CATSKILL ICE FESTIVAL 2014

AlpineEndeavors

 

Join the 16th Annual Catskill Ice Festival

February 7, 8, 9, 10, 2014

This year again there will be multiple clinics on all the skills and techniques you need to get out on ice – from basic skills, to dry-tooling, to glacier travel techniques.
Slide shows on Friday & Saturday evening.  Slide shows will be held at Rock and Snow at 8pm.

The demo gear will be located at Rock and Snow – so you can try out the latest Harnesses, Ice Tools, Crampons, and clothing from the best companies. You know them – Black Diamond, Petzl, La Sportiva, Outdoor Research & Rab.

Slideshows

Friday Night: Catskills Aerial

Join local guide and guidebook author, Marty Molitoris as he shows you an aerial view of the areas we all know and love, and some new ones as well…
Held at Rock & Snow, 8pm

Saturday Night: Kevin Mahoney

Northeast climbing in the winter, and first ascents in Alaska and Nepal.
Held at Rock and Snow, 8pm

NEice.com will be there with hot soup and Doug’s Helicopters will be taking aerial video of the climbing. Hope to see you there.

More here…

 

 Feature Photo: Brinton Price climbing in The Black Chasm – RAS

Smuggs Ice Bash 2014 – Recap

Smugglers Notch Ice Bash kicked off with an awesome evening at Petra Cliffs!  There was an great line up of competitors ready to crush the route set by Matt McCormick and Peter Kamitses. There’s no where else in the Northeast you can go to see this kind of show!

The winners of the 2014 Smuggs Ice Bash Indoor Comp. at Petra Clif

The winners of the 2014 Smuggs Ice Bash Dry Tool Competition at Petra Cliffs

The Dry Tool Competition Winners

Womens

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1st – Alexa Siegel

2nd – Andrea Charest

3rd – Lindsay Fixmer

Mens

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1st – Whit Magro

2nd – Will Mayo

3rd – Roy Quanstrom

The-Competors

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Will-Mayo

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Photos: 1.The competitors  2.Alexa Siegel 3.Will Mayo 4.Andrea Charest


Video Recap of the Competition

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There for the festivities was the American Alpine ClubFurnace IndustriesUS SherpaOutdoor Gear Exchange and Health Warrior. Before and after the comp, Dry Ice Tools and tools from Black Diamond and Cassin were available for demos on the climbing wall.  To top it off, raffle prizes were given away, sponsored by Crag-VT!

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Hot beverages and hot soup!
Courtesy of NEice and Outdoor Gear Exchange

NEice was proud to sponsor a women’s beginner clinic on Saturday led by Andrea Charest.  The clinic was free to all participants and judging by this photo, it looks like everyone had a blast!  And of course, hot soup was waiting for everyone who came down from the notch after a day of climbing.  There were great clinics offered all weekend from Steep Ice and Mix climbing to Alpine Climbing to Double Rope Techniques by guides including Tim Farr, Steve Charest, Mike Bauman, Matt Bressler, Mark Puleio and Michael Wejchert.  Guest guides this year were Whit Magro and Lindsay Fixmer!  Demo gear from all the major manufacturers were there and Smuggler’s Notch Inn was packed with people checking out the gear.  By the end of the morning on Saturday, -all- the ice tools on -every- table were headed out for the day.

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Michael Wejchert gives some mix climbing tips during Sunday’s clinic.

Once the demo gear was out, the reps and guides were psyched to get out and climb.  Kevin Mahoney and Michael Wejchert spent their Saturday on Dominatrix (WI4+/5 M6), put up by local hardmen Alden Pellett and Dave Furman in 1998.  It was one of the hardest mix routes during the late 90’s and sent with straight shafted tools at the time.  Hats off.  Lindsay got her first taste of Vermont ice with Steve Charest as her tour guide while Matt McCormick and I decided to head to the Blue Room. When we reached the top of the notch, we were greeted by strong wind gusts and snow.  It was definitely a full-on day!  It was great to see everyone out, climbing or snowshoeing and skiing the road and embracing the Vermont winter.

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Kevin Mahoney on the Dominatrix.
Photo by Michael Wejchert

Saturday night, Lindsay Fixmer showcased a little of her singer/songwriter talent and entertained the crowd with a song about women in climbing and the guiding world accompanied by photographs.  It’s not often the guest presenter brings a guitar!  That was followed up by Whit Magro.  He presented a slide show about climbing at home, traveling to bigger places, then heading back home to climb after those experiences.. and then doing it all over again.  More great raffle prizes were handed out and Smuggs Bash teeshirts thrown into the crowd.  We all love free swag!

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Lindsay Fixmer and her guitar Saturday night

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Climbing clinic at the Mystery Wall.

On Sunday, the temperatures plummeted, but mere -7 degrees wouldn’t stop this festival.  I headed up the notch with Lindsay for a women’s clinic along with Jess Jablonski.  Despite the cold temperatures, these women spent the day laughing, climbing and learning.  It was a great group of gals and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to teach and climb with them. This year was big!  And it will only get better and better with Andrea and Stephen Charest running the show!  With that said, NEice extends the biggest of thanks to Andrea and Steve for all they do, not just for the Vermont climbers but the entire northeast climbing community and making the Annual Smugglers Notch Ice Bash a huge success.  We love being apart of it!

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Photo by Michael Wejchert

More photos of the event on the Smuggs Ice Bash facebook page.  LIKE them to make sure you are ready for next year!

– Courtney Ley / NEice.com

Featured story cover photo by Sam Simon Imaging. Competition photos by Doug Millen. Other photos by Courtney Ley and as noted.

 

The Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest 2014

Coming This Weekend!

The Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest

North Conway, NH

Jan. 31st-Feb. 2nd, 2014!

A weekend filled with clinics, demos, guest guides, apres climbing party, evening presentations, live music and MORE!

This is the biggest Ice Festival in the Northeast! No where else can you find so many top guides in one place. Truly the cream of the crop. So come up, have some fun and learn from the best. NEice will be at IME on Friday and Saturday for the apres climbing party with hot soup and our latest Helicopter. We look forward to seeing you there.

It’s Not too Late to Sign Up for Clinics!

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* Click to Enlarge

The weather forecast could not be better, some real cold to bring in the ice and mild weather to climb in with a little snow.

Weather Ice Fest

 

Clinics include: Ice Climbing 101, Ice Climbing For Rock Climbers, Thin Ice, Mixed Climbing with Tim Emmett, Snow & Alpine Skills & MORE!
And don’t forget about the killer evening presentations that are hosted just 4 miles from IME at Theater In The Wood!

Friday evening will be opened up by Jeff Longcor and the featured presenter is legendary, Barry Blanchard.

Saturday evening has Majka Burhardt opening up the evening and the featured presentation is by the infectiously energetic Tim Emmett!
Don’t miss it, spread the word, and we hope to see you there!

More information can be found here www.mwv-icefest.com

and the latest news here on NEice. MWV-ICE-FEST-North-Conway-New-Hampshire

Paradox Sports Returns to North Conway

The Third Annual Adaptive Ice Climbing Event

Its called Paradox Ice – we’re taking 20 athletes with physical disabilities ice climbing at Cathedral Ledge.

Dates: Friday, Feb 7 to Sunday Feb 9, 2014

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Photo by Claudia Lopez

Boulder, CO – Paradox Sports is pleased to announce that the third annual Paradox Ice event in North Conway, New Hampshire February 7-9, 2014. Throughout the weekend, 20 adaptive athletes will learn about the specialized equipment and adaptive techniques needed to climb vertical walls of ice.

Participants range from wounded warriors with PTSD to amputees, paraplegics and  visually impaired athletes. Registration includes meals, lodging, equipment rental and professional guide services.

Co-founder and below-the-knee amputee, Malcolm Daly, launched Paradox Ice in 2008: “Ice is the great equalizer. None of us can climb it without adaptive equipment. We just go one step further.”

Paradox Ice is open to people with physical disabilities, their families or caretakers and military veterans. This is event is made possible by the guides at Ascent Climbing and Alpine Inspirations.

For more information or to register for the upcoming climbs, please visit http://paradoxsports.org/programs/paradox-ice.

Scholarships and financial assistance are available.

Program Coordinator and guide Nate McKenzie of Ascent Climbing: “Weʼ re
excited to bring Paradox Sports adaptive climbing programs to the north east. Its
the only event of its kind in the region and the community really steps up to
support Paradox and our athletes.”

We still have a few spots left and we’re looking for more participants. We can provide full scholarships and tuition assistance for folks that need it.

If folks want to help support our trip by making a small donation to Paradox Sports, they should visit our CrowdRise fundraiser at http://www.crowdrise.com/ParadoxIce

Mark Synnott is giving a free slideshow at the Flatbread / Eastern Slope Inn conference room at 7:30pm on Saturday, February 8. Open to the public.

More Here..

Paradox Sports is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that improves peopleʼ s lives by creating adaptive sport communities built to inspire.

Photos by Claudia Lopez

Mountainfest 2014 Wrap-Up

Mountainfest-2013-037Another Adirondack Mountainfest has come and gone.  As always, it started with a joke from Vinny and ended with many things to toast to with some good bourbon.  What happened in between?  Well, all weekend, clinics were going on, gear was being demo’ed, ice, snow and rock was climbed and kegs were tapped.

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Photo by Andrea Charest

There were an array of classes going on from an Avalanche Intro Course with Chuck Boyd, Slide Climbing with Jeremy Haas, Colin Loher and Chad Kennedy to Climbing a 1,000 Feet of Ice with Jesse Williams to Snowshoe Mountaineering with Carl Heilman.  And of course there was learning steep ice, thin ice, hard ice and every kind of ice with great guides and overall great people like Ian Osteyee, Don Mellor, Matt Horner, Matt McCormick, Jim Pitarresi.. need I say more?  We were excited to welcome Vermont’s Andrea Charest, fresh out of Ouray to attend her first Mountainfest!  She took both beginner and advanced climbers out for clinics on both days. I’m sure she will be back!

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Some interesting lines for everyone to learn on!
Photo by Andrea Charest

Friday night kicked off with Aaron Mulkey’s presentation.  He is a Wyoming based climber and Rab athlete.  He is also the owner and author of the website Coldfear.  Check it out and you’d wish you’d been there for the show!

On Saturday, the temperatures warmed up, the sun was out and the winds were calm.  I had grabbed a pair of Altai Hok skis from our friends at The Mountaineer to demo that day and the only decent snow cover I could find was at Whiteface Mountain!  Very un-Adirondack like.  I was really impressed with the skis.  They are a snowshoe/ski hybrid with built in skins.  The universal bindings resemble snowboard bindings and they fit my climbing boots perfectly.  I took a few laps on the bunny hill and was surprised how well I could maneuver them.  They will be great approach skis. The Mountaineer is the only shop on the East Coast of the US where you can try these out before you buy!

Doug took advantage of the calm weather and headed to Cascade Pass to fly the NEice air fleet.  He came with three helicopters and left with two!  Yes, a big crash and his “power model” had disintegrated to a pile of broken electronic parts.  But not before getting some footage!  And with another more reliable chopper in his quiver, we had fun buzzing the ice around the Pass.

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 Press Play!

Saturday night was Vince Anderson’s show at the Beaverdome.  After some awesome free stuff was thrown around and raffle prizes given away by The Mountaineer and the sponsors, Vince chatted about his time on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat with Steve House.  They summited the 8125m peak via a 4,100m route in one single non-stop six-day ascent, followed by another two days of descent. The climb took place in 2005 and they were awarded the Piolet D’or for their ascent.  Badass.

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Eric and Jason ready for the rappel down.
Photo by Naomi Risch.

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Alex laughs through this first experience with screaming barfies

 

After the clinics left to climb on Sunday morning, Outdoor Research guru, Naomi Risch and I had a day out with three other company reps in Green Gully. For the Patagonia rep, Alex, and Marmot rep, Jason, this weekend was their first time ice climbing!   Also joining us was Eric with Scarpa.  Everyone was psyched to get out and despite the scrappy ice conditions, we had a blast climbing a couple of pitches before we had to get back for demo returns.

 

While we had a party of five in Green Gully, Kevin Mahoney returned to Exit 30 crag with Doug Madera to give the Fecalator another go.  The Fecalator in the Adirondacks, possibly the country’s first trad M10 WI6, was put up by Chris Thomas almost ten years ago. As Emilie Drinkwater reports, it’s only seen a few ascents by very talented and very determined climbers.  Kevin and Bayard Russell had spent some time on Saturday flirting with it.  On Kevin’s first try on Sunday and third overall attempt, he fired it!  Yeah Kevin!

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Kevin Mahoney on The Fecalator. Nice work!  Photo by Bayard Russell

Sunday night was Doug’s presentation on the history of this great website, NEice, and appropriately titled “Oh What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been!” Starting from the beginning, through the Festiglace years and to today, Doug’s photos and wild stories had everyone laughing through the whole show.  Thanks to Tom Yandon’s donation, a fresh keg sat at the front door of the Keene Arts Center.  He wanted to thank everyone for “littering”.

Monday morning we woke up to big snowflakes and dropping temperatures.  Yes!  With no snow cover on the ground at the beginning of the weekend, it was great to see it start piling up once again.  Winter was back.

To be noted, Don Mellor and Drew Haas are working on a second addition to Blue Lines and any information or photos should be sent to Don, emailed to Drew  or dropped off at the Mountaineer. They are looking to have it ready for next winter.

NEice would like to thank Ed Palen and all the staff at Rock and River Lodge for their unrivaled hospitality and of course, Vinny and all our friends at the best climbing shop on east of the Mississippi, The Mountaineer.

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Steve and Vin enjoying “a thousand feet of ice” with guide Jesse Williams

Check out some more great photos of the festivities here:

18th Adirondack International Mountainfest – Photo Recap!

 

By Courtney Ley / NEice.com

 

Featured Cover Image: Doug Madera on “The Fecalator”. Photo: Kevin Mahoney – Mahoney Alpine Adventures

 

Smugglers Notch Ice Bash – 2014

We are Psyched to Announce!banner-2-e1383943956932

Coming this weekend, January 24th-26th, 2014, is the 8th Annual Smuggler’s Notch Ice Bash!  Don’t miss the Friday night kick-off party and dry-tool comp at Petra Cliffs, and be sure to attend the presentation by guest speakers Lindsay Fixmer and Whit Magro at the Smuggler’s Notch Inn and Tavern on Saturday night.  And all throughout the weekend there will be an array of clinics and great demo gear to check out.  It’s sure to be a superb weekend of camaraderie and climbing.

Check out the Smuggs Ice Bash website for a complete schedule of events:

Schedule of Events

Conditions in the notch are shaping up nicely!

“Smuggs has improved drastically since earlier last week. This past weekend groups were out in full force taking advantage of the mild weather and good ice. Large groups from neighboring Colleges and Universities were out, saw the Mtn. Warfare School up there training and multiple personal climbing partners playing around on Jeff’s, ENT, Grand Confusion, and several other spots throughout the Notch.

Seems the ice held in there just enough, and the cold weather returned quick enough to deliver us a good rebound. Much of the Notch’s classics are in fine shape to climb. Sounds like with the exception of Doug’s Route and Prenup, the South wall is in climbable shape as well.

The road is definitely ski-able with a couple inches of snow on it these past couple days.” –Tim Farr  (1/20/14)

There are still some open spots in some of the awesome clinics that are offered:

Saturday

 January 25 – Clinic Offerings

  • Intro to Ice Climbing – 1 Spot Available
  • Steep Ice Climbing Technique – 4 Available
  • Learn to Lead (two-day) – 2 Spots Available

Sunday

January 26 – Clinic Offerings

  • Women’s Ice Clinic – 3 Spots Available
  • Intro to Ice Climbing – Spots Available
  • Skill Building: Using Double Ropes – 2 spots Available
  • Learn to Lead (two-day) – 2 Spots Available
  • Intro to Mixed Climbing – 2 Spot Available
  • Ice & Snow Anchors – Spots Available

Last Update: 1/21/14

Please call to book your reservation in a clinic!  Call Petra Cliffs Climbing Center: (802) 657-3872 or toll free: 866-65-PETRA.

 

NEice can’t wait to be apart of Smuggs Ice Bash.  We have hot soup ready to go and helicopters tuned up for flying.  See you there!

 

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The Northeast’s only Dry Tool Competition!

Mountainfest – 2014

Coming This Weekend !

January 18-20, 2014

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Mountainfest is an annual celebration of ice climbing and mountaineering, featuring guest athletes who entertain us with tales of climbing adventures, instructional clinics taught by visiting climbers and local guides, demo gear, and a chance to gather with the climbing community for an exciting winter weekend.

Schedule of Events

Don’t miss this great event! 

We have had some rain and warm weather but conditions are improving.

” I’m predicting things will recover pretty well by the weekend. We’ve had temps below freezing every night and there’s going to be a cool-off all week. You’re right about CP, NFOP and Cascade Pass being full. Last year, I was surprised to see big crowds at Loch Ness, but it turns out people were steered there by the guides who were running clinics in the Canyon and Pass. My recommendation for getting away from the crowds is to pick something that takes more than twenty minutes to approach and/or needs a bit of a drive (Poko or Hoffman).

Get out there and get after it. Just make sure to make it back for the slideshows. They’re going to be great this year.”  –  it’llgo  /  NEice.com conditions page posted  on Jan. 14, 2014

Still a few openings left.  Give a call if you are interested in signing up for either course!

  • Steep Ice for the Weak and Chickenhearted with Don Mellor – SUNDAY.
  • Intermediate to Advanced Steep/Thin/Hard Ice with Ian Osteyee – SUNDAY.

 

Come by for some hot soup and check out my latest helicopters. We will be at Chapel Pond on Saturday.

Hope to see you there – Doug Millen

 

 

 

 

UP at Boston Rock Gym

UP at BRG7

Thanks to all who came out to check out NEice’s presentation on building, flying and filming with our radio controlled helicopter fleet!  We had a great time.

 

Here’s a few photos from the event by photographer Joel Dashnaw.

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NEice presents at ‘Social Outcast’ at Boston Rock Gym

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On Sunday, December 15th, 2013, Boston Rock Gym in Woburn, MA will be hosting the 7th installment of their Social Outcast Club—a unique way for climbers to learn, socialize and share experiences about what we all love in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. During each gathering, several BRG climbers and guest speakers cover a range of climbing topics.

NEice will be the Special Guest that evening to show the first year’s UP! Film and talk about flying with the RC Helicopters.  Doug has been hard at work this summer building more sophisticated choppers for this years filming and we are excited to get them in the air and capture better and more stable footage.  This event kicks off the second year into this project for us and we hope you’ll join us!
 

 

 

 

Below are more details about the event from BRG’s Event Page on Facebook:

 
Sunday, December 15, 2013  7:00pm-11:00pm
 
 JOIN US FROM 7-7:30PM FOR SOME SLACKLINING AND A PULL-UP CONTEST! (PRIZE TBA)

DECEMBER TOPICS:
-Showing of the BRG’s ice climbing trip video from 2012-“How an average climber can make the most of Peru’s Cordillera Blanca- Taking down big mountains.” by Ilya Tatar and Lidiya VI

-Special Guest Speaker, Doug Millen.
Doug founded and runs NEice.com and is very active in the ice climbing community. He will be doing a talk/show titled “The NEice UP project. Filming and photographing ice climbing with RC helicopters.”

-GEAR SWAP!

COST: FREE for members or with the purchase of a day pass on Sunday.
(Come in after 4pm and stay for this event and receive a $10 a daypass!)

WHAT TO BRING: Your favorite food and drinks for the potluck table-and a smile of course…

ADDITIONAL: Please email us, or let us know if you want to share your experiences and show your videos at one of the upcoming meetings.Social_Outcast

The gym is located at
78 Olympia Drive
Woburn, MA 01801

 
 
 
-Submitted by Courtney Ley/NEice.com
 
 
 
 
 

Catskill Ice Festival 2013 – This Weekend!

The 15th Annual Catskill Ice Festival

 February 8, 9, 10, 11, 2013.

Hell Hole - Ice Fest Photo by Derby

The ice conditions are looking great for this event! Hope you can make it!

Get pumped for the Ice Fest with A Local’s View of the Devil’s Kitchen by Ryan Stefiuk.

 

“Last year was great fun. This year we will have multiple clinics on all the skills and techniques you need to get out on ice – from basic skills, to dry-tooling, to glacier travel techniques.

Slide shows on Friday & Saturday evening feature the Catskills – see an aerial view on Friday night with Marty Molitoris, and get the beta on the latest mixed and ice routes by Christopher Beauchamp. Slide shows will be held at Rock and Snow at 8pm.

The demo gear will be located at Rock and Snow – so you can try out the latest Harnesses, Ice Tools, Crampons, and clothing from the best companies. You know them – Black Diamond, Petzl, La Sportiva, Outdoor Research & Rab. Click for location directions 

Rates are $150 per person per event – Slide shows are free!

As an added bonus – Rock and Snow will offer 15% off for ice gear and apparel for all icefest registrants from the time they sign up through the end of the ice fest. All you need is to print out and show them the confirmation email we send when you register for it.”

Register Here!

More information here…