Mad Townie
New member
Well, SherpaK has already posted the aquatic and social parts of the weekend here, so I might as well add a bit from the climbers' perspective.
The day was gorgeous, so it was a perfect time to do a little climbing. A fairly large group headed over to Pinkham Notch, hung out in the gear room for awhile, then finally headed up the trail. Lots of company from the many skiers & boarders heading up to Tuckerman Ravine, and from what we saw later they were rewarded for their efforts.
After stopping briefly to see the Harvard Cabin we headed up into the Ravine, ascending to some rocks below Central Gully and O'Dell's to take a break and gear up. cbcbd was looking for rope-mates, so 7summits took the middle and I grabbed my usual spot at the back end. We traversed over to the bottom of South Gully, making sure to take lots of pictures as we went. The rest of the group climbed Central, but I'll let them tell their own story, which was somewhat more "interesting" than ours.
We zigged and zagged our way up the lower parts of the gully. The snow was good and firm, perfect for kicking steps. With a little force my mountaineering axe would sink to the head, giving me confidence in the snow's ability to hold it (and me
) if necessary. It wasn't necessary.
We passed a really cool looking ice hole near one of the rock walls on climber's left; it was about 2 feet wide at the top and appeared bottomless. The climbing got a little steeper for a bit, and we switched from using the points of the axes to using the picks. Not hard, but lots of fun. Throughout the climb cbcbd did an excellent job of leading and kicking great steps, and 7summits also demonstrated excellent and very safe technique. What a pleasure to climb with those two!
At one point we took a break just under a big boulder, and cbcbd used the time to measure the slope with his inclinometer. I don't remember what it was, but I do know that he has a very conservative approach to the measurement. We could see a guy coming up solo behind us, but he'd stop and wait every once in awhile so we figured he didn't want to pass. Sure enough, after we topped out we thanked him for his patience and he said he was happy to have us ahead of him making great footholds.
After topping out into the breeze (it was pretty calm along most of the route) we tried to figure out whether the Central Gully teams had beaten us to the top. We headed over there, seeing only one set of tracks going down the Alpine Gardens toward Lion's Head. They turned out to belong to Swampy, who had soloed Central in a flash and then headed down.
Just after we arrived at the top of their route the Central climbers started to appear, with stories! (I'll let them tell them.) We took a break, then headed down toward Lion's Head, stopping briefly to watch the skiers in Tuckerman. The Lion's Head winter route (summer is still closed) is miserable, steep and slippery, sloppy snow. We all got down uneventfully and headed back to Barnes for the evening's festivities. Some of us had the good sense to shower at Pinkham, but some of "them" didn't bother.
Abster had to leave us from Pinkham to head back to VT, but the rest of us were treated to great food and beverages and Giggy's choice of music back at the campground. Sherp made some luscious sirloin tips, and MtnMama had lots of delicious stuff as usual. Have you had your sangria yet????
Photos here.
The day was gorgeous, so it was a perfect time to do a little climbing. A fairly large group headed over to Pinkham Notch, hung out in the gear room for awhile, then finally headed up the trail. Lots of company from the many skiers & boarders heading up to Tuckerman Ravine, and from what we saw later they were rewarded for their efforts.
After stopping briefly to see the Harvard Cabin we headed up into the Ravine, ascending to some rocks below Central Gully and O'Dell's to take a break and gear up. cbcbd was looking for rope-mates, so 7summits took the middle and I grabbed my usual spot at the back end. We traversed over to the bottom of South Gully, making sure to take lots of pictures as we went. The rest of the group climbed Central, but I'll let them tell their own story, which was somewhat more "interesting" than ours.
We zigged and zagged our way up the lower parts of the gully. The snow was good and firm, perfect for kicking steps. With a little force my mountaineering axe would sink to the head, giving me confidence in the snow's ability to hold it (and me
) if necessary. It wasn't necessary. We passed a really cool looking ice hole near one of the rock walls on climber's left; it was about 2 feet wide at the top and appeared bottomless. The climbing got a little steeper for a bit, and we switched from using the points of the axes to using the picks. Not hard, but lots of fun. Throughout the climb cbcbd did an excellent job of leading and kicking great steps, and 7summits also demonstrated excellent and very safe technique. What a pleasure to climb with those two!
At one point we took a break just under a big boulder, and cbcbd used the time to measure the slope with his inclinometer. I don't remember what it was, but I do know that he has a very conservative approach to the measurement. We could see a guy coming up solo behind us, but he'd stop and wait every once in awhile so we figured he didn't want to pass. Sure enough, after we topped out we thanked him for his patience and he said he was happy to have us ahead of him making great footholds.
After topping out into the breeze (it was pretty calm along most of the route) we tried to figure out whether the Central Gully teams had beaten us to the top. We headed over there, seeing only one set of tracks going down the Alpine Gardens toward Lion's Head. They turned out to belong to Swampy, who had soloed Central in a flash and then headed down.
Just after we arrived at the top of their route the Central climbers started to appear, with stories! (I'll let them tell them.) We took a break, then headed down toward Lion's Head, stopping briefly to watch the skiers in Tuckerman. The Lion's Head winter route (summer is still closed) is miserable, steep and slippery, sloppy snow. We all got down uneventfully and headed back to Barnes for the evening's festivities. Some of us had the good sense to shower at Pinkham, but some of "them" didn't bother.
Abster had to leave us from Pinkham to head back to VT, but the rest of us were treated to great food and beverages and Giggy's choice of music back at the campground. Sherp made some luscious sirloin tips, and MtnMama had lots of delicious stuff as usual. Have you had your sangria yet????
Photos here.
