Be sure to attend one, or all of them if you can!
NEice Ambassador, Guide & Owner of the Petra Cliffs, Andrea Charest will be at the Smuggs Bash & MWV Icefest.
Photo; Mike Bauman
Adirondack Mountain Fest – Jan 18-20, 2013
Smuggs Bash – Jan 25-27, 2013
Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest – Feb 1-3, 2013
Catskill Ice Festival – Feb 8-11, 2013
I’m standing below a steep curtain of ice. The route looked ok from the car, though not great, and truth be told, I know I don’t have my “A-Game” this morning. My arms, core, and back are shot from Saturday’s thrashing session as I scratched, hooked, clawed, flailed, and fell my way up Erik’s savagely hard mixed line. Climbing on Willard all day Sunday was fun, but it didn’t exactly leave me well-rested for this quick New Year’s Eve morning climb before running out of town.
I’ve climbed this before though, and I know that I’ve got enough in the tank to work it out. I know how to kick, swing, place screws, find rests, and (if all else fails) bail and run away. I know that despite everything dragging me down, I can safely find my way up.
A lot needs to fall into line for me to bring my “A-Game” to the table. It requires the right partner, the right training, enough rest, a clear head and myriad other variables to be just right. Sometimes I think I have it, only for a mis-step, blown tool, or shift in the alignment of the cosmos to convince me otherwise. Perhaps I just need to work on my resilience if I want to bring my A-game more often, but I think will-power will only get you so far.
I feel lucky in that partners are a piece of the puzzle I really don’t have to worry much about. I have supreme confidence in the people I climb with. Some I know can grab the rack and just fire up whatever it is I’m too chickenshit to lead at that moment. Others don’t give me that luxury, but they are calm, positive, and know when I need that extra push to surmount the obstacles within my own mind.
The last two seasons, I feel like I at least had the training part down. I came into the winters of 2010/11 and 2011/12 strong and confident. Countless hours in the gym, hanging on tools, figure-4ing and otherwise pushing my body in ways that made my friends and colleagues question my sanity, but I was CONFIDENT. Maybe not in my skills, but in my strength. I knew that I could hold on forever and place that screw despite the screaming in my forearms. While there were undoubtedly climbs that were physically beyond my fitness level, I was plenty strong enough for the climbs I wanted to do. I didn’t climb my way into shape, I jumped right onto routes that were test-pieces for me a day or two into the season, and I SENT.
Stopping to take a photo of my feet while leading the second pitch of Mindbender… probably as good as it got last year.
For me, having a clear mind is perhaps the one thing that has been the most difficult part of bringing my “A-Game”. Part of it has to do with rest – I’ve never been good at shutting down my mind to get some sleep – but a lot of it has been just the stressors of life that we do our best to forget for those few hours out on the ice, but can never really forget. The last two seasons, despite great climbing partners and knowing I was physically up to the task, climbing well was never a given. My spending time with great people and being fit made me feel good, but it wasn’t going to cure Emily’s cancer.
*****
I’m now two moves up the steep curtain. It would be easy enough to bail from here… a couple of moves down to a ledge and I can just go home. My partner won’t care. He is equally as beat physically, and he gets it. He was there visiting me while I spent the 6 weeks leading up to the season sitting with Emily as she lost her battle. He was at the memorial service…
Swing… WHACK…. “MOTHER FUCKER!!!!”
A small watermelon has just exploded out and clocked me in the chin… I’m bleeding a bit (and my jaw still hurts three days later). It’s settled. There’s no way I’m turning around now, and I’m going to the top.
My forearms and calves are not happy with my decision, but it was the right one. We all hope to bring our “A-Game” each time we go out, but the reality is that it probably won’t happen. In this case, I can take some comfort in knowing that despite not being anywhere close to having my “A-game” so far this season, I at least have a pretty satisfying “C/C+ Game”.
Nothing quite like feeling like you might puke on the approach…
Meet our newest team members..King Kong (right) and WooKong.
I designed and built the WooKong to be light and simple so we can bring it where we like to go, UP! The King Kong is the heavy lifter and ready for anything.
I was inspired by the Mammut video celebrating 150 years. http://vimeo.com/50029357 The use of RC helicopters for photography quickly became my newest addiction.
I want to show the ice climbing in the Northeast the same way, from a perspective we are not use to. I look forward to flying all winter to bring you the most spectacular images and movies I can capture.
We will be at the MountainFest Jan. 18-21, 2013 in the Adirondack’s for the grand unavailing of our efforts. Hope to see you there.
Doug Millen
PS…I want to send special thanks to team member Courtney Ley for all her help and enthusiasm. This project would not be the same without her.
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Climb safe and have a great Ice Climbing season…Thank you,
Doug Millen
It’s time for the year end Fund Drive.
NEice is a community web site run by volunteers, but we still have hard costs to run and maintain the server and the related costs. While sponsors and Google ads help, it’s the viewer donations that make the difference.
If you like what we are doing and want us to expand our efforts and bring you the best there is in Northeast Ice Climbing. Contribute to the site and make a donation today.
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~ Doug Millen
Planning an expedition or just looking for the warmest belay parka and pants ever? Save hundreds on the 8000 Meter Parkas and Pants from Marmot at The Mountaineer!
First Dates. We’ve all had them – those initial encounters with someone. Usually, it’s awkward, you’re trying too hard to look cool, you don’t know if offering to pay for the meal is chivalry or chauvinism, and you have no idea where things are going. Other times it just clicks and works out perfectly.
Article by Patrick CookeEven for those of us not really on the dating bandwagon right now, there are plenty of first dates to be had: new partners, first day out of the season, or just a new crag. Wednesday was all three for me.
I haven’t had a chance to climb with Erik Eisele, but we’ve been in touch a bunch lately. He reached out to me when I was asking for beta on the Cathedral Cave, and I’ve found his writing on his blog, Shades of Granite, to be particularly articulate and compelling. We hatched a plan to meet on Wednesday for a session in the Cave. We’d meet at 7am since Erik has to work on weekdays, which meant a 5:15 wakeup for me.
7:20 am: The soft light drapes over me and I’m fully aware of my surroundings. FUCK! I’m in my bedroom still! Instead of getting my ass kicked by some severely overhanging drytooling, I’m comfortably tucked in a cocoon of warm blankets. I’m instantly wide awake and give Erik a call to let him know what’s up. Fortunately, our mutual friend, Ryan, was also on board for the morning session and is capable of correctly setting his alarm. With Ryan on board, my botching the first date at least didn’t ruin Erik’s day – he sent his long term project, The Mercy.
*****
Meeting a new partner and exploring a new crag was off the table, but there was still the chance to salvage one of the three facets of a first date – the first day out for the season. With this in mind, I drove over to Crawford Notch in hope of climbing Shoestring Gully.
The exit of Shoestring Gully 12/19/12
Cars were already parked below Shoestring and tracks led down to the river, so I figured there was probably a good way across. There was, but that didn’t stop me from putting my boot into the river and feeling the water run down into my left sock. So much for making a good first impression.
To climb Shoestring, regardless of whether it’s your first date or another day in a long relationship, follow these directions: “you park, you walk straight down to the river, you go across the river, then you go straight across the trail, head straight up the gully… then you walk straight up.” This is good advice. I, however, having already botched the first impression, proceeded to follow a set of tracks heading up and left despite knowing that really I just needed to head straight up. Thus my path, instead of looking like a straight arrow, resembled the footprints on one of those annoying Family Circus cartoons. So much for looking cool.
After an hour(yes an hour, on a climb I did car to car in 90 minutes last year) of wandering, meandering, at times wallowing, and wondering if I was about to make a bushwhack ascent of the mighty Mt. Webster on one of the most meaningless, laughable “taking the tools for a walk” moments in New England mountaineering history, my predecessor in bone-headed self-imposed suffering led me to the base of the climb itself. Although late, I’d have that first date after all.
Sometimes, even on a first date, you just KNOW
Freddie is named one of the top 12 climbers of 2012! And here is one of the many reasons why.
The view from Mt. Colden, ADK
Photographs by; Broken Spectre, Amy, WooKong, Coup, The Rockytop, tfarr3, AOC, Wewidlund, adkmorgan, Jacon & afendres.
Clink on images to enlarge.
“At 11 a.m. this morning my (non-climbing) plans for the day fell apart. I suddenly had five hours of daylight but no objective or partner. “Perfect,” I thought, “a chance to wrestle with the art of climbing firsthand. An opportunity to forgo a rope in search of focus, to see what I can learn from the experience.
Three hours later and 200 feet off the ground, the ice reared cold and ruthless in my face. One pick felt rattly, the other was surrounded by white, fractured ice. My feet were good, but a bulge forced me off balance “What the fuck am I doing?” I thought as my hands started to ache. “I’m no soloist. This shit will get me killed.”…. Read the rest here
Photo: Dracula 12-16-12
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