Showing posts with label Vermont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vermont. Show all posts

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Vermont Weekend - Climbing & Skiing



smugglers notch, vermont, ENT Gully, multi pitch ice climbing
ENT Gully Pitch 1

Great weekend in Vermont! Jackie and I made the 1.8 mile uphill hike in from the south (Stowe) end of Smuggler's Notch. Then solo climbed up the steep approach...breaking trail to the base of the climb. But due to recent sub-zero temps, the ice at ENT Gully was bullet hard and super brittle - so we bailed on the much anticipated multi pitch climb. We plan on coming back for this climb. And next time I won't be wearing as many layers! Dang, I wore waaay too many layers on this trip - base layers, mid layers and thick insulated pants and jacket - all made for a very uncomfortable, too warm, uphill hike!

ENT Gully can be reached by hiking to the top of the notch on route 108 from either the south end in Stowe, or the north end in Jeffersonville. There is an outhouse (brown building with several toilets/urinals) and coming from the south end we hiked past this building on our left. Just beyond it and on our left, we headed up to the base of ENT Gully. You can see the ENT Gully area from the road. Not surprised that there weren't a lot of climbers out today, since the ice was so hard. But there were many hikers, snowboarders, skiers and dogs too...lots of folks out hiking and skiing with their dogs. On our way out, there were several groups of AVI training courses.

The next day I tried out my new-to-me skis and ski boots at Jay Peak Resort. My skis just got a stone grind tune up and they're super slick, but I love them. It snowed the day before so there was plenty of soft snow! Usually the trails at Jay Peak are dead on Super Bowl Sundays, but since it snowed the day before, everyone wanted to get out and the trails were busy. Jackie and Noah are volunteers on the Ski Patrol and at lunch we met up for a delicious bowl of hot Ramen noodles from Miso Hungry Tramside! 

At the base of ENT Gully

Jackie breaking trail

View of the notch from the base of ENT Gully

Me downclimbing

AVI courses 

Gorgeous Smuggs Ice Routes!

Uphill hike along Route 108

Town line of Cambridge and Stowe


Jay Peak (Stateside) Pano

Miso Hungry Ramen lunch
Jay Peak (Tramside)
ramen, noodles, miso hungry, tramside, jay peak


Monday, February 23, 2015

The Tablets Center - Ice Climbing

The Tablets Center (WI3-4)
Lake Willoughby State Park
Westmore, Vermont



From our roadside parking

The Tablets Center approach

Looking back at Geoff

Aaahh!

GoPro

I'm loving my Eddie Bauer First Ascent

The rest of the gang



Geoff & I at the 3rd belay station


Route 5A

Back at the base of the climb and cleaning things up

Beautiful sunset over Mt. Hor

At the Willoughvale Inn & Cottages
Willoughvale Inn & Cottages is just under 5 miles North from the crag. This was my first stay here. It’s a very pretty inn but there were several  issues I found to be an inconvenience; they had lost their chef, so no dinner served at night. Breakfast served at 8:30am but I spoke with the innkeeper and she was able to get me breakfast 30 minutes earlier. If you have Verizon as your service provider, forget about texting, emailing and phone. I did, however, manage to find a spot in the corner of my room where I was able to receive/send calls, texts and emails.  In between the crag and the inn is the Willoughby Lake Store. It’s owned and run by a couple Jim & Sandy and they have a Blue Shar Pei named “Buddy.” There’s one gas pump outside and they serve hot/cold sandwiches, pizza and soup. Not to mention several “Made In Vermont” items. I made sure to purchase some to send home to my mom in Hawaii. 


Ice fishing shantys on Lake Willoughby

Climbing at Lake Willoughby felt like climbing at Cannon.....its that same expanse, that same exposure.....that same gratifying feeling of climbing something so much bigger than yourself. I loved it. Also, the weather was beautiful! Warm temps of mid-20's with periods of sun and hardly any wind, we lucked out!!! I hope to be back again to climb at Lake Willoughby, gotta get my “big ice” stoke on.  So long Mt. Pisgah ice!


YouTube Channel - Hawaii Girl Adventures

Check out my YouTube channel at:  Hawaii Girl Adventures I will eventually be phasing out blog posts and be posting videos of my climbing, h...