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January 27, 2004
Bard-Harrington Ice
Bruce and I went ice climbing at 6am this morning (so that I could be back to work by 3pm). We decided to do the Bard-Harrington wall in Lee Vining Canyon. The Bard-Harrington wall is around 600' of vertical ice (mostly WI3). Most years, this particular wall is nothing but rock, in fact it hasn't been climbable for many years. For some reason, it fully formed this year.It was snowing in Mammoth when we left at 6am. After a short drive we started our hike up Lee Vining canyon, where it wasn't snowing, but it was cloudy and VERY windy. The hellacious wind blew spindrift everywhere. It hurt to look up as millions of tiny glass beads assaulted your face.
As I've said before, Ice Climbing is a highly improbable sport. Rock climbing is somewhat dangerous when you are leading, but mostly safe while you are belaying. Ice climbing is just as dangerous for the leader as it is for his/her belayer. As the leader is climbing, chunks of ice, ranging in size from specs of sand to award winning pumpkins, are screaming towards you. You try and plan ahead, having the leader not directly above the belayer, but it never works out quite right. Leading is dangerous for obvious reasons. Following the leader is also somewhat harrowing as falling usually results in a swing and some good hits on the hard ice, which incidentally feels MUCH harder than rock. During the best weather, ice climbing is a test of will. In bad weather, it becomes a severely handicapped test of will.
Bruce led all 3 pitches with style and grace. This climb was still to advanced for me to consider leading it, especially given the inclement weather we were enduring. I did not fall, though I did have some close calls. My gear felt good, but I need to work on my technique. My hanging belay off 3 ice screws at the start of the second pitch was the scariest belay I've had to date. There was no where I could go and nothing to hind behind. As the leader, Bruce was putting his life in my hands. I struggled to take quick glances up between the barrages of ice which had me crouching as close to the ice as possible hoping the chunks would miss, or at the least hit my helmet instead of other parts of my body, all the while I am shivering and blocking out the pain of the dreaded screaming barfies. The weather continued to get worse as we climbed. We ended up hiking off the top, four hours after we'd started, in blizzard-like weather. We made excellent time too, cutting a full hour off of Bruce's previous time, which was amazing considering the weather.
I didn't take any pictures this time, but HERE are some pictures of us ice climbing in lee vining last year. I look forward to going again SOON!
Posted by wonko at January 27, 2004 09:33 PM
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Comments
You've got to show me this place......in person, that is.
Posted by: obigabu at January 28, 2004 09:35 PM
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