Fox Mountain Guides in New Hampshire

It has been quite a while since I last posted something. This winter has been somewhat uneventful. A friend recently asked me why I haven't posted anything since I posted about the Rock Instructor Exam. I then said that nothing has really happened. I was referring to climbing but as I was soon reminded, a major life event happened that I failed to write about; I got engaged. Maybe in the future I will sit down and write about that event but for now we will talk about some more current events.

I just got back from New Hampshire where I once again enjoyed two weeks of great ice climbing with my amazing colleagues from Fox Mountain Guides. Like last year, I was placed in charge of cooking and managing the cabin. Last year, I learned a lot about the job and was psyched to try and take it up a notch. It did prove to be just as difficult if not more difficult than last year. This year, I was focusing on improving my leading ability on ice and filly my ice climbing resume.  Doing my work and trying to get the amount of climbing in was quite the task. Many days this left me rushing from climbing to shopping to cooking.  Either way, I enjoyed being able to cook for everyone. Now, on to the climbing part.

Ron and I arrived midday on the 30th of January. Once we got into town, we met up with the rest of the crew; Karsten, Lindsay, and Cristin. We did a few climbs at Trollville that were super fun. As we were finishing up, it started raining. The forecast had called for rain and warmer temps for the next 24 hours. This could really mess up our plans since rain destroys ice.  That night, I tried lobster for the first time. Much to everyone's dismay, I did not think that lobster was that great. The next day, we were scheduled to have a guides training day. Since the weather did not cooperate, we had a training at the Frontside Grind, a coffee shop in North Conway. The training them moved to the ice which surprisingly was still there. The rain had melted quite a bit of the ice and snow which limited our choices that afternoon but I was able to take Cristin and Karsten up a route at Cathedral Ledge to do some on ice training. Soon after that finished, my duties began. I went to the store with Cristin, got two cart loads of groceries, then headed back to the cabin to get supper started.

The next day, Cristin and I headed out to get some climbing in. I would be leading my first complete multipitch ice route with Cristin following. I chose Standard Route at Frankenstein as our plan. It seemed that nearly everyone else chose that as well.  Either way, we eventually started up the route and made our way to the top. Other than being a bit hollow at the top, the route was superb. We then did one easy single pitch route to finish the day out before heading back.

 

View of Mt. Washington from the tracks at Frankenstein

On the 2nd, I had the opportunity to do some instructional work. That day, I was able to teach our guest, Mac about placing screws, leading ice, ice anchors and just get more time on the ice. It was a super fun day. We also had some entertainment provided by an extended family with "Uncle Bob" taking everyone ice climbing. Judging from their accents, they were from the Boston area and some of them had not spent much time outdoors. The best thing, which I regret not getting a picture of was of a woman climbing the route they had set up in platform boot which strap-on crampons on, snake print flaring jeans, and cotton gloves. After this, Mac and I headed over to do a fun two pitch climb called the Thresher Slabs.

 

Karsten got a sweet picture of me leading at Trollville

The next day, Cristin and I headed up to do Hitchcock Gully on Mt. Willard. I had read some stuff on this climb and it sounded amazing. What it failed to mention was the slogging up a rock and ice filled gully when there is not much snow. Other than that, the climb is amazing. The pitches are great WI2/3 climbing with a bit of rock mixed in there for some spice. That evening, the Ice 101 course wrapped up. The 201 would start the next day and Karsten asked if I would help. I quickly jumped on the chance to help.

 

Cristin on the second pitch of Hitchcock Gully

The first day of the 201 course, we headed to Trollville. There we worked on doing harder climbs and a bit of drytooling. Karsten had me lead three of the main ice routes there with each one coming in around WI4. The first was a thin route in a corner. The next was a corner that had thicker ice with sections that involved a lot of hooking. The last one goes up to a roof, pulls the roof with some amazing hooks then climbs near vertical ice to the top. Later in the day, we worked on some advanced movement on ice and did a little bit of drytooling on an M7. I also joined the 201 course the next day. We headed to Champney Falls. It is a bit of hike back to this little slot canyon but was worth it. On the right side of the canyon, there are many ice climbs from WI3 to WI5/M4. I led a route on the right side while Karsten set up a route on the left called Champin' at the Bit. It is a WI5/M8+ according to the guidebook. It follows thin ice up a steep section on the wall and has some sections of rock that you much navigate.  We had a great day despite it being quite cold there. The next day, I took a rest day.

 

Stuart climbing some thin ice at Trollville

 

The 201 crew at Trollville

Garrett practicing his dry tooling

At this point, I have been in New Hampshire a week and have gotten a ton of climbing in and I am super psyched to get at least one more good day in before the AIARE level 1 course starts. Cristin and I head to Frankenstein again to climb Chia, Pegasus, and Dracula if we have time. We arrive to great conditions in the amphitheater. We are out of the wind, the air temps are cold but we are in the sun for the first route, Chia. Chia is a  1 or 2 pitch WI3 that has a ton of fun climbing on it. On the upper section you traverse right following a ramp that take you over this exposed section which is a ton of fun. After that, we headed over to Pegasus which was in the shade. I had figured I would do it in two pitches so that I could bring Cristin up while I eye that last bit which is a bit harder. Well I did it all in one pitch. The funnest part was topping out the pillar at the top. I start to surmount the bulge at the top and find myself staring into a huge hole in the back of the pillar formed from the water running behind it. I managed to step around the hole and finish the route. When Cristin got to the hole she was more surprised than I was and found it very interesting. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to head over to Dracula so we headed out.

The next couple of days involved Ron, Cristin and I taking an AIARE Level 1 course. It was recommend that I take this course so I signed up. It was a great course. In it we spent time in the classroom discussing terrain that is prone to avalanches and how the weather effects the snow pack in a way to make avalanches more or less likely. On the second day, we spent some time doing companion rescues with beacons, probes and shovels. It was a lot of fun but very cold that day. A snow storm had just finished and the winds were howling at the top of Crawford Notch were we were. The next day, we met in Pinkham Notch discussed the avalanche forecast for Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines on Mt. Washington. We then hiked the 2.4 miles up to Hermit Lake.  There we met with the avalanche forecasters and watched a demonstration they did with their avalanche dogs. We then hiked up into the Ravine and did some snow work. After all of this we did another companion rescue scenario where after finding the "victim" I got to play the victim and get strapped to a ski sled. This reminded me of my WFR course where I had the same injury, tib/fib fracture, and I got to lay in the snow for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, I didn't ski up the mountain so I also didn't get to ski down. Three of us walked back down the mountain while the rest skied down. We then had a bit more classroom time. It was a great course.

 

Ron staying warm during companion rescues

Heading up to Tuckerman Ravine

Panoramic view of Tuckerman Ravine

The final day, I didn't ice climb. Ron, wanted to go skiing and since I had never skiied before decided I would join him on the slopes that day. I had never skied before. Back in college, I spent a few days in Whistle snowboarding but I was not prepared for this. I buy my lift ticket and get fitted with gear and head out to the lifts. I had gotten a case of tunnel vision and failed to see the lift for the beginners section. Instead I hopped on the lift to the top and figured that I could do this. Well, after many falls within the first few minutes I had quite a scare. Only 20 minutes into the run, I took a fall that torqued my right knee enough to cause some pain. I got out of my bindings and limped towards the edge to get out of the way of other skiers. After assessing it for a few minutes and realizing it was nothing major, I started to get back into the bindings when Ron showed up. He gave me a few pointers for the rest of the run after stating his surprise to see me at the top of the hill. Eventually, I made it back to the base. There I went inside to chill a bit before hitting the beginners slope to figure things out. I then did multiple laps down the beginners run. Feeling more confident, I headed back to the top. I did two more laps on an easy run all the way down the mountain before retiring for the day.

Once Ron was done, we headed to the cabin to get clean and pack the van, we were staring our 18 hour drive home at 5pm.  After many hours and a bivy in a shopping center parking lot, we made it to back to North Carolina. I was surprised to find that I was excited to be back in my humble apartment. Honestly, I think I was ready for a few days of relaxing and not having to do anything. As I write this, I am preparing to leave after being home for only a few days. I am heading to Utah to visit my fiance, Jill. While I am there, I will hopefully be able to get a few pitches in on some of the frozen stuff. If not that is ok. I will be in a beautiful place with a beautiful woman that I love.

North Conway Ice

This year has been a less than desired winter for those people who enjoy outdoor winter activities.  Snowfall has been very minimal and average temperatures have been above average.  For some people, this is the best thing that can happen in winter.  For those of us who enjoy skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or ice climbing it leaves us reminiscing of great winters past. Here in North Carolina, the winter has been rather disappointing.  With the number of days with climbable ice able to be counted without taking off your shoes and socks many of us were craving colder weather in which we could climb those ever evasive icicles.  Luckily, I would not be denied my chance to scratch my way up some vertical, frozen water.

In past February's, Fox Mountain Guides hosts a trip to North Conway, New Hampshire to instruct ice climbing and basic mountaineering.  This year was no different and I was given the chance to go and take care of our guests.  We rent a chalet and house the guides and the guests.  I was supposed to make sure that everyone is well fed and is comfortable while there.  That task proved to be a challenge to me since I am not the more organized person.  The upside was that I got to climb ice.  I managed to do my fair share of that.

The first couple of days, I was privileged to shadow the Ice 101 course taught by Karsten and Lindsay.  I helped out a bit and was able to pick up some tips that would later improve my ice climbing ability.  We spend a day at Cathedral Ledge, Frankenstein, and Trollville.  With three days under my belt and Lindsay having a few days off, we decided to go have our own fun on the ice.  The first day of the 201 course, Lindsay and I headed to Frankenstein to get a few laps in and to shoot some photos and video of the 201 course.  While we were there we ran a few laps on different sections of Dracula.  From there we hiked along the top and came in above the 201 crew on the Standard Route.  I belayed Lindsay as she went up and down capturing footage of the guys.

The next day, Lindsay and I headed back to Frankenstein.  There we went up Chia which is this two pitch WI3.  Very fun route.  The only problem was that it was a little warm so by the time we got to the top, the ice began to soften a bit.  From there we went over and top-roped Pegasus.  It was even better than Chia but we had to be careful with the top out since the ice had started to delaminate from the rock. We climbed quite a bit of moderate ice that day.  After this day, I was feeling more confident on the ice.

The day after climbing at Frankenstein, Lindsay had a client so I was on my own.  I managed to get some work done at the chalet before heading out and joining the 201 course.  I arrived just in time to go up a two pitch line called Thresher Slabs with Karsten and two of the guys in the course.  It was fun but didn't feel like it was enough for the day.  After walking back to the base, I decided to solo up a WI2 slab.  It was easy but I was able to find a few short vertical sections on it to up the difficulty.  Though I didn't get much in this day, Ron would be free to climb for the next few days.  Then we would be getting on some of the classic, hard routes in the area.

The first day that Ron and I climbed, we headed to Cathedral Ledge to climb a route called Remission.  It is a WI5+ with a M5 first pitch.  On this wall, there is also another classic line called Repentance.  Ron said that he had never done Remission so I willingly agreed to follow him up this classic line.  The first pitch is a corner system that you either dry-tool or climb like you would any other rock climb.  This leads to a thin section of ice before reaching the belay ledge.  When following this pitch, I attempted to dry-tool part of it and fell off when my tool slipped off the edge it was on.  After this I managed to make my way up to the belay without any problems.  The second pitch goes left off the belay.  There you clip a pin and pull your way up on to a hanging curtain.  This is the best part of the climb.  It is exposed but super solid.  After a few minutes Ron was at the belay and it was my turn to play on the ice.  After unclipping from the piton, I looked at the curtain.  It was going to be tricky for me to reach it due to my lack of height.  After some awkward moves I was established on the curtain and making my way up the ice to Ron. The third pitch, which is said to be the crux, goes up this steep column into a chimney with ice in the back.  Ron quickly dispatched the column but while climbing the chimney, I would occasionally hear grunting.  This worried me just a bit.  Once Ron made it to the belay I began my journey up.  The column was fun and exposed.  Once in the chimney I was able to see why Ron was grunting.  With many awkward moves to good stances, the chimney takes quite a while to climb.  At the top you have to come out and around a chockstone which creates a few more tricky moves.  At the top of the third pitch you can either rappel or continue up and walk off.  We were going to walk off so we continued up one more pitch.  It goes deeper into the chimney then has some crazy moves that put you on a snow/ice covered low angled terrain.  Getting out of the chimney proved to provide a few more hard moves for the route.  After making it to the top, we followed the cliff line to the north towards the walk down.  Once back at the base of the cliff, I led a WI3 which is one of the North End Pillars.  It was fun.


The next day, Ron had a route in mind that he had tried to find the year before called Drool of the Beast.  It is a WI5 located near Greeley Lake.  After a mile and a half hike in, we were finally able to see it.  Now we just had to figure out how to get there.  We continued hiking up the main trail until we spotted a slightly used path of potholes in the snow.  I figured this was the trail.  It did include a bit of a bushwack though.  Once we arrived at the base, we noticed one thing;  this climb was in the sun and it was not that cold.  The first section of the climb looked rather thin but once you were up about 25 feet, the ice was thicker.  Ron started up.  Luckily, he found good rock gear since the ice at the beginning was not taking any screws.  The only issue was that the ice was falling apart.  After doing an amazing job with leading this challenging pitch, Ron put me on belay.  I got to the thin ice in a wide chimney.  The ice was no longer solid.  It had turned to slush.  I was moving from rock to slush and back to rock to get to the good ice.  Once at the good ice, I took out one of the few good screw placements on the route trying to not get soaked by the melting of the route above.  I continued to climb up the less than idea ice.  The last 30 feet of the route is a steep section that is about 3-4 feet wide.  It was also a bit slushy but was deep enough that I was able to bury the ice tool in it so that it would be solid.  Finally, after a daunting sprint up the final bit I made it up to the top.  After this, we got out of there knowing that it would not be safe to climb anything else that day due to the warm conditions.

The final day that I would climb one of the classic lines, Ron and I did Repentance.  It is a WI5 to the left of Remission.  It is mostly ice climbing with a finish that will challenge you.  Ron offered to let me lead the first pitch which goes at WI4.  Since I felt this was still a bit above my head for leading, I declined and allowed Ron to lead it.  Ron also led the second pitch which had this hanging curtain which we had to figure out how to get our feet onto it since there was a 3.5 foot gap between the curtain and where the stance was below it.  When I arrived at the top of the second pitch, Ron asked if I would lead up to a ledge about 20 feet higher.  He said that his belay was uncomfortable and with the crux pitch looming above us I would be better off at the nicer ledge.  After thinking about it for a minute I grabbed some gear from Ron and headed up.  The ice was interesting.  I managed to stem between it and the rock on the left.  Finally, after a little bit I traversed left towards the ledge.  The only odd part was that there was no ice to swing at.  I eventually stuck my axes in the ice on the belay ledge, then rock climbed the rest of it.  Ron then led the last pitch.  It went smoothly.  It was my turn.  I had seen this pitch before on a few videos.  I knew what the top of this pitch held for me.  Yet, when I arrived at the rock roof I was unsure how to get into it.  Eventually I fell off.  After some scraping with the tools, I was able to struggle my way to the top.

After spending a few days with Ron climbing these classic, hard lines; we were joined by another friend.  We got two more days in together.  I ended up leading another WI3.  In my 13 days up in New Hampshire, I was able to get out and climb 11 of them.  This trip was a great chance for me to improve on my technique on ice.  I was able to learn a lot from people like Ron, Karsten and Lindsay.  Being back here in North Carolina with the weather looking as if it will not bring us any more ice, we have been getting back into rock mode.  Since I have been back, I have abused my body on the rock getting back in shape.  Hopefully soon, you will read of some great days on the rock.

Ice Climbing

The year was 2007.  I was less than a year out of college and I still had no idea what direction my life was taking.  At the end of the year, I took a trip out to Colorado with two climbing partners, David and Scott.  Our goal was to climb some ice.  This trip was slightly intimidating to me.  I had never climbed ice before.  Also, I had never been to Colorado before this trip.  Little did I know that it would be the first of many trips to this great state.  On the drive out I soaked in as much information on how to ice climb.  I knew that you would swing these weapon like tools into the ice, then kick your crampons into the ice and move up that way.  Basically, that is what you do but there are other more finite nuances that can help improve your skills on this frozen medium.

After a few days of seeing ice and not climbing it due to either snow or weather conditions we continued on to Ouray, CO.  There in this small mountain town in southwestern Colorado, there is a premier ice park.  Basically, they take this box canyon on the edge of town and make ice flows every 15-20 feet along an entire side of the canyon.  There is so much ice and it tends to get fat quick.  This would be my chance to learn in a convenient location.  It isn't often that you can walk 5 minutes from your hotel and be gearing up at the top of your climb.  During this trip, I top-roped many pitches of ice up to WI5*.  Buy the end of the trip I was hooked and couldn't wait until the next chance I would have to get back on ice.

Though ice forms in certain places in the midwest, I had one thing keeping me from seeking it out.  I had no ice climbing gear except the used mountaineering boots that I purchased while in Colorado.  Finally, in the winter of 2010/2011 I had the necessary gear to go out and top-rope ice.  I had boots, crampons, and axes.  I was set.  Luckily, some ice formed up in southern Illinois.  I spent one day playing on the frozen waterfalls.  Soon after that, the temperatures began to rise which quickly melted the waterfalls we had climbed.  This led us back to climbing on rock.  This one day of climbing did rekindle my desire to get on ice.

A few months after that day of climbing ice I moved to North Carolina.  It was then that I heard about the ice climbing opportunities here in the south.  Already in April I was wanting winter to arrive and the ice to form up.  Back in November was the first time I saw any ice here.  One morning Karsten asked me if i wanted to go check on the conditions of the ice on Highway 215 near the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I readily hopped in the car and we took off.  It was thin and barely there but just the sight of ice got me psyched.

This was going to be the year that I progress in my ice climbing.  Since ice climbing can be a much more dangerous activity than rock climbing, more care is taken to avoid injuries.  In ice climbing you are told that when leading you do not fall.  This is mostly because while climbing ice you have around two dozen spikes attached to you.  In a leader fall those spikes could catch on the ice, resulting in a sprained or broken leg or one of those spikes could find itself piercing through a piece of your clothing and into your skin.  Neither of these options sound like something I desire to do.  Because of this, I had never led any ice.  Also, I do not own the proper equipment to lead ice.  In ice climbing you place ice screws into the good parts of the ice.  As long as the ice is of decent quality, those screws will hold a fall if you happen to slip, which you should try to avoid.  Little did I know that this would all change shortly.

Finally, the ice formed up enough to climb it.  At that same time, my friend Caroliegh came up from Georgia to climb.  I asked her if she wanted to go ice climbing.  A little reluctant at first since she doesn't enjoy the cold, she soon agreed.  The morning we were going to go ice climbing, Ron, one of the other guides here at Fox, texted me and asked if we were still going climbing and wanted to join.  This was nice since Ron has more experience on ice than I do.  We met up with Ron and started the drive up 215.  Little did I know that we were not going to climb at the main walls on 215.  When Ron instructed me to continue past them while driving I knew he had something better planned.  This sometimes scares me.  Ron has been on of those guys who is always up for an adventure and also pushes me more than most people.  He then told us that we were going to do a climb called Creek Stomp.

We continue driving north on 215 past the parkway and back down hill in Haywood county.  After a few miles, Ron tells me to pull off along side the road.  We gear up then begin a hike into the woods.  Ron had told me about a previous trip here he took with Lindsay, another guides, where they went up the wrong gully and were forced to do some nasty bushwacking to crest a ridge to the proper gully.  After hiking for about ten minutes up the gully Ron voiced concern that he may have led us into the wrong gully.  He then scouted ahead while Caroliegh and I waiting.  Luckily, he soon found the beginning of the ice and we headed up to meet him.  Once we caught up, we started to put our harnesses and crampons on.  I was then informed that I would have the chance to practice my short-roping skills on ice.  I was not expecting this but hey, I could use the practice.  While I prepared my coils for short-roping, Ron began instructing Caroliegh on how to use the crampons.  We made our way up the low angled frozen creek until we caught up with Ron at a sheet of vertical ice.  I was stoked.  Finally, we would get to swing our tools.  When I arrived, Ron pointed out that there were already ice screws with quickdraws in the ice.  He had soloed up and placed the screws on this pitch for me to lead up.  Time to pinkpoint this pitch

I headed up.  It was a very chill pitch.  I would guess it goes at WI2.  After a few screws, the angle lessens.  I continued up with no protection, I didn't get any more screws from Ron, to a tree that is used as a rappel station.  There I belayed Caroliegh up while Ron climbed along side her to help her out.  While we were at the rappel station, you could hear Bella below whining.  Bella had ascended the slope next to the creek which was just a snow covered hill.  Now with a wall of ice impeding her ascent she became unhappy.  Until suddenly, a very happy looking dog appeared in the brush next to us.  It was Bella.  She found an alternate route to the side of the vertical ice.  We continued up the creek from there to another wall of ice.  This one was taller and steeper than the first.  When I arrive Ron has this goofy looking grin on his face which means that I get to lead this one as well.

This pitch, according to Ron, is a WI3.  It has four vertical sections broken up by good stances.  I started climbing.  At the first stance, I placed my first screw.  Then I continued up the next vertical section.  During this part I began to get wet from the climb dripping on me.  I reach the second stance and place another screw.  Things are looking good.  From here I head up to the third stance and place my third screw.  Here I chill out for a little bit and scope out the best way to the top of the climb.  The next section, I traverse to the left to surmount the next vertical section to the last stance.  At the last stance, I am only a few moves from the top of the pitch. I considered placing a screw here but chose not to mostly because I just wanted to get to the top quickly.  I start up the last section.  I am able to reach past some ice that isn't that great but I must use it for my feet.  Right before pulling the lip to the top, My left foot comes off the ice.  Luckily, my axes are in good so I grip down and pull myself up just a bit to get my feet back on good ice.  One or two moves later and I am standing up top of my first true ice lead.  From there I brought Caroliegh up.  Ron made his way up by some other means.  At the top of this pitch we decided to head back to the car then get a lap or two in at 215.  We rappelled down and made our way back to the car.

This day got me very excited for the trip that Fox Mountain Guides is taking to New Hampshire in February. I just hope I will have time to get out and climb a lot. It is going to be a great trip.  If you would like to learn about how you can join us feel free to contact me.


*WI is the prefix for a Water Ice rating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_climbing  this link will give you a good description of ratings.