT
	Dracula	OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK HERE

Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,