Stop, collaborate and listen

Ice, Ice, baby

Returned to Stony Clove on Saturday to get in a little ice with Brian and Guillaume. Headed out at a very civilized, urban-alpine start of 6 AM, picking up Brian at his Harlem basecamp. Fueled by a very welcome cup of B's homemade coffee, we sped up to the Catskills and somehow managed to pull into the parking lot at the same time as Guillaume despite road closures, intersection-blocking accidents, and daddy duties. Temps were warmer than last week, hovering in the mid to high 30s all day, and the forecast brought out the climbers - the lot was full by 9. Luckily, the number of cars really wasn't matched by the number of climbers on routes, and we geared up and hiked up 214 for the West Side approach slopes.

Previous night's fuel: hamburger poutine
Stony Clove, West Side on the hike in
Warming up with a little approach

We were aiming for The Entertainer (WI3), which looked fat, blue, and solid, but there was already a party on it so we headed left to Little Black Dike (WI4-). Great looking line, with the ice forming on the face of a large right facing corner - the rock to the left offered a chance to stem and shaded most of the climb, which was good as many of the routes in the morning sun were dripping pretty fiercely by noontime.

Awesome lead by G, especially for his first 4 lead. He took up a full 8 screws (2x13, 4x16, 2x19), and placed most if not all of them - strong lead, careful and confident throughout. The line follows the left side of the flow, moving out to the middle to top out towards tree anchors to the right. The crux is somewhere in the middle, mostly vertical ice with sketchy stems out left possible on the smooth rock face. There's a shelf with a good rest 10-15 feet from the top after the real business is done below. B followed quickly, and showed no signs of rust from his year+ layoff from the tools, picking up quickly on leashless technique. Definitely a little more strenuous than last week's WI2+, more vertical and continuous climbing and less rests available. Short enough to get down with one 60 m, though the rap anchor should be extended for a TR - lots of drag over the rock edge below the tree. Nice line, fun moves, great climbing.

Guillaume sets out on Little Black Dike
Mono: not just a disease!

By the time we rapped, pulled ropes, and left the climb to the Pittsburgh climbers who showed up, it was getting warm and lots of climbs were looking thin. We headed right (north), looking for something juicy for B and I to sink our leading teeth into. We wandered all the way over to Offstage (WI2+), a nice short terraced line with a tree anchor visible at the top. It was looking a little thin, but straightforward, so we roped up and Brian set out on his first lead. Excellent climbing, and well placed screws - the climb was thin in spots, making placements a little tricky and the climbing a little desperate (not to mention less straightforward than we thought). Brian tried to finish up left, but due to the lack of ice, downclimbed and headed way right instead on a tricky traverse. It involved a big reach out right to plant a pick into a column, bypassing a very thin section of intervening ice/rock. The last 10 feet were tricky and *really* thin, really just a veneer of ice - both of us ended up hooking rock to get to the anchors. Awesome first lead!

Where's the suffering?
Deterred by neither paper thin ice nor massive rope drag

Fired up by B's climbing, I led it next. Judging placement options was the trickiest part, especially given that the ice was not really that fat - ended up at rock more than once when sinking a screw. Lots of snocone ice. Put in both stubbies and slung a partially sunk screw at the top. Because the best ice was left then right, took advantage of the double ropes to minimize the drag (though I really did appreciate the geometric beauty of Brian's crossing rope art). G followed it with a direct variation straight up, which was really fun to TR and a great way to end the day.

Taking advantage of the doubles
Guillaume takes the direct route
You wouldn't pick up these two hitching, would you?
I swear we didn't color-coordinate ahead of time
More pics:


Wandering around at the top of the approach slopes, we realized that we had a real hole in our collective knowledge of self-arrest techniques. Good informative video from the British Mountaineering Council:

"Keep my composure when it's time to get loose"
- Robert (Vanilla Ice) Van Winkle