Leprechaun's Lement (WI2-3) - Ice Climbing

Pano photo left to right: LL gully, LL slab. Hanging By A Moment

Leprechaun's Lement (WI2-3)
Kinsman Notch, North Woodstock, NH

The last of this season ice climbing for me....so I was glad I got to get in one lead. Like the past weekend at Arethusa Falls and weekend before that at Waterfall, we had the ice all to ourselves today. Overcast skies were sure promising and when we got to the base of Leprechaun's Lement, we were glad it was in the shade. For the most part, the slab was clear of snow. (below the base of LL lay the snow that had slid of the LL slab). 

John led the Leprechaun's Lement Gully, then we rapped down into the vertical section of the slab where we did a couple of laps. We also did a couple of laps on the Hanging By A Moment. And finally, in the late afternoon, I led the Leprechaun's Lement Slab. I led the center since I had only led the left hand side of the slab. The ice on the first half of the route was really still good. But by that time the clouds lifted and the sun had shown through baking the top half of the route. And after the half way point, the ice was just pure shitty. So I only placed pro up to the half way point and ran it out to the tree anchor. I could've put one more piece of pro in if I just scraped the shitty ice off of the top layer. But the grade was easy, I felt good, calm and not pumped and made sure all my sticks and feet were solid. Enjoy some photos taken of our day at Kinsman Notch.

Arethusa Falls (WI3-4) - Ice Climbing

Pano photo of Arethusa Falls

Arethusa Falls (WI3-4)
Crawford Notch, NH

Beautiful bluebird day for some spring ice climbing! John and I checked out Walk In The Forest and it wasn't looking good. Most of it was in full sun and looking really baked (scary). I suggested we check out Arethusa Falls so we back-tracked along the railroad tracks and headed up the Arethusa Falls Trail. The 1.5 mile trail was well-packed and there were some hikers already coming down. They confirmed solid ice and no flowing water like John and Phil had encountered couple weeks prior. Like Waterfall (WI3) the week before, we had the falls all to ourselves. But there were many photographers, hikers and their dogs who came to the falls while we were climbing. John did a fantastic job leading up the left-center. At the start the ice was solid. But at the middle there was a lot of snow and about 3/4 way the ice was pretty bad, but under it was solid. The flowing water in the center definitely caught my attention. At the top and off to the right, is a tree with a large red webbing  around it. John set up anchor and we rapped down from here. 

Great job sending Arethusa Falls John and thanks for another mellow day of ice climbing!

Waterfall (WI3) - Ice Climbing

Waterfall (WI3)
Frankenstein Cliffs, Crawford Notch, NH

Great conditions, mild temps, no wind makes for a great climbing the last day of winter! John and I climbed the Waterfall route - had this area all to ourselves. Mellow day of climbing for sure!

Leprechaun's Lement Gully (WI2) - Ice Climbing

Leprechaun's Lement Gully (WI2)

Thanks for the belay, Ken!

Usually when I shut off my truck engine, the headlamps automatically turn off. But not today. Had to make a trip back down to the parking lot to turn them off. If you ice climb at Kinsman Notch, you know that very steep approach well. Great warmup hiking the approach twice, fer sure. But would have rather spent the warmup actually climbing. But my truck - she started right up. ;)

Met Ken and Dominique for some mellow climbing at Kinsman Notch. Ken thought the ice might be thin from the thaw, but the conditions were really good!  I thought it would be crowded but we had the climbs all to ourselves. Counting the three of us, plus a solo climber, two parties of 2, and a guided group, there were 18 total at the crag today. At one point we even left our rope hanging on the Leprechaun's Lement route and went to check out The Beast. Enjoy a few photos taken of our day.

Dominique on Leprechaun's Lement (left) and Hanging By A Moment (right).

Ken on Hanging By A Moment

This solo climber made his way up Hanging By A Moment. He climbed up to the trees, then rapped down. Then climbed back up to the trees on a solo belay.

Met Sharon and Don. Sharon is a new ice leader too! 
Look at her go! Yay Sharon!

We checked out The Beast - looking good!

From the base of The Beast

Leprechaun's Lement

Selfie

Lost In The Forest - Ice Climbing

Lost In The Forest
Frankenstein Cliffs


A frigid cold, but fun day at Lost In The Forest! Met Ken, Zarina and Tim for a cold day of cragging.  - 4 in the parking lot at the start of our day. I got in a couple of top rope laps; some solo-climbing on short, low-angle ice; some downclimbing practice; and some anchor building. So good to be back climbing at Frankenstein Cliffs and looking forward to coming back during the ice season!

We think think that's Art Mooney at the top of Chia

Leprechaun's Lement (WI2-3) - Ice Climbing

Thanks for the belay, Ken!

Great to get out on the ice for the first time this season - a meetup event at the Kinsman Notch in Woodstock, NH. Just got a couple of top rope laps in but my last climb of 2016 was a lead on the fun & easy, Leprechaun's Lement. Ken Domino on my belay.

Ueli Steck 2016 Tour - Boston

Got the chance to meet "The Swiss Machine" in person! Watching videos of Ueli Steck run, yes run, up mountains without a rope is jaw dropping. So to see him in person, be in the same room, shake his hand, thank him and tell him how much I enjoyed his presentation, was just as amazing for me!! Just a few photos of his presentation, Q&A, and autograph signing and photo taking.

The Man, the Legend, The Swiss Machine!

Presentation, Q&A, autograph signing

(3rd photo is Brian of MetroRock)

I wished I had brought my ice axes for Ueli to autograph....I could've fit them both in my day pack! There was a smart dude who brought a poster as well as his copies of The American Alpine Journal 2014 (88, Vol 56). Also, during his presentation he did mention sore/bad knees 4 times!

Frankenstein Cliffs - Ice Climbing

Frankenstein Cliffs

Lost In The Forest

Crawford Notch, NH

Hero ice is better than no ice! 

Geoff is a leader with the AMC Berkshire and organized an ice climb for today. We met up in the upper parking lot of the Arethusa Falls trailhead along with Steve, John, Dane, Toby and Graham. The day before NEClimb posted ice conditions which were very promising, so I was counting on getting in some laps! We hiked across the trestle and stopped to read the ice at the slab area - so thin in most parts and baked as well. So we continued down the tracks until we got to the bottom of Lost In The Forest. There were only two parties of 2 already climbing so we made our way up. To the left of Lost was a lower angle slab so one rope was set up and used for warming up, the other 3 ropes were set up on Lost. The rest of the day was pretty mellow with the 7 of us climbing. There was lots of fat ice, but it was soft and easy for the tools and kicks. It made it easy for me to practice my climbing technique that I learned during my lesson from Alexa the week before. Don’t know how much more of a winter we’ll have left. But sure am glad to get in as much climbing as I can! It was a great day for climbing hero ice! Enjoy a few photos taken of our day at FC! And thanks for the belays Steve!!! :)

Low angle slab to the left of Lost

Geoff with Graham on his belay

Graham and Toby

Dane and John

Toby taking a break on the rock behind me

Steep stuff to the right is really fun

John with Toby on his belay

Steve on the steep (short but sweet) stuff!

At the end of the day we rapped down to the tracks

Toby with Steve on his belay

On our way out, we came across Alexa Siegel & Laurie! 

Laurie was taking the 2-day, Ladies-Only Steep Ice Climbing workshop

through Cathedral Mountain Guides.  She was rocking the steep stuff!

Railroad Cut, NH – Ice Climbing

Railroad Cut – Ice Climbing

SW4-Cheshire North Rail Trail

Keene, NH

So here we go again....another single digit day, but the addiction is strong and I couldn’t resist, yet again! Was supposed to be climbing the Auburn Ice Canyon but that got cancelled because the floor wasn't hard enough and there was only one flow up compared to the 4 we climbed on two weeks ago. So Kevin and I drove up to Keene, meeting Jeff on the way. Nuno and his son David was in the parking lot when we pulled in. Later George Adams came by and climbed with us. The low temps were really tough on my asthma and breathing. It went from 13 to 7 degrees in 3 hours. Plus, The Cut is like a wind tunnel and as the temps dropped, it got harder for me to climb. At the end of our day I felt exhausted, like I had felt when I hiked to Lion's Head the weekend before. But my exhaustion was due to the low temps. I did get in 4 climbs but could only finish the first two, my hands were so cold. Just a few photos of our day at “The RR Cut”.

Jeff checking out the climbs

Climbs are in, but it's gonna be brutal!

Jeff gearing up

Nuno setting up

Jeff up top, Kevin & George looking on

David

Nuno with David on is belay

Kevin

George

Jeff did a fine job on this flow but near the top, lost his right crampon

Kevin and I selfie....it's too cold to smile!

Kevin

George leading some real nice, thin stuff!

Drone Camera - Standard Route - Multi pitch Ice Climbing

Standard Route  (WI3+)

Frankenstein Cliffs

Crawford Notch, NH

All last winter I had been asking him to go out ice climbing and he kept declining. So when I got Jeff B ’s email last week about ice climbing, I thought it was a joke and had to I read it several times. Jeff’s son Todd is a professional photographer/videographer and he needed some ice climbing shots/vids via GoPro Drone. http://toddjburgess.com/

I contacted Jeff S. and made sure to check the weather - Sunday was the better of the two. Originally I had chosen Cinema Gully but was told that it would be too thin. So when Frankenstein Cliffs was suggested, I choose the Standard Route because of its short approach and exposure. And I thought Todd should have no problems piloting his Drone for shots. Plus, it was “still in.” But I chose Standard Route mainly because it’s a very recognizable route at the cliffs. So Jeff S. lead both Jeff B. and I up the Standard Route. We had a perfectly beautiful day for ice climbing. The sun was out, temps warm and for the sake of the Drone camera, hardly any wind. Enjoy some photos taken of our climb.

At the tracks of the Standard Route

Gearing Up

Jeff S. on lead - 1st pitch

Jeff S. exiting the ice cave - 2nd pitch

Exiting the ice cave

Me at the 3rd belay station belaying Jeff S. up our last pitch

If we hadn’t been told that it was noisy, I would’ve thought that Todd’s Drone camera was a swarm of bees because that’s exactly what his drone sounded like. Yup, at time 0:37 our ropes are intertwined. But no worries, Jeff and I navigated around one another with no problems. It ain’t sketchy until it gets sketchy, right? :) 

Jeff S. (green jacket) on lead. With Jeff B. in dark blue jacket and me (light blue jacket & white helmet) cleaning pro. Here's the YouTube video!