February 12, 2004

Hi Folks,

As eventful as it was last week, it was very uneventful this, and we all are really happy about that. Except for 2 smallish rounds of snow and some nice warmer temps, things have almost too quiet. Not that I have a real problem with that, you understand. -grin- Sometimes it's nice just be able to lay back and not fight things so hard for a change.

When I rode up to take my Report pictures last Thursday I noticed that Snot Rocket, the big drip in the trestle cut at the top of Crawford Notch, looked pretty good. I called around trying to get someone to go up there with me, and Brad White from IMCS bit. While I've noticed the climb for years, this time it looked in darn good condition. I was very surprised that the guidebook indicated it hadn't been done before '98. When I mentioned that to my neighbor Jim Ansara, he said that he and Mark Richie had done it about 10 years earlier. Why am I not surprised? (It also states that the grade is 3-4, but more on that later.) We decided to go bag it on Saturday morning so we got a late start and were up there at about 10 AM. It had snowed that nite and we broke through a crusty cover on about 6-8 inches of new white stuff. We were both somewhat surprised that no one had been up there earlier in the day.

Since I hadn't done it before, I got the sharp end of this rope. I'd originally decided to go up high on the inside corner and left of the pillar, and then swing around and onto what looked like a ramp/curtain on the right. Of course the ice wasn't in as perfect a shape as I had hoped, and it was a bit more delicate than I'd planned, so I decided to swing around a bit lower. This was one of those times when having the leashless tools was really nice. I was able to get a good stick with my right hand on the left side of the pillar, swap hands on that tool, and then get another good stick out right in the curtain. Moving up delicately I got onto the totally detached curtain, and got to a stance and ran in a screw. This was classic stuff for leashless climbing. 20' later I belayed at the base of the upper pillars off some small trees and brought Brad up. Others have done this whole climb in a single pitch, but I didn't want to be so far away from my belayer.

With Brad planted safely behind the pillars and to the left, I headed up. The start was really nice, vertical but with nice stemming between the two. However, the ice above was fractured and brittle. I spent a lot of time cleaning off the crap so I could get good sticks. In about 40' I was only able to find placements for 2 screws! I was sure smiling when I was able to sling a small tree about 20' from the top. I spoke with a friend who had apparently done it the day before, and he also said that the gear at the top was not as good as he liked, but that the climbing was great.
If you haven't done this climb yet, you might want to jump on it. Both Brad and I feel it's in 4+ or 5- shape. Here are a few pictures, but believe me when I say that it's quite a bit steeper than it looks!

Snot Rocket from the road
#1
# 2

Memorable Quote for the Week:
This one from a second who was following the right side of Dracula for the first time -

"Wow, this is steeper and harder than I thought!"

Another New Hard Route Goes Up, or is it Down:
"Idiot Sans Savant" (30M, M8) - Chris Thomas, Tom Yandon and Will Mayo climbed the route on January 29, 2004. Will took almost 2 hours to onsight it, placing traditional gear.

Will says "This is definitely one worth repeating. Fortunately, it's
probably about two full grades easier than 'The Fecalator'."

Directions - Park at the pullout for Moss Cliff, the pullout where one parks to use the cable to cross the Ausable River (i.e., the approach to Notched In Stone, etc). Cross the road and wander through the trees to a talus slope that is followed leftwards up to the rock, around a buttress, and into a steep gully that angles up rightwards. About midway up the gully hangs the dagger. (At the top of the gully is a nice WI4 that we climbed.) The approach takes about 30-40 minutes.

Dagger Top
Dagger Middle
Dagger Bottom

Yes, it takes 3 images to see the whole climb.

RPI Bouldering Comp:
The Outing Club at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be holding its 2nd Annual Bouldering Comp at Electric City Rock Gym in Schenectady, NY on February 28, 2004. This competition is open to all college students. There will be beginner, intermediate, and advanced divisions for both men and women. The entrance fee is $3 and registration is from 10-11am.

For more information, please visit the web site or contact Tim. NOTE: You must be a college student or college-age in order to compete."

Cautionary Tale:
I suppose you could consider this a prologue to the State-O-The-Ice... Remember the episode at the hanging Garden a few weeks ago? Well, when it is as cold as it has been, the quality of the ice becomes substantially harder and even more brittle than you might think. Of course that means that it is really fragile, even the really big stuff. Widows Walk at Frankenstein has finally touched down. This is one of those things that many people wait anxiously for every year, and it doesn't always happen. Well this year, there also was a drip to the right that didn't quite touch, but looked pretty reasonable. Several of the locals have been eyeing it for the past week or so and drooling a bit. So on Saturday, when it was really cold and there was almost no one out climbing, a couple of parties decided to have a look. One went up to Widow's and decided it wasn't for them, and then checked out the big column just to the right of Cave Route. While messing with it, it cracked across! They immediately decided it wasn't for them. A second party rapped down over the right hand drip, looking it over closely. Then the leader went up behind it and tapped on it prior to launching up. The entire drip cracked off near the top, and toppled to the ground. You can see the place where it was in this week's pictures. Fortunately the belayer was out of the way and very fortunately the huge piece of ice fell outward, and not in. Hmmm... Word to the wise!

Selected Ice Conditions effective April 24, 2024
It's all over for 2023/2024.
	Huntington Ravine	OUT
	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,