For my second ice climbing trip of the seaons  I was able to get up to the Daks (Keene Valley/High Peaks area) again in
January of 2007, and managed to get two incredible days of ice climbing this past Sunday and Monday (20th and 21st).   The
heat spell of the previous couple of weeks really wrecked the ice climbing, but the past week or so of cold temperatures
helped and many of the climbs were beginning to come in very nicely.  It was however, VERY cold.  Both days the highs were
only in the single digits.


                                   
             
                            


The first shot above, was taken Sunday on Chapel Pond and you can see Power Play and the nearby climbs.  The next shot shows
Ian on a frozen Chapel Pond, and you can see the Canyon behind him.  


As usual I’ve written WAY too much.   Hence, the short version: we got some amazing climbing in (in very cold conditions)
including heading to two places I’ve never been to before and which are seldom climbed.  You can quickly skim through the
report to see the set of photos included. Also, at the end of this report I talk about Otis the dog, and you can also skip
to the end to see a link to another article along with a quick synopsis about Otis.

Now for the endless verbiage:

Once again I stayed at the Mountain Meadows B&B, bonded with the B&B cat (Louie) – usually in the very, very early morning
hours, got the chance to climb in two "new" locations that I had never climbed at before, met several new and interesting
folks, and heard some great stories (especially about Otis the hitch-hiking dog – more on that later).

When Ian came over to the B&B Sunday morning, it was a balmy 1 degree!  Ian had just gotten back last week from a long trip
to Nepal, where he was doing some high altitude ice-climbing with Erik Weihenmayer (the first blind climber to do Mt.
Everest).  We decided to warm up in Chapel Pond Canyon. Also, since it was so cold, I decided to try climbing with
mono-point crampons that day.   

To our amazement Lions on the Beach was open, so Ian quickly scooted up in and set up a TR.    Even though this is a NEI 4,
it was pretty straight-forward (in that the main line was pretty picked out, and it was sort of like a peg board).
Nonetheless, it was a very nice way to warm up.  Then I did the very, very thin variation just to the left of it (we had
set up directionals).    This was very nice, in that it was much more technical and you needed to "tread gently".  

After this we packed up and decided to walk along Chapel Pond and see if anything was open.  The place was PACKED!!  I’ve
never seen that many folks climbing there.   Virtually everything was taken, and after a while we both decided that maybe
Roaring Brooks would go.  It would probably be thin, but if it would go, it should be fun.  

Hence, we headed back to the jeep and went down to Roaring Brooks.  We stopped at the road and looked at with binoculars,
and Ian was pretty sure that it would go.  Hence, we hiked in.   However when we got there, there was a party of three
struggling on the 1st pitch, along with TWO photographers taking shots of the group.   It was RL (a guide with an outfit
out of Keene).  He had two guys with him (the one on the ground was Dave and I don’t remember the other one’s name), and
this was their first day of ice climbing, and this was their first climb.   The bottom pitch was wild!!  Water was POURING
out of it.   I had never seen that much water coming out of the bottom.  RL was at the top of the 1st pitch, and the first
of his clients, was up in the chimney and was just right on the edge of freaking out/having a full blown panic attack.  At
the point he was "stuck" you are stemming across the chimney, and he just had GOBS of water rushing between/below his
knees.  It had to be a VERY intimidating experience for a novice climber.  However, he did finally did get through it, and
when I got up there he seemed to none the worse for wear.

 

            


The above picture shows Ian on the lower part of "Ahab the Arab", and you can kind of see how thin the lower part was.  The
next two shots show Ian on the upper part of "Sheik of the Burning Sands", along with a view from atop of Sheik.  It had
started to snow by this time and you can see a bit of the Emperor Slab way in the background.

Anyway, RL is a very nice guy, and he told us that we could do the thin ice to the left of the chimney and go ahead of them.
That was VERY nice of him.  Anyway, this was a great climb.  I’ve done it several times, but each time it is completely
different.   The lower part (which we did) was very thin.  Hence, technical but very, very cool.   In the middle pitches,
you are sort of in a sun bowl.  (the climb faces south)   Thus, even though the air temperature was only about 5, there was
plenty of sun and it was almost balmy at the middle belays.   Again just a great climb.  

After this we toyed with heading back to Chapel Pond,but we finally decided to try something completely different -
which is seldom done.  We headed over to "Ahab the Arab" and "Sheik of the Burning Sand".  (They are south facing so there
was a good chance they would be baked pretty well.)   To get to these it was about a 30 or so minute bushwhack up some
moderately steep terrain.  We also had to cross a semi-frozen stream.  While crossing, my right foot did break through up
to my lower shin.  However, my boots and gaiters both worked great, and everything stayed nice warm and dry.  (To get
across it you were sort of treating a small set of limbs like a balance beam as you were scooted over it).    As it turns
out these two climbs were just GREAT!  Even though the guide book rates them as NEI 4, they were clearly not that on
Sunday, but definitely much trickier.   The ice was thin, and they were both very, very impressive leads by Ian.  Just
great climbs!!  After this we headed back to the jeep and called it a day.

On Monday I climbed with Justin.  We again decided to try something completely different, and headed to a climb called
"Polar Soldier".   Justin had never done this one before (or even been there), but it had a good reputation, and the guide
book said it was only a 100 yard walk along a ski trial, followed by another easy 100 yard walk up to the base of the climb.
Thus, we decided to avoid the crowds and try it.  It was also COLD Monday morning (it was around 5 degrees F, when we left
the car and started hiking up).   As it turns out Mellor (the author of the guide book) needs someone to buy him a tape
measure!  Also, he described it as going to the left, whereas you needed to go to the right.  It wasn’t a bad bushwhack,
but it did take us at least 45 minutes to an hour to get there.  In fact it wasn’t that physically tough a hump up at all.
However, since we expected a short walk, and since it was SO cold when we started we were WAY over-dressed, and the hardest
thing about the hike was trying to not over-heat and get sweaty.  As a side note, it was so cold that morning that Justin’s
diesel truck wouldn’t start, so we had to go in his smaller car instead!

We got there, and the climb looked awesome.   It looked like the entire thing came down during the recent heat spell, in
that there was huge washing machine/air-conditioner size blocks of ice all at the bottom of the climb.  The book calls it
NEI4 (with some NEI5 variations).  However, that’s when it is fat.  It looked like a great climb, but a VERY spooky lead –
especially down low).  It’s also a LONG climb – very close to 150 feet.  Anyway, Justin opted to not lead it, and instead
took a tricky hike scramble up around the side and set up a TR.  It was too long for a single rope TR, we had to tie the
ropes together and do a double rope TR.  We also had to put in at least ice screws for directionals.

This was a GREAT climb.   It was definitely hard, but amazing!!  One of the better climbs I’ve ever done.  We decided to
just spend the day there, and I ended up doing it three times (slightly different variations each time on the upper part).
Just a stunningly good climb.  I felt really good on it, and the 2nd time I did it, may very well have been my best
ice-climb ever – in that I felt really strong and smooth.   The third time I did it, however, I was getting tired, and I
reverted a bit into my usual sloppiness.

                          



The shot above was taken during our bushwhack up to Polar Soldier on Monday.  While I was walking I heard this odd creaking
sound coming from above me.  As it turns out it was a HUGE broken limb balanced on a very small branch that was swaying in
the wind way above my head.  The next photo just shows a bit of the bushwhacking that was left as we were nearing the base
of the climbs.   The next picture shows me wearing my handy-dandy new dive club red cap (Metuchen Underwater Divers) at the
base of Polar Soldier.  

 



The next four shots (above) are all of Polar Soldier.  The first shot shows Justin on the lower part of Polar Soldier.  You
start the climb way to the left (and below Justin).  You did a very trick column and pulled up onto a ledge, then did a long
traverse to the right to get to the crux.  The crux was getting up over a thin hanging icicle (the photo makes it look like
a column, but it did not touch the ground and the entire bottom half of it was detached).  Also, in the photo it only looks
like about a body length in height, but that was not the case- it was much taller than that. It was a really tricky (but
very cool) move that required a bit of mixed climbing and making use of some verglas smears for the left foot).  Also, the
vertical wall immediately above the next ledge was REALLY, REALLY thin.  Less than a quarter inch in thickness, so you
couldn’t just hammer away.  An amazing section of the climb!!  Anyway, the next picture shows me posing at the start
(getting ready to pull up onto the ledge), while the picture after this shows Kerry near the top of the crux move.  The
last picture gives a pretty good view of the entire climb and I’m about three-quarters of the way up it.


Nonetheless, just a great climb!!  We got back to the car around 3:30, and then it was back to the B&B, and then home to
Jersey.  All in all it was  just a great trip.   Got in a bunch of great climbing, met some very nice folks (both at the
B&B and on Roaring Brooks Falls), and even read and heard some great Otis the dog stories.   At the end of this report is a
little snippet about Otis, if you have the time or patience you can skip down to read about him.



Tale of Otis the Dog:  While I was at the B&B, I was glancing over the most recent version of the Adirondack Life magazine.
There was an article entitled "Ski to Die", about a group of fanatical skiers that did some of the most amazing skiing of
the monster Dak slides in the mid 70s, 80s and 90s.  There was a dog, Otis that actually went along with them.   He was
amazing.   He survived a 1000 foot fall/slide in an avalanche, ran down and actually led the first rescuers to the
survivors; once got stuck on a ledge when the fellow he was "skiing" with essentially skied off a ledge.  The fellow
managed to get all the way down and into town, rounded up some ice climbing buddies then heading back up there late that
night/next morning (with head-lamps) to find Otis still waiting on the ledge for them wagging his tail.   Ian also told me
that in his last 5 years or so, Otis turned into a hitch hiker.  He would wait by the side of the road (near his house) and
whenever someone was heading out for some cross-country skiing, or ice-climbing, or snow shoeing, they would just pull
over, open the door and whistle for Otis who would jump in and then join them for the day.  Apparently, Ian and Otis spent
many a day together out in the ice and snow.  An amazing dog!  Below I give the link to the article (the photos with the
on-line version are a different set than the ones in the paper magazine), along with a couple of excerpts from the article
that talk about Otis:


http://www.adirondacklife.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=119


Below are a couple of excerpts from the story that talks about Otis: It was thirst for new territory that led to one of the
group's most famous exploits: the Story of Otis. (See "Tale of the Pup," Adirondack Life, February 1994.) In April 1992
Geoff Smith had ski-soloed a steep, west-facing gully on Mount Colden, a peak riddled with slides that drop into Avalanche
Lake. It likely has the most ski routes of any mountain in the region, and as many risks to match.

The trip required a 25-foot rappel at the bottom, at least when Smith did it. A year later, Eisinger decided to try to
follow Smith's tracks. He brought Otis, a dog adopted by Munn but shared by all Ski to Diers.

Otis was a big white shepherd-husky-terrier mix and he was all energy. On the day that Munn set the record for skiing down
Marcy, 43 minutes from the summit to Adirondak Loj, a distance of 7.5 miles and drop of 3,000 feet, Otis was at his heels
the entire way. The mutt had more lives than a cat, and on powder he could almost float.

But on the day Otis followed Eisinger down Colden, things took a bad turn. When Smith had soloed the gully—he named it
"Cruciflyer," from a scripture card he carried—it was in high snow. What had been a short rappel down an ice face was now a
150-foot cliff. Eisinger's rope was too short.

Still, he tried to rappel while wearing skis, and Otis hopped and slid from ledge to ledge. When Eisinger reached the end of
the doubled-up rope he'd find a stance, pull the rope and wrap it around a tree to continue his descent. Partway down, a
snow platform he was standing on gave way while Otis waited on a ledge. Eisinger was still roped in but fell 20 feet. Otis
was too high to reach or follow.

With nothing else to do, Eisinger set up another rappel and descended to the valley. Otis just watched. "I was preoccupied
with saving my skin," says Eisinger. He rushed home, recruited Munn and another local skier named Bob Thomas and returned
to Colden. Using ice-climbing tools, Eisinger and Munn ascended the gully in the early morning hours by headlamp. When Munn
reached Otis, the dog started wagging his tail. They would rename the route "Otis's Gully."

--Then came February 19, 2000.

Technically, the event that claimed the life of 27-year-old Toma Vracarich was not a Ski to Die trip. The only member on
this descent was Konowitz, who was skiing with then-wife Lauren, four others and Otis the dog. But it was a trip in grand
Ski to Die style, a big slide way up on Wright Peak, formed only a few months earlier when Tropical Storm Floyd came
pouring down onto the mountains.

Though the skiers didn't know it, conditions were perfect for an avalanche, an icy base covered by a recent snowfall of
about two feet. They were taking turns enjoying the powder when there was a muffled whump and the world turned into a white
whirlwind. Ron and Lauren Konowitz, Vracarich, Otis and a friend were caught in the avalanche and dragged nearly 1,000
feet.

Ron Konowitz and most of the party escaped with relatively minor injuries. His wife was buried up to her head and suffered
life-threatening injuries. She might not have been found in time but for her hat sticking out of the solidifying snow pile.
They dug her out and did what they could to save her life.

Vracarich was nowhere to be found. It took six hours to locate and dig out his body. No one knows how Otis survived. But it
was the dog who ran down toward Marcy Dam. Teresa Palen, another longtime High Peaks skier, had witnessed the disaster from
the dam and was already on her way up. Otis led her back to the scene, and a helicopter soon arrived to pluck the stricken
party off the peak. Konowitz, a wilderness search-and-rescue coordinator for the Keene Valley Fire Department, would never
quite get over the incident. "It was hard," he says. "I had spent all these years rescuing people from the woods, and now I
was the one being rescued."

"Otis died at age 16 in 2006, having lived a life most dogs could only envy."

Click here to get back to Coffman Ice Climbing 2008 page