The New Hampshire ice season is officially here! On Sunday, Debra, her boyfriend Matt, and I got an early start and hiked up into Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington to see if there was anything frozen we could climb. A couple parties had found climbable ice in Pinnacle Gully the week before, so we thought we'd at least find some ice there. Unfortunately, everyone else in New England thought the same thing, and even though we left Pinkham Notch at 4:00am, we still arrived at the base of the gully with a few other parties.
The ice is taking screws, not necessarily the most confidence-inspiring screws, but I placed 3 or 4 13cm screws in the first pitch and was reasonably confident in them. There is still a substantial amount of water running under the ice, and it's possible to kick through in some places to reveal a waterfall.
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| Early morning blister treatment |
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| "but what about Second Breakfast?" |
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| Alpenglow in Huntington Ravine at sunrise |
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| photo: Matt Tse |
We found a lot more ice than I had anticipated. Odells Gully has 2-3 pitches of climbable ice in it, and you could probably find a few pitches of fun on Yale, Damnation, and North Gullies as well. The topouts aren't fully in yet, but it is still only mid November.
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| Odells Gully |
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| Yale and Diagonal Gullies |
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| Damnation and North Gullies |
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| 100% pure bullshit, now available frozen! |
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| Debra approaching Pinnacle Gully near the top of the Fan |
The last 600 feet of approach to the base of Pinnacle Gully up the Fan is a pain in the ass as always this time of year. Large, shifting boulders covered with 2-3 inches of snow that's just enough to hide the holes, but not enough to make them more stable or cover them up.
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| Starting up the first pitch (photo: Matt Tse) |
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| Belayer smiling instead of belaying (photo: Matt Tse) |
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| photo: Matt Tse |
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| photo: Matt Tse |
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| photo: Matt Tse |
Unfortunately, this is where our good day took a turn for the worst. Debra took a fall while climbing the first pitch and injured her hand. We didn't know the full extent of her injury, but it was enough to keep us from continuing on. I lowered Debra and Matt down the first pitch, and then set up the rappel. Once at the base, we did our best to splint her hand, and we slowly descended the icy Fan. (no pictures of this time period, unfortunately. We had other things to worry about).
Matt got her back to Boston and to the ER, where the official diagnosis is first metacarpal fracture and possible ligament damage, requiring surgery =(.
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| photo: Debra Hasse |
An otherwise great day in the mountains was overshadowed by Debra's injury, but the good news is that ice season is here! Maybe not for Debra; good thing she's a snowboarder.
