In guiding, there are many hazards that one must have great depth of knowledge about to be able to mitigate risk. Snow stability is one of them. Eric works for Colorado Mountain School, and they have random study sessions based on what training is coming up. He invited me to join a group of them studying for their Avalanche Level 3 course. I have to take this course in a year or so, and this was a great opportunity to refresh some of my skills from Level 2. One of the main points I took away from this evening was know the weak layer, know what is above it, and know how this relates in time and space.
North Face of Notchtop
Andrew Councel, Lindsay Fixmer, and I headed up to check out the North Face of Notchtop in Rocky Mountain National Park today with a great forecast! When we got to the base of the climb, there were splitter blue skies, and the route looked good. I started up on the first pitch, which was a little thin and had some mixed climbing (which isn’t normal). As I was getting into the crux, a storm blew in quite rapidly. I moved through the crux and on up to a piton and ice axe belay and put Lindsay on when the slope to our left cut loose. Andrew got a little bit of the sluff at the last belay but nothing to worry about. The bowl above us was getting wind loaded, and it would only be a matter of time before it would cut loose.
Andrew took the lead on the next pitch, and we started belaying two ropes to speed up the climbing. As he got about 100 feet off the belay with only one good ice screw in, the bowl let loose. I started yelling…
Andrew was below a bulge and could not see the sluff coming, but it was of decent size. He hunkered down on his tools as the snow moved over him and down towards us. Because of the slope angle to the left of us, it barely touched us. Andrew set a belay and brought us up to him.
Andrew kept leading as it would be the fastest rope management and flew up to the next belay. The bowl cut loose again…
This time it hit Lindsay and I pretty hard at the belay and knocked the rope coils down the slope. We made quick work of the next few pitches and got out of the avalanche danger. The slopes on the way down were wind-blown slab and stable which made for good cramponing. The winds steadily increased and made the descent very cold.
All in all a good day of climbing. With that being said ,it could have gone pretty bad with the moving snow.
Here is a picture of the route we took up the North Face of Notch top while the weather was still good.
The picture below is of the Crux.
Mammut Ultimate Hoody (2)
I put the Ultimate jacket to the test this past week. While ice climbing in Canada, we got some very “Canadian” conditions. On the uphill approaches, the long pit zips come in handy while the jacket still knocks down the wind. Some of the climbs were still dripping, and even though the jacket is marketed as windstopper, it sheds water very well and kept me dry. I will be using this jacket later this month on Aconcagua and will report back then!
Cristin and Caroline Julian
Cristin lives in Florida with her husband, Matt and children, Ben and Caroline. They all have a climbing problem! Cristin came in this day with two objectives: 1. practice multi-pitch rescue and 2. lead Second Coming.
After a few hours of multi-pitch rescue practice at our climbing school, we headed out to the rock. Cristin did an amazing job leading and Caroline did an even better job lead belaying and seconding the pitches (her first time).
Mike on Table Rock
Mike did a great job leading on Table Rock in Linville Gorge. We had a spectacular day with splitter skies and incredible climbing. This is a great time of year to have an adventure in North Carolina!
Mummy, Daddy, and the Prow
Joe Brown and I camped with another FMG party the night before near Table Rock in preparation for our day in the Gorge. After some good campfire stories and envisioning the ice climbing to come this winter season, we were off to bed!
We woke up in the morning to crisp air and blue skies. After a quick breakfast, we started hiking around 8:30 A.M. We got down into the Gorge, and Joe didn’t hesitate at the first pitch lead. We moved at a great pace, swapping leads all day and were back at the car around 3:00 P.M.
A great day of climbing with great folks….doesn’t get much better!