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Ice Fest 2015, the 22nd such event, is now officially “in the books” and what a weekend it was. I had a great time and I hope those of you who made it up for the weekend agree. I got to see tons of of old friends, and made a lot of new ones. The ice was most excellent almost everywhere, which made for a near-prefect experience. IMNSHO it was a MAJOR SUCCESS. Brad, Rick, Ashley, Ann, Mikey, Todd et’al put on one heck of a heck of an event and tho I haven’t been to any other Ice Fest, I gotta doubt it gets a whole lot better than this.
I gotta say that it was a pretty tiring weekend for me personally. I was fortunate to guide on Saturday and Sunday, plus I had a band gig Saturday night in Fryeburg. WHEW! On the good side on both days I was the assistant in Steep Ice group clinics. I’ve done several of these over the years and really enjoyed them. This time on Saturday I was with Kevin Mahoney at Texaco Amphitheater, and on Sunday at Cave Route with Ben Gilmore. These guys are probably 2 of the nicest people you’re going to meet, and on top of that 2 of the best climbers I know. As always their clinics are great and I think that most people found them very helpful. Saturday was surprisingly warm, sunny and in the upper 20’s, whereas Sunday was a complete opposite, breezy and single digits. I have a fractured left forefinger and it kept getting very cold on Sunday. It was really worrisome and I wished I had brought some hand-warmers. I usually don’t need anything like that, but this was very different. Hopefully I will get healed up soon ‘cause this is really annoying.
Here are some pix from the weekend. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Heck, I’m already looking forward to next year!
A quick safety reminder - When I was at Cave Route I noticed a number of parties walking from Bob’s or the north end of the trestle, under Widow’s Walk, to get to the main Amphitheater, At least one party stood almost directly under the big hanging daggers pointing and what looked like taking pictures. IMHO this is a really BAD IDEA. I have seen these pillars come down many times in all sorts of weather, and when they do it is instantaneous and catastrophic! There are huge pieces of ice that both shatter and crash all the way down to the bottom of the trestle. That is why there are no trees between Widow’s Walk and the trestle! I know it’s quite a bit further to walk across the trestle and up the hill, but it us the difference between a major accident waiting to happen and a safe approach. Word to the wise folks.
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
Thursday In The Notch:
I decided that I wanted to climb something on my own this morning after I got the weekly pictures done, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I’ve kind of slowed down the soloing a bit this season, but I wanted something interesting. I thought about Standard, but when I got up to the top of the Notch I decided to head down the tracks to see what struck my fancy. I had checked out Cinema from the road and it looked way too thin for my taste, so I thought the Monkey Wrench to Upper Hitchcock would be a good option. However as I walked past the Trestle Cut, it looked very inviting, as did the ramp on the left. I don’t think I’ve done the Cut in 20+ years, so that was a fun warmup. I ran up the gully, rapped off and then went up again and did the left curtain. I rapped again and checked out the ramp. It looked about on the order of difficulty as Thresher, but I couldn’t tell what the finish on the left was like. Still, I figured if I didn’t like it I could back down to the big pillar about 2/3 of the way up and rap from it.
I decided to trail my 8mm rope and print a couple of screws, just in case. As I thought, the climbing was very exposed, but quite easy - probably Grade 2 - much easer than the curtain in the Cut. As I passed the pillar I thought that it would go, but looked somewhat brittle. Leading it would require some serious finesse. I kept traversing left, but when I got to the far left I couldn’t tell if the top-out was ice or rock. I didn’t feel comfortable with it so I downclimbed the 30’ back to the pillar, ran in a screw and set up the rope to rap. I’ve rapped from drips before and felt very comfortable, including the one that often forms at the top of Goofer’s. This one was at least 4’ around and was very solid so I felt just fine about it. That said, I did test it well before I pulled my screw! [wry grin] The rap was easy and the rope pulled with no problems and it was a very fun little climb. Regarding the top-out, when I drove down the Notch past Snot Rocket I would see that there was ice all the way up to the trees so it would have been just fine - go figure! No matter, it was a fun way to spend the morning on things I haven’t done in a long time.
Mobile Version Of NEClimbs:
Up on one of the Mount Washington Valley's finest crags and want to know what that climb you're looking at is? Or maybe you're on your way up from Boston and want to check out the Ice Report for your upcoming weekend plans. Or more likely, you're at work just want to daydream about your next adventure. Well if you have a smart phone handy, you can get to NEClimbs from anywhere you have cell service. While it doesn't offer every single feature of the site and it's not an "app", in mobile form, it does do a whole lot and is very useful. Here is the live link to the mobile version of NEClimbs:
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
NEClimbs & White Mountain Report On Facebook:
Join us and LIKE us on Facebook. I'll try and post interesting pix every Thursday and the latest Ice Report in the season, tho certainly not the whole Report. Here's where you can check it out:
Climbing is a very dangerous sport. You can get hurt or even kill yourself. When you go climbing, you do so of your own free will. Everything on this site is to be taken with a grain of salt. Don't blame us if you get up some totally heinous route, in over your head and fall and hurt yourself.
