Ice Climbing in the Catskills in February
of 2008
Kerry's third ice climbing trip this season was a day trip up in the
Catskills (in the "Devil's Kitchen", which was formerly known as the
"Hell Hole") in early February of
2008:
The first one shows Joe after we
hiked near the edge. You can see the steepness, and icy
conditions and can see us setting up a rap to safely get down to the
edge, so we can set up a TR/rap. The 2nd shot is looking up out
of the Canyon/ravine.
It has been an odd winter (with too many "annoying thaws" and a LOT of
rain). However, I was able to get up to the Catskills this past
Sunday (2/3/08) and had a GREAT day of ice climbing!!
I met Joe up at the Kingston Thruway Park&Ride, and we decided to
head to the Devil's Kitchen/Hellhole. Historically,
climbers called this location the Hellhole, and the Devil's Kitchen was
another location that requires a hike of a couple of miles.
However, as it turns out the actual names were different.
What we used to call Devil's Kitchen is now called the "Black Chasm",
and the former Hellhole is actually named the "Devil's Kitchen".
Confused??!!??
Anyway, the creeks were really running, and the ground didn't really
have snow cover - instead it was pretty much ice
covered. Hence, instead of hiking down into the
ravine/canyon, and having to struggle across the creek, we instead
stayed high and hiked to the top of the climbs and then rapped down
into the Devil's Kitchen. This was actually easier,
and could be a way to set up some TRs and not have to lead. You
do have to be a wee bit careful, since it is VERY steep up on top - so
you need to be roped up/clipped in as you approach the
edge.
The above photo, shows Joe atop of
the smear, while the other one shows me pulling through the tough
icicle start. This did require a bit of mixed climbing (with your
feet).
Anyway, we started off on a section/route called the Smear, and we were
able to do 3 or 4 variations of this, including a very tricky start up
a mixed icicle. In addition we then did a very hard and tricky
mixed climb (i.e., a climb in which there are sections in which the ice
vanishes and you have to get up sections of
rock). After this did another very nice route to the
left of the Smear, and then finally we did a steep route called "The
First Corner". All in all we got 7 climbs in.
All of them were very steep, and typically were around 75-85 feet in
height.
The next 4 shots below show me
working on the VERY hard mixed route called Purgatory. The first
of these shows me on the very low and tricky start/crux. The next
two shots show me in the middle section of Purgatory, while the 4th
shot shows me reaching the real crux, which is full-blown mixed
climbing.
The 1st picture below is just
another shot looking up out of the ravine/canyon. In this one you
can see the roaring creek along with two other climbing parties that
were there that day. The next photo, shows someone just to
the right of the tricky "First Corner" route. Lastly, is a shot
of our packs being hauled up.
After Joe led "first Corner" he set up a 3:1 pulley system and then he
hauled up both of our packs, instead of both of us doing the route with
our full packs on our backs. We decided to do this, because it
was going to be VERY tricky getting across the creek/stream if we opted
to hike out in the "traditional" way.
All things considered, the ice was in very good shape. All of the
nearby falls were RUSHING along with the creek. The weather was
nice, with it getting into the low 30s, with most of the day having
blue skies and plenty of sun. We also had a 50 feet icicle (which
no one was under nor climbing - even though it was huge, it was running
with water and looked like it was de-laminating near the top)
completely break loose and come crashing down. Pretty wild!!
Anyway, we ended up getting lucky and had a great day of
climbing. I've climbed in the Devil's Kitchen/Hellhole
a couple of time previously (but not in at least 3 years). Even
though the ice was thinner than those previous times, it was perhaps
the best climbing I've had there!
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