Today turned out to be a spicy little Easter. Having been recently turned back from the Great Chimney we figured we better go give it another go. If we would have known how steep and icy the "skiing" was, maybe we wouldn't have gone. The climb up was pretty fantastic though, I wasn't expecting to climb any real ice since the weather has been warm but...
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| ICE! |
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| Photo by Andy |
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| Looking down after the steepness eased a bit |
After getting through the ice bulge/chimney we turned right and headed up an icy chute. Andy measured this at anywhere between 58 and 62 degrees. Turns out that is STEEP, especially when it is NOT soft.
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| Andy and Lars, hard to tell but this is 60+ degrees |
We were a little scared to ski this icy death trap (happened to have a double fall line too) so we built a mini anchor and skied the top part belayed. Once off belay we made approximately zero turns until we rappelled past the ice bulge. From there the high 40 degree to low 50 degree slopes felt tame.  |
| Knifeblade anchor |
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| Lars, 60+ degrees |
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| Lars, no rope, a bit of fear(Andy's photo) |
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| Andy |
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| Lars past the ice, still steep but less icy and much less scary |
Down by noon with enough time to enjoy Easter! Once again, Lars earned an A for climbing.
Today turned out to be a spicy little Easter. Having been recently turned back from the Great Chimney we figured we better go give it another go. If we would have known how steep and icy the "skiing" was, maybe we wouldn't have gone. The climb up was pretty fantastic though, I wasn't expecting to climb any real ice since the weather has been warm but...
Very nice work boys! Love it!
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