Parasol Gully, Dixville Notch - Multi Pitch Ice Climbing

Bringing Jackie up the 1st pitch of Parasol Gully
(me in the bright green pants)

Looking up at Parasol Gully (WI2+) from the pullout, we had no idea if the ice was good. In fact, I was actually skeptical. But Jackie said, "let's go take a walk up there and check it out." And so we did. And I'm so glad that we did. Jackie and I had been considering Parasol Gully since last October, but weather and other plans always got in the way. Today we were staring up at fat blue ice, in the shade. I can certainly understand why this route would be on the list of the top 10 ice climbs in New Hampshire. The climbing is fun, straight-forward. And the views of the notch from along the route are gorgeous! We even bumped into Nick and Isa who climbed a couple of laps on the route.

This climb was a little over 3.5 hours drive from my home in Massachusetts. So I opted to stay overnight in Colebrook. I had dinner and breakfast at the Wilderness Restaurant on Main Street. I stayed at the Colebrook Country Club Motel (not a country club) and although the rooms are very dated, the room was clean, it was very quiet at night and the staff was very friendly and helpful. 

All in all, it was a pretty damn stellar day for climbing - hero ice, plenty of sun, warm enough to belay gloveless, and no wind. Towards the end of the day, the sun gave way to clouds so in no way was the sun ever on the route. And when we left the parking, it started to drizzle. Certainly can't complain about mid-April, spring ice climbing! Thanks, Nick for the photos - it was great to finally meet you and Isa while out climbing. And thanks, Jackie for the photos and your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project - at this point, I'm more than halfway to my 60-pitch climbing goal! 

We ended up skipping the ramp of the 1st pitch and scrambled off to the right, through the snow section and to a couple of trees to get our harness and gear on.

From there we scrambled up to the edge of the ice and started the climb.

On our way out we followed Nick and Isa's bootprints. Jackie took this photo of Nick and Isa on their 2nd lap up.

....and then we did the butt slide down to the parking. The End.