The answer to my prayers came in the form of a post to rec.climbing by Chris Ferro. I had never met Chris but I knew that he lived in Baltimore and I had read a number of thoughtful and to-the-point posts by him before. The fellow sounded competent and something in his one-sentence post requesting conditions encouraged me to contact him.
After a bit of investigative work, I finally got on hold of Chris the week before Thanksgiving. I was clear to him as to my limitations, yet he had no problem welcoming me to the group heading towards Smuggler's Notch, VT, for the weekend. We talked about the split-up of the gear, and agreed on meeting at Hagerstown, MD, Friday morning at 4:00. And so it was, that Chris Ferro and I found ourselves headed north on I81 with our bellies still stuffed with Turkey.
The drive was as usual -- brutal. It took us 11 hours to reach the Climb High store in Shelburne, VT, where we teamed up with the rest of the gang: Owen -- radio/TV antenna repair man, Marcus -- computer man and life-long friend of Chris, and Dave -- coworker of Owen and part-time rock guide on his first trip in search of blue granite. We purchased a few things and headed north towards the Notch in a race with the fleeting sun.
Needless to say, we lost the race. When we arrived at the Notch just after 17:00, it was pitch dark. We stopped at the small convenience store in Jeffersonville to get water and some cans of soup for supper. Upon arriving at the Notch the only people still there were the never resting snowmobilers. We Gore-Tex'ed inside the trucks and pitched camp about 100 meters off the north-end entrance in about 8" of snow. People drifted towards their natural states, with Chris, Owen, and Dave preparing platforms for the tents, Marcus melting snow, and me brewing some tea. Supper was accompanied by freezing rain so in no time we were in our bags cursing the never stopping snowmobilers. The ground under our tent was not too flat and thus, Chris and I spent our first night together closer than I would have ever wanted.
On
Saturday we were out and about around 8:00. The stoves prepared tea,
oatmeal,
and hot orange Gatorade. By 9:30 we were hiking up the Notch trying to
avoid being killed by an out-of-control snowmobiler. Chris and I headed
towards Blue Room (II, WI3+), while Owen, Marcus, and Dave kept
going looking for something on the west side of the Notch. Chris led Blue
Room, which was in fairly decent condition, placing 4 screws along
the way. The descent was via rappel from the trees above the climb.
In the afternoon, we climbed something to the right of Blue Room that does not appear in the guide-book. This flow climbs a short vertical section (3 mH) to a snow field at the base of a field of ice steps (about 40 m). The pitch can also be done over very thin and steep ice to the left (5 mH), but there was no pro and the ice looked too thin for our taste. The second pitch, led by Chris, follows the steps to an ice formation under a big rock-roof which has a vertical ice escape on the left. Along the way, we encountered a 4 m vertical section (the crux) before the final escape which was thin, wet, and required weird off-balance moves to get out.
This pitch took an entire 60 m rope to do, but it could be broken into two pitches by making the first pitch longer and belaying at the bottom of the vertical section. The wall has good afternoon sun and it gets very wet under the rock roof where pro is nonexistent. The descent is via rappel from slings attached to a tree; once on the snow field, rappel from a tree to the base. Overall I would say the climb was grade II, WI4.
With three pitches of ice under our belts we called it a day and headed towards camp. Once the other fellows arrived we all cramped into Chris' truck and went in search of food. Most establishments are still closed this early in the season, and all we could find was a tavern that only served small food items in their menu. Compare to the caned soup the night before, the food tasted great and the wood stove was a welcome contrast to the freezing rain. Back in camp, the snowmobilers were still at it even though it was well passed 22:00. The night was clear but cold. We took time to call our significant others and I demanded that we flattened the tent platform before we spent another night too close for comfort.
The next day, Marcus, Owen, and Dave left early in the morning back to Maryland and Chris and I headed towards Jefferson Slide (WI2-4) for a bit more climbing. The ice at the base was fat and could be done in a number different of ways. I led it to the left over easy terrain that led to a 60 deg. snow field. At the end of the snow field, you could exit over an easy flow to the right (WI3) or a weird looking flow on the left (WI4). Chris picked the right flow after which the climb ended on a low angle snow field. The climb can be done in one pitch if you have 60 m ropes, but it can also be broken into two pitches by belaying at the bottom of the short vertical exits. At the snow field, you go left and bushwhack your way down.
With some time left, we re-climbed the Jefferson Slide via a harder vertical line at the center (WI3+) followed by the short thin flow in the center of the falls. The flows to the right were too thin to be climbed. With little light left, we headed back to camp and decided to leave and drive the whole night. On our way down we encountered bad weather making the drive even longer than it typically is. All and all, it was a good opening for the season and Chris turned out to be a good ice climbing partner; brave enough to lead all the climbs I was too chicken to tackle, and good soul enough to understand my fear of steep ice.
During the weekend, a number of
parties climbed Elephant's Head
Gully
(II, WI3); We also saw people top-ropping a very short pillar in The
Playground (I, WI3-4). Origin of Intelligence in Children
(III,
WI4+) was not in yet; Hidden Gully (I, WI2-3) looked do-able
from
the road. Snowmobilers were the only unpleasant part of the weekend;
they
started running up the Notch at 7:00, and continued to annoy us until
2:00
every day. Be aware of them while hiking on the road -- they will kill
somebody one of these days.
|
|
|
|
|
Pedro I. Espina,© 1998