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