Cannon Cliff, Franconia Notch, NH
December 26, 2010
Chris Drover Photo
Things To Do:
I had expressed a semi-public interest in doing the Black Dike via Facebook as a last ditch effort to tackle my 4 ice climbing To-Do’s:
1) The Beast
2) Dracula
3) The Black Dike
4) All ice routes in Huntington
I ticked Dracula last year, The Beast last week with Simon – so I thought; even though the clock is ticking before I head west to Colorado
In just a short time, I had a few prospective partners – but Chris Drover, not only wanted to attempt the Dike, he wanted to stay north and climb Monday as well. Done deal.
The Big Black Dike:
We left Pepperell @ 5:45am and headed to Cannon. After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for the usual C, B & P; we were on our way to find the Whitney-Gilman approach trail.
We couldn’t find the approach due to snow coverage, so we decided to bushwhack straight up. The snow was only about boot-high and the ‘schwkacking was manageable. It took a little while navigating the snow & ice covered talus field, but eventually we reached the base of the cliff. As I passed the WG on my left, I was nervous to turn the corner into the Dike. That first view of the climb would leave a strong visual first impression and deliver us with 3 options: A) “Wow, this is FAT – this route is in the bag.” B) “Holy Crap, people actually climb this? This is definitely beyond our abilities!” or C) “I can’t tell from here – looks really thin and sketchy, but we won’t know unless we go!”
Needless to say, we selected option C! Drover offered me what ever pitches I wanted as a “going away present”. I really wanted the pitch 2 $ crux, but I also didn’t want to go into it without warming up my lead head. As a solution, I asked if I could lead pitches1 & 2 - Droves gladly obliged and we roped-up.
We Won’t Know If We Don’t Go!
The climbing on Pitch 1 was fun, exciting and appropriately progressive. It was thin every where, but the angle and commitment increased with each step. I like this type of progression, as it allows me to get warmed up and focused. About 4/5 into the first pitch, things got thin…really thin. I had not yet placed any “bomber” pro, and was looking at a steep ice/mixed corner. I couldn’t find ice or rock anywhere that I would consider suitable for building a belay, and I knew I was well past the half-way mark on Drover’s Ice Twins. I made a few tentative moves up on delicate rock & ice terrain when I spotted the frozen cordage. About 50 feet above me, on an ice-less face, I could see a nest of stiff webbing and cord. I thought that if I could at least make it to that, we could re-assess and rap off if necessary ~ especially considering the route starts to get much steeper right about here.
After some really fun and exciting climbing, I made a short mixed traverse to the belay. It was a nearly hanging belay on a mysterious fixed anchor. The nest had at least 3 different types of webbing equalizing a slung horn, a piton and a pounded stopper. I placed a solid Jesus-nut (JN) clipped in and relaxed. I looked up, down and around and for the first time in my climbing career I felt like I was experiencing the “real deal”. The climbing conditions and atmosphere are incredible!
Rock & Ice is Always Nice:
Drover began climbing. He’s a smart climber with a good knowledge base of systems and a firm understanding of his own climbing abilities, both physical and mental. As he worked his was up the thin first pitch, I tried to sort through all the trip reports, route descriptions and topos I had read in the days prior: “From the belay, climb up, place a screw, and head directly across the rock traverse.” I remembered it distinctly…but there was no such screw placement! I clipped a screamer to the JN and traveled about 10 feet up on mixed terrain, and then saw a fixed wire sticking out of the snow covered rock traverse. I was far above my gear, and the belay.
In my super short ice climbing career, I had yet to experience anything like the Dike. However the one sympathetic thing it does give you is consistency of difficulty. It requires you to remain focused the entire time you are leading, which I think is a benefit – compared to other routes that throw the climber through a roller coaster of easy cruiser bulges and scary steep curtains where it’s easier to fall out of “the Zone”.
I was ready for the traverse and made the careful leftward moves to a thin ice runnel. When I finally landed a good stick in ice (who cares how thick it was, its ice!) I was relieved; I enjoy mixed climbing, but still lack the experience to assess whether my tool placements are 100% solid – especially while on lead.
I let out a victory holler at which point Drover gladly reminded me that the crux is not the rock traverse, but the long, steep and thin ice runnel above. I found a piss-poor ice placement, clove-hitched a runner to it and continued up. I eventually found a piece of weathered cord emerging from the rock. I clipped a ‘draw to that and took a deep breath. I was also able to find a pretty bomber nut placement nearby. The combination of protection provided me the confidence that if I were to fall here, I would most likely not rip out the belay 100 feet below and bring Drover down with me.
I continued up the pitch that offered everything, mixed, thin ice, stemming, an occasional full blast of spindrift in your face – you name it. I topped out on a narrow ledge and found a 4 pin belay anchor (one of the pins is an old Grivel ice pick). It was at that point that I realized for the first time all day – we were definitely going to send the Dike.
The spoondrift was getting pretty serious as I brought the hooded-Drover up the ice runnel. We took a moment to take some photographs and determine which finish variation would best serve us. The final pitch is historically the mild home stretch of the route. Drover asked if he could lead us to the top. Being part of a successful climbing team is way more fun when people share the workload - I gladly handed him the sharp end.
The “Exciting” Final Pitch:
Drover began up the final pitch cautiously, but was excited to see a higher concentration of ice than was present on the pitches below. He made his way up low angle ice and snow to the base of a steep 20 foot curtain, reputed as the crux of this pitch. He placed two decent screws and started climbing. About halfway up, he placed a mediocre 13cm screw and clipped the lead rope short using a single wire-gate carabiner. He was getting noticeably tired. Droves made a few more moves towards top and swung for a pick placement. A few additional drunken swings confirmed further that we could be in for some excitement. He desperately continued to find a good stick to no avail…
Final Pitch Chris Drover Photo
Chris Drover is very cool, calm and collected when climbing; at least from my perspective. He stopped swinging his obviously fatigued left arm, and instead attempted to slam a screw. No luck. The screw wouldn’t bite and Droves was positioned awkwardly on the ice. He managed to get both tools in the ice, and attempted to shake-out. He was cooked, but with some smart rest-technique and good footwork – he would de-pump and send.
I watched him closely, as he shook out and worked hard to maintain his composure. He did well considering he was a full body-length above his last half-driven screw and hundreds of feet off the deck.
“Oh No!” Drover yelled, as he accidentally dislodged his Petzal Quark from its position in the ice. He juggled the ice tool for a few short seconds before it sailed down to the ledge below. If it had not been for the recent snow fall, the tool would have clearly bounced its way to the talus field. The tool came to a rest in some snow below, but Drover remained gripped several feet above. He was pumped, and now significantly handicapped.
Moments later we would be conducting some high-alpine gear testing on the validity of poorly placed screws in suspicious ice.
He was off – I was nearly certain that his first piece would rip, so I gave him a soft catch to avoid the unnecessary impact forces. Surprise!!!...The Screw held. Drover fell like a champion. No screams or hollers, but I’d like to check his boxers. He lowered down and retrieved his ice tool from the snowy ledge. He took a few minutes and re-gained his poise. I offered to take the lead, as I can only imagine how shaken up I would be, had I just taken a victory whip on the Black Dike!
Droves headed back up the curtain. This time he was more precise with his pick and ‘poon placements, and was moving fast in an effort to beat the onset of lactic acid. He regained some ground and was at about knee level with the magical marginal screw. As he attempted to weight the leash on his right ice tool for a quick breather, his tool popped. Once again, Droves was tempting fate, gravity and the ice quality.
I was psyched. First off, Drover just broke the cardinal rule of ice climbing…Twice, and would walk away unscathed. The screw held and to my surprise, as a belayer, it takes A LOT less pressure with the break hand to arrest an unexpected lead fall with thin ice floss!
Against my advice, Drover rested on that screw for a while, and then finally tackled the crux. The rest of the route was a little easier, but still very sketchy. He did a great job utilizing body position to conquer the rock & ice finish. He got to the top of the route and declared he was safe.
Topping Out:
To be more efficient, we swapped belay devices throughout the route. Leaving the following climbed in auto-block mode with a catastrophe knot as their adjustable personal anchor.
As Drover was setting up the belay, I heard unfamiliar climbing commands coming from the trees above: “JAY!...YOUR ATC…COMING DOWN!!!”
I watched helplessly as my prized 1st edition Petzl Reverso and two beefy lockers went flying through the air. They bounced a few times off various features before coming to a halt somewhere above me. Drover apologized and quickly rigged a single strand munter-hitch. I untied one of the doubles for him to pull to avoid cluster-potential. I climbed beyond the curtain to the ledge where my gear may have landed. I searched around for a few minutes, but the spindrift was strong and there were no signs or recent gear fall in the snow. I didn’t want to leave gear, but I didn’t want to waste too much time searching around on unstable terrain.
I finished the final moves and I topped out. We stuffed our gear in our packs, had a quick swill from our nalgenes and headed through the dense, snow covered woods in search of the decent trail. After some swimming through the thick pine trees, we found what we were looking for.
WG Express Elevator:
The trail was identifiable from its width, but the snow cover was surprisingly deep for such a popular route. It was clear we were making first tracks for the first time in a while.
We quickly glissaded down most of the way before we reached the paved path at the bottom at around 3:30pm. The sun was getting lower as we walked the path to the parking lot. The rest of the hike was a cake walk, except for the close call we had with a group of oncoming snowmobilers traveling at a good rate of speed. We reached the parking lot and Drover began fishing around in his jacket pockets in search of his car keys. He assumed an anxious facial expression as he continued pulling out handfuls of snow.
He had reached the conclusion that the car keys were a casualty of our carless glissading. I agreed this was likely and began searching for my AAA gold card. I should receive bonus reward points for the number of times I had used this card. Maybe I should be a candidate for the Roadside Assistance “Black” Membership?!
Before I made the call, I requested that he search his pack as he took quite a while at the top of the Dike sorting through his personal belongs. After a few sort seconds of sifting through the brain of his pack, our ticket to warmth, transportation and a hot meal revealed itself.
Drover and I hopped in the car, exchanged a high-five and headed south on 93.
The Black Dike was everything I had hoped it would be, and MORE! The route is amazing. It offers full-value climbing in a truly fantastic environment. I never think of Cannon as very high on my list of places to climb, but as of right now my favorite ice climb and favorite rock route reside on this exfoliating cliff.
During our gear inventory, it was determined that we lost 2 locking ‘biners, 1 petzl Reverso, and 1 16cm BD express Ice Screw (no idea where this went??), all of which were mine. On the way home Drover stopped at the Nashua EMS and replaced the lockers, ATC and split the cost of the missing screw. Although it doesn’t feel good on the ego when you contract a case of the Dropsies, it was pretty cool that Drover took the initiative and made right on the fallen gear.
The Black Dike Gear List:
- 12 Ice Screws (this is Drover’s doing…I think I made 6 placements all day!)
- 1 22cm
- 1 19cm
- 6 16cm
- 4 13cm
- 1 full set of BD Stoppers
- 3 Pitons
- 4 BD Cams
- 1 Red #1
- 1 Green #.75
- 1 Purple # .5
- 1 Grey # .4
- 1 set of 60M 7.7mm double ropes
- 3 Yates Screamers
- 2 long runners
- 2 Alpine draws
- 5 Quickdraws
No comments:
Post a Comment