Ice is nice!
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Tammy on the final runnel of White Line Fever. |
We opened Cloudsplitter's winter '08-'09 season this past weekend and we're off to a great start and looking forward to a very busy holiday season.
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Tammy climbs and Bruce gets the action on camera! |
Tammy K is a new guest and she joined us all weekend for the first of many days we have planned this winter. She's an avid and accomplished rock climber and long-time fan of the Gunks who more recently has come to know the Adirondacks- and she's hooked! While she had done a little ice climbing at festivals and group workshops in the past, she hadn't really had a chance to work w/ someone one-on-one to develop and pursue her own personal goals for ice climbing. The weekend together gave us plenty of time and space to first get her equipment and technique dialed in with a day of sunny top-roping and single-pitch climbing in Cascade Pass, laying the groundwork for multi-pitch mileage on our second day.
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Tammy K above Chapel Pond on White Line Fever. |
On Sunday we hit the ground running and enjoyed a fun climb of Crystal Ice Tower-White Line Fever, which is a fun and varied multi-pitch route (WI 3-4, 500') above Chapel Pond involving a little bit of everything- from moderately steep (and well-traveled!) water ice on the first pitch (aka Crystal Ice Tower), to an alpine style runnel of snow, ice and neve on the second pitch, to a long, thin and sometimes mixed final pitch to the top of the Gully Cliff. One long rappel brought us back to the forested ledge, and a short traverse to the main gully brought us back to the base in time for a snack and a quick tour of the Pond before Tammy and Bruce left for an easy afternoon drive home. Tammy will be back in a couple of weeks, and with the skills she built this past weekend, we'll start working on her 'tick list' of trophy ice climbs here in the Adirondacks!
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Tammy with the 'frozen moss' finale! |
Thanks for another great day with Cloudsplitter Tammy! See you again in a couple of weeks!
