Month: September 2012

Cormier-Magness Route, Private Rock Climbing 9-21-2012

David Lottmann Rock Climbing ,

An avid back-country skier and aspiring mountaineer, David’s gone on some pretty inspiring adventures through-out the Cascades and up in Alaska. With strong ties back East he took the opportunity to get out for some multi-pitch climbing with us this past Friday. After chatting about his experience and desires for the day I mentioned a new route that had recently been put up on nearby Whitehorse Ledge, The Cormier-Magness Route.

This route was established on 8/31/2012 by locals Paul Cormier and Chris Magness, and is an excellent moderate line up a section of the Whitehorse slabs that most would have considered picked plenty clean of new route potential. A bit of “hidden in plain sight” if you will.

You can find a detailed route description in this forum: http://www.neclimbs.com/SMF_2/index.php?topic=7190.0

We started at about 9am and quickly scrambled up the easy first pitch.

Scrambling up the easy 1st pitch
Looking down the classic 2nd pitch arete
Climbing through the summit slabs
Great view of Guides Wall, Cathedral, Humphrey’s Ledge, and Carter Notch in the distance
Near the top
Topped out with Echo Lake and Cranmore in the background

I had climbed the first 4 pitches with a client a week or so ago, and it was great to finish the whole route this time. If you are solid on 5.6 slab then this is a great route for a new leader, despite some run-out bits it protect’s pretty well. Both the 2nd and 3rd pitches have 5.6 cruxes on them. The 2nd pitch is a bit more of a mental crux with some well spaced protection, and the 3rd pitch is a well protected 5.6 slightly awkward step. The upper pitches can be a bit hard to follow, though I admittedly got off route on the 5th pitch by climbing the flake to the right, not the flake directly off the anchor as I should have. It was an easy fix, but it pays to read descriptions carefully!

David was a pleasure to climb with and given his interest in learning to ice climb and in taking a formal avalanche course this winter I have a feeling I’ll be seeing him again!

Self Rescue Course

David Lottmann Rock Climbing, Self-Rescue ,

Yesterday I spent the day with Christopher and Laura at Cathedral Ledge covering the topic of self-rescue. By taking this course they’ve started a process of becoming self-sufficient and self-reliant climbers. Access to climbing gyms and to climbing clubs in almost every state has allowed people to learn the basis of rock climbing quite quickly, but often new (and old) climbers don’t take the time to master a few basic skills that could get them out of jam much faster than waiting for a professional rescue to take place. The actual skills one should be fluent with if they aspire to be self-sufficient are;

Belay Escapes – Hauling Systems – Rope Ascension – Counter-balance Rappels – Belayed Lowering

Laura utilizing a 3:1 improvised haul to help Chris through a crux move
Ready to haul
We also covered some belay station management issues during the day
Learning a counter-balance rappel after ascending the rope to get the mock-injured leader after an accident

Knowing these skills can prevent chilly nights on ledges while waiting for help, and increase your climbing proficiency as you add some tricks to your bag.

The methods I use to teach these skills are practical, hands-on, comprehensive, and adapted to your own pace. If you have any questions about the real-life applications of these skills or the course in general, please let me know.

2 Day Private Rock Climbing

David Lottmann Rock Climbing ,

I met Jon 2 years ago when he took a Level 1 Avalanche Course with me. Last winter he took the Level 2 course with me, and has become quite active with his local AMC Rock Climbing chapter in MA. He joined me for two days of climbing on Cathedral and Whitehorse with a focus on self-rescue, and multi-pitch efficiency.

Yesterday we started at “the classroom” on the top of Cathedral Ledge. There we reviewed building gear anchors and extending anchors out over an edge. We set-up a mock-rope rope system and covered belay escapes and leader rescue topics. After lunch we headed down and climbed Upper Refuse, Jon’s first Cathedral Ledge climb.

Jon on the first pitch
Jon on the 3rd pitch

We only took a little over an hour to climb Upper Refuse so with some time left we made our way down to the North End and climbed Child’s Play and Kiddy Crack to work on our crack technique a bit. Jon took an extra lap on Kiddy Crack and we wrapped up around 4pm.

The following day we met at Whitehorse Ledge. A new route had been established just 10 day earlier and Jon was happy to check it out. We climbed the The Cormier-Magness Route’s first 4 pitches (660 feet), then rapped back to the ground for a quick lunch break.

Jon on a really nice “Wheat Thin Arete” pitch, 190 feet 5.6
Jon at the steeper bulge at the end of pitch 3

The first three pitches of this route were highly enjoyable. While there are more pitches above the 4th pitch we did we wanted to get in another classic full length route so we wrapped from the top of pitch 4 and made our way over to Standard Route. We raced up that, and despite a small surprise on the 5.7 direct finish pitch, topped out in about 2 hours total.

Topped out, 1,600 feet of slab climbing in the bag

An excellent 2 days of climbing and instruction, with a highly motivated partner… I’m definitely looking forward to our next adventure together Jon!

Land Navigation Course for the AMC

David Lottmann Land Navigation ,

I’ve partnered with the AMC this summer to offer my 8-hour Land Navigation Workshop through their Highland Center and Pinkham Notch locations. The Appalachian Mountain Club is such a historically rich and diverse organization with such a wide range of outdoor educational programs it really is an honor to get to work with them. I conducted a staff training event for some of their naturalists earlier in the season, and instructed a day at each location as part of a weekend workshop at both venues, the 2nd was this past weekend.

Class started at 9am and we covered improvised “survival” navigation, interpreting topographic maps, and proper use of a magnetic compass including triangulation, single point re-section, and creating white-out navigation plans. After lunch we headed out for a short hike up to Square Ledge for some practical app. I’m grateful to the AMC for helping get these important skills to more people who would like them, and look forward to the next opportunity to partner up again!