On to the G1 wall. Led a fun WI4 with spooky rivulets of water running behind the ice sheet. Some spicy rotten ice near the top, but a blast all the same. Chris led the route behind with the screws still in place.
Next up we threw up a TR just to the right, lots of fun and a bit more sustained vertical sections, with lots of bomber hooking and silky smooth swings. We each ran two laps on this pitch while we waited for a guided party to pull ropes on the pitch one over to the left. It had a fun stem section that kept you guessing, with fragile ice down necessitating precise crampon work and gingerly placed hooks down low, then pulled over into more vertical terrain for the rest of the pitch, with a nice rest spot near the top.
After 6 pitches done for the day, we decided to hoof it to camp and set up before the last of the light slipped away. With tents pitched, dinner scarfed, and a healthy fire roaring merrily in the cold night we made friends with some traveling climbers also camped out in Chisholm. Whiskey was passed around, epic climbing and skiing tales told, friends made. We arose a bit after 8 in the morning to 36 degree temperatures and the unsettling realization that the nighttime temps never got below freezing. We made for the trailhead expecting a slushy trudge-fest up to the day's climbs and were not disappointed! After a long, moist, uphill slog we made it up to the Mummy II, the most aesthetic line of ice I've ever climbed to date.
It was Chris' turn to lead the first climb of the day, so we saddled up with gear and he set off. The route follows the main column to the right with nicely angled solid ice, allowing solid screw placements. Then curving left and staying left the rest of the route, he encountered long runouts through rotten, unconsolidated ice until arriving at the exit pillar. Able to place two more screws, he rallied through the last vertical section and set the belay at the anchors. I followed, glad I hadn't led the thing. In our excitement and haste to get on the ice after some trail finding shenanigans we neglected to realize that our single 60-meter rope wasn't long enough to make the rappel to the base of the climb, so we trudged through the forest to climber's right and rapped into an exit gully choked with wet slushy snow. We packed up and slogged down to the Amphitheater for the last part of the day. The first climb was my turn to lead again, so we ate lunch while a party finished the route. At WI4 it was my proudest lead of the day, taking me up a solid pillar down low, then an ice ramp, then a 40 foot vertical section of solid hooks and some bomber screw placements. The exit was spicy to say the least with tenuous hooking and gentle footwork to get out of some VERY rotten, very thin ice, then swinging tools into frozen moss with a 30 foot plus runout to the anchors. All in all, a very exciting climb in these thin, warm conditions. Chris TR'd the route and set up a TR on the next route over, a fun but short pillar with a lot of water dripping from it and an ominous hollow drum sound emanating from it with every swing of the tools.
The spooky pillar at the Amphitheater
As we set up for the climb, two ladies amble up, one all decked in Mountain Hardwear gear and the other festooned in Patagonia. I inquired if they were sponsored of just really liked the brands, and it turned out they were none other than Dawn Glanc and Kitty Kalhoun, setting up next to us for an M7 mixed route that angles right from the pillar and follows bolts on very overhanging bare rock to chained anchors.
Dawn looking solid midway through the pitch.
We said goodbye to the ladies and made our way back to the car,settling in for the long drive ahead of us back to Missoula. As we pulled away we looked back once more at the Canyon, knowing we would be back before too long and as I started to doze off during the ride, the dreams of thick, fat ice and sustained cold pitches of vertical frozen water welcomed me in dreams.
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