Northern Ice

Northern Ice!

Kick, Kick, Swing Swing. Back in December I posted that I got into the AMC Mountaineering Ice Program, and last weekend I had the chance to do the first leg of the training. I drove with two cohorts from the program from Boston to Glen, NH to stay at the coveted Harvard Cabin. However, a week prior I volunteered to “camp” as there was too many people signed up to stay inside the cabin. So I trucked my trusty one man tent and two sleeping bags and braved the harsh northern winter, for Friday. I mean it wasn’t that bad. I was inside until midnight and slept for 7 hours like a baby. But then the fun began.

On Saturday we trucked to the Glen Junction Diner, and ate a hearty breakfast. Then we were en-route to the famed Frankenstein Cliffs. Day one proved excellent. Yours truly climbed ice in many ways; no hands using feet/crampons only, using one axe, and ultimately a couple of routes utilizing 2 axes and crampons. We also learned how to safely move (ascend/descend) snow and ice slopes, staying warm in 15 degrees, and placing and removing ice screws. The day culminated in a beer or two at Margarita Grill, and dinner with all of the leaders, assistants and students back at the Cabin. So during dinner I struck up a conversation with one of the leaders, and asked about the sleeping arrangements. Apparently even though they thought that we were overbooked sleeping wise, there were actually less people than expected sleeping in the cabin. So I wimped out and went inside to sleep. Making me feel more like a wimp, both nights one guy slept in an OR Bivvy sack. Yeah, I am a wimp, oh well.

Day two was to be a low grade multi-pitch instructional day, however after getting to the parking lot of Willy’s slide, estimated temperature was 0 degrees, and wind speed about 50mph at least, our instructors deemed that we would be “retarded” to try to go up on the exposed route. I didn’t see any actual verification of this weather, but as we drove to Willy’s (Crawford Notch) the wind shear, was blowing my car (a Subaru outback with 3 grown men and equipment) all over the road. Needless to say I was very pleased to be called retarded, and we headed back to the Frankenstein cliffs area right down the road. Instead of going back to where we climbed the day prior, we hiked in to Arethusa Falls. This is an amazing waterfall and a pretty gentle hike in, during the summer. With snow, a heavy pack and mountaineering boots it felt like three miles. Just the same, it was a nice day, sun was out, and when we got to the base of the cliff, there was no wind, just bone breaking cold, 10 degrees by my thermometer, and likely actually colder. I was so cold that I had to keep taking off my boots to rub my toes and “crack” them to get the blood flowing. This was really my fault, not the cold. I wore too thick socks which was cutting proper blood flow. So lesson learned wear thinner socks.

I had been into Arethusa Falls with Kate a couple of years ago, and hiking in I was curious how I was going to climb this monster waterfall. Our instructors set about 3 ropes for us to try, and a couple of folks did multi pitch routes. I do have to say that I rocked that ice! I loved the climb, though I was scared a little shitless when one of my foot placements slipped, but otherwise felt very strong!

All in all this was an awesome weekend. Once my cohorts post some pictures I will add some links.