Backwoods Montucky Ice

Exploring the potential for new ice lines is always fun and yesterday Justin Woods and I were doing just that. Justin had recently checked out a remote climbing location deep into the middle of nowhere. His description of the area had me intrigued so rather than climbing the same old ice, I headed to Whitefish.

We left town after what is becoming our typical "Alpine start", casual wake up time followed with breakfast at the White Buffalo. Hard to beat that. Getting there was chill, an hour drive and a five minute walk. After driving back roads into nowhere land, we reached our destination. It is a small lake with a slot canyon on the far side.

The canyon was cool. Very atypical for Montana. It is very narrow, maybe 4 feet across at its tightest point and around 100' deep. Unfortunately there isn't too much ice. The canyon is covered in smears and one big flow in the back, which is what everyone climbs. What is exciting is the potential for "farming" ice. If we can redirect the water flow, then we could have a winter wonderland of ice.

Justin and I climbed the classic flow, then set up a TR on a thin smear. The smear was awesome. Incredibly delicate tool placements and huge moves in-between. I honestly don't know how I didn't fall off. Unfortunately, the rock wall around the ice is without a single crack and the ice is way too thin to place an ice screw. The only way to protect it would be with bolts. We are going to wait until next year so we can get an idea of the character of the ice. If the climb forms again in the same manner, we will bolt it, otherwise there is no reason to damage then rock.

The slot canyon

The thin smear we climbed (center)

The main ice flow

Justin topping out

Grosvenor Video

Here is a link to the video I put together and showed at the local climbing gym the other night for those of you who weren't able to make it.

Mt. Grosvenor

http://gallery.me.com/chrisgibisch#100016

Back in the Park

After a long wait, schedules and weather finally matched up. Wednesday, Jeff and I, along with Justin Woods started up the oh so familiar trail to Snyder Lakes basin in hopes of climbing a big ice line. A 4:30am wake up call on top of only a few hours of sleep led to a slow start. Coffee barely seemed to effect our exhaustion and before we knew it, we were at the trial head.

Within a few minutes of charging top the trail, Justin became ill. The lack of sleep combined with over exertion started to take it toll. After a projectile moment, Justin had to throw in the towel and head back. Jeff and I shouldered the remaining gear and continued up.

The Snyder basin was terribly cold when we arrived there. It was late in the morning now and all hopes of climbing something big were gone. We shifted our attention to the Brainstem Wall which is on the south face of Mt. Brown. It's a 60m cliff band they is littered with ice and mixed lines. And oh yeah, it's in the sun! We continued up the approach slope and into the sun. The warmth was a welcomed feeling, but unfortunately it was causing ice to fall. Conditions weren't appropriate to climb so we opted for some ice bouldering.

A short while later, clouds rolled in dropping the temps and stopping the ice fall. Conditions now looked good to climb so we started racking up. Jeff had spotted a nice weakness through the rock band above us that neither him or I had ever noticed before. It was an off-width crack/corner system with the occasional piece of ice spilling out. It looked fun and was unclimbed so why not give it a go.

I had the first pitch which was more awkward than difficult. Some icy rock steps followed by an iced up corned, topped by some rock move gave way to a suitable belay. The next pitch would get us to the top and be the business of the route. Jeff delicately stemmed up above me flowing over the rock inch by inch. Eventually he left my sight and I could only listen to his progression. The character of the pitch was revealed when I followed. Corners, wide cracks, thin cracks, ice, roofs, and thin to poor gear. On second, the climbing was pure fun, but on lead must have been an exhausting mental exercise. Jeff climbed brilliantly and topped us out on another new route in the GNP.

Jeff follow the 1st pitch

Jeff beginning the business

Back to Reality

It has been a few months since we've been back from China. It was pretty much just jump back into the routine of things. One day off to get my shit together, then back to work. Daily life has been normal. Work mixed with play. We haven't had much of a snow season so I've mainly been ice climbing. The ice has been good so I've had plenty of opportunities to continue improving. When not out climbing or working, I've continued to work on my photography. Trying new techniques and working on improving existing ones.

The holiday season has been a very shitty one for me. On Thanksgiving night, one of my best friends was in a serious roll over accident. Thankfully despite his serious injuries, he is healing up nicely. Later, the beginning of December brought with it news that one of my old time best friends John Redwine, was found dead in Lebanon. Apparently he took a fall while climbing solo. A week later my mother called me to let me know that my Grandmother had passed away. And just the other day I learned that a close family friend back in Wisconsin has been in a horrible car accident and seriously injured. Pretty shitty season, but I guess that it life.

Redwine, typical Blodgett approach

Josh Beckner, Myself, and John

John and I skiing on July 11th at Logan Pass, GNP

John and I and the final belay on "Modern Home Environment"

John in Glacier's high country

Kathryn's first day on ice

Working on new techniques/images

Myself climbing the "Daggers"

Success in the Daxue Shan

We are back from China and happy to say that the trip was a complete success. Everything worked out incredibly smooth and Jeff and I were fortunate enough to make the 3^rd ascent of Mt. Grosvenor via a new route.

Traveling to China was amazing and very different from the everyday life we are used to. The hospitality we were meet with was unlike anything I’ve ever experience.

Rural traffic jam

Moments after being kicked to the curb

Preparing for the approach

After 34 hours of travel we arrived in Chengdu, a city of 19 million people. Chengdu struck me as any other old city; used and abused and polluted. It has run down sections as well as very up scale places. We spent a day there before getting on a shuttle bus and heading for the city of Kangding, and then on to Laouylin. It was to be an 8-hour ride, but after a few traffic jams, drug on for 12 hours. On the outskirts of Kangding, our bus driver decided to call it quits. Within minutes, we found ourselves on the sidewalk beside our bags. Our L.O. quickly got us another ride and we were in Laouylin shortly.

Beginning the journey

Acclimatizing hike

The next morning the horses were loaded with packs and we began our trek into the mountains. The 15-mile journey was to be split into two days for the sake of acclimatizing. It took most of the first day to reach camp just under 13,000ft where that night, it dumped about 12 inches of snow. In the morning, with the new snow, the horseman refused to travel for fear of injuring their horses. Luckily that night no more snow fell and we were back on our way the next day. Half a day’s hike finally got us to base camp at 14,500ft.

Base camp

Organizing gear for the climb

The weather had turned nice to we quickly focused our attention to acclimatizing. A few day hikes here and there as well as making an advanced base camp got us acclimatized to around 17,000ft. We were feeling good and just waiting for a good weather window. On the morning of Oct. 24^th we received conflicting weather reports, but despite the discrepancy, left for our high camp.

We woke to a star filled night and made the decision to climb. The snow cone at the base proved to be more exhausting that anticipated. Rather than firm snow to crampon up, I found myself in knee to crotch deep snow. Eventually the snow gave way to ice and we were back to a good pace. I eventually built a belay and Jeff took over the lead. We swapped simul-climbing pitches and soon found ourselves below a steep looking section. Jeff charged off and when the rope came tight, I followed. As he reached the steeps, his pace slowed and he moved with precision. After climbing unprotected for 60-70ft, he finally found some pro and topped out. I followed in amazement.

Zero light pollution

Local residents battling

We were now two long simul-pitches from our proposed bivy, so we made haste for the site. With the sun setting we reached our bivy and found it less than ideal. I pounded a picket while Jeff backed it up to an anchor above. We chopped a ledge to sit on, pulled our bags over us, and settled in for the night.

Base camp

Bouldering in camp

Jeff beginning the climb

In the morning light, we could see a weakness transecting the rock above. Delicate ice placements along with some dry-tooling got me through to the more moderate slope above. Jeff began simul-climbing and soon I reached another crux of steep rotten ice. Again, delicate climbing got me to a belay above. We swapped leads and Jeff headed for the last of our mystery pitches. When I reached him, the ice was awesome, nice and thick. Exhausted, I limped my way up the pitch. After about 2 hours I found a belay and brought Jeff up. Half frozen, he took the lead and headed for the ridgeline. Hopes of a bivi were crushed when I reached him and discovered we were on a knife-edge ridge. With no options, I continued up in search of somewhere to sleep. With daylight dwindling, I stopped at a rock buttress with nowhere to sit, but did provide a great anchor. We again chopped ice buckets and prepared for another miserable night.

A few pitches up

Nearing the crux

Bivi #1

The next morning was freezing, so rather than get cold cooking, we headed for the summit and morning sunshine. The last 120 meters were grueling, but eventually I was standing on top with Jeff. In the sun, we brewed up and prepared for the descent. It took the rest of the day to rappel the East face and find a camp.

A few pitches from the ridge

Jeff nearing the ridge

Looking down from the second bivi

We woke to high winds and were forced to break camp quickly. The entire day was spent slogging across the glaciers and moraine until we reached camp, nearly broken.

Cold temps and poor weather plagued the remainder of our time in camp. Eventually, our patience was worn thin and we decided to head back to town a few days early. For a couple of days, we hung out in the town of Kangding shopping and sightseeing. We made our way back to Chengdu where we had another day to kill before beginning out journey home. After 40 hours of travel, we very happily made it back to Missoula.

On the summit

Our route

The team

Monastery in Kangding

Buddhist shrine in Laouylin

Art in Kangding

Panda world research center in Chengdu