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yannbuse
Mar 16, 2005, 5:52 PM
Post #1 of 2
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Registered: Sep 15, 2003
Posts: 112
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After a week of hectic mid terms as seniors, we concluded our academia requirements on Friday with one plan in mind, to get to the Adirondacks. Our motivation was unstoppable as we have never explored the Adirondacks due to our efforts being focused in the NH/VT area.
Our plan was just to show up in Keene Valley with our tent and the guide book. Either way we figured that the five and a half hour drive from Boston would give us enough time to come up with something a little more concrete. Sure enough my climbing partner Jeff had a family connection with a ski bum called George, better known as ‘Mr. Lake Placid’.
The road to Lake Placid was hell, with a snowstorm coming through and 5 over –turned 18 wheelers. Upon arrival however, George meets us with a big grin and decides to show us his town. George carries a certain reputation…. He skis on 220cm skis, refuses to turn (or as he puts it… turning is for learning how to ski) making him the fastest man at Whiteface and puts in a minimum of 100 days of skiing whilst supporting a family and teaching at a prison. The new snow however pissed him off – he hates powder – all he wants is ice or corduroy – “it’s the only way you can go really fast”. His tour brought us to the bar with some old local who were pioneers in their day. The night was spent drinking this infamous UBU, a local beer with a kick, and listening to old timers with their stories of having to climb up Whiteface or Waterville Valley to ski in the competition, and other endeavors they had to endure.
Jeff and I had read about the world class ice in the Adirondacks and so expected ice climbers to start and the wee hours of the morning. Thanking the locals for a great time, we headed to bed back at George’s at 2am, planning to wake up at 5am.
Thanks to Mr. UBU and his sneaky 7.6% we woke up at 6am. A cup of coffee and cigarette later we were at Chapel Pond at 6:30 and were shocked to see we were the first ones! We geared up and headed towards Chouniard’s Gully. The beginning of the climb was hard to find as 8 inches of snow fell over night covering up all the ice.
By 7 am we had crossed the frozen pond and had flaked the ropes. Tools in hand, I looked back at Jeff, who was holding his head in pain and announced…. ‘climbing’. Although the night before was still affecting me, I felt good and comfortable and began brushing the snow off the face trying to actually see where my axe were going. The first 100-140ft were splendid with a good 5 screws, and solid ice. The only problem was the amount of snow on the route, it did not allow us to see our feet placements nor half our tool placements. Not to say that we found the route an absolute pleasure with smooth ice curving up the gully.
However once on top of the first section I started climbing up a steep snowy gully when I hear Jeff… ‘you’re out of rope’, when I was just 5-7 ft from the belay station. How frustrating, especially when we were careful to use double 60 m ropes. Anyhoo, I told Jeff that we will simul-climb to the anchor at which point I will put him on belay. The process was smooth and Jeff was on belay in a matter of seconds with no more than a couple feet of slack in the system As Jeff joins me by the tree on top of the first pitch we noticed people are starting to arrive, with a couple spectators at the bottom.
Jeff hands me back the pro he just cleaned and I begin the second pitch. I notice that the second pitch has the option of going up a vertical ice section for no more than 15-20ft, so I head directly for it in great anticipation. Sure enough it was the sweetest part of the route. A couple dozen feet later I topped out the route. Once Jeff joined me at the top we enjoyed the view of snow falling in the valley. We rapped-off the second pitch, set up to rap the first pitch, but knowing people were showing up, I screamed ‘rope’ at least 4 times in hope that I would get a ‘clear’. Nothing. So I throw the ropes and have Jeff go down. Jeff maybe gets 20 – 30ft from the rap station before he sees another climber on route. She took us by surprise because she was not that far away and did not communicate anything back to us. So I told Jeff to let her get in a good spot near her anchor before continuing the rappel. Then I got on rappel and made my way down. On my way down I screamed at Jeff “What the hell? Where did this route come from? Listen, this is what we have to climb next, so sweeeet”, he yells back, “You just climbed it you idiot”. In my hung over state I simply did not realize how different the ice looked once we had knocked off all the snow!
We retired at the Cliffhanger Café for some well deserved sandwiches and coffee.
Our next step was to find AT skis as we were planning to head into the High Peaks and finding a climb out there. Thanks to The Mountaineer, for their service and knowledge of the area, we had our supplies and our direction. We were to set up camp near the Avalanche lean-toes and find a climb around Avalanche Pass.
Returning back to George in Lake Placid, we find out that he has to return to New Jersey to teach some inmates. He was a little disappointed that we did not ski his mountain, but we assured him we would be back. He allowed us to use his pad while we geared up and for when we got back in. To thank him we took him to dinner before Jeff and I passed out by 9pm to get up at 4am.
This time we woke up at 4am, and were at the South Meadows Parking Lot by 4:30am, however I was pissed that we couldn’t find a cup of coffee or breakfast. In the blistering cold we put on our 70 pound packs buckled into our skis and started our 3.5 mile hike to our camp.
Our hike was absolutely beautiful with the sun just hitting the High Peaks and a fresh foot of snow everywhere. We were even more pleased to find a beautiful campsite nestled in the woods with streaks of sun surrounding our presence. In a couple minutes we had the tent up and started to make our special drink… The Coskey. A careful blend of hot chocolate and whiskey, a perfect combo to get warmed up and moving again. So after having our breakfast and beverage we repacked our bags and headed towards Avalanche Pass when it began to snow again.
I think the most memorable moments is when I turned around the last bend of the trail and arrived at Avalanched Lake with snow falling in between its two massive cliffs. I felt like a kid in a candy store, feeling utterly euphoric. We did not bring the guide book (too heavy) and figured we would point at ice and climb it.
And there it was… This dike of yellow ice overshadowed by parallel overhanging rock. We dropped the skis and made our way up a steep snow cone to a tiny shoveled out belay spot. The constricted spot gave us a hard time gearing up, but eventually I was on lead and we were ready to go.
The 1st pitch ran at 3+ for about 50 meters with a couple vertical bulges at the top and some thinner ice in between. As I worked my feet up the ice, I began to notice that my tools were hitting hollow spots in the ice and occasionally hitting rock, again, it was hard to tell due to the snow. At times I was cursing loudly due to the continuous hollow and brittle ice, in which most of my screws gave me trouble with. However I found that stemming back to this parallel overhanging rock face gave me leverage in creating good placements. At the top of the last vertical bulge, I saw the beginning of the next pitch with a steep snow ramp in between.
As I was looking to build an anchor I found an ice screw and a biner! So I built an ablakov and backed it with the screw. By this time the wind had picked up and it was really snowing heavily creating falling slouths and spindrifts. My hands were absolutely freezing due to how wet they got from pushing the snow off the ice. We turned to our radios and I told Jeff that he should come on up. Jeff – climbing in his father’s 1965 boots, was getting cold and was eager to start climbing. He climbed quickly and with screams of enjoyment. His head popped over the bulge with a huge smile, where he continued to climb until he anchored himself off. I guess he knew immediately about my hands as they were shivering harshly. So he offered his gloves that he kept warm and dry in his down jacket whilst belaying me. I was so happy and I thanked him as the next pitch seemed to be covered in snow.
He then handed me all the pro and I began the last pitch. It started off with a chimney looking piece of vertical ice then followed a 35-45 ft steep snow/crust/ice contraption that felt very unsteady. Every time I kicked my crampons in, big fractures of frozen snow, the size of a briefcase would launch down the gulley, targeting Jeff’s belay station. He was cursing loudly and was really pissed. I moved quickly over the unsteady surface and found a couple meter cubed piece of ice half way up the 110ft. pitch where I placed my second and last screw, my first being at the top of the first piece of ice. Being run out, I decide to hurry my ass up to a tree 30ft above me that was the belay station. The weather was getting colder, the snow was dumping, I quickly put Jeff on belay and took in the winter wonderland scenery. Jeff worked his way up quickly, and agreed that we should hurry the hell up to get down! We rapped down back to the original ablakov I made on the 1st pitch and anchored off there. I then built another ablakov anchor to back it up and took my newly found screw. As we pulled the rope through, we were exhausted, yet content with our progress.
We hurried back down to the skis, repacked and began our hike back to the tent. Upon arrival, I was totally beat. I demanded the whiskey and a cliff bar. Jeff began cooking himself dinner and more Coskeys while I was content going to sleep.
The following morning we woke up to new snow and sunshine. Our bodies were aching in the worst way and we took our time getting up. We had planned on skiing Mt Colden, but the legs were exhausted, and the amount of snow that fell over the last week spelled avalanche danger. A hot meal and a couple Coskeys later, we pack up our wet camp and hike back to the car.
With big smiles and feeling great about our little adventure, we return our AT skis and return to George’s pad. No time to lose, we head to the best steakhouse in town where they also happen to serve local beer. And so we begin another night with a different local brew, but this time knowingly its 7 or 8%. Our drunken escapade lost us $40 to high school kids, enjoy good company with the old timers and a midnight feast in place called Wise Guys.
The next morning we woke up drunk and really couldn’t leave the pad, not even to climb. However we were able to walk to McDonalds, across the road. I unpacked the gear, dried it off, repacked it and put it all in my car for the drive home. Jeff and I exchanged some times and places for our next episode the following weekend in NH. Driving through Lake Placid, past Keene Valley, I couldn’t help finding ways to make my five and a half hour shorter, because either way I had to come back.
Thank you George, The Mountaineer, Mike, the bars and Sunoco.
Yann
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yannbuse
Mar 16, 2005, 5:54 PM
Post #2 of 2
(1361 views)
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Registered: Sep 15, 2003
Posts: 112
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HaHa, forgot to mention, the route we did in Avalanche Pass is called the Adirondike.
my bad
yann
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