Afternoon Ice Climbing

3rd February 2008

by Jay Harrison

This is a brief account of our Sunday afternoon jaunt on the Waterfall. Very few pictures, for once again the weather was mild and misty, with very flat lighting.

At noon, I pulled into the driveway, having snuck out of church a wee bit early. Valerie, Kevin, Maurice, and Jackie were there already, awaiting my arrival. My gear was all packed, so all I had to do was change my clothes and we were on our way. Kevin opted to hike up Crane's trail while the rest of us walked out from my house toward the Waterfall Wall for a leisurely ice climb.

Because there were three of us, I decided to swap packs so I could carry an extra rope. That took a bit longer, but I hurriedly switched things over and away we went. The walk out was arduous: there's crust that is just barely not able to support a person, so each step would almost not break through, then with a hollow clunk, an oversized block would break underfoot. Usually the snow wasn't very deep, but it was deep enough to make lifting and plodding along this way tiresome. We trudged onward, our dogs tapping immunely along on top of the crust beside us most of the way.

The Waterfall Wall was in great shape when we got there, just about the best it has been since the first thaw just after Christmas. I began pulling gear out and realized I had left my harness at home! I must have missed it in the pack swap. Hmmm. I'm comfortable soloing this ice, but belaying above would be difficult. I asked Maurice if he wanted to lead the first pitch. He's done it before, confidently, so he took the sharp end and away we went.

He dispatched the first pitch in short order, placing four screws in 35 meters. Valerie was next in line, and with her new pair of BD Venoms, she made her way rapidly up the ice, only slowing to remove pro. She got the hang of this quickly also, so in no time, I tied onto the end of the second rope with a bowline-on-a-coil and began climbing upward. The mild weather and thick ice made for enjoyable exercise.

After joining the others on top, I asked if we wanted to continue onward, and everyone seemed to like the idea, so I wallowed up to the next patch of ice. I threw a screw or two in for good practice, but the ice was so fine and sticky that it wasn't terribly necessary. With 70 meters of rope, I found I could climb all the way up through both second and third pitches to the top of the waterfall. I belayed while first Valerie, then Maurice came up to join me.

Time was growing a bit short, so we rapped down, using both ropes for that pitch. Maurice went first so he could give Valerie a fireman's belay. It was her first time rappeling. She did fine, and later said she prefers that to being lowered. I feel the same way: must be a control thing common to the climbing mentality!

While Maurice was heading down, it dawned on me that I hadn't taken many pictures. The camera was with me for weight training, I guess. I snapped a few shots of each as they headed downward.

I made do with a Layton Kor rappel on the upper pitch, as the angle is low enough to make this reasonably safe. At first I tried a Dulfersitz, but that made too much friction to move.