Ice Climbing Willey’s Slide and Frankenstein

Yesterday Charlene, David, and Sam returned for an Ice Climbing 201 Course. A few weeks ago they went through our Winter Climbing 101 course and I posted that trip report here. With the basics out of the way we made our way to the famous Willey’s Slide in Crawford Notch.

After practicing some self arrest we roped up and made our way up the right hand side for 3 full pitches of snow & ice climbing.

I’m looking forward to my next day with these three in late March when we make an attempt on Mount Washington. David’s heading back to Rainier in August and I can’t wait to hear about his trip!

Today I had a day off, so long time friend and climbing partner Tom C., store manager for EMS Nashua, met me for a day of cragging at Frankenstein. We headed toward Standard Route.

My first time on Penguin this year and the crux is definitely the first steep bit. A little brittle and awkward but once you reach the upper pillar the climbing is fantastic. Plastic fresh ice and bomber gear brings you to the top.

We headed down the descent trail, which is in the most technical conditions I have ever seen it. No snow in the gully makes the “gully proper” look like a valid grade 2 ice climb in its own right. I think the easiest down climb leaves the ridge a bit early rather than working down to the weird step down with great dry tool placements. YMMV.

We moved over to Dracula which had a party finishing the left side and a strong climber firing a steep line far right while a photographer on rappel snapped away. Once the left side was clear we cruised a very fun line in less than 20 minutes.

I lowered Tom and dropped the rope for him to coil while I hustled back down the descent gully. We considered hitting Pegasus Rock Finish on our hike out but our growling stomachs beat our motivation and we retired to the brewpub after a quick drive through the notch to check on other route conditions.

The ice is in fantastic shape right now, except for those south facing routes (Bob’s Delight is DONE)…. warmer temps bring softer (aka easier) ice climbing conditions, but keep your wits about you on anything getting baked above you.

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

AIARE 2 Avalanche Course

February 16, 2016February 16, 2016 David Lottmann Avalanche Courses, Backcountry Skiing, Professional Development avalanche courses, avalanche safety, backcountry skiing, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, professional development

Yesterday concluded our first AIARE 2 Avalanche Course of the season. Despite less than optimal field conditions the course was super productive in large part to the considerable amount of experience brought to the classroom discussions by the varied participants. We were fortunate to have 8000m veteran expeditionary leader Phil Crampton, owner and operator of Altitude Junkies, in attendance.

Phil’s resume of high altitude peaks is amazing and his personal experiences with massive Himalayan avalanches and vibrant story telling ability led to more than one topic derailment. These vivid first hand accounts were more than welcome however for both their educational real-life value and entertainment.

We also had Jerry Isaak, Chair Associate Professor of Expeditionary Studies at the University of Plattsburgh. He has worked as an expedition leader and guide in Canada, the USA, Morocco, Scotland, Austria and the Arctic. Personal climbing and skiing expeditions include journeys in Kenya, Nepal and throughout North America. He was here to observe the course as part of the requirements of becoming an AIARE Course Leader, but he did much more than observe. Throughout both classroom and field session Jerry took advantage of opportunities to share his extensive knowledge and experience and all of his contributions were greatly valued.

A graduate of Jerry’s program, a local professional sailboat racer turned back-country skier/mountaineer, and an EMS Climbing Guide/Electrician/EMT rounded out our class by staying fully engaged and generating thoughtful questions throughout.

EMS Schools AIARE Avalanche Course — Pretty shallow snow pack at the top of the Kancamagus Highway but it served its purpose for Full Profile Demo/Practice

063 — Our high point to the left of the mouth of Right Gully. From here we traversed into The Sluice for some decent turns.

There is a lot of information to cover in an AIARE 2 Course. Anyone that thinks an AIARE 1 is information overload will be amazed when they attend an AIARE 2. We managed it fairly well and for the most part stayed out of the weeds. Feedback at the end of the day yesterday seemed consistent that everyone had acquired the skills needed to become an quality avalanche, snow, and weather observer. All that was needed now was practice.

See you in the mountains.

-NEAlpineStart

Champney Fall Ice Climbing 2/9/16

February 10, 2016February 11, 2016 David Lottmann Ice Climbing, Professional Development, Trip Reports climbNH, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, ice climbing, petzl

Yesterday I had the opportunity to re-visit an area I haven’t been to in quite a few years. Champney Falls, (Pg 138, An Ice Climber’s Guide to Northern New England, 3rd Edition), a beautiful if not somewhat overly crowded top-rope area at times. On a Tuesday, after a busy IceFest weekend, we found some solitude on the mellow walk in while breaking trail in a few inches for very light powder that fell the night before.

This was just the first day of a 2 day regional Eastern Mountain Sports training involving about 40 EMS store employees from over a dozen stores, organized in collaboration with EMS Schools and Dave Karl of Petzl/Sky Ambitions. More than just an “ice climbing lesson” discussions throughout the day were focused on what products were best for what customer. From crampons to helmets, experienced EMS Schools Guides shared their opinions on the best climbing equipment EMS sells in an effort to continue the tradition of having some of the most knowledgable and authentic outdoor retails sales staff in the country.

While I’m not joining the effort today I’m working on the final touches of my talk tonight at Salt Pump Climbing Co. in Scarborough, Maine. If you’re in the area tonight come on down if interested in “Avalanche Awareness for the Northeast Climber“.

Thanks for reading,

See you in the mountains,

-NEAlpineStart

Avalanche Awareness/Mountain Skillz Day (2/7/16)

February 8, 2016February 9, 2016 David Lottmann Avalanche Courses, Backcountry Skiing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports avalanche courses, avalanche education, backcountry skiing, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, ice climbing, mount washington

A couple weeks ago I had Suzanne in my most memorable AIARE 1 Avalanche Course to date. She had just entered the floor of the ravine with my co-instructor Mike when we witnessed a climber triggered avalanche that caught 5 people and injured two. As a doctor she was quick to volunteer to help US Forest Service Snow Rangers evacuate one of the victims.

This incident prevented her, and most of the class, from being able to make snow-pack observations and she was keen to return to the ravine for some more experiential learning. Yesterday she returned and this time she brought her energetic 20 year old son Jabus and friend and long time NH climber David to join her in the experience.

Since ski conditions were quite abysmal we opted for mountaineering boots & crampons and brought a little technical gear along to deal with the hard & fast sliding surfaces that make up most of Tuckerman Ravine right now. After a trip planning session we made our way up into the bowl and headed up into Left Gully to investigate some of the wind slab that was mentioned in the morning’s avalanche bulletin.

The climbing conditions were quite firm, and with caution & focus we reached the base of Left of Left (ice climb). After a short break we traversed right into the gully proper and I moved out onto a moderate sized slab that had formed from cross-loading over the last two days while everyone else spotted me. Hand shear tests along the way broke with moderate force and were not very planar so I moved to where the slab felt a little deeper and dug a quick pit.

Finding about 15cms of Pencil hard slab over 15cms of 1-Finger snow, sitting on top of Knife hard concrete we carried out 3 quick sets of tests.

Two Shovel Tilt Tests, one which was “positive” and one that was “inconclusive” at the 15cm interface. For a quick description of the Shovel Tilt Test check out this video from the Utah Avalanche Center:

Two Compression Tests:

CT11, Q2 RP @ 30cm down (interface of 1F & K concrete)

CT11, Q3 BRK @ 30cm down (interface of 1F & K concrete)

Wanna watch some more YouTube on snow pack tests? Here’s one on the Compression Test:

While these failures were on the eye brow raising end of loading steps, the “shear quality” or “fracture character” was not very alarming. None-the-less we decided to carry out an Extended Column Test to increase our confidence in our findings.

Results: ECTX (No fractures are initiated in the 30 standard loading steps)

Before you ask here’s a pretty good video of the Extended Column Test:

Before descending I grabbed a quick shot looking up the gully…

And down the gully…

We descended to Hermit Lake and removed our crampons for a faster hike down to Pinkham Notch.

DCIM100GOPRO — Clearing skies as we get ready to leave

Back at the pack room we debriefed our trip into the alpine and parted ways. It was a pleasure to spend this time in the mountains with Suzanne, Jabus, and David and I’m looking forward to our next trip together.

A quick disclaimer regarding these YouTube videos I’ve posted. These should serve one of two purposes:

Inspire you to take a course to really learn how to perform and interpret these tests.
Refresh what you’ve learned from a formal course

Using YouTube videos to build your base knowledge could lead to… less than ideal results. But they are great for refreshing those skills!

Thanks for reading,

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

Ice Climbing at the North End 2/6/16

February 8, 2016 David Lottmann Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports cathedral ledge, climbing, climbNH, eastern mountain sports, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, ice climbing, mountaineering

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of taking Alex, Ben, and Eric ice climbing at The North End of Cathedral Ledge for a Winter Climbing 101 Program. We spent much of the day with another EMS Schools group taking the same course led by EMS Guide Cheyenne Chaffee.

After some not-so-fast self arrest practice on the Cathedral Ledge Auto-road we started working on our footwork.

025 — Alex takes a break halfway up the North End Pillars

While the North End Slab & Pillars were quite mobbed for most the day with the Ice Fest going on there was plenty of ice for us to play on. The ice to the right of Thresher has come in quite well this year, and survived the multiple thaws we have dealt with, providing a great spot to learn the basics without trying to thread the needle with a half dozen ropes on the Pillars. At the end of the day everyone was content with the mileage they had put in and we hope to see some return for the next step, either Mountaineering 201 or Ice Climbing 201.

Thanks for reading,

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

Ice Climbing with Dominic 2/2/16

February 5, 2016 David Lottmann Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports cathedral ledge, climbing, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, ice climbing

Second post today as I catch up on a busy week. Following last weekend’s avalanche course I had the pleasure of taking Dominic out for his first day of ice climbing. A recent Geology graduate who hails from Lebanon, NH, Dominic has caught the climbing bug. His analytical mind was very quick at grasping all aspects of ice climbing as they were introduced and we found ourselves covering more and more vertical ground and knowledge throughout our 1 on 1 day.

After some basic crampon & ice axe skills, a quick top-rope climb on The North End Slab, we broke it into two pitches and scurried to the top.

Ice Climbing New Hampshire — Dominic hangs out on The North End Slab

From there we made our way over to The North End Pillars and Dominic learned how to rappel.

We took a quick lap on the left hand side of The Pillars.

040 — Starting up something a bit steeper

After a quick bite to eat we headed over to Thresher. Two pitches up that had us grinning at the top.

With time & energy to spare we rappelled back to the ground and returned to The North End Pillars for another lap. As we started to wind down our day we spent a bit of time looking at ice anchors, screw placement, V-threads, natural anchors, etc… Despite the long day Dominic’s desire to learn as much as he could in one day was still apparent.

I’m really looking forward to my next day in the mountains with Dominic. His enthusiasm and motivation is contagious, and what ever we climb together next I know we’ll be having a good time from trail-head to trail-head!

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

AIARE 1 Avalanche Course 1/30/16-2/1/16

February 5, 2016February 5, 2016 David Lottmann Avalanche Courses, Backcountry Skiing, Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports avalanche safety, backcountry skiing, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School

Last weekend we conducted our 3rd AIARE 1 Avalanche Course of the season. While it wasn’t as intense as our course two weeks ago it was a very productive 3 days. We were lucky to have high altitude climber and expedition organizer Phil Crampton, of Altitude Junkies, participating in our course.

What is someone who has led 40+ expeditions to 8000m peaks doing in an entry level avalanche course? Phil wants to work on designing an avalanche awareness program focused specifically on Sherpas, of which he admits there are multiple cultural challenges to hurdle. Gaining some exposure to AIARE’s approach to avalanche education in the US will hopefully give him some ideas of how to best move forward in his endeavor.

Having someone of Phil’s experience in the course certainly made it a rich course. His stories of surviving multiple massive avalanches, participating in some dismal recoveries, and over-all demeanor were appreciated by all.

Conditions for the course were less than optimal. This El Nino is becoming a curse word within my circles but we were able to sniff out some decent conditions to meet our objectives. A 48 hour thaw led to Considerable avalanche danger on our 3rd day.

AIARE Avalanche Course — Avalanche Information board at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center

Our class had decided on either Left Gully or Right Gully as potential field locations. Both were rated “Moderate” but avoiding the run outs of “The Chute” and “Sluice”, both rated Considerable, was definitely part of our travel plan.

We decided to head up towards Right Gully following a skin track from another avalanche course.

We held up to the Right of Right Gully and set up shop to make some snow-pack observations in over 3 meters of snow.

The snow-pack on this 38 degree slope was quite bomber now that the temperatures had fallen below freezing. Some interesting “veins” of melt water could be found in spots along with some centimeter thick melt-freeze ice crusts. We practiced Compression Tests with unsurprising results.

Only two of us were on skis for this course given the challenging snow conditions and horrible shape of the Sherburne Ski Trail. A few turns were made descending the lower half of The Sluice before walking back to Hermit Lake and taking the very beat up Sherburne back to Pinkham. Without a doubt the trail was in rough shape and I was ready to by a ticket to Durango when I reached the lot. Type 2 fun would be a stretch…

We reviewed our day before debriefing the course and went our separate ways.

The next day I had a Private Ice Climbing day at Cathedral Ledge I’ll share in a new post.

As I finish this I must say I’m really glad to be looking out the window at some consistent snowfall. NWS is calling for 2-4 inches and I’d say I’ve hit the low end of that already in Conway. If you haven’t heard, the MWV Ice Fest is happening now. I might make it to some of the festivities tonight at Theatre in The Woods in Intervale, NH. Starts at 7pm. Maybe see you there.

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

Winter Climbing 101, 1-24-16

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016 David Lottmann Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports cathedral ledge, climbNH, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, ice climbing, mountaineering

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of taking David, Charlene, and Sam out to Cathedral Ledge for a Winter Climbing 101 Course. David had attempted Mount Rainier last year and was returning for another attempt this August, so this course was intended to help hone the skills needed for such an objective.

We started the day with some self-arrest practice on the auto-road. An icy sled path that came down through the woods provided a great little spot to gain some momentum. We then worked on our crampon technique employing different styles to different grades and difficulties, all with an emphasis on conserving energy. As the day progressed we got a bit more technical with our ice axes as we took a climb up the North End Slab. After some lunch we rappelled the North End Pillars, learned and practiced a hand-rap rappel, then looked at some basic glacier roping up options, with a look at short-roping & short pitching to finish out the day.

ice climbing cathedral ledge new hampshire — David goes over the edge

I wish David the best on his next Rainier climb, it’s obvious to see he has the climbing bug, and hope to see Sam back her for some focused waterfall ice climbing, as she showed a keen interest in doing more of that by the end of the day!

See you in the mountains,

NEAlpineStart

Silver Cascade & Lionshead Summit

January 11, 2016 David Lottmann Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Trip Reports climbing, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, ice climbing, mount washington, mountaineering

This past weekend I got to spend a couple fun days in the mountains. It started Saturday when I got to take Oklahoman’s Taylor & Stephanie and Vermonter Melissa out for our Mountaineering 201 Course. Expecting large crowds at classic Willey’s Slide and Mt. Willard I opted for an old favorite, Silver Cascade, Grade 2+, 800 feet (2 miles round-trip), pg. 211 in guidebook.

Only 2 parties of two were on the route when we arrived which gave us a little time to talk about some glacier roping strategies.

After giving the lead groups some space we started up.

A couple of pitches later we stopped to talk about ice anchors and practiced building V-thread anchors.

EMS Schools — Learning about ice screw placement

We then finished off the last of the technical ice.

We explored a bit higher in the brook before making our way back down to the base.

That evening I attended a fundraiser at International Mountain Equipment for our local Mountain Rescue Service. It was great seeing the community support that came out for a showing of the Reel Rock 10 Tour. I especially liked the video of Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell documenting their traverse of the Fitz Roy range. Quite a few laughs and amazing cinematography, I’m hoping IME still has a few copies of this DVD so I can pick one up this week.

The next morning I met back up with Taylor & Stephanie and also met Portland based Mike & and Boston based Kevin. Out team of 5 would be heading up Mount Washington in some pretty full value conditions. The Higher Summits forecast called for Southeast winds around 80mph in the afternoon with heavy rain arriving in the afternoon. It would be… interesting…

It was comical seeing some of the parties who had started early come down the trail. Most had 1-2 inches of clear water ice encasing ice axes, backpacks, even hair braids! The freezing rain they must have encountered above tree-line had lessened, but pellet snow hitting us at about 30 mph required goggles & face mask to stay comfortable.

We pushed on to Lionshead where we met up with the other EMS team on the mountain who had made it to the Alpine Garden trail before retreating. Conditions were dismal up high where we later learned the summit got a 100 mph gust (much higher than forecasted) at about the same time we started our descent.

EMS Climbing School

Lionshead summit photo- from left to right: Taylor, Stephanie, Mike, Kevin

We made our way back down quite content with what we had just accomplished, but the day was far from over. We took a brief stop on a steeper section of the Lionshead Summer Route to practice an “arm-wrap rappel”, then cruised down to the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. From here progress slowed as the 1.3 inches of rain the mountain was receiving had completely saturated the thin snow pack that had started to smooth out the trail and footing was pretty tricky with 8+ inches of slush on top of the notoriously uneven path. We still reached Pinkham just before 3pm and hopped in the car, 5 very saturated, but content climbers.

A fun weekend to be sure and while it took a full 12 hours of wood stove heat to begin to dry my gear out I am anxious to see how great the ice will be forming with all this free water and dropping temps. Probably get out somewhere tomorrow!

See you in the mountains,

-NEAlpineStart

Thin Air & Fall Colors with Manny

October 24, 2015November 2, 2015 David Lottmann Rock Climbing, Trip Reports cathedral ledge, climbNH, eastern mountain sports schools, EMS Climbing School, EMS Schools, rock climbing, Rock Climbing Instruction

It’s definitely still rock climbing season in the Mount Washington Valley! Yesterday regular client Manny joined me for some fun on Cathedral Ledge. We started the chilly morning up at the classroom to review some anchoring strategies but the NW 15-20 mph wind combined with 40 degree temps had us heading down to the Thin Air face to get warmed up by 9:30. A visiting party was about to start and offered to let us jump on the route ahead of them. I was very gracious as I knew we would move fast and stay a lot warmer if we weren’t behind a party on-sighting the route.

Manny on the classic Thin Air Traverse, Cathedral Ledge

The clouds cleared out as we started the 3rd pitch and the sun kept us quite comfy for the rest of the route.

Thin Air Cathedral Ledge — All smiles on the crux 4th pitch of Thin Air

We topped out at 11:15, had a quick snack, then made our way down to The North End for some crack climbing practice. We took a quick lap on Child’s Play (5.6), Kiddy Crack (5.7), and the unknown classic 1st pitch of Raise The Roof (5.8+), and called it a day.

Always a good time hanging with Manny, and I’m looking forward to introducing him to ice climbing in just a few months!

Reminder there are currently two gear giveaway contests running right now!

For chance to win the coolest climbing knife in the world or a bottle of the best foot powder on earth check out this post. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on 11/12/15

For a chance to win a bottle of the best foot powder on earth check out my latest gear review here! Contest ends at 11:59pm on 11/18/15.

See you in the mountains,

-NEAlpineStart

http://nealpinestart.com/2015/10/13/outdoor-app-reviews-part-1-and-product-giveaway-contest/

Northeast Alpine Start

Gear reviews, trip reports, and how-to articles for Northeast adventures

eastern mountain sports schools

Ice Climbing Willey’s Slide and Frankenstein

AIARE 2 Avalanche Course

Champney Fall Ice Climbing 2/9/16

Avalanche Awareness/Mountain Skillz Day (2/7/16)

Ice Climbing at the North End 2/6/16

Ice Climbing with Dominic 2/2/16

AIARE 1 Avalanche Course 1/30/16-2/1/16

Winter Climbing 101, 1-24-16

Silver Cascade & Lionshead Summit

Thin Air & Fall Colors with Manny