Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Perseus
This spring I had an injured finger, so I had to take a break from climbing.  I started running a lot and doing pull ups in my basement.  I felt like I should also do something productive, climbing wise, during this time.  So I did what any good New England climber would do and started to scrub up and replace old hard wear on old climbs.
I turned my attention to the Barber wall on Cathedral Ledge. Specifically the zone from Lichen Delight to Retaliation. I knew there were climbs in that zone but were deeply covered in lichens. One line Medusa I started to scrub and as I got lower I realized I was not scrubbing the original line because the bolts were off to my right.  So I called up the first acentionists to see were it went they could not remember, it being back in 1986.  So I filed that one in the back of my head and didn't finish scrubbing the line not wanting to call any undue attention to it.  Granted this is the rappel line off the Lichen Delight ledge so it was not like I had discovered any thing people didn't know about. 
Fast forward to this fall. I rappelled in and scrubbed the holds up and started to see if there was gear.  I wanted to have the line go all trad because it was sort of squeezing one in there.  Well I though there was enough gear. Turns out after a ground fall, thank you Alexa and that tree for the save, and pulled pieces and a broken nut, I put two bolts in the rig.  
The route starts on Reconciliation and then traverses right to a  seam and some hard bouldery moves and then finishes up on the finger crack of Medusa.  I named it Perseus because he had slain Medusa in Greek mythology.
Broken  Nut
   
 

Sunday, September 29, 2013


Three alpine climbs and a Wedding 
 Nate dog on the Southwest corner of Saber
 And the crap roles in.















Saber is the tallest one on the center
The van got a couple of dents but was worth it.
Capitol peak and the Knife Edge Ridge

1st Pitch

1500 feet of Splitter Choss 5.7

Knife Edge Ridge
Sunset on the way up to Longs
D7

Dave on D7

Topping out


Monday, March 25, 2013

Check it out. The stock ice climbing footage is funny cause then they cut to the north end.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Cap Trinte
The Saguenay
Bayard Russell and I had made plans to return to Cap Trinte on Bay Eternite in the Saguenay Fjord, Quebec for round two.  For an account of round one http://www.whitemountainrockandice.com/2011/09/.   I had been in British Columbia for a month and had had little contact with Russell so I was unsure on the plan.  I got back to North Conway and we checked the weather for the area, it looked good so  we were off to the grocery store to get food.  We were canoe access/camping the cliff so we were buying all the good stuff you don't get when weight is a big concern.  Kielbasa, kale, beer, sandwich meat, and chicken to name a few.  

The drive was uneventful.  Its amazing what happens when you drive a nice car and look like a respectable citizen will do for you at he boarder.  By and I also got our does of fast food for the year on the drive, something about road tripping that gives me a hankering for fast food.  We got there in the night so we caught a few hours of sleep.  In the morning we packed the canoe up and paddled out to the Cap.  We both felt that the canoe ride was the more dangerous part of the trip because neither of us do much canoeing, especially on open water like that.  If the boat had tipped over I would have lost every single cam I own. Well it didn't and we got to the cliff. 
Bayard
We set up camp with the sweet camo tarp Bayard had purchased last year and with nothing else to do we got into it.  Our goal was to free climb the Grand Galets.  It was a 1000 foot stunning corner system.  The first pitch was 5.8 and dirty, not the best pitch.  The next one more than made up for it.  The topo said that the pitch was 5.13, so we were ready for some projecting.  Bayard got a top rope up and we both sent the crux on TR with in one or two try's.  Which leads use to believe it mite be slightly easier.  The pitch a mix of steming and crack climbing to another corner.  At the top you had to do some balancey moves out of the corner to a ledge.
The next day it rained so we chilled out. I was fully acclimatized to chilling out and reading at that point from being in B.C. but Bayard had to get up and move around.  He went to check out this cliff that we had scoped the previous year.  We found out that cliff was closed to climbing, from Pee Wee, because of a mushroom, LAME!
11d Dirty Corner
On day three we attacked. Our plan was to go to the top, freeing as much as possible, to check out as much of the route as possible.  We knew that it was going to require some cleaning.  Bayard sent the 2nd pitch first go as a warm up and I did to fallowing him. Another pitch took us to a big ledge system.  Off this ledge was 12a corner.  I started up the crack quickly became grainy and full of vegetation so I resorted to French free.  The next corner pitch would of been a classic any wear if it was not dirty with ferns growing our of it.  I again resorted to French free.  Bayard took the lead back over after this.  He got the scary 12c flake pitch.  There were some bolts missing next to the flake, so it quickly got scary.  For me too cause I was right in the firing line.  We ended up bailing because of this fact, By not wanting to kill me with death blocks.  We debated whether or not to clean the route as we rapped.  Having been defeated by crappy rock twice know on the Cap.  Having our camp right in the shell zone made that decision for us.
The next two days yielded more bad weather.  So we ended up cragging down by the water, which is all ways a treat.  Bayard onsighted an amazing 12a finger/tight hand crack.  We knew the weather was not going to get better and again were afraid of tipping in rough seas. So we bailed.
 
Beluga Belly





A month later after a beer or two, we discussed the prospects of going back.  Having spot another line that could lead to better rock, we got psyched.  Who knows if that was the beer talking but well see what the next year brings.        
Marie Haute

Tuesday, January 8, 2013



BUGABOO'S 2012




Aaron








Hounds tooth
Snow PatchVowell Glacier

BC



BC Rappels               Fred Beckey
 Minerate                                                                                            


 Snowpatch                                                       Sunshine Crack