Catskill Ice - Buttermilk Falls

Jeanette had Monday off so I played hooky from work and we did a 1 day assault of Buttermill Falls up in the Catskills.  We drove up Sunday evening and stayed in Tannersville at the Swiss Chalet - as one guest put it "like stepping back in time."  Pretty crazy to be hiking in shortsleeves on Saturday and ice climbing on Monday.  This climb is a real gem - 7 pitches and a real beast of an approach.  Jeanette and I had a great time.

Jeanette descending into Kaaterskill Clove from 23A

 

"I think I liked the warm weather better"

Me at the Creek

Beautiful Kaaterskill Creek

Jeanette after the somewhat hairy snowbridge crossing

Climbers on the 1st Pitch

Jeanette coming up the 1st Pitch

Walking towards the 3rd pitch

Me on the 3rd pitch

3rd pitch again

Jeanette on the steep 4th pitch

Winter Warm Up

Saturday I took an opportunity to ge out on some ice with Chris, as Jeanette was busy with the science fair.  May be one of the last days of PA ice as the day had temps in the 40s and we're forecasted to hit the 60s almost all next week.  We headed up to Glen Onoko falls in the Lehigh Gorge, home to the takeout of the lower Lehigh paddling section we've come to know and love.  It was a nice day, barely needed more then a long sleeve shirt on.  We climbed the Weeping Wall area on the left of the main falls and the pillar on the Lower falls.  It was a great time.

The stream on the hike in

Chris at the base of Weeping Wall

Chris getting at the steep section of Weeping Wall

Chris on the pillar on the left of Lower Falls

Wintery Weekend

This week has been a snowy one.  Jeanette had 3 snow days this week after we had about 15 inches dumped on us.  Pretty crazy.  The snow removal process was slow as the snow blower had some technical difficulties - the handle broke off.  We made the best of it with shovels.

The dogwood tree in the backyard

The house

My broken snowblower - not the handle not attached to the blower

Friday a played hooky from school and went up to climb at the Narrows in Kitnersville with Timm.  For 14 years I've been looking at the "Main Flow" at the Narrows, 3 pitches of NEI4.  Conditions were perfect for me to get on it, no one there, fat ice, and wet conditions.  The climb was everything I expected it to be.  Steep, thought provoking and long.  The crux 2nd pitch pillar was awesome.  The final pitch super long - ~150 ft - and really interesting climbing.  It was a great day.

Timm at the base of the climb

View of Pitch 2 pillar

Looking back down the 3rd Pitch at Timm belaying

Rapping out - pitch 3

View of the Delaware River from one of the belays

Finally Sunday we made it over to Fair Hill and got some sledding in on the fantastic hill off of Rt. 273.  There were lots of people out and we had a great time with Wendy, John and Bill.

The hill

Jeanette on Bill's runner sled

The Whoops 

Bill on the tube of luxury

New Hampshire Weekend

Several months ago Joe found a sweet deal on tickets to Manchester NH roundtrip from Philly for $59.  We used this plus a 2 hour car drive to visit North Conway and the White Mountains.  We stayed at the Cranmore Mountain Lodge, which served as our home base - great home cooked breakfasts in the morning, relaxing post activity beer and chilling in the hottub and a place to lay our heads at night.

Cranmore Mountain Lodge

Our first day's adventure was a classic New England Ice climb up in Crawford Notch known as Willy's Slide.  It climbs an ice flow on a rock slab exposed after a slide on Mount Willy.  The route is ~ 600 feet of climbing at a relatively low angle.

The flow viewed from the North

A closer view

The approach took a little under 1/2 an hour as we climbed up to the base of the slide.  There were 3 other parties there, but they were moving slow and we were able to jump in line and get on it first.  The climbing was cold and the ice pretty brittle.  Protection was a bit sparse but the grade pretty easy.

View from the base of the climb

Getting ready to lead the 1st pitch

View up Crawford Notch with Mt Willard on the right

Looking back down at Joe and Jeanette at the belay of pitch 3

Summit Shot

Jeanette thrashing back down through the trees

Joe enjoying the open slabs

Day 2 we headed up to snowshoe on Mount Washington up the Huntingdon Ravine trail.  This is the area with many of the classic ice climbs (Tuckermans being more known for the skiing) and we wanted to see it for ourselves.  

There was plenty of snow on the trail since this is not well traveled in the winter in favor of fire roads for quick access, so we had to break trail in the over 12" of snow.  Joe did the dirty work and Jeanette and I followed.

The beast of burden

The ravine coming into sight

The entire ravine 

Odells

Pinnacle 

 

View back down the valley

Day 3 we visited Franconia Notch and an area called the Flume.  Here an extremely narrow gorge (as little as 12 feet from side to side) has been cut into granite rock by the Pemigewasset River.  In the winter the narrow river ices up and you can walk above the water and the sides form extemely fun ice climbing routes which are easy to setup.  We headed in for a day of toproping.

Hiking in over covered bridge

The Pemigewasset River

 The Flume

Me on our line 

Jeanette

Joe pulling the bulge

It was a great trip and on Monday before heading back home we visited with Kathleen's friend Robin who runs a farm up un NH.