Mt. Washington Via Huntington Ravine - Descent Left Gully

[percious]

Hey guys. What I did on Sunday:
http://www.percious.com/hiking/WMNF/Huntington Ravine - Central - April 2006/index.html
winners:

enjoy.
-percious

 

[giggy]

as always, awesome pix chris - these are some of the best i have seen that shows the steepness of the snow in central. Most don't. Actually, these don't get it to the full extent either, but are the closest I have seen!

what a great day you guys had - better than when you and I were in there battling 70 mph winds heading up a couple of months ago

never seen yellow snow pickets before - what kind are they? they look to be 3 footers - if so - did you get to sink them all the way? snow looks much lower then last time I was up there (3 weeks ago) and it was low then!

was the crevasse there below the "buldge" -

most def a summit day - curious, did you bang up the snowfeilds or take the tucks up. on a day like this - its a snowfeild day!!!

 

[mtnmama]

What a great trip report! I couldn't stop reading it. You guys picked
a beautiful day to have some fun up in the White's.
The pictures are awesome!!!!

 

[David Metsky]

Were you practicing self-arrest while wearing crampons? Naughty, naughty.

Looks like a great day on the Rockpile.

-dave-

 

[skiguy]

Looks like a fine day in the mountains.
This Spring has been a great time for Mountaineering on the "Big W".
Percious I would check out these couple of links.

Glissading and Crampons

Anchors

Anchors Again

When setting up a Belay Anchor I always recite to myself "RENE"
1. R = Redundency

2.E =Equalized

3.NE = Non-extending

Hope this helps!

 

[dvbl]

Please educate me on this...what are the snow pickets used for?

 

[percious]

Ok,

Thanks for the lessons guys. A couple of things.

We had our crampons OFF when we glissaded down Left gully. It says so in the report.

As for practice, if you see in the pictures/movies, I only slid about 20 feet, and wanted to practice self arrest in the most realistic fashion possible. I was trying to emulate an ascent fall where you must catch yourself, and THEN dig in once you have stopped. Please see the video to understand what I mean.

I understand the concept of sarene, but for fast travel, it did not make sense to set up a 3 point anchor for my first belay point. Fact is, both of us are the backup since we have the ability to stop a fall with our ice axes. This is not true in a vertical setting where your anchor is your life line.

Keep in mind that we saw two people solo Central gully in both directions that day. We were being extra cautious even using pickets, ropes and anchors.

-percious

 

[percious]

Please educate me on this...what are the snow pickets used for?

Snow pickets are used to stop a set of climbers from sliding down the mountain in the event they slip. They can vary in length from 12-48 inches and are pounded into the snow using a hammer on the end of an ice axe. There are holes down the spine of the 3 sided anchor to attach a carabiner and a runner, which you clip onto the rope.

-percious

 

[percious]

as always, awesome pix chris - these are some of the best i have seen that shows the steepness of the snow in central. Most don't. Actually, these don't get it to the full extent either, but are the closest I have seen!

what a great day you guys had - better than when you and I were in there battling 70 mph winds heading up a couple of months ago

never seen yellow snow pickets before - what kind are they? they look to be 3 footers - if so - did you get to sink them all the way? snow looks much lower then last time I was up there (3 weeks ago) and it was low then!

was the crevasse there below the "buldge" -

most def a summit day - curious, did you bang up the snowfeilds or take the tucks up. on a day like this - its a snowfeild day!!!

Thanks. Yes it was a tad more pleasant, but both ascents had their good points. I am sorry that I did not invite you on this one, but it was kind of a last minute deal, as I was unsure if my partner would get parental permission, and we had a bail out plan to hit the Gunks again.

The crevasse was there, as noted in detail in my report.

The snow pickets are made by Omega Pacific, and I bought them BECAUSE they are yellow. Much easier to find in the event you drop one. They are powder coated, and glide nicely behind your second on a double length runner. You pay for all this convenience with some weight however.

The bulge took two full length screws. Soft Ice. Thanks for the Beta, had I not known, the screws would have stayed home.

The pickets: I pounded each one all the way in, and they seemed to want to drop into the hole when the got to full extension. Next time I will be placing a carabiner and runner on them BEFORE I pound them in.

We banged right up the snowfields. What a great day.

 

[cbcbd]

Awesome pics, awesome day you guys had!
The bowl is looking nice... I was going to put my skis in the attic... I don't think so anymore.

I think I also topped out where you did, over to the left. It was a fun steeper topout and over the lip there was a perfect little horn for belaying.

Good times

edit:

Keep in mind that we saw two people solo Central gully in both directions that day. We were being extra cautious even using pickets, ropes and anchors.

Yeah, Central is not that dangerous that if you fall you can't just self belay on your plunged axe right away. My girlfriend and I shortroped up it and there were no issues (her first time climbing on snow, but she had been ice climbing 3 times already). It's just fun to mess around with the equipment sometimes, just to learn different techniques of ropped travel (running belay, shortropping, glacier travel, short pitching, long pitching, etc).

 

[giggy]

I am offended I wasn't invited and you are now off my freind list - just joking of course - I couldn't get out this weekend anyway - I was on the mighty mt waschusett with the little guy - he ain't ready for central just yet.
didn't read the report yet - just pix - sorry dude

yes - I agree its a pretty easy climb - key word being climb here - just don't want to give the wrong idea to someone who who does the crawford path up ike and then decides to head into huntington b/c he saw on VFTT that is was easy - anyone who climbs will agree central and south are easy, but to someone with with hiking non-exposed hiking exp only, it would be pretty unnerving if heading in solo for the first time

just making that clear for the folks reading this just getting into winter stuff.

and just when you say - nobody would be that careless - recall the incident a couple of years ago where a guy went hiking in the alpine garden in winter/spring and looked at the map and decided to head down the huntingtin summer trail with hiking poles. The recovred the body a couple of days later.

 

[DougPaul]

Anchors

The cord-o-lette is an inferior method of force equalization. It must be tied perfectly and the force must come from the single predicted direction or it will simply load the anchors sequentially, possibly with shock loading.

Doug

 

[cbcbd]

When setting up a Belay Anchor I always recite to myself "RENE"
1. R = Redundency

2.E =Equalized

3.NE = Non-extending

Hope this helps!

I'm not sure if there is confusion from percious' picture of the anchor, but I just wanted to clarify that the anchor was already present from someone else (percious didn't build it). I didn't get a close look at it when I was there a few weeks ago and from far away thought it was just a sling with a rappel ring, but I'm guessing that's the same one since it also had red webbing and was off to the left.


edit: Chris, what axe is that? DMM, Grivel?

 

[giggy]

The cord-o-lette is an inferior method of force equalization. It must be tied perfectly and the force must come from the single predicted direction or it will simply load the anchors sequentially, possibly with shock loading.

Doug

doug - not sure I am reading this the right way, but I have always been taught that he cordolette with a fig 8(or overhand) was the best/easiest/quickest way to get an non extending equalized anchor going in many siutations. no? I have always been under the impression - there is no perfect anchor.

 

[skiguy]

The cord-o-lette is an inferior method of force equalization. It must be tied perfectly and the force must come from the single predicted direction or it will simply load the anchors sequentially, possibly with shock loading.

Doug

If tied Perfectly the seqential loading you mentioned will not happen. With practiced comes perfection. Probably not the quickest method but I have found very effective especially when dealing with multiple climbers at a single belay point. The link I provided was not so much to show the cord-o-lette but to exemplify RENE.As always thankyou for your input.

 

[percious]

doug - not sure I am reading this the right way, but I have always been taught that he cordolette with a fig 8(or overhand) was the best/easiest/quickest way to get an non extending equalized anchor going in many siutations. no? I have always been under the impression - there is no perfect anchor.

If you head over to Rockclimbing.com and search on "chordolette" you will find considerable contraversy concerning their use. The thing with chords is that after you tie the power knot, you are stuck at that angle, so if you get pulled left or right the other "arms" of the anchor take increased load. I have all but hung up my chordolette, prefering Trango's "Alpine anchor" instead: Two loops of titanium and enough runner for for 3 protection points. If you tie a knot in one protection point it provides considerable security against shock loading (RE) while also giving you some flexability angle-wise. I usually figure eight the center point when Im on the rock. Its worth the $30, even if only for ease of use.

-chris

 

[percious]

yes - I agree its a pretty easy climb - key word being climb here - just don't want to give the wrong idea to someone who who does the crawford path up ike and then decides to head into huntington b/c he saw on VFTT that is was easy - anyone who climbs will agree central and south are easy, but to someone with with hiking non-exposed hiking exp only, it would be pretty unnerving if heading in solo for the first time

Quoted for Truth. (QFT)

-percious

 

[cbcbd]

yes - I agree its a pretty easy climb - key word being climb here - just don't want to give the wrong idea to someone who who does the crawford path up ike and then decides to head into huntington b/c he saw on VFTT that is was easy - anyone who climbs will agree central and south are easy, but to someone with with hiking non-exposed hiking exp only, it would be pretty unnerving if heading in solo for the first time

just making that clear for the folks reading this just getting into winter stuff.

I agree, it is a climb and everyone has their level of comfort and experience, which is what dictates what a group should do.
I decided to shortrope for two reasons - I was confident that I could hold her fall if she did fall, and she felt more confident having a line... connected to something - like me, cuz I am a like a rock

 

[percious]

I'm not sure if there is confusion from percious' picture of the anchor, but I just wanted to clarify that the anchor was already present from someone else (percious didn't build it). I didn't get a close look at it when I was there a few weeks ago and from far away thought it was just a sling with a rappel ring, but I'm guessing that's the same one since it also had red webbing and was off to the left.


edit: Chris, what axe is that? DMM, Grivel?

Thanks for the support from someone who actually read the Trip Report at the bottom of the page. By the way, those Pitons are in there GOOD and not going ANYWHERE.

Camp Bulldogs. www.gearx.com had them for about $50. I could not pass them up, as they had their tent sale with an extra %20 off. I was buying my rack at the same time, so I snuck in some winter gear on the bill, saved a ton of $$ on the axes, snow pickets, and screws. I needed the stuff for CO anyway.

-percious

 

[sleeping bear]

Anchors

Hey hey! Phil Watts! He taught the climbing class I took in college!

Sorry, had to share. I won't interrupt anymore...