giggy
New member
A few of the folks that frequent this site are planning on taking a stab at cool mountain this summer if all logistics work out. So the plan was get some decent mountaineering as a team in ASAP to see how things would mesh out. The original plan was north tri slide, but I was being selfish as usual and really wanted to hit some ice and steep snow, so suggested shoestring gully over on Webster. Everyone seem to dig that idea. Shoestring is a moderate climb by climbing standards, but is steep snow with a series of WI2 ice bulges for about 2000 vertical feet.
Players:
Giggy
Frodo
Arm
Chinnokktrail
darl58
Leaf
Spencer
Hamtero
Suebiscuit
Normally, when you plan something like this you ask 8 people and you might get 4 to actually show. not this time, we got 8 to show!!
If I am being honest, I was a bit skeptical of heading up a technical route with 8 people because it would be a shooting gallery of falling ice. Arm had to bail due to work - which sucks, cuz, I love climbing with arm and he was going to lead a rope.
I ran the opinion by frodo on what he wanted to do and he said, lets head up - it will be fun. Frodo has his shite together, so that was good enough for me. I was convinced it would be ok and it didn't take much, since shoestring was on my tick list for a couple of years and for whatever reason it never panned out.
So we headed up, crossed the river and thrashed our way over the boulder fields and into the gully proper. After a bit of a slog, but not too far really - we hit the first ice pitch.
We decided we would do 2 teams of 3 and one of 2 and stagger the entry onto the ice.
I led a rope with Spencer on the end and Sue in the middle. Frodo led one with hamtero and chinook and darlene lead leaf. This worked out good.
I led the first pitch of pretty much crap ice that was not very well bonded to the rocks and quite thin, but we managed to scrape and claw out way up as the ice wasn't hard to climb at all and was maybe 20-25 feet all said and done. I belayed the other 2 up from a tree and we coiled in the rope to cross the rocks and very easy snow to the next ice pitch.
The next 2 ice pitches were solid WI2 and very nice to climb and as we got higher the ice got very nice. Spencer and I switched off leads and I don't recall who lead what, I think I led 4 pitches and he led 2 or 3? The belays took 16cm screws and were pretty bomber to belay the others up - very very nice stuff. Sue hasn’t been on all that much technical ice, but it didn’t show - she swung and kicked her way up it all no problem as did Spencer. Spencer was climbing so fast, I was having trouble keeping the belay up with him!! Shoestring has a nice alpine feel to it being in bewtween to high rock walls.
Team Darlene and Frodo weren't far behind. There was a party above us that sent stuff down on us and we sent stuff down on folks below. Its climbing - it happens. I led the crux and set up another bomber anchor below the next pitch and belayed both sue and spencer up the steepest ice of day. Team Darlene went to the left of us an climbed a wall of rotten sunbaked ice and I was too high up and over the bulge to see - but I think team frodo followed us up the nice crux pitch.
After the crux pitch Spencer led the next one up the ice to the top and then I led up to the final snow field and belayed them off another tree and Spencer swung right up to the the small final bulge, popped in a couple screws - . from there I moved past them and we slung tress and simu-climbed the final steep snow field to the top.
Excellent day with amazing people that I would trust with my life anyday. Special kudos to Chinook who did her first technical multi-pitch climb and Darlene who led her first ice - but…she leads very technical rock, so not a big deal for her.
Sat night, we met BoB and Stoney in intervale, had pizza, beer and bruins game. The next day, stoney, spencer, bob, leaf and I hit willeys slide for a few pitches of great climbing there and had the place to ourselves - which I was shocked by. There was a party below, but they never climbed higher than the first pitch and were practicing self arrest or something.
Great weekend of swinging the tools and getting some good mountaineering in.
I didn’t bring a camera and will let folks fill in the gaps, tell their story, etc..
Spencer & Sue - great climbing with both of you - it was a pleasure!!
darlenes pix:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/ShoestringGullyIceClimb#
leafs pix:
http://hikingleaf.smugmug.com/
Players:
Giggy
Frodo
Arm
Chinnokktrail
darl58
Leaf
Spencer
Hamtero
Suebiscuit
Normally, when you plan something like this you ask 8 people and you might get 4 to actually show. not this time, we got 8 to show!!
If I am being honest, I was a bit skeptical of heading up a technical route with 8 people because it would be a shooting gallery of falling ice. Arm had to bail due to work - which sucks, cuz, I love climbing with arm and he was going to lead a rope.
I ran the opinion by frodo on what he wanted to do and he said, lets head up - it will be fun. Frodo has his shite together, so that was good enough for me. I was convinced it would be ok and it didn't take much, since shoestring was on my tick list for a couple of years and for whatever reason it never panned out.
So we headed up, crossed the river and thrashed our way over the boulder fields and into the gully proper. After a bit of a slog, but not too far really - we hit the first ice pitch.
We decided we would do 2 teams of 3 and one of 2 and stagger the entry onto the ice.
I led a rope with Spencer on the end and Sue in the middle. Frodo led one with hamtero and chinook and darlene lead leaf. This worked out good.
I led the first pitch of pretty much crap ice that was not very well bonded to the rocks and quite thin, but we managed to scrape and claw out way up as the ice wasn't hard to climb at all and was maybe 20-25 feet all said and done. I belayed the other 2 up from a tree and we coiled in the rope to cross the rocks and very easy snow to the next ice pitch.
The next 2 ice pitches were solid WI2 and very nice to climb and as we got higher the ice got very nice. Spencer and I switched off leads and I don't recall who lead what, I think I led 4 pitches and he led 2 or 3? The belays took 16cm screws and were pretty bomber to belay the others up - very very nice stuff. Sue hasn’t been on all that much technical ice, but it didn’t show - she swung and kicked her way up it all no problem as did Spencer. Spencer was climbing so fast, I was having trouble keeping the belay up with him!! Shoestring has a nice alpine feel to it being in bewtween to high rock walls.
Team Darlene and Frodo weren't far behind. There was a party above us that sent stuff down on us and we sent stuff down on folks below. Its climbing - it happens. I led the crux and set up another bomber anchor below the next pitch and belayed both sue and spencer up the steepest ice of day. Team Darlene went to the left of us an climbed a wall of rotten sunbaked ice and I was too high up and over the bulge to see - but I think team frodo followed us up the nice crux pitch.
After the crux pitch Spencer led the next one up the ice to the top and then I led up to the final snow field and belayed them off another tree and Spencer swung right up to the the small final bulge, popped in a couple screws - . from there I moved past them and we slung tress and simu-climbed the final steep snow field to the top.
Excellent day with amazing people that I would trust with my life anyday. Special kudos to Chinook who did her first technical multi-pitch climb and Darlene who led her first ice - but…she leads very technical rock, so not a big deal for her.
Sat night, we met BoB and Stoney in intervale, had pizza, beer and bruins game. The next day, stoney, spencer, bob, leaf and I hit willeys slide for a few pitches of great climbing there and had the place to ourselves - which I was shocked by. There was a party below, but they never climbed higher than the first pitch and were practicing self arrest or something.
Great weekend of swinging the tools and getting some good mountaineering in.
I didn’t bring a camera and will let folks fill in the gaps, tell their story, etc..
Spencer & Sue - great climbing with both of you - it was a pleasure!!
darlenes pix:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/ShoestringGullyIceClimb#
leafs pix:
http://hikingleaf.smugmug.com/
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