My first ice climbing trip of the season took place in December or 2007. The weather, work and commitments all worked out
and I was able to head up on Wednesday (12th) afternoon, and was able to climb Thursday (13th) and Friday (14th).  As usual
I stayed at the Mountain Meadows B&B in Keene Valley (complete with the B&B cat).  I climbed with Ian on Thursday and then
with Justin on Friday.

                        


It was VERY cold on Thursday.  It was around -5 (minus 5) when I got up Thursday morning.  It probably got to about 15
degrees for a high (somewhere in the area), but most of the day we probably climbed in single digit temperatures.   I used
my "Icebreaker" Merino wool layers for the first time (while ice climbing), and they worked great, in that I was reasonable
warm the entire day.  We started off in the Chapel Pond Canyon.   I did a couple of variations of "Lions on the Beach" (NEI
4ish).   Surprisingly, I felt pretty good on them and climbed with moderately good technique (trying to climb "quietly").


There is a very Classic climb at Chapel Pond called "Chouinard’s Gully".  I did it once the very first time I climbed up in
the Daks, but haven’t been able to get on it since.  Thus, we decided that we would do that.  However, as it turns out the
ONLY other climbers we saw the entire two days were headed for it. (A Canadian couple.)  Hence, we decided to go and do
"Roaring Brooks Falls" next, then come back to Chouinard’s.

                      

The first shot above shows Ian on the first pitch of Roaring Brooks.  The 2nd shot shows a watery pool below the first belay
spot on Roaring Brooks.  The photo doesn’t do it justice, but there was a rushing torrent of water in that hole! 

Roaring Brooks Falls is a very cool and classic water fall climb (usually NEI 3+).   Since it has so much running water, it
usually comes in relatively late.  We are pretty sure that we were the first ones to actually do the entire route this
season.   It looks like someone earlier had started it, but backed off pretty soon.  It was WILD!  Normally this is a great
climb, but Thursday it was beyond being really cool.  Many parts were thin, and I later described it as going ice climbing
in a glass bottom boat – there were parts where there was thin transparent ice (or holes in the ice) and you could see (and
of course hear the roar) the water rushing through.  We ended up doing it differently, in that at the beginning we did the
very thin ice on the left, and in many places you were gingerly stemming across (with the rushing water effectively being
between your knees.   This was just a great climb.
 
After this we headed back to Chouinard’s.  Right toward the end of the climb, I was starting to feel a wee bit tired.
Nonetheless, this was again a great climb.  After this we decided to call it a day.

The next picture shows Ian rapping on Chouinards.  You can see frozen Chapel pond below him.  The picture after this was
taken from the porch of the B&B, and you can see my car (I had just cleared off the snow a few minutes earlier).
  
  

That night I headed to the Baxter Mountain Inn, for a very nice dinner and then to bed early.

On Friday I climbed with Justin.  It was MUCH, MUCH warmer on Friday – probably getting into the mid 20s.  However, the
winds were HOWLING!!!

                             
          
                              

 

The shot above shows Justin getting his crampons on at the base of Chillar Pillar (you can also see my pack and ice tools).
The next shot is of Chillar Pillar itself.  The 7th photo shows some of the approach to get to Chillar Pillar, while the
next picture shows Justin rapping down Chillar.

We started off at Chillar Pillar.  This is a great section of ice (NEI 4 or 4+).   I did three hard variations, and again,
my technique was pretty good.  It’s ironic – when I woke up, I thought my legs were feeling fatigued, but they quickly
warmed up and I had an unusual amount of energy the entire day.  After we finished at Chillar Pillar we then went to
Multiplication Gully (a classic NEI3+).  Like Chillar Pillar, Multiplication Gully is very close to White Face Mountain.  It
was a nice hump up to the start of it (which didn’t seem too hard this time).   I’ve done this one a couple of other times,
but it was simply EXCEPTIONAL on Friday.  It was such a cool climb.   To make it even better, there were howling winds, and
in parts of the gully you were getting gusts of over 40 miles an hour.  Also, for a while the snow had shifted to
sleet/snow.  Thus, you had howling sleet being blown right in your face.  It was like climbing in a freezing sand storm.
Amazing ambiance!

            


                             

The above picture was taken about half way up Multiplication gully, looking up into the upper part.  This was during a
howling sleet/snow episode, so the shot looks a bit out of focus.  After this you can see Kerry at the top of Multiplication
Gully, just prior to starting down, while the last photo is looking down into MG.

Just another great day.  By leaving Friday evening I beat the Nor’easter and had a relatively easy drive home (getting home
around 10 PM).


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