Jewel Lake Ice

Brutes gather at Mills Lake

Fortunately, winter is now here and the ice is starting to form up. The Brutes were planning a huge fest in RMNP, so I tagged along and get my ice on. Plans were, as usual, quite fluid, but we finally ended up with ten climbers split into a couple of teams. The plan was to head to Black Lake, four miles up Glacier Gorge where the harder men would tackle the three-pitch West Gully route (WI3+) and the softer men would play around on the low angle Black Lake Slabs (WI1+). West Gully has been on my list for quite a while and looks amazing, but I didn't want to bite off too much on my first climb of the season, especially on untested gear.

It was a very jovial crowd that gathered at 6:30 at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. Plans were made, gear distributed, and we headed off up the trail en mass. It's been a very dry winter so far and we enjoyed not carrying snowshoes. The day looked beautiful and promised to be warm and sunny, but with a pretty vicious wind. At Jewel Lake, we parted company; three two-man teams headed south to Black Lake to climb the West Gully while the Peter, Andy, Matt, and I ("Team Fluffy Bunny") opted to stay down in the trees and toprope at the Jewel Lake Slabs (aka Overflow) where the wind wouldn't be so bad.

Jewel forms from a trickle of water down a broad granite slab from some trees above to a set of large talus blocks below. Later in the season, it apparently forms a huge shield of fat ice, but this early in the season, it is just a slab about 75' tall and perhaps 20' wide at the widest. The center section was pretty fat, but the edges were covered in only an inch or two of transparent ice.

A very foreshortened view of the entire face. Later in the season, this whole thing would be covered in ice and I'd be standing below the snow level.

Matt belays me as I take the new tools on their inaugural pitch (photo by Andy)

Peter scales the main flow with a view of Longs Peak across Glacier Gorge behind.

Matt and Andy set a toprope from slings, rapped down, and we set about climbing. I was third in the rotation and eagerly grabbed the new tools. It seems like every time I climb ice, I have a new setup. First it was my set of crappy X15s and aluminum crampons. Then I traded up for a set of Black Prophets, then traded those for a set of bent-shaft Black Prophets. Each trade was a significant improvement over the last. The Awaxes were a *huge* improvement. The radically curved shaft and pinky rest gave me all kinds of clearance and control and the light weight favored the delicate style of climbing I favor (as opposed to the framing-hammer swing of the BD tools). Awesome! My enthusiasm was met with the expected "Hey, do you mind if I try them out?" responses from my partners. "Sure, give 'em a go!" I said, and all four of us used the CAMPs exclusively for the rest of the day.

The day was beautiful and sunny with the wind mostly blocked by the trees around us. We wondered how the blokes up at Black Lake were doing. After a handful of laps on the main slab, Andy moved the rope over to the 10' pillar on the far left of the site. Later in the season, the pillar connects to a drip edge from an overhang below a steep slab for what looks like a really interesting climb. At the moment, it was a fairly fragile pillar and we climbed the short pitch as delicately as possible.

Andy on the right side of the flow (photo by Matt)

Climbing the left side pillar (photo by Andy)

Chicken Screamer (patent pending)

Eric and Kevin had planned to hike up to Black Lake today as well. They're not ice climbers, but they planned to get in on the action, so I'd left a radio in the car for them (they don't do alpine starts). To my surprise, I got contact with them almost as soon as I turned the radio on. They were at Black Lake, wondering where we were! Oops! I set them right and they hiked back down to meet us, following our tracks for the bushwhack over to the ice. We were finishing up just as they arrived, so we gathered for a little lunch, doffed pointy metal gear, and started the hike out together.

It was a glorious day, start to finish, and it was wonderful to be out for a casual day on the ice. Now that I've tried them out, I feel more confident in my ice abilities and I'm looking forward to tackling some harder routes in the rest of the season. Perhaps I can talk someone into leading the crux pitch of the West Gully (hint hint?).

Postscript: The other six folks had a through adventure at Black Lake. Andy and Peter waited for four or five hours at Ed's Cantina for the rest to show up. It was long after dark and all kinds of unpleasant scenarios had been spinning around through our heads. Turns out, it just took longer to complete their routes than we'd expected and they ended up hiking out after dark. Check out Scott's great photos.

Rock On!

Neithernor