A real quick post tonight to upload some photos from today and last week. The summer guiding season isn’t quite over yet and today I had quite a bit of fun climbing on Whitehorse and Cathedral today, but I’m turning in early as I have a partner lined up for an early morning attempt at a 2 hour car to car ascent of the Northeast Ridge of the Pinnacle. Stay tuned for a trip report this weekend!
Crazy busy week with 5 straight days of guiding! It all started Monday when another AMC Teen Wilderness Camp Group joined us for 3 days of rock climbing instruction. We enjoyed beautiful weather that first day up at Square Ledge.
Vivian rappels the 150 foot West FaceThe girls rocked at belaying through-out the three daysVivian starts up the Chimney Route
Unfortunately a deluge of rain was inbound for Tuesday, but the group was motivated to try to get a little outdoor climbing in before we would have to swim back to the van. We got a couple ropes set up on the Thin Air face as the first few drops started, and then the kids took multiple laps on the face despite the moderate to heavy rain. I was glad I had brought that quint-essential piece of guide equipment:
Thanks CT!Even climbed the first pitch to clean the anchors with it
We returned to EMS North Conway to dry out and spent the afternoon creating some bouldering competitions on our modest but creative wall.
Bouldering Comp
For our last day we split into multiple rope teams and climber 4-5 pitches on Whitehorse Ledge before rapping and top-roping over at the Ethereal Buttress area. No pics of that day unfortunately but everyone who tried Seventh Seal made it to the top!
Thursday was a unique guiding day for me in as such that it was a Mount Washington Ascent. While I do a fair share of these during our winter season they are not as common in the summer, when hoards of hikers climb this popular mountain displaying the full spectrum of preparation and trail knowledge. Despite having a fair amount of experience, Alan and his 18 year old son Matty had learned climbing with a local guide has some advantages, and I was happy to return to the mountain that I spend so much time on in the colder months.
Hitting the trail from Pinkham Notch Visitor Center at 8:30amCrystal Cascade
The bottom portion of the Tuckerman Ravine trail was quite crowded for a Thursday, but the weather was fair and it is summer vacation still! As we passed the Huntington Ravine trail the crowds thinned out a bit. A mother resting at the Huntington Ravine trail sign before descending mentioned her teenage sons had continued up the Tuckerman Ravive trail after consulting their map and determining that the sign indicating this was the Huntington Ravine Trail was not correct, or meant something else. A harmless mistake at this point, it reminded me that map reading skills, and navigation in general, are a much needed skill for this vastly growing outdoor user group. (Yup that is a plug for my Wilderness Navigation Course).
We soon reached Hermit Lake.
First views of the bowl
We took a quick breather on the caretaker’s hut porch then continued to climb up to the floor of the ravine. Just below the “open book” waterfall we stopped again before tackling the steeper bits of the headwall. While Alan & Matty snacked I started sniffing around for any remnants of snow. Yes, it was August 13th. But I had heard a couple weeks ago there was still a decent sized patch of snow. A month ago I could see it from Square Ledge. Today it looked like it had finally all melted. Then I saw something out of place between the rocks. Reaching down it was about a foot in length, covered in dirt & needles so it blended in with the rocks. I rinsed it off in the water cascading down the headwall and a few hikers gawked in disbelief. The last of the snow in Tuckerman Ravine:
No glacier this year
We started up the headwall.
Just above the first waterfall
When we reached the rim of the bowl we took another break and looked back towards Lion’s Head.
See the hiker out on the diving board?
A slow steady push up the summit cone had us on top at 12:45.
A well earned summit photo
It was an excellent day with a great father/son team. I’m thinking they might be back for a Mount Washington Observatory Overnight with us this winter!
That brings us to today! Claude, his wife Melissa, and daughter Katie, are adventure incarnate. With a long list of tales from whitewater rafting out west, canyoneering, climbing here and in the Tetons, horseback riding, and much more I knew we were in for a fun day. We headed over to Whitehorse Ledge and climbed the Standard Direct route right to the top. It’s been awhile since I’ve guided 3 people up Whitehorse, and I was reminded that 600 feet of rope is a lot of rope. The fresh breezes made the day quite pleasant and we reached the top at 1:30pm. An excellent day with a really fun family!
Morning lightLooking down from Crystal PocketHanging out at Crystal PocketSummit shot
That’s it! What a great week. Tomorrow off and then teaching another Wilderness Navigation Course on Sunday. Thanks for reading!
I guess I’ll keep with the moderate speed climbing theme and share some beta on today’s 2.5 hour car to car ascent of this classic alpine rock climb. We’ll get the big disclaimers out of the way first;
1) This route is committing! From Mountain Project’s description: “The Pinnacle is above treeline on one of America’s deadliest peaks. The weather is unpredictable and often comes in from the west (over the Mt. Washington summit, thus invisible). Snow occurs in every month of the year on Mt. Washington, and high winds, driving rain, and thunderstorms are common. Be sensible. Check the forecast, get an early start, and be prepared to bail if things go bad.”
2) We used what I call the “modern” approach… the Auto-Road. While this “approach” cuts the hiking time down to less than 20% of the “traditional” approach/descent time from Pinkham Notch it has two disadvantages. First, you can’t really retreat down should bad weather roll in. As such this approach should only be used during very clear weather windows. Second, cost. $36 for a car, driver, and passenger. That works out to $18/ea. So my $.02 on using the road:
If you have never done the route from Pinkham I’d suggest doing it that way a time or two. It’s cheaper, and much more aesthetic the first time you see the grandness of Huntington Ravine from the bottom of the “Fan”. Figure 2.5 hours for approach plus or minus 45 minutes depending on fitness, and another 2.5 hours for the descent after un-roping (if not tagging the summit). 7am is probably a good start time.
If the weather forecast is grand and you want to cut out an average of 5+ hours of hiking from your day, this method is quite sweet. Mike and I left the car at 9:40am and hiked down to the Huntington Ravine trail. From the parking lot it took us 6 minutes to reach the large cairn at the top of the ravine, where we could see one party just starting the route.
Heading down the headwall
Scrambling down the the headwall trail to the base of the route took us another 30 minutes. It’s a definitely 4th class trail so it could take longer based on your experience with down climbing with exposure. We roped up and I started up the first couple pitches in approach shoes. After 300 feet I caught up to a party ahead of us at the base of Pitch 3 and built an anchor. When Mike arrived we chilled for a few minutes to re-rack while Dustin’s party finished the 5.8 pitch 4 variation (having combined P3 & P4). We followed suit with Mike leading behind them and stepping out left to easier ground after the crux moves.
Mike starts Pitch 3 while Dustin cleans Pitch 4 higher up…
Combining these two pitches makes sense to me, but rope drag can definitely be an issue. Consider back cleaning that piece after the “groveled on my stomach move”. You’ll know it when you do it. After it is an “ok” pin that can be backed up if you like, then un-clip that last cam and life will be easier!
I followed the 5.8 pitch, still in approach shoes, and resolved to “quick-alpine-style” right at the crux (read he pulled or stepped on the pin). I’m not ashamed 😉
Once I reached the belay I took off for the upper bits. We still had two parties heading to the idyllic “Fairy Tale Traverse” ahead of us so I choose the easier 5th & 6th pitches without stopping to anchor until just below the final 30 foot technical section at the top. I belayed Mike up and then took a more solid belay for the final 5.6 corner and reached the top as the first party we saw while descending was de-gearing for a summit bid.
The first party on the route finishing the “Fairy Tale Traverse”Mike finishes the end of the roped climbingDustin starts the “Fairy Tale Traverse”
We headed up and to the car reaching at 12:10 pm, just under 2.5 hours. ViewRanger track log reported 1.49 miles round trip, about 1,200 feet elevation down then up.
I’d like to be a bit more optimized for my next attempt to get this one under 2 hours. For those who are SUPER comfy with the grade and have done it before, this is what I am planning on for next run:
Rack: .3-#2, no doubles, no nuts/tri-cams (thinking speed here). 6 alpine draws.
Rope: 9.2mm 30m rope. Simul to P3, belay 5.8 variation (my measurement is combining P3&P4 is still only 100 feet). Simul to last 5.6 crux. 30m rope will cut quite a bit of weight (and time coiling/flaking).
If the disclaimers at the beginning weren’t enough, these ideas are great for those who have scouted/climbed this route a lot. If it is your first time on it slow it down and have a great day!
While that’s it for speed climbing for a bit, heading into quite a few days of guiding camp groups, mostly from the AMC. Should be quite a nice week weather wise. Hope you all get out and get some good climbing in.
I know people who solo Upper Refuse in less than 10 minutes, so we are not trying to break any free-solo records here. I would like to share in detail what I think is a really fun (and relatively safe) way to cruise this classic moderate route if you, and your partner, are quite comfortable at the grade (for arguments sake let’s say 5.6+). A little back-story is in order…
About 10 years ago I was sitting with my buddy Rob at the well known “Moat” watering hole after climbing somewhere. We had just finished our 2nd mugs of libation and somehow the conversation made its way to Upper Refuse. I think it was because we were talking about how full length pitches on a recent Red Rocks trip were changing our perception. I mentioned that the three pitch Upper Refuse route could be done in one 60 meter pitch. Rob balked. We told the bartender to leave the tab open, we would be right back.
Bar-stool to bar-stool we took 58 minutes.
Here’s the detailed beta on how to not only climb this route quickly, but with only 2 slings to manage rope drag! Obvious detailed spoilers ahead:
1) Drive to the top of Cathedral. Rack up at the car. My slimmed down rack after a couple hundred ascents of this moderate (in order of placement, all Black Diamond C4’s):
.4, .5, 1, 2, .3, .75
2 alpine draws.
No nuts, tri-cams, etc… cams are faster for all involved.
Slow jog down the climbers trail and take the Barber Wall approach trail to the base of the route.
Rope up.
If you take the left-then-right variations of this ramp, you can have almost no rope drag and reach the 2 pin anchor at the top of the 3rd pitch in a 60m rope stretch using only 2 extend alpine draws (and 6 pieces of judiciously placed pro).
Proceed as follows:
Stay in the corner and climb easy 5.3-5.4ish face until about 40 feet up. A perfect splitter crack on the left side of the corner takes a .4 up high, clip straight to the sewn draw.
Stay close to the corner and wander right just a bit before stemming out to a great stance with a tapering crack about level with the traditional 1st pitch anchor 20 feet right. Bomber .5, clipped direct as well.
As the flaring crack ends step right to great foot holds and up to what I think of as the 5.6 crux. Bomber #1, clipped direct as well, before making a few steps up to easier climbing and crossing over the traditional chimney section of the route.
#2 placed under the small roof before making the side pull move up and right to leave the original chimney corner variation (extend with alpine draw). Staying in the original chimney is less exposed but adds to much drag.
Reach the 2nd Belay Ledge, then .3 placed in the left side twin cracks after making one easy step up off the ledge, and clipped direct.
Move up and out right on great foot holds, place the .75 in the nice horizontal 10 feet from the top of the ramp, clipped with the other extended alpine draw, and finish the ramp. Your belayer may need to remove their belay device for you to reach the pins.
Looking down the route the rope runs very straight and there is minimal drag.
This past week I got to run up this with my friends Christa and Jason and as a party of 3 we went car-to-car in 35 minutes.
I would strongly discourage someone from trying this unless the had already climbed the route a few times to get acquainted. A good warm up would be to combine P1&P2 staying left so you have better communication with your second. It is quite possible with a “short 60” your belayer may need to start climbing a few feet before you can reach the pins, so both climbers should be very competent at the grade. This past session I skipped the pins at the top of the ramp and continued all the way up to the fence, knowing my two partners where super solid at the grade.
This is a crazy busy route in the summer, especially on weekends. Traffic from Fun House, Three Birches & Bombardment, can bottle-neck here around noon-2pm almost every nice day of the summer. My advice? Climb it really early, or later in the day. Using the Barber Wall approach trail can make it a quick adventure (getting lost finding the Barber Wall approach trail can make it a long adventure).
For someone that is really comfortable on 5.6, it is a really stellar climb to combine the whole ramp into one pitch. Don’t hose your second though! If they have never climbed Upper Refuse slow down and let them enjoy it! Stop at the Bombardment Pin anchor, the cozy 2nd pitch ledge, the top of the ramp, and add a fun 4th pitch right to the fence to give them that feeling of “finishing” on the top of the cliff.
But… if you’ve climbed it dozens of times, and want to stretch your lungs & legs… well… have at it. I’m pretty sure you could car-to-car it in under 20 minutes (and still be on belay where it matters). That’s my next goal when I feel like doing something stupid.
Thanks for reading… oh, pictures from a great week with good friends from New Paltz!
EMS Schools Guide Jason Hurwitz starts up Wanderlust, 5.8, Humphrey’s LedgeChrista starts her first 5.9 lead, They Died Laughing, Cathedral LedgeGreat rest before…A great bit of climbing…Looking relaxed
Some visiting Adirondack climbers were looking for a diversion since the well known North End routes were a bit occupied so I steered them to the great over-looked gem, originally call “The Roof” but now currently called “Raise the Roof” after a more recent 2nd pitch has been added. I hope they stop by here for the pics I offered:
Raise the RoofReaching the roof…
That’s it! Thanks again for reading. Been a bit humid for my skin but cool Fall air is just around the corner! Oh, wait… it’s not August yet? Well, Camelbak climbing weather continues then!
EMS offers two courses in regards to the subject, a 3-Day Learn to Lead Course, and a 2-Day Self Rescue Course. However I most commonly provide this type of material in a one-day Private Course format. Yesterday, it was with three EMS Manchester Retail Store employees taking advantage of the excellent employee benefit of a few free lessons every year!
Today it was with a father of 2 young girls who had some experience taking them top-roping in Pawtuckaway State Park, but has yet to actually start leading. The truth is, most guide services offer this type of program, but the contents can vary from guide service to guide service, and even from guide to guide within a particular service. In this post I plan to “free flow spew” in detail how I approach this topic, and if you can stay with me to the end I’ll let you know how you can be the proud owner of a sweet new knife from Colonial Knives!
The first thing I’ll say about “Learn to Lead” curriculum as the topic is massive in scope, and for most aspiring lead climbers there is quite a bit of ground work that should be laid before tying into the “sharp end” and taking responsibility for someone else’s security. In fact there are skills that one should be moderately proficient at even if one only intends to set up top-ropes for family & friends. Without further ado I’ll start prescribing how I typically approach a day like this…
After traveling to Cathedral Ledge we drive to the top of the cliff. A short hike brings us to the scenic “Classroom”, where we review the basics of placing traditional gear in cracks.
Active Protection: Tri-Cams (actively placed), Cams
Then we cover anchoring strategies. Single point anchors. Dual point anchors. Tri-point anchors. Joining methods;
Magic-X “aka Sliding X”. Limiting knots. Pre-equalized. Combination anchors. The still popular pre-equalized cordelette method. The newer and sweet “Quad” method.
At this point it’s time to demonstrate a great method for extending a top-rope anchor 40 feet out over the edge to get the rope hanging perfect. Scene safety strategies are discussed. Easy ways to use your static rope with a clove-hitch, belay device, Gri-Gri, or just a friction hitch, to safe guard you near the cliff edge.
Then the “BHK“, or Big Honking Knot, is introduced as we extend our “Master Point” out over the edge and make it redundant while never having to get close to the edge. Tips & tricks of the trade here are abundant.
Now that we have a sweet TR over the 40 foot Classroom Ledge we hike down to the base to cover:
Bottom top-rope site considerations. Belayer position/anchoring strategies. Direct belay off ground anchors, the “how’s & why’s”.
At this point it is important to introduce some real life motivation as to why one should be able to “Escape the Belay“. Skills introduced and practiced:
“Muleing” off a plate style belay device to go “hands free” (Black Diamond ATC, Petzl Reverso)
Transferring the load to a ground anchor via a friction hitch & Munter-Mule.
After practice getting proficient at that I introduce “Ascending a loaded line” and “plucking” a climber off the wall via a Counter-Balance Rappel.
At this point some readers, especially some with vast amounts of climbing experience, might question why are these skills necessary? When would I need to do this?
This type of training is preparing for quite a few “worst case” scenarios. A climber on top-rope gets their <insert body part> completely stuck in a crack. You can’t lower them, and you must go up the rope in order to assist.
Perhaps more likely, especially for more experience climbers who wish to be competent “seconds” on multi-pitch traditional rock climbs… what if that experienced climber who is taking you up Moby Grape whips, catches the rope behind his leg, and knocks himself out? Can you escape the belay and ascend the loaded rope quickly to provide potentially life saving first aid? Can you get that injured climber down 4 pitches?
This type of skill self-improvement is not over the top. The annual Accidents in North American Mountaineering publication has quite a fair amount of accidents where the belayer was left feeling helpless while they could do nothing more than hold the brake strand and call 911…. then…. wait.
As climbers who choose to put themselves in a high-risk environment we owe it to our families and friends to learn basic skills to get ourselves off a cliff after an unfortunate event.
Ok, off my soap box and back to our day…
After another belay escape & leader rescue we hike back up to the anchors. A little time is spent looking at ways one can “anchor in” on a multi-pitch climb;
A girth-hitched sling, a Metolius PAS, using the climbing rope; Overhand on a bight, Figure-8, Clove Hitch.
Throughout we discuss the advantages & disadvantages of each strategy. An example of how to “thread to lower”, a great method of cleaning & lowering off of a sport climb is demonstrated.
Then we go over techniques for belaying a second; Direct off the harness. Re-directs through the anchor. Direct off the anchor; munter-hitch, BD ATC Guide or Petzl Reverso. Then the all important “How to lower a climber off an auto-locking plate device“.
By now, it is time for lunch, so we retreat to the scenic Airation Buttress for some grub and less techno-bauble chat.
For the afternoon I wanted to demonstrate some multi-pitch efficiency, but first a look a rappelling efficiency is in order. We hike down to the top of the Barber Wall. Here we discuss the inspection of rappel anchors. Systematically; tree, slingage, linkage, middle-points, rope-management “back-stacking”, etiquette in tossing ropes, pre-rigging, back-ups, all discussed, demo’d, and practiced… and down the wall we go.
At the base of the Barber Wall we review the difference between 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th class climbing… “Oh, so that’s why it is a 5.8″! We then short-rope ourselves over to Upper Refuse, happy to have a rope on for the short 4th class step just before our destination climb.
Now, at 1pm, we actually start to climb. Discussion on the when & why of placing gear, the mental components, and efficiency in cleaning gear is covered. We arrive at the first belay ledge, and the first photo of the day is finally taken:
Echo Lake in the background, and Ken was eyeing Black Crack as a cool feature to climb!
Here we look at using “fixed” protection to anchor in with. Two pitons, and a cam I placed, form a perfect “combination anchor” employing the use of both the “Magic-X” and the pre-equalized double length sling.
Belay transitions slow more climbers down than almost any other skill so we talk about what can happen to make these transitions smoother, and then I’m off on the next two pitches. The required great shot at the top of the Upper Refuse ramp:
I know I have a lot of these shots on my blog! I need to put a college together at some point!
After topping out Ken had plenty of energy to burn so we took a run up The Lookout Crack (5.9), a short but fun & technical finger crack. We had about a half-hour left to squeeze something more out of our day, and since Ken was up for a burn I decided to lower him down the last pitch of The Prow (5.10a).
Classic climbing + outlandish exposure = FUN
It goes without saying we covered a tremendous amount of technical material today. It was clear within our first hour on the cliff Ken was picking up information that would help him take his daughters rock climbing in a more efficient, and possibly even safer, manner after our day together. I had the feeling at the end of the day, back at the shop, while I helped Ken pick out a few pieces here & there to flush out “his kit”, that I’d see him again. He has the desire to improve, the determination to gain confidence, and an all around easy-going nature that would see him do well in anything he strives to do. I’m looking forward to climbing with him again, whether on the rock, or this winter for a taste of ice.
Now that that recap is over lets look at potentially winning a sweet new knife to hang off the back of your harness!
We will keep this competition super simple! No Facebook likes needed, (though you can still like NEAlpineStart here if you want). All you need to do to get an entry for this $70 MRSP knife I reviewed here is comment below on how you “learned to lead”. If you haven’t learned to lead yet comment on why you haven’t. Or just comment. One comment = one entry. One entry per person. Comment by 11:59PM on 7/24/15. Drawing held on 7/25/15 and announced on this blog and via email.
Up next, a review on the Petzl Men’s Cordex Belay Gloves! Preview, they are pretty damn sweet (as far as belay gloves can be)!
