Our foray into ice has begun, complete with screaming barfies and crap protection! We first went to the slab of ice just above Jewel lake for a day of toproping and generally messing around to get the feel for it. Then we decided it would be a good idea to test the waters by climbing West Gully above Black lake. We failed to even get to the base on our first attempt due to deep snow, lack of flotation and a late start. It always seemed like we move faster than everyone around us, the Jewel lake day confirmed this, but even we move slow in deep snow. The next attempt proved far more successful; we brought flotation, (albeit unecessary this time) left the trailhead at 6:00am, and despite a few hiccups made it to the base to find another party had beat us to it. Well, it's not like on a rock route where you can get on the same route as another group above you, with ice there is a constant flow of debris falling from above, especially when the route needs cleaning like West Gully did that day. We were forced to wait it out till they got to the third pitch, but little did we know they would take hours to do so. Eventually we got on, for my first ice lead ever I dealt with the infamous screaming barfies and poor ice to place scews in. The only placements I would have trusted to more than a ten foot fall were the belay anchors I put in at the top of the first pitch. The ice was incredibly plated with hollow portions filled with snow underneath. It made for an exciting but also technically easy pitch, as if I had fallen in most places one of my tools would have held. We bailed off the first pitch as it was getting dark since the party ahead took so long, and we didn't want to get in over our heads for our first real day of ice. Neither of us were disappointed with the prospect. So we made a couple v-threads, rapped off and got back to the car at 6:00pm after reversing the five mile approach absolutely exhausted and starving. Village Pizza and sleep ensued, a very good day.
Sam on Mills Lake headed to Jewel Lake ice
Jonny on Black Lake, our route directly above his head
Sam waiting for the guys ahead to hurry up, West Gully in the upper left, Stoneman to the right of his head. You can see the two guys ahead of us on the route, two small dots directly above the apex of the snow slope below the ice.
Jonny leading the first pitch of West Gully
About half way up the pitch the guys above send down some big watermelon-sized chunks of ice that thankfully came down to my right
The anchor
Psyched
Rapping off in intensifying snow. Doesn't get any better than that.
