High Altitude Adventures

Nothing like waking up at 4:00am to make you appreciate those late mornings of the weekly grind! Add to that a heavy pack and some mountaineering boots for a hike and you realize the reason why alpine-ice routes aren’t a crowded zoo. Last Saturday a few friends got word that the ice was finally forming in Rocky Mountain National Park so we headed out with the plan of climbing The Middle Finger of Dr. Wazz. We left Glacier Gorge parking lot around 6:00 am hopping to find good ice as we made our way up the Gorge. We got to Mills lake about 30 minutes after the sun was up to find what looked like thin ice on All Mixed up and the top pitch of Dr. Wazz having a small curtain of ice but nothing that looked climbable. As we made our way around Mill Lake we thought that we would give AMU a good shot as the ice through binoculars looked like it would go and it would be a real fun climb. But as we came around the lake we has some serious concern that the sun would melt out the top pitch before we could get there and more threatening that the snow bowl on the top would just be soft unconsolidated fluff that either would be impossible to get an axe in to pull over the bulge or that it could even slide on us. So in lieu we decided to head back to Black Lake and see if any of that ice looked better. As we hiked to the back of the Gorge we were seeing some really good bonding in the ice alongside the trail and the Slabs looking like they might go. But as we got to Black Lake the West Gully was looking like our best option and the top pitch was looking really fat. Also the approach was looking much better than a knee-deep slough to the Slabs. After taking a short break to fuel up on some food and throw on our crampons we made our way up to the ice and my buddy led the first pitch to just below the curtain of the second pitch. Although it was ice the whole way up and he did place a few screws it was clear that it was nothing like the thick gully of ice that it should be and like pictures show. To add to our realization that it just might not go we were hearing and seeing ice fall down all around us on similar aspects. Since we were climbing in a group of 3 after an anchor was set my buddy and I set out just slightly staggered from each other. As I pulled over the bulge to the mellow slope I saw ice spewing out of a pick hole like a little fountain. I had a little chuckle as I thought to myself that I continually head out to do water fall climbing and need to start doing water ice climbing, maybe this winter I can get around to that. After getting up to the anchor we decided that down was the safest way to go; aside from all of the water flowing underneath the ice my buddy that was belaying had some of the ice from above come crashing down on him. So trusting in my friends’ expertise a V-thread was setup and we started to rappel back down, watching the anchor carefully. Just shortly after the first person was about 10 feet off the anchor a huge air whooshing noise came down the Gully from above shortly followed by the sound of ice crashing, yep we were making the right decision but trusting the Abalakov was completely nerve racking! But we all made it back down to the ground safe. The hike out was very uneventful aside from the fact that the ice covered trail was still very slippery and maybe the best ice we found on the entire trip. Overall like most trips up Glacier Gorge it was beautiful and winter could slowly be seen coming in with snow on the higher points in the park and ice in the shade. I do think though that the ice will have bonded much stronger over the week and the melt freeze cycle will have been really good. Get ready for some thick ice in the future, and some great winter adventures from High Altitude Adventures as we move into the amazing winter season with epic excursion brewing in our minds. Cheers!