Pfeifferhorn

Since the skiing more or less sucks everywhere right now, I talked Alex into coming up to the Pfieff to do the North Ridge. Despite botching the approach pretty well, we still reached the base after three hours and began climbing. My original plan was to do the complete ridge, but since a very large storm (which turned out to only produce two-inches) was supposed to move in early afternoon, we opted for the couloir approach to make things quicker. This cuts out the lower (and easier) crux, but it looked pretty fun, and I definitely want to come back and do it. About half way up the couloir, the snow turned to rain crust with three feet of sugar underneath and our pace slowed from running to crawling until we reached rock. I was pretty happy to find that the crux pitch was a bit harder than I had expected, and that our very minimal rack was just barely enough. I had to get pretty inventive with the next belay anchor, and I'm really happy that Alex didn't fall and test it. The upper ridge was super fun and went quickly thanks to boot prints from the last crew up here. After hiking back down to the base of the route, we started the hardest part of the day, which was getting back down on approach skis with Silveretta bindings and ice boots. Seriously, can anyone actually ski these things?

Things I learned (or re-learned):

• Bring ice clippers even if you don't bring ice screws.
• Bring more slings, they weigh nothing and you can never have enough.
• Cordalettes are better for alpine anchors than double-length slings since you're often using cracks that are very far apart (plus, you can cut them up for descent).
• Double-length slings are really nice for leads, since gear is often way off to the side.
  
• Long ropes are your friend (the crux pitch was exactly 60m).
• Put a sling on the pack to clip it to anchors.
  
• If you want to look like real gaper, then ski out White Pine on approach skis while struggling to simply stay on your feet.
  

All Alone

...well almost. Most of my ice-climbing friends were either out of town, hanging out with their significant others, skiing, or climbing with Fred Beckey. So, I packed up a bit of gear and went to Provo for a few pitches of rope soloing. Keelan was there giving Fred a toprope. Besides seeing some people skipping the first-pitch walk off and instead choosing to rap over the top of Keelan and knock ice on an 87-year-old legend, the day was pretty good.

Ouray

Three day weekend in Ouray with Jen. The plan was to get in a ton of pitches on Saturday, climb something outside of town on Sunday, and then cool down in the park on Monday before driving home. Unfortunately, the park was packed on Saturday, so we had to hunt for open climbs, then it snowed a foot and pretty much shut down the backcountry. Either way, Ouray served up a good helping of ice as it always does, and I can't wait to get back there again. Big shout out to the bartender at the Bien Tiempo who poured the dregs of everyone's margs directly into our pitcher. You rock!

Training Day

Jesse and I decided to do a lap on a 1400ft WI4/5 near the "town" of Sherman. We started off the day by starting up the right trail and ended up turning a 30-minute approach into a hour-and-a-half post-hole fest. Oh well, we needed a workout anyway. We soloed up the first pitch, belayed the crux, and then simal climbed the multiple 40-foot steps of WI3 above. The only real suck of the day came when I tried the ice-tool bottle opener trick for the first time and ended up snapping off the neck. Glass just hardens your stomach, right?

Lake City Ice

The very tiny town of Lake City, Colorado has it's own ice park thanks largely to one man ("Lake City Mike" if my memory is right) who spends his own money to keep it running and insure the place. Picture a mini Ouray that no one knows about. Pretty damn cool really. Anyway, I joined the Jesse and Glen crew, which included several other missfits, and spent the day swinging tools into manufactured ice and scratching on rock. Good times were had by all.

Train Your Weaknesses

Jesse and I both suck at aid climbing. We can do it, but we prefer to just do something else. We also have never aid climbed in the winter. So today, since I happened to be in Denver, we got went down to Boulder Canyon and did a couple pitches of air in full winter kits. Neither one of us are really good at it, but we can both do it, so we found out what we need to find out and are now done with that experiment.

Early Morning Ice

Despite getting shut down yesterday, Jen and I got up at the same time and ran up to the Scruffy Band for a quick lap. Ice was great, temps were great, smiles all around.

Too Many People

The great thing about SLC is the access to amazing terrain. The shitty thing is that a couple million other people have the same access. Jen and I got up early, drove to LCC, hiked to the scruffy band, and turned around when we saw another crew on it. Damn it. What the hell are you people doing on the ice at 7:00 in the morning? What's wrong with you people?

Training Lap

Another lap up the Pickle. For some reason I climbed like complete and total crap, but it was still really nice to get out. I was stoked that we were all alone, but there were five new packs at the base when we got down. Pretty standard really.

More Ice

Jen and I had planned to go down to Joes today, but we were way thrashed from five hours at the ice rink (like ice climbing, except flatter) and opted to stay local instead. We went to Provo where everyone was on the first pitch of Stairway like normal. Luckily, no one had walked around the corner, so we got all the lower Bridalveil stuff to ourselves, and it was in great shape except that wind coming off the main falls gave the belayer a free shower on each pitch. By the time we climbed everything that was formed and not soaking wet, we went back around to Stairway for a bonus lap before heading back to town for some much deserved rest.

Provo

In an effort to get on as much ice as possible this season, I met up with Keelan while it was still dark and we drove to Provo. When we got there, the parking lot already had four cars in it. By the time we left, I'm pretty sure beginning ice climber in Utah was on the first pitch of Stairway. Keelan and I went up to the second and played around for a while. Very chill day, perfect temps. I'm pretty sure that this was the single most enjoyable (in the traditional sense of the word) day of ice climbing I've ever had, even if we didn't get much done.

After ice climbing, I met up with Jen and learned speed skating and curling. No, seriously.

Roadside

Jen and I joined Rob and Allison for a quick lap up Mt Aire. The two of us skied out at the false summit so Jen could make it to work on time while Rob and Allison continued a touch higher to explore a bit. Either way, the snow was amazing and the weather was perfect. It was really nice to finally ski this thing since I see it on the way home from work every single day.

Taking Skis For A Walk

Ben and I got a way early start in order to get up Coalpit #4 and back down before work. Instead of starting the day off with 3000 feet of amazing skiing, we thrashed through trees and up the bottom of the not-quite-filled-in gully before throwing in the towel after an hour and a half. On the bright side, I did get back to Salt Lake in time to catch a half hour of sleep in my truck before catching the vanpool.

Pickle

Andy and I took a lap up GWI tonight and found it to be in relatively wet and pretty thin conditions. Somehow, I managed to bring along a camera but no memory card, so I don't have any photos from the nights adventures. Instead, here's a shot of how I wish things looked right now.

Ice Cold

Short day in Provo Canyon with Jen. The ice was bullet-hard and brittle, but it was still nice to get out and swing the tools a bit.

Newyears Tour

After a night of drinking and sled-assist-sledding up at Brighton, those of us sober enough to tour got out at about noon and basically froze our asses off. Stay away from anything that has seen a bunch of wind, as the breakable crust is gnarly. The powder down low, on the other hand, is amazing.