Deep Freeze

After about a month or so of non stop stellar alpine/ice climbing, it suddenly came to a halt. The snow started piling high in the mountains accompanied by arctic temperatures making for very dangerous avalanche conditions as well as ice that was basically bullet proof. Since I arrived back in Boulder from a rowdy little thanksgiving outing to Moab, my urge to smash ice and have more long adventures in the high peaks was raging. The thanksgiving trip mostly consisted of getting the jeep stuck, drinking and more drinking. A little bouldering here and there, but it was mostly a big 4 day long party, mainly due to the weather being miserable. Still, it was a blast! However, I was ready to start climbing right away upon returning to Boulder. Then the cold snap hit. I found myself mostly climbing in the gym and occasionally hiking in the flatirons when the temps were above 0 degrees. This wasn't doing it for me and the lack of real climbing was slightly depressing.

The Fisher Towers on the drive in. They were looking awfully moody on this day.

As if we didn't learn our lesson a couple months earlier with a similar incident, we once again went for it and failed! Luckily there was someone to tow us out this time, though!

Psycho with a knife by the river.

Cooking up a feast

Happy Thankgiving!

Awesome bouldering. I couldn't stop staring at the imposing Dolomite Spire above. Too bad I don't climb 5.11d R...

A few weeks before thanksgiving, Steve and Gordon had climbed the rarely formed"Necrophilia" and linked it up with one of the most aesthetic lines in the entire park, "deep freeze." When Steve and I talked about their climb, he raved about how great the deep freeze pillar was and how he'd never seen it this huge. I was excited to hear that the ice up there was nice and fat, not a surprise considering how conditions had been so far this season. Deep Freeze is an extremely compelling climb, one of the most in the entire park. It was established years ago by the alpine climbing wizard Alex Lowe. For all my non-climbing buddies that are reading this, Alex put up ground breaking first ascents all over the world and was known as the "best climber in the world," a phrase which he thought was silly and unnecessary, but still you get the point. He tragically died in an avalanche below Shisapangma, the 14th highest mountain on earth, in 1999. Anyway, deep freeze usually forms as a free hanging ice dagger that you must transition onto after climbing up steep and difficult rock with ice tools and crampons, but this year it was a full well-bonded pillar that was fully touching down. I HAD to do it.

Deep Freeze suddenly became a slight obsession and short term goal of mine. It was at the very top of my fall/winter climbing list. Here was a hard aesthetic frozen waterfall in a spectacular alpine setting 1000+ feet up thatchtop peaks north face hidden in an ominous gully. You literally can't see the pillar until you climb to the base of it. The pillar itself isn't even that long and there are plenty of bigger and badder frozen waterfalls scattered around colorado that are much more easily accessible, but its the location of deep freeze that makes it so alluring for me. No matter how challenging and quality a roadside climb is, I will always be more excited and motivated to venture into the mountains for an adventure. Finally, after a month of desperately wanting to give it a go, I was finally able to line up schedules with Gordon.

Steve had recently gone back up to deep freeze for his second time in a month via the direct start and suggested we take that route. The easier way to access the climb is from the neighboring gully by a steep and super fun pitch of WI3 followed by a rather hairy traverse across a huge terrace. Gordon and I met in Lyons at 5:30am, were hiking by 7:00 and climbing by 10. It was horrendously windy that day, which slowed our overall progress. Even gearing up at the base of the direct start took us longer than usual because of the miserable harsh wind. Gordon led off eager to see what we would find in this dark and steep chimney. He managed to get all the way back in it and chimney his way up a steep flow of ice, which turned out to be the best part of the 2 pitches in my opinion. Once at the top of the ice flow, you sort of do an upward traverse right over some snow mushrooms and eventually dry tool over a tricky chokestone. This proved to be extremely tricky and insecure climbing with crampons constantly skating against the vertical chimney walls in a desperate fashion to stay on. The first pitch took a long time to lead and it took me a long time to follow. At the belay, Gordon gave me the gear and I led off thinking that the chockstone in front of us would be surmounted quickly without any problems. Boy, was I wrong. This had to be the most awkward few moves I've ever attempted to lead! The protection was not that great and there was a big snow mushroom partially in the way making for some really insecure and uncomfortable positioning. I haven't dealt with snow mushrooms all that much and man are they some of the most precarious and unnerving terrain to climb over. After fiddling around for way too long, I down climbed back to the belay and gave Gordon back the gear so he could give it a shot. He managed to finally get above the bastard, completely cutting the snow mushroom loose in the process. Scary! By the time we both reached the next belay it was 3:00 and we still had some scrambling and the approach ice pitch to do before we would be at deep freeze. I didn't want to end up leading that thing in the dark, so we bailed.

Gordon approaching the foreshortened north face of thatchtop

Gordon making his way to the direct start to deep freeze

Starting up the ice in the back of the chimney

A view up the tricky snow mushroom choked chimney

Looking down the first pitch from the second belay

Gordon at the belay

    

Before and after the snow mushroom was dislodged on the second pitch.

Taylor Peak on the right

Pretty colors on the back

I had a week before I left for LA for the holidays. I needed to get back there ASAP and get deep freeze off my back before it was too late. I was paranoid that by the time I returned from my trip, the pillar would be in much worse climbable shape. I quickly made plans with a new partner, Janette, to go back 2 days later and climb it via easier north gully approach. This was my first time climbing with Janette and while I usually would't want to get on a bigger alpine objective like deep freeze my first time out with a new partner, she seemed experienced enough having climbed in places like Canada, the Alps and Boliva and I could tell she was very motivated. We got a much earlier start because we were aiming to be back in boulder by 6pm for a fundraising event Janette wanted to attend, which sounded reasonable considering we were approaching deep freeze from an easier route that should be less time consuming to climb.

We were at the base of thatchtops north gully by 8:30 and were climbing by 9. An awesome aesthetic WI3/3+ flow took us to the ledge system where we started to traverse in order to access the gully in which deep freeze hides. Janette suggested we stay roped up for the traverse and simul-climb to the next gully. Even though the terrain was generally easy with a few 4th class down-climbing moves, it was definitely a no fall zone so I was happy to have the rope. Navigating the traverse started out somewhat complex but eventually we arrived at the proper gully. After a short uphill scramble up some snow and scree, Janette led us through some low angled ice to the base of the approach pitch. I was so anxious and excited to lay my eyes on the infamous deep freeze pillar for the first time. The approach pitch went quickly and actually was steeper than it looked-- a great warm up for the crux pitch. Before I knew it, there it was standing tall before me looking awfully steep and difficult. Oh Shit. While I belayed Janette up I kept going back and forth between being horrified and excited to lead it. It was about 2:00 PM and while we were making good time I knew it wasn't going to be good enough to be back in Boulder in time for the fundraiser. When she arrived at the belay I told her that if she wanted to make it back in time, we would have to bail now. Part of me was hoping she would want to bail so I didn't have to climb the frightening pillar. I knew I would've hugely regretted it though. She insisted that we keep going considering we came all this way. I still can't thank her enough for sacrificing her plans to let me climb deep freeze! I still owe her many beers for that!

Excited, nervous and eager to climb

After collecting the rest of the ice screws from Janette, I made my way to the base of the pillar with a pit in my stomach. I shook off the fear and reminded myself that this is what I love to do. This was the most notorious ice pillar in rocky mountain national park, and I was about to climb it. I placed a solid screw in good ice and made the first few moves up. "Hey this isn't so bad!" The stemming was great at the beginning and because of previous climbers, I was able to hook my way up the ice for the first 15 or 20 feet. Fairly awkward, but my arms were feeling strong and not pumped as they usually are on steep ice. I placed 2 more screws that were OK and then a #3 cam in an excellent crack bordering the pillar. This is where it got tricky. The angle reared back and was now completely vertical with the ice getting more and more strenuous with each swing. After a few more hard moves, I was thrilled to find a fixed piton to clip. Towards the top of the pillar below the roof the ice gets much thinner but there is a chimney to the left of it that allows for an AWESOME rest. Getting myself into this chimney had to be the crux. My arms were on fire and I couldn't wait to jam myself in there to shake out and recover. With my left foot stepped high in the lower half of the chimney and the tip of my right tool in the thin ice, I pulled up and swung my left tool in desperation towards back of the chimney around a chokestone for a secure hook. Sparks flew as the metal bashed against the rock. Finally I established myself comfortably in the chimney for a much needed rest. I slung the chokestone which made for some great natural protection and transitioned back onto the thin ice and then onto rock with perfect hand jams up to the anchor. "WOW THAT WAS AMAZING!" After catching my breath I lowered back down, pumped full of adrenaline and belayed Janette on a top rope. She cruised it, but agreed that it got very pumpy towards the top. Once she topped out, she lowered back down and we started setting up the rappels. I knew half of the descent was going to be in the dark, but we had headlamps and I was already familiar with the way down since Gordon and I were here 2 days prior. Descents in the dark are pretty regular for this type of climbing, actually.

Each time we rappelled, the ropes seemed to become a mess every time. Sorting these tangled piles out definitely tacked on an extra hour or so in the end. We finally reached the rappel stations on the neighboring gully that "Necrophilia" ascends and started the last rappel. I couldn't wait to be off the mountain and back on the trail. Of course the last one proved to be the most problematic. I made it half way down, untangled one of the ropes and then continued down to literally 3 FFET ABOVE THE SNOW FIELD where there was a HUGE complicated knot in the other rope. I literally wanted to just cut my belay loop and drop the 3 feet down to the snow field and be done with it. Trying to establish my feet on the rock in order to take my weight off the rope to untangle the knot was undoubtedly the true crux of the day. The last 10 feet of the rappel was off an overhang so you can imagine how tedious the task was. I managed to climb over the roof and sort the mess out, although it took maybe half an hour and I knew Janette was probably worried up above considering she couldn't hear me at that point. Upon arriving back at the car some 4 and a half hours after starting our descent we were both exhausted yet very satisfied with our day out. What a rewarding experience with an awesome new partner!

Now heres the slew of pictures:

Pointing out the deep freeze gully

 Janette starting up the approach slopes and a bighorn sheep guarding the gully.

             

Janette heading up the north gully and me starting the first pitch of WI3+

                                 

Janette popping up after following the first pitch

Traversing the ledge system that connect the two gullies. Mount Otis' south face looking large in the distance

Janette leading up low angled ice

Me starting up the approach ice pitch. the beginning was actually really steep for a short section!

Janette arriving at the base of deep freeze!

Awkwardly starting up the pillar

Struggling to get in that chimney!

A rest at last

Looking down above the roof. Such a fantastic climb in every way.

Janette cruising deep freeze

Setting up the first rappel

Janette travering more ledges in the light of our headlamps.

Fall in the Front Range

My main reason for making this blog is to further document my climbing adventures in more than just taking photos. Nothing too serious, thought it would be fun. No groundbreaking first ascent stories here just yet, but many stories of climbing in the beautiful front range of Colorado. Most of my adventures take place in Rocky Mountain national park(RMNP), eldorado canyon and the flatirons around Boulder. Occasionally I'll venture to the Utah desert or the south western rockies but the front range is where the bulk my mileage comes from. If all goes as planned, Alaska will happen in the spring!

Since I moved to the front range 2 years ago, I've learned that good climbing whether it be trad, sport, alpine, etc can be had every month of the year here. With 300 days of sunshine and objectives ranging from hard bouldering all the way to long technical routes on 14'000 ft. peaks, you're guaranteed to have many top notch outings in the vertical world. And as much I enjoy trad climbing in the world famous eldorado canyon or scrambling up east faces in the flatirons on sunny 70 degree days, NOTHING is more rewarding than a long challenging day in the high alpine. It is my absolute passion. The sole reason I relocated from the debilitating smog of Los Angeles. According to a few local guys who've climbed this range up and down for 20+ years, this fall season has yielded the best high country ice conditions in the past decade. I've only had one other fall/winter ice season while living here and this years has put last years to shame so far. I guess some good things can come from catastrophic flooding... If you climb ice, that is.

 I figure I'll make this first post a recap of the past month or so of climbing so it'll probably be a bit lengthy. It's been a fantastic fall season thus far and one where I have really been trying to push myself to climb harder in the mountains. Routes that I wouldn't have dared lead a year ago suddenly seem within reach, as long as my head stays clear while on the sharp end. Climbing long technical routes on big mountains is about as committing as climbing can get. Factor in long approach hikes, generally unstable weather, sometimes dicey protection with more run outs, and complex descents, and you have yourself a big task ahead. I still cannot fathom what it's like doing this in one of the worlds greater ranges and I also cannot wait to find out. Constantly being on edge while climbing hard mixed terrain is extremely mentally draining yet it can evoke pure bliss at the same time. That feeling of anxiety induced bliss is what constantly reassures me that I truly love the sport and I'm not wasting my time. It's mostly a mental game, and one that I've slowly been strengthening, but while maintaining a healthy sense of fear and humility. The reward and feeling of accomplishment is always more than worth it. Most importantly though,  the views and pristine beauty are unmatched, and thats the number one reason I climb.

 Despite the horrible recent floods that plagued the front range, the long period of rain worked wonders up high. Legendary ice climbs that I've only read about and never seen have been forming up to be nice and fat. Most notably the Smear of Fear that forms on the lower east face of longs peak. Although the grade (WI5 M6 R) is pretty serious and intimidating for an intermediate climber like myself, hearing about the current condition of the climb had me ecstatic to give it a go. However, after some serious thought I figured it was best to start on something a little easier like Alexanders Chimney, THE classic ice and mixed route on longs peak. If smear of fear was in great shape that could only mean alexanders ice was in FAT. Figuring everyone else in the front range would be on alexanders, I started out by heading down to Pikes Peak to climb the super classic route "total abandon" on the north face.

TOTAL ABANDON

The 12 dollar a person fee to drive up the pikes peak road seems awfully excessive. I'm hiding in the trunk next time and then 6 bucks a person isn't so bad. After paying the stupid fee, Steve and I continued up 16 miles of scenic road along golden aspen groves with sweeping views of pikes rugged north face and did the short traversing approach to the base of the climb. I was excited/nervous to lead the crux pitch which is graded WI4+ M6. The M6 part scared me. I try not to overanalyze grades too much and end up going into the climb expecting something way too specific. Too many times i'll end up finding something far different than the grade suggests. Alpine conditions can be extremely fickle. I hadn't lead anything harder than M4 at the time but Steve had climbed it a few times before and said it wasn't too bad. He was keen on my ability to lead it, so I agreed. Steve took the first lead up a fun and easy mixed pitch with some decent ice on it. A great warm up. The kind of terrain you want to climb all day in the mountains. The second pitch was the crux: A vertical icefall in a chimney with a tough mixed move around an overhanging chokestone(the part I was nervous about) at the top. I arrived at the belay eager to get on lead. The pitch was an absolute blast. Once you're on the ice you have a nice rock wall against your back so you feel super secure as you swing and kick your way up, and the protection is decent enough. I made my way up the ice and passed the chokestone with minimal struggle and let out a yell of satisfaction. This pitch was proof to me that I am capable of leading harder stuff than my head allows me to. Although the the M6 felt more like M4 or M5. Whatever, grades are grades. The climbing was stellar and thats all that matters. More low angled ice took me to the base of a second funky rock crux. This one was in fact a little harder than the first one involving pulling around a small ice dagger frozen to the rock with barely anything positive for your feet. I built the belay directly above it, took steve up and he continued over one last chokestone, which again ended up being spicy, and up a snow gully where we traversed off. GREAT route, although I wish it was longer.

Arriving at the top of the first pitch.

Mid Crux

Looking down the second crux and Steve arriving at the belay                                 

Pulling over the final chokestone

FIELDS CHIMNEY

My good friend Ryan and I awoke at the ungodly hour of 2:30am(still too late for a day trip to longs! Leave the house by 2) to make the hour long drive to the longs peak trailhead followed by the awful, grueling 4.5 mile hike into the cirque. This is my least favorite approach hike I've ever done. And I'm sure most will agree. Thats probably because its all uphill and 90% of the time I'm doing the hike in the dark, half asleep, and after getting only 2-4 hours of sleep. As soon as we arrived at the trailhead we noticed several other cars parked. We dreaded seeing a line of parties waiting to climb alexanders chimney, but we had a few back up objectives just in case, both of which I was a little nervous about, one of them being the smear of fear. Finally after 2.5 hours of tedious hiking we arrived at chasm lake right as the first rays of light were illuminating the diamond on longs. NOW I was excited and remembered why early wake ups are worth it. After skirting chasm lake, which still wasn't frozen, and scrambling up the boulder field we noticed a party of 3 ahead of us at the base of alexanders chimney. We threw our packs down and grabbed a quick bite and drink hoping they would be quick up the first pitch. After 20 minutes and no progress on their end we decided on Fields Chimney instead, but first we stopped by the smear of fear to give it a look up close. Once at the base of the smear we realized the first 40 or so feet of climbing would have been completely unprotected. NOPE! Maybe some other time or maybe never. I'm not ready and may never be ready to "solo" inch and a half thick ice up a slab with no gear. Balls aren't quite Mark Twight size. The name smear of fear suddenly made so much sense. The ice above the initial 40 feet looked amazing, though.

 Sunrise on the diamond and Ryan approaching the smear of fear

Finally we started up fields chimney in the warmth of the sun. I started up the first pitch which was fairly easy mixed snow covered rock. After a few awkward bulges I built a belay with 2 ok pitons and a bomber #3 cam. Ryan took the next pitch, but figured he didn't need the ice screws since we didn't see any ice thick enough on the first pitch. once above the first rock step he realized the direct line was covered in fat blue ice, but since he left the screws with me he went up and left towards a variant of the regular route. It was an awkward upward traversing pitch with a few insecure moves. Decently protected though. He belayed me up from a hanging belay and I continued upward passed the belay. This 3rd pitch was very insecure snow covered rock with a few committing moves but the protection was all there, I just had to really look for it, sometimes digging through snow to find cracks. The ice was a mix of nice sticky white stuff as well as rotten airy crap. Slightly scary, but I loved it. Finally after belaying Ryan up, we both looked up at the crux vertical rocky chimney ahead of us along with snow that had just started falling and decided to bail. The last 2 pitches took longer than expected. It was getting late and the weather was worsening. 2 long rappels and we were hiking back to the car after a great day. I couldn't wait to come back. Oh and the absolute worst part of a day on longs peak is the hike back, even more so than the hike in. It feels infinite and just when you think you're near the parking lot you still have a mile or so to go.

Ryan starting the second pitch and at the hanging belay

Me at the start of the third pitch. Chasm lake is below

Chasm Lake on the hike back

FIELDS CHIMNEY AGAIN

 2 weeks later I found myself back at fields chimney, this time as a group of 4 and with the goal of being back in boulder by 8 PM so I could finish a night shift at work. i don't recommend it. I'll keep this short since i already described the route in detail. Basically we climbed the direct variation this time and bailed again below the overhanging M6+ crux mainly because of time constraints. Steve insisted that I lead the second pitch which proved to be much harder than it looked. The difficulty caught me by surprise and gathered all my attention in an instant. It started with a fat vertical pillar of blue ice which then turned to thin airy ice and mixed rock finally ending with an overhanging chockstone that I managed to make harder than it was by climbing it with very poor technique. Good thing the move was protected with a solid cam. My biggest problem in climbing is when dynamic and gymnastic movement come into play. I fail miserably at it but am striving to improve. Anyway, the pitch was stellar and my adrenaline was flowing. Alpine bliss! Steve fiddled around with the crux move on the third pitch but we all soon realized we'd be finishing in the dark and I wouldn't be getting to work on time, so we headed down. Maybe next year i'll actually finish the route. I think I'm done with fields chimney for a while.

Gordon took this pic of 3 of us on the route from afar. Look closely. The people to the left are waiting for our obnoxiously large party to hurry up the first pitch.

Martin leads the first mixed pitch. The diamond looming above. 

Me on the steeps of the second pitch

Stemming rest!

Steve starting up the third pitch. he climbed to the base of the roof above but we ended up bailing. He ended up finishing the route the following week with Gordon.

Such a stunning wall.

ALEXANDERS CHIMNEY

 Another 2 weeks passed and sure enough Martin and I are doing the dreadful hike back up to longs at 4am for my 3rd time in a month. At this point I almost wished the ice would melt out so I didn't have to do the approach anymore. But the climbing is SO good up there it has a gravitational pull on me! We were pleasantly surprised to see that no one else was already on alexanders and we had the route to ourselves. The route was in amazing shape and every pitch was nothing but pure enjoyment. Never desperate, but with a little spice here and there. Great protection the whole way up and great anchors. There was so much ice on the route, the supposed dry cave crux didn't even feel like the crux because it was flowing with ice as well, making the moves much easier. We climbed the 4 pitches, rappelled off, and were back in boulder by 4:30 pm. So happy to finally have climbed this RMNP classic. It was everything I hoped it would be and more and a great route to conclude my longs peak climbing for the fall season. I'm done with that approach until summer!

The usual sunrise show at chasm lake. so ugly.

Starting the first pitch. a short mixed step.

Following the awesome WI 3 gully second pitch.

The cave "crux" didn't feel so cruxy with the ice smears coming out of the cave.

Martin popping out of the cave pitch

Since the straight month of great climbs in the alpine, I've been getting on steep ice elsewhere in the park with Steve and training in the flatirons with my main rock climbing and overall adventure parter, Marques. The Flatirons always have so much great exploring to be had and combing scrambling up east faces with trail running is a great way to work the lungs. Steve and I hiked out to Odessa gorge to climb the notorious "Hot Doggies." Put up by the climbing guru Alex Lowe years ago, it has a reputation. It was H-A-R-D, even on top rope. I'll let a few pics tell the story. Cheers until next time!

flatiron exploration

trail running through the scorched shadow canyon

high on the south devils wing. a seldom climbed flatiron

Steve crushing hot doggies

topping out

me on the spicy approach pitch to hot doggies.

shaking out at the top