The picture on the upper right shows the top portion of Haggis and Cold Toast.  This section was a 
really cool section to get through - very neat moves.  I got hit in the face with an icicle on this climb
and the picture on the left shows a small remnant of some of the frozen blood. 

    
The picture on the upper left shows a beaver dam, we passed while hiking to and from Haggis. The other 
above shot shows the couple (in front of us) on the first pitch at Roaring Brooks (waterfall) on Wednesday.  

              
                                    

The upper left picture was taken of me coming up the top part of Rhiannon.  The upper right picture was taken from 
Dog's Leg and had a nice view of Chapel Pond looking down into the Canyon. The last picture shows the start of Parallel
Gully/Tillman's arete.  You can see that the opening moves are sans ice, and you can see some of the trees
that made much of the climb interesting.  


The stars were apparently aligned and I (Kerry) was able to get back up to the Daks this week for a couple of 
days (Feb 22nd-23rd) of ice climbing.  I managed to take off Tuesday evening, and climbed Wednesday and Thursday 
(22nd and 23rd).  The way the winter was playing out, this might be my last chance to ice climb this season, but 
if so it ended up being a couple of great days of climbing:  we got a lot of climbing in (seven distinct climbs, 
12 pitches, and about 1300 vertical feet).  I did four climbs I had never done before, including a couple of nice mixed
climbs, some cruises, and a couple of extremely hard/steep things!

The drive up Tuesday night was interesting.  It was great weather and then just north of Albany (just
prior to Lake George, I went through several very heavy snow squalls.  Then right at Lake George, the
road just turned into boiler plate ice (I guess the snows happened to hit when it was slightly above freezing, 
things melted, then the temps dropped suddenly).   It was black ice.  In a 4 mile stretch there were two wrecked
semis and SIX wrecked cars/SUVs, along with about a dozen highway  patrolmen and numerous tow trucks. 
Then after that the roads cleared up.  Nevertheless, I did make it to Keene Valley without too much delay.  The 
previous weekend (President's Weekend) had been a zoo, but the crowds were very light while I was there.

Wednesday - We decided to start off on something I hadn't done before so we headed to a climb called Haggis 
and Cold Toast (NEI 3+, about 120 feet).  It's WAY, WAY down Chapel Pond (essentially across from Roaring Brooks). 
We parked in another secret spot, and then cut across the frozen swamp (we had to cross about 50 yard of private 
property-the Ausable club owns a small part of the swamp along with several thousand other acres).  Things were very 
icy so the hike in was a little tricky.  There was a huge beaver dam that we walked past- neat. It is easy to miss 
this climb.  It's a chimney and you have to rock climb/mix climb about 40-50 feet up before reaching the solid strip 
of ice.  Just an outstanding climb!! A lot of chimneying, stemming and neat climbing.  I also, got hit in the face by 
a falling icicle, and had a nice gash in my check (OK, OK a scratch).  However, there was a bit of frozen blood there 
for a while, which only adds to the ambiance.

After this we headed back across the swamp, and then drove to Chapel Pond.  I wanted to work on some
technique so we went to Hot Shot.  This was a wide fat piece of ice (about NEI 4+) that's about 80 feet.  We
did three variations - each distinctly different.  The middle one is a traditionally steep route (with hard
brittle ice).  The right side, was actually wet, and had water running under it, so it was a much different
style of climbing.  To the far left there was a very steep arete, and that ended up being the hardest
variation (probably around NEI 5).   Nice, nice climbing.

After this we walked down a bit and did a short little thing.  It was about 50 feet, but was EXTREMELY steep.
It's called Laceration (NEI 5-).  We did two variations of this.  In the middle there were some
cool hanging icicles that you could stem up.  This was just a cool little hidden gem!!

After this we decided to do a nice cruise, so we headed to Roaring Brook (waterfalls).  This has been
OUT almost all season, but it was now in, although probably wouldn't be for long.  This is a classic 350
foot NEI3+ climb with awesome views. On the walk in we passed a gentleman who was taking his Labrador Puppy
for a walk (named Missy).  She was a cool, highly energetic pup!!  If only I had that much energy!! 
There was a couple on it ahead of us, so we had to wait for a bit.  This was an extremely fun climb.  You
could hear the roaring water underneath it, and there were several holes/thin spots where you could see the
water.  The lower pitch was a bunch of wild plumes and mushrooms, and the stuff was very soft.  It was like
climbing a snow cone!!  Really COOL stuff.  We did this as two LONG pitches.  Once at the top we walked
down and got to the car JUST before dark (a couple of minutes before 6 PM).  Thus, it had indeed been a long
day.  Eight pitches and over 800 vertical feet.  Not a bad day at all.

Thursday - We had thought about hiking into Avalanche Pass/lake (it's a five mile hike in), but Ian was
there Sunday and the conditions and not that good).  Hence, we decided to head back to Chapel Pond.  We
started off on Rhiannon.  This is a classic route, that's just a smidgen under 200 vertical feet.  It's
rated 4+/5-.   The crux is the second pitch which has a hideously steep finish (about 50 feet).  The first
pitch was actually a very nice and thoughtful pitch, with several solid sections.   The second pitch was
really cool.  It's  50 feet of dead vertical ice.  The ice was extremely brittle/fragile with a lot of
chandeliers and bulbs. Very sustained climbing.  Fortunately, there were a few spots in which to hook
the tools which saved a lot of energy on the way up.  Removing the ice screws in that section was tough, so
setting them had to be even worse.  Surprisingly, I felt very solid on this pitch.  I had never done this
climb before, and this was a great climb.   We then rapped down.

On the climb next to us (Power Player) a guide was climbing with a lady from England (Naomi).  She wasn't
belaying the best/smartest spot and got hit in the arm with some falling ice.  Fortunately, it ended up just
being a glancing hit, and she was able to climb the rest of the day.

Next we decided to walk a little bit down and do a little mixed climb called Parallel Gully (A NEI 3
that's about 180 vertical feet).  It's just to the left of Chouinard's Gully and Dog's Leg. It's at a
classic rock climb (arete) called Tillman's Arete).  This was a really neat climb.  It starts off in a
crack/corner and there isn't really any ice so speak of for the first 15-20 feet.  Hence, it was neat mixed
climbing up to the ice. (Note: crampons don't smear worth a darn!!  Cracks however are crampons' and ice
tools' friends!!) Then, the ice soon got VERY, VERY thin - verglas in many place (less than half an inch
thick), and of course there were cedar trees there, so it was almost like bushwacking - working your way
under branches, where the ice is less than a quarter of inch thick.  Very delicate neat climbing.  It was
actually tougher on the calves than the steep stuff.  Often low angle stuff is hard on the calves,
especially when there are no rest spots.  This was some really nice climbing.  The second pitch then goes
up left and is again dead vertical for about 40 feet or so.  This was a great little climb.

After this we decided that we would do a long cruising climb, such as Chouinard's.  While we were walking
there we bumped into the Lashers (Steve and his wife). They have two boys (ages 2 and 4) and are expecting
the third in May.  They had the boys in a sled and were pulling them across the frozen pond.  Anyway,
getting back to Chouinard's ... folks were still on it, so we did Dogleg (NEI 3+) instead.  This is a 200
foot climb and we did it in one long pitch.  Although not as famous as it's neighbor (Chouinard's), it's
probably a better all around route.

After we rapped down, Matt (from Rock and River) was just finishing Chouinard's with a client, Joe- who
really had trouble on the hike down to the pond!!.  It was about 2:30 PM, and since I needed to drive back we
decided to call it a day.  Thus, we walked back across the pond and headed into town.  

Just another great day of climbing.   Ian had showed me the technique of "pushing" the tool (instead of
"swinging" it).  It's very useful with extremely brittle and/or thin ice. I used it a lot on Thursday,
and it does make a big difference in those conditions.  Once again the new leather boots worked great and the
gloves kept my hands warm and dry.   The B&B cat was "frisky" and the breakfasts were great.

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