More pics from Huntington's Ravine

Here are a few more pictures of our trip up into Huntington Ravine. The plan was to tackle Pinnacle Gully, but after arriving at the ravine floor at 7:00AM and finding 5 people already working their way up the fan to the base of the climb (look carefully and you can count 10 people in the photo below!!!) , we fell back on Plan B..."North Gully". We had warm temps, 8 pitches of ice and snow, the entire rim of the Ravine to navigate after topping out, a storm on the way, and a couple of cold Moat Mountain Brewery's finest waiting for us.


We topped out at 10:30AM and thus began our long trek accross the garden to the escape hatch which we quickly glissaded in 15 minutes. Yah...we dropped over 1000 feet in 15 minutes which saw us to the car at 1:25 and at the Moat at 1:45!!! Again....does it get any better than this???

After the Glissade nearing the ravine floor!

North Gully is the steep line just to the right of the longest line you can see in the center of the photo. If you look real hard you can see the first pitch (crux) on the right. The route then shoots up and to the right.

Bob Ahearn grabbing a little nourishment after the final push to the summit ridge. Enjoying the morning sun and great views!

This is my new Cilogear 40B Worksack on its shakedown trip. Thus far, I couldn't be more pleased with how it has performed. Check back in a week or two to read my full review!

Bob styl'n the second pitch of North Gully.

If you look closely, you can count ten climbers on Pinnacle (route in the center of the photo). Don't forget to look right! Click on the image to enlarge.

Me at the pin anchors at the top of the first pitch of "North".

So close, yet so far away!!


The sun rises up to great us as the clouds slowy lift from the valley floor. It was as quiet and peaceful as it looks.

North Gully

Climbed North Gully today




The Author contemplating the next move up the Crux section of North Gully's first pitch.

Dalai Lama comes to New England

I just scored some tickets for the Dalai Lama's presentation at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro or Saturday, May 2nd. You can check it out at this link:

www.bostontibet.org.

Hope to see you all there. all procedes go toward supporting the Tibetan Heritage Center.

Winter is dying

Well the writing seems to be on the wall. Temperatures this morning were already in the mid-30's, it rained all last night, and I woke to fog and drizzle with an anticipated high of mid-low 50's as the fog gives way to sunshine. It is hard to deny that spring is on its way.

Spring is my favorite time of year. The earth smells fresh, the rivers begin to run and open up, the moose return to the roadsides, buds begin to bloom and green begins to replace the dreary winter pallette of greys and browns. But, despite the feeling of "re-birth" that the spring brings, comes a feeling of sadness that yet another season of ice and snow has passed. For those of us who climb ice, it truly is a mixed feeling of joy and loss.

So this weekend, I am left to choose either that last remaining ice in some of the most hidden out of the way gullies or ravines, or hang the tools up and lace up the sticky rubber shoes and climb one of the many south facing crags to begin, what I hope, will be an exciting and fun rock season.

Come to think of it....I choose "both"!!!

O'Dell's Trip Report (3/21/09)

That's us in the lower right hand corner of the photo, starting up the first pitch of ice on Odell's. Dan is just visible in the rocks about 45 degrees down from me on the right!



We couldn't have asked for a better day than the one that met us on Saturday morning at 5:00AM as I rolled over to turn the alarm off. The sun was not yet out, but the sky was clear and the stars were still out dotting the sky in crystaline white and blue flecks. The trees were still, and the tempurature was holding at 29 degrees. "This is going to be a good one" I said to myself as I poured hot water into my oatmeal and dropped a slice of bread into the toaster. The truth of the matter is that I had no idea just how perfect conditions were going to be for our attempt at Pinnacle Gully, one of Huntington Ravines prized jewels!

I met Dan at ten of six and he loaded his pack in my car and we were on the road on time and psyched for the climb that lay ahead. We arrived at the AMC Pinkham Notch Camp Visitors Center at 6:20AM. We filled water bottles, I bought a couple extra packets of GU, signed the register with our itinerary and we were on trail by 6:50AM.

The hike was quick and we saved some time by taking the huntington ravine trail cut-off. It can be a nightmare after fresh snow and can actually add time with all the post holing, etc...but we were on it early and tempertatures the night before were in the single digits, so the snow was hard packed and the going very enjoyable.

When we arrived at the base of the Ravine we noticed two figures working their way up to the top of the fan trending toward Pinnacle. Dan and I waited to see if they might break left for Odell's, or continue up and right toward Central Gully; but unfortunately, they did neither and headed straight for Pinnacle. Looked like Pinnacle was a "no go" this time!

The ice on Odell's was blue and fat and so Dan and I decided that "Plan B" was going to be just fine and so we dropped our packs, donned our helmets, harnesses and tools and headed up the fan. We found ourselves at the base of Odell's Gully about 20 minutes later looking up at the bluest ice I have ever seen.

The first pitch went well and I established a pretty bomber anchor with two 22cm screws. The ice was steep with little oportunity for a stance, and thus the anchor was a semi-hanging belay. The sun was beating down on us now and I had concerns about the screws melting out, but Dan's second was quick and he arrived at the anchor in good speed. We quickly re-geared and out I went up the steepest section of ice we would encounter all day.

After pulling the over the buldge, I discovered about 600-700 feet of steep snow climbing to the summit ridge with little to no protection to speak of. I worked my way right to the rock butress to hopefully find something to sling, but it was to no avail. I cleared as much snow away with my tools as I could, buried the picks in good ice, covered the tools with the wet sticky snow that was on top, clipped a couple biners through the handles of my tools and equalized them as best as I could with a cordalette. I kicked two deep platforms for my feet, leaned into the angle of the slope, belayed from my waist, and prayed for "no falls". Before long, Dan was clipping into the anchor and off we went simul-climbing some of the most tiring conditions I have experienced up there.

Two hours later we found ourselves on top of the sun drenched alpine garden, with just a wisp of a breeze, forty degrees and bluebird skies. It was one of the most incredible days I have experienced up there in my 20+ years of climbing.

After a quick lunch, we packed up and headed down a very busy Lion's Head trail. We found ourselves back at the PNC Lodge at 2:45 and signed out in the log book. Looking back over my shoulder I could do nothing but smile and rub my aching quads. Another great day on the "rockpile" with great ice, perfect weather conditions and another successful trip behind us. Does it get any better than that?

*This entry dedicated to the memory of Travis Matthew Lizotte of Aspen, Colorado, 25, who died Sunday while scaling 11,411-foot (3,480-meter) Mount Tronador in Argentina's Nahuel Huapi National Park.

A short one today. I am just thinking about our climb tomorrow (Pinnacle Gully, Huntington's Ravine WI3 III) and am going through that mental checklist of what I will have to bring to go both light and safe. The funny thing about Mount Washington, as the locals know, she is a mountain never to be underestimated...and for those that do underestimate the seriousness of this mountain, there is a list of names at the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center to view and learn from.

Despite the weather forcast for tomorrow (40 degrees and sunny), I still need to think worst case scenario so that should something go wrong, both my partner Dan and I are protected. We plan on doing either Pinnacle or O'dell's Gully respectively and hope to do the round trip in 5-6 hours...it will be a push, but I am sure that we can do it with an Alpine start.

This is the time of year that my mind starts to think about the rock season and so the gullies on Mount Washington mark the end of ice for me as they are typically my last climbs before I hang the tools up and pull out the sticky rubber and trad gear.

I always have mixed feelings about this time of year as it represents another season gone by, another year older and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up; but I still look to these mountains with the same amount of awe and inspiration that I did when I hadn't taken so many trips around the sun!!

Old Friends

I had the pleasure of spending the day yesterday with an old friend Adam and his wife Andrea. Adam was a fellow teacher at the Brusnwick School in Greenwich, Connecticut and solid climbing partner as well.

We talked about his new life as a University Professor at Indiana in their Geology and Education Department, but we also had some time to reflect and talk about the old days when things were a bit simpler, life seemed less stressful, and when the "Big Picture" included some kind of road trip to the Gunks, Red Rocks or Yosemite!!

Somehow life got a hold of us, we moved on to institutions of higher learning, and rock shoes were traded in for all those responsibilities that seem to come with new houses, new careers, marriage and children.

I have to admit, I am a bit of a sentimental person, and I often look back on my youth with a bit of nostalgia and melancholy. Despite the fact that I too have a mortgage, full time job, wife and three children, I have manged to acheive a level of balance in my life that was seemingly absent in my earlier years of Van living! It seems as the years pass, the reality of waking up in a van cramped with gear with three other smelly climbers fades and is replaced with a somewhat romantic notion of halcyon days when not a care entered our minds and all was good in the world. The reality was that we were simply dirtbag climbers, working odd jobs to pay for gas and coffee and nothing else mattered. I still have fond memories of those years, but would not want to go back. My outlook on life and climbing has come full circle and I anxously await the next stage that I am about to embark on....this whole middle aged thing!!!

When all is said and done, I will look back on my life and know that I pushed it when I was healthy, young and able...and for that...I will have no regrets.

"It's better to burn out than fade away" Neil Young

Freedom

Ask a climber why they climb, and one will most likely get many different answers, but one common thread that would be found in the words that climbers use to explain their risky endeavours would be "freedom".

True, there is satisfaction in doing one's job well, spending quality time with friends and family, reading a good book by a fire when the snow is drifting outside, but there are seemingly few points in one's life when one truly experiences a "letting go" or state of "presence" as experienced on the sharp end of a rope.

My perspective: I live for that nervous moment of doubling back my belt, checking my knots and gear, taking that deep breath, exhaling and taking that first step up. It seems once my feet leave the ground, I leave behind the worries and stresses of the world; everything melts and blends into a focused and colorful moment in time that seems an eternity until I reach the anchor, tie myself off and shout "off belay". There is just such satisfaction in completing a route safely and in good style, but more importantly is the feeling of being totally focused and lost in the moment and in the process of climbing. In my opinion, the freedom of movement and high of being totally focused and in the moment is the greatest rush that I feel...the risk never enters my mind.

The freedom these hills provide are endless and varying,and not a day goes by that I don't consider how fortunate and truly blessed I am to live in such a beautiful part of the world; and that I am physically able to take advantage of all the challenges that these mountains provide.

The end of the season

This is the time of year that always seems to get me down a bit, especially living here in New England. The days are getting longer, warmer and yet winter still has a strong hold on the North East and is unwilling to bend to the gradual yet inevitable changes of the incoming spring. Consequently, it is neither winter...nor spring and the landscape is painted with dreary grey and black hues.

For us climbers, the March thaw is a harbinger of things to come as we watch and wait to see the ice begin to bake and witness the challenges of yesterday crumble to the earth, only to become a memory or perhaps next season's goal.

The early spring, or "mud-season" as it is so affectionately known to those of us living in the North East is neither good for ice climbing nor skiing and is too wet and muddy to rock climb, hike or camp. The weather can be unpredictable and can change at a moment's notice as best exemplified by the out of state hiker (who we have all passed on trail) in shorts and a tee shirt, shivering and distraught after being caught unexpectedly in an early April snow squall!

So now I find myself caught in the space between wishing that spring would come, and not wanting to hang my ice tools up for the season quite yet. It is the same dilemma we face as climbers every year...the "in-between season" blues.