Yes, it is great to get that early season tick and bragging rights, but the risks are high for the inexperienced. Inexperienced? Think before you ice climb and have an honest look at your skill set, gear and abilities.
We had some eyes on the condition of two early season prizes in on Wednesday the 8th! A close look at Pinnacle Gully revealed some unconsolidated and thin, but hopeful, frost and ice. No rock pro options that morning led to a ‘No Go’, but with temperatures remaining frigid, it may be climbable soon! I’m sure the motivated will head into Huntington Ravine this weekend.
Pinnacle From Afar (11.8.17) . Photo: Gary Reuters
Pinnacle Up Close (11.8.17) . Photo: Gary Reuters
No doubt Cannon Cliff will get a close inspection as well. We have a ‘from-the-road zoom in’ to the dike area and Fafnir. Who will be enticed to take a walk up and peer around the corner?
Fafnir (11.8.17) . Photo: John Mallery
The second follows the runnel pitch on an early season ascent of the Black Dike. 11-10-17 / www.facebook.com/CannonCliffFranconia/
In Vermont, it’s currently snowing on the higher peaks and I know a few climbers who only need a millimeter of ice on the cliffs of Smuggler’s Notch to make it go.
A look at our Instagram feed shows crampons to ice! @willclimbz posted a sweet pic of Slide 1 on Whiteface in ‘Thin But In’ conditions. Right on!
Slide 1, Whiteface. Photo: Will Roth
We certainly had some warm temperatures in October and my usual Halloween ice was far from happening this year. Now temperatures are remaining below freezing up high for a few days leading into the weekend. Finally! Hope to see some great photos and reports of ascents coming in. Have a great weekend!
Splashing through the rushing water currents on the trail did not invoke confidence that anything would be frozen up higher. Still, my climbing partner and I did not slow our pace into King Ravine. We climbed over the countless snow covered boulders trying not to slip into the human eating crevasses as we picked our way towards Great Gully. It was warm and wet. By the time we started our final approach to the drainage in low visibility, I had already resigned to the fact that we would be just out for a hike inside the low lying cloud bank. To no surprise, Great Gully was a mess of rushing water and soft snow.
[singlepic id=731 w= h= float=center]The floor of the ravine in the clouds. (photo by Joel Dashnaw)
If you are like me, you can’t choose your days to go climbing. I’m chained to a desk Monday through Friday and on some weekends I’m working my second job as a photographer. This particular weekend, I only had Sunday free. So despite the rain on Saturday and rising temperatures, I found myself clinging to the desperate hope that the ice that existed a few days before would still be hanging on. It was a tradition for me to get out and climb ice on Halloween weekend. Rather, get out and attempt to climb ice.
Related Post: Chronicles of the Overly Motivated
I love everything that goes along with being back inside winter’s grip. Although nothing is as good as having your mind and body back on some frozen water for the first time, there’s always more to it. It’s time spent with your climbing partners, or time spent solo. It’s time spent preparing and getting the psych up. It’s about throwing yourself back out into harsh elements. It’s about being in the mountains. On this day, we post-holed through upwards of three feet of blown-in snow as we neared the lip of the ravine. (The type of snow that has that layer of crust that may or may not hold your weight.) We stumbled, stammered and literally crawled our way upwards. We weren’t going to climb an ice-choked gully that day, but we were determined to reach the top regardless. As we were about halfway up the headwall, the clouds began to fade and a brilliant blue sky revealed itself.
[singlepic id=740 w= h= float=center]Leaving the clouds behind us. (photo by Courtney Ley)
Any thought of ice I had was left below me inside the cloud bank. We weren’t out there anymore to find ice to climb, or lamenting it didn’t exist that day. We were thrilled to experience one of the most outstanding undercasts I’ve ever seen. Most years, my early season tradition of just ‘going out there anyway’ finds a reward for me. Some years it’s ice to climb. Other years, it becomes something completely unexpected.
Photographs by Joel Dashnaw and Courtney Ley
It was an excellent day above tree line on Sunday. Cool temps with a bluebird sky above and an undercast below. Not to mention, evidence of the first overnight freeze of the season!
There’s nothing like a little rime ice to feed the psych!
[nggallery id=51](click on thumbnails to enlarge)
Photos by Courtney Ley
Article by Courtney Ley
It is when one season weakens and surrenders to the growing strength of another that we can most clearly see the movement of time changing space. The leaves brown, crumble and fall at our feet. The water slowly comes to a halt and freezes. It is quiet and I’m alone. As if I’m in the middle of nature’s own time lapse, I peer around the same corner but I find my surroundings are different. The air is warm but the ground is cold. I am winding my way around a dark, shaded place but I have a clear objective. I am climbing up towards the top where the light begins. Before I reach it, I am confronted with unknowns despite being in a place I’ve travelled many times before. During this time, everything is unpredictable, and often one day is strikingly different from the next. I am confident I can handle anything I encounter but my movements must be thought out. I place my ice tools delicately in the newly formed ice and my crampons on a thin shelf of rock. Upwards, slowly, as if not to disturb the passage of time that I find myself enveloped in.
Before I had set off, I didn’t know what the condition of the ice was going to be, if there would be any ice at all. For in that time before the heart of winter takes a hold, just a few degrees up or down has a drastic effect. Winter just doesn’t arrive full strength right away. It comes and goes until the warm air of autumn finally gives in. Ice may appear and disappear within hours. Despite this, I am able to find peace in the battle of the seasons. Autumn has allowed winter to take a hold of this place, for now. I sink the first couple of teeth on my pick into the ice. At times, I’m putting a tool away and grabbing a hold of the rock. A kick with my crampons proved too hard and some ice has fell away. I find another place for my feet.
In early season, I find adventure in the mountains I’ve visited time and time again. It is necessary to keep constant watch on the weather, to plan and strategize when and where to go, because the ice is never guaranteed. I travel light, unburdened by ropes or gear. I start early because the approach is long and the place is high. I want to reach the top, but I linger. Finding ice to climb during this time is worthy of a little savoring.
My mind is so focused at the task at hand that I don’t see anything else beyond this place. But every once and awhile I will pause and watch the surrounding mountains grow smaller and more plentiful. On this day as I reach the top, I’m greeted by warm sun. Wind sculpted rime ice covers the rocky landscape. I have climbed up a ravine I had before in a gully I had before, but the climb was different. Soon winter will move in and the ice will grow and the snow will arrive and people will begin heading into this place. Tool and crampon placements will be easier to find, the ice will be more reliable and conditions predictable. The three dimensional world of rock, thin ice, running water and vegetation will relent into world of white snow and white ice. For now, I have this place to myself. I walk in the frosted alpine terrain satisfied and content that I had climbed ice that only few knew existed. And ice that would most likely melt away before it returns.
There is depth and variety to early season. The trees in the valleys still hold on to their last leaves as they flicker in the wind. Higher up the branches are encased in ice. As I make my way up and down the mountain, I experience the two seasons as separate entities above and below. During my climb, they are melded into one. When I descend, I start to hear the crunch of autumn under my feet. Whites fade away as pale greens and yellows return to the woods.
It is now that this early season, this season within a season, is beginning to fade. I watch the snow fall, the ice build and number of people grow quickly and fill in the gullies, slots, corners and clefts of the mountains. I thought it only appropriate to bid a farewell to this time and place as I now seek out more remote places to experience that sense of adventure I am always thirsting for.
Condition Report – October 13, 2012
Mt Katahdin, Baxter State Park, Maine
Alfonzo enjoying great early season ice on “Piggy-Wiggy”, Katahdin, ME 10-13-2012
And we were!
Alfonzo made reservations at the Roaring Brook campsite over a month ago knowing it is hard to get campsites over consecutive days this time of year. We were planning to rock climb, but with the forecast calling for cold weather, the ice tools were packed along with the rock gear. You never know when you might need your ice tools.
We arrived Friday night to light snow showers. Rock climbing still seemed possible to some with the forecast . Our friends Mike & Cassy packed for the Armadillo. Alfonzo and I packed for ice. We had a good feeling about the conditions leading up to Saturday. And with the forecast calling for low teens at 4000′ overnight we committed to ice climbing and packed light to move fast.
We were greeted with clear sky’s and temps in the 20’s Saturday morning. As we walked up the trail, the ground became more frozen and signs of solid ice were everywhere…our pace quickened for we knew climbable ice would be found.
As we walked into the Chimney pond area, the grandness of the South Basin with a winter look welcomed us. There was ice everywhere. Better than we expected and better than last years trip in early December. And the Cilley-Barber was in! All the planets had aligned. With pure luck we had impeccable timing, creating the perfect early season situation.
After checking in with Mark the ranger at chimney pond we headed UP! We chose the biggest moderate line we could see. This was the start of the “Chauvin-Cole” route up to “Piggy-Wiggy” and then to the ridge. The gift of early season ice was given again, for in the winter most of this climb would be a snow slog. We had water ice, tail to tip.
We climbed about 1500 ft of good and sometimes challenging water ice on a spectacular day. This was the best early season ice I have ever climbed. We were so lucky!
Many thanks to Baxter State Park, a great park with excellent hospitality. And special thanks to Ranger Rob and Mark for being so excited about early season ice climbing.
~ Doug Millen
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”77″ sortorder=”795,800,797,798,799,801″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”240″ thumbnail_height=”160″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”0″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Photos by Doug Millen & Alan Cattabriga
Alfonzo finds some early ice on Damnation Gully, Huntington Ravine 10/10/10 – Doug Millen
While others were climbing warm rock at Rumney, or having their Sunday coffee, Alfonzo, the alpine junkie was in his element climbing some early season ice. We found more ice than expected, and it was well bonded, but by mid morning the sun was starting to take it’s toll. Looks like a great start to the season. Look for more photos in the gallery .
Doug Millen
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