More Night Climbing

Craig and I had so much last week, that we went back to The Narrows last night. Conditions started out very similar to last week – a nice warm day – predictable ice.

But the closer we got to the top/head wall, things changed. There was obviously more water running, the ice became softer (softer than last week), and way less predictable.

There’s a condition called “dinner plating” that happens after a quick and hard freeze – like the one we had previous to yesterday. It makes the top layers of ice brittle and thin, therefor breaking off into dinner size plates when you try to set your pick or toe point. Generally the ice underneath is solid, but it takes a few whacks to get through the brittle stuff. Last night was similar, but different. Because of the warmth yesterday, the dinner plate pieces were soft and thick. At first swing it seemed like a good stick with your pick (unlike brittle ice, which immediately shatters), but any pull or tweak on your pick unexpectedly broke out large chunks of soft “plate like” pieces. It was very strange and unnerving. Unlike most things I’d experienced before. Yet another condition/lesson to learn in this ever knowledge expanding sport.

Needless to say any aspirations to actually lead something tonight after the previous week’s confidence inducing climbs, was quickly lost to the conditions.

Instead we stuck to our usual plan and setup a top rope on the head wall for a few practice runs.

Then as we were packing up to head out, lots of people showed up. Seven people to be exact.

The light way up high is a guy who climbed The Left Corner. To add insult to injury he climbed it in a way I didn’t think possible considering the conditions, though I never tried the ice on that route maybe it was different.

After a waiting a bit for the additional folks to get up, we finally made our way down and back to the car by 10pm.

At the car packing up, another car rolled into the parking lot and kind of sat there beside the road. It was odd just sitting there with the engine running and headlights on. Finally we approached the car wondering what was up. The driver rolled down the window. She asked if we were climbing at night, then asked if we were crazy. The lot was full, so we told her we must all be crazy. She just kind of sat there stunned sort of in awe. Finally she said to be safe and stay warm, which we were.

It was an odd interaction, but not the first. On Sunday a guy while waiting for coffee at a rest area along the interstate asked me if I was going skiing or snowboarding. I said no, then he asked why I was wearing “snow pants”. When I told him I was going ice climbing, he appeared to kind of choke on himself. He looked surprised – bewildered even.  Then he asked if I rock climbed, and asked how they compared…

Sunday’s conversation actually energized me a bit. The guy couldn’t wrap his head around what we were going to do, and that gave me strength to do it. Last night I was already defeated. I thought for sure I’d lead something significant. Instead I rapped away with my tail between my legs, yet this woman along the road was still in shock. No. She didn’t know the details of our evening, and yes the important thing is I learned something new about conditions. Learning and returning is always favorable over trying and failing, but not achieving a goal (as arbitrary as it might be) is tough.

Oh well. Till next time.

– b