Adirondack Ice Climbing: Power Play (WI 5), Chapel Pond
It's hard to believe it's only the first week of December. We seemed to have skipped the drudgery of 'stick season' and gone straight into winter. Yee-hah. Something about the reflected light on the snow and ice do wonders for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
While many ice lines are still thin, a few- like the center stage classic WI 5 Power Play at Chapel Pond, beg to be climbed. The easier ramp is not really 'in'- making the straight up pillar the only option. The position is spectacular. I had a chance to climb it yesterday with Chris F.- a valley local. We got pumped silly climbing leashless right out of the gate, and had a great day out. Climbing steep ice can be intense, but the reward is the sublime experience of scratching and picking your way up a candled vertical ice column- high above the birch trees and the wind-swept ice on Chapel Pond, snowflakes swirling in the wind. That's what it's all about.
