Falling into Place

My hard work with climbing and photography has finally paid off.  I have been given the opportunity to represent the company Wild Things gear as a climbing ambassador.  With that, my photography is getting more exposure.  They recently ran an ad in the current issue of Alpinist featuring one of my pictures. 

Flathead Lake

Springtime in Montana brings the rain. Weather here has not been in my favor and it seems every time I make plans to climb, I get rained out. This was the case last weekend when Justin and I made plans to climb in the park.

With hopes of climbing crushed, Kathryn and I decided to go with her mother up to their cabin on Flathead lake. The weather was still bad, but being cozied up next to a fire doesn't suck. The evening of our first night treated us to a beautiful sunset so I raced down to the dock and fired of shots until the amazing lighting was gone. The remainder of our time was spend next to the fire watching storm after storm roll across the lake. We had a great time.

First Day Back on Rock

Last week Montana finally got some nice weather and we took advantage of it. Ice season had come to an end so Jeff and I headed to Kootenai for a day of sport climbing in the sun. Temps were great and the feeling of sunshine on bare skin was long overdue. Shortly after Jeff and I got a warm-up lap in, friends started showing up. The first buttress was crowded with more climbers than I have ever seen up there at one time. It was great seeing so many people pushing their limits and getting after it. The motivation was high and everyone was shouting words of encouragement to one another. This is going to be a good season.

Ryan working "Hilti Traverse"

Some of the crew

Levi

Jesse and Erik working their projects

Jesse on "Hilti Traverse"

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"