Blogging about my journey in rock & ice climbing. And inspiring other women to climb, no matter what age!!
Showing posts with label crawford notch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crawford notch. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Monkey Wrench & Upper Hitchcock - Spring Ice Climbing
At the base of Upper Hitchcock with Crawford Notch in the background
Left Hand Monkey Wrench (WI3)
Upper Hitchcock (WI3-)
Mount Willard
Crawford Notch, NH
Forecasts called for cloudy skies and some snow.
But all that gave way to blue skies and sunshine by the time Jeff S. and I
reached the base of the Hitchcock Gully. We pretty much broke trail up Lower
Hitchcock, traversing right to Left Hand Monkey Wrench, then onto the base of
Upper Hitchcock. It was slow going but we took our time anyways since there
were only two other teams in the area climbing.
At the base of Upper Hitchcock
It was my very first time on Upper Hitchcock and it was a
lot of fun, except when my calves cramped up. Attributed to, according to Jeff,
dehydration and probably due to my just getting over a cold. I have had my
calves ‘pumpy’ before but not so much that they cramped up. Had to have Jeff
‘take’ so I could rest.
Left: Looking down Upper Hitchcock from the Rap Station
I
wanted to climb this second pitch of Upper Hitchcock. It's a short section just above the rappel station but didn’t
want to take any chances with my calves cramping up again. So Jeff and I rapped
the entire Hitchcock Gully, right down to the tracks.
Two weeks ago we couldn’t get onto Upper Hitchcock, but
today was a different story. We had the climb all to ourselves and when we
rapped down, Laura and Chris came up to check it out. They decided not to climb
UH but took a couple of photos of Jeff and I before heading off towards The
Cleft.
East Face Slabs Left
I do cartwheels with Jeff's rope and he ends up untangling them. ;D
Jeff rapping down the Lower Hitchcock Gully.
It got warmer as the day went on and the sun stayed out
until we got back to the parking lot. Surely a mellow day of Spring ice
climbing up the side of Mount Willard!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Cinema Gully, East Face Slabs & The Cleft – Multi-pitch Ice Climbing
Cinema Gully (WI2)
East Face Slabs Left (WI3)
The Cleft (WI2+)
Mount Willard
Crawford Notch, NH
Mount Willard
Crawford Notch, NH
I love when Jeff S. takes me ice climbing with him - I
get to do some freaking fun climbing on a little alpine playground! Mount
Willard is home to some awesome ice and alpine routes. Today I had the
opportunity to climb two more of those routes and then finish off on The Cleft.
Cinema Gully(WI2)
It was cool to see a bolt at the belay station of the 1st pitch. Jeff asked if I wanted to set a belay station there
or walk up a bit to a thin sheet of ice.
Since it would mean one-and-a-half roped pitches, I choose the latter and Jeff and I walked up to the next belay
station where the ice was full of screw holes. It was a gorgeous day…see the
sun and blue skies in our photos! :)
After topping off we ascended a bit more to sit and eat our lunches and then
traversed over towards the Upper Hitchcock route.
Looking up at Cinema Gully from the train tracks
Jeff and I at the 2nd belay station
Looking up at our last pitch
East Face Slabs Left (WI3)
Our intention was to climb Upper Hitchcock but there were
folks already on it. So we climbed the East Face Slabs Left. I thought I was
being a good second, all hero and all. I spotted Jeff’s backpack at the base of a tree and
thinking we were walking off once at the top, I had the genius idea to haul it
up. But when I got to Jeff at the “rap station”, I found out that we were
rapping down. I wasn’t paying attention when he mentioned that we were
rapping down.
The base of the East Face Slabs Left
Jeff at the rap station of East Face Slabs Left
It
wasn’t easy hauling that backpack up. I hitched one end of a sling to it and
the other end to my belay loop on my harness. It was a lot harder than I
thought it would be. On the vertical areas of the route that backpack became
“really heavy.” It was a good workout pushing up on my feet to get up the vertical sections with that backpack dangling below me! And yes, I also had my own backpack with me! **Thinking back on it, I should've just shoved Jeff's backpack into mine. LOL!
The Cleft (WI2+)
Afterwards we traversed to The Cleft which Jeff led in
one pitch. The Cleft is a geological gem-of-a-feature. There was more ice and
snow in this slot since the last time Jeff and I had climbed it making for an
easier ascent. We topped off, packed our gear away and headed to the Mt.
Willard Trail. The last 10 minutes of our hike out was done at dusk.
Definitely a mellow day of ice climbing Mount Willard! We got 5 pitches and
a little over 900 feet of climbing in, hooyah!!
Monday, March 2, 2015
My First Ice Lead – Ice Climbing
Willey’s Slide Center (WI2)
Mt. Willey
Crawford Notch, NH
Super stoked! Did my first lead on ice today! The second
pitch of Willey's Slide (center) with Geoff N. Didn't go too far....about 40
meters to set up an anchor on the face of a fat bulge. Placed two pieces of pro
(very snowy pitch).
The approach (steep uphill) wasn’t what I was looking
forward to. But once at the base of the climb, it was all but forgotten. There were rolls and
rolls of ice, most of it on the left side. Geoff decided on the center of the
Slide.
There was a group of 3 in front of us and Geoff and I
quickly set up to come up about 20 feet to the right of them. In the meantime,
a group of half dozen showed up, plus two more teams which set up on either
side of us. The entire climb went on without a hitch. It was a bit chilly and
few periods of sunshine, but hardly any wind. At the first belay station I
stayed focus on belaying Geoff, it made me less nervous not to think about
leading the 2nd pitch.
Once at the 2nd belay station Geoff asked me
if I wanted to lead the next pitch. There was no pressure to do so. In fact, he
told me that I could place a few pieces of protection and lower down if I
didn’t want to continue. Or I could continue to a bulge and set up our 3rd
belay station. I decided to go for it. We made sure I had all the necessary
gear for my lead. At first I was a bit nervous and slightly anxious. But once I
left the belay station and started climbing, I was able to focus and relax.
My ice screws went in easily - love that color-coded handle that makes
it so easy to place/remove. I also made use of a couple of my Yates Screamers.
At the belay station I set up 3 ice screws for anchors, clove-hitched myself
into them and attached the cordelette for the Direct Belay. I didn’t know it
then, but I should’ve been much lower than my belay device. It would’ve made it
easier for me to take up rope. Once Geoff got up to the belay station, he gave
me feedback. He demonstrated how easy it was to take up rope when well below
the belay device and he critiqued my belay/anchor system. It was a good day! :)
Geoff's GoPro vid of my lead up the 2nd pitch.
We ended up climbing the Slide in 4 pitches. That group
of 3 (guide and two students) on our left took the “good tree” for an anchor so
Geoff set up anchor just slightly right of the middle of our finish. We
finished at the very tip-top of the Slide and that last pitch stretched out the
70m ropes to their very ends.
Back in the parking lot I had forgotten to hand Geoff his
orange rope. When I got home I didn’t
empty my pack right away. I left Geoff’s rope and all my gear in my pack and weighed
it….33 lbs! Didn’t realize I had hauled that weight up and down Willey’s.
Overall, this was a fun day, but I do have to admit, however, it was tough. I thought climbing the Slide was tougher than climbing Lake Willoughby the week prior.
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