John Frieh

Trip: Ice Bender Date: 12/8/2008 Summary: Day 0: PDX -> SEA -> BZN Day 1: G1 (many laps/20 m), Bingo Cave - P. Tapley open project (Steep) w/ Roger, Greg and Bryan Day 2: Avy Gulch full (Belayed 2 p only/250 m) with Roger Day 3: The Mammut Hyalite Ice Breaker Pro Invitational Competition (9 hours/10 routes/13 p/3rd place!) with Bryan (Route list below) Day 4: Silken Falls (2 p/120 m), Dribbles (3 p/155 m) with Shannon Day 5: 1st p of Avy Gulch (1 p/35 m), The Western (1 p/50 m), Over Easy (1 p/40 m) with Lauren and Shannon Day 6: (yesterday!): BZN -> PDX Details: I was turning 30. I was going from a MOG to a COMOG (creepy old MOG) I needed a way to commiserate the passing of my twenties. Emails were sent... partners hassled... and 2 weeks before my 30th lap around the sun the planets aligned. "Sure you can have the week off" "Would you like a slot in the Ice Breaker?" "Do you still need a partner for Tuesday and Wednesday?" "Oh we can stay @ Jack's condo" :rawk: Day 1: Tuesday Started Tuesday @ G1 with Greg of Northern Lights, Bryan (powderhound), and Roger Strong. Following a few laps we sent Greg to work and Bryan to class (with a of course ) and Roger and I moved to the Bingo cage for some punishment. COMOG! Knees to elbows Day 2: Wednesday Rumor was the upper pillar of Avy gulch was nearly touching so Roger and I made the hike out and started soloing. We soloed up to the pillar... it was ~4-5 feet from touching. Dangler + upper pitch: Roger walked some M5/6ish to gain the pillar BIG baller: Somehow my MOGness didnt bring the pillar crashing down so I snuck up to Roger and we belayed 1 more pitch and then hiked to the top of the ridge. We left the car @ 9 am and were at the top of the ridge by 1ish... a great day in the canyon! Sidenote: You know you have a proper ropegun when your partner thought the snow wallowing was the crux and not the free hanging pillar Day 3: (Thursday) Ice Breaker! So the Ice Breaker... this was the second year JoJo organized both an invitational (Thursday) and open (Saturday) ice breaker comp. When he offered me a slot in the invitational I gladly accepted as it looked like a fun event even though I expected to finish dead last given the list of bad ass climbers in the comp. At the informational meeting the night before my luck delivered again and I was randomly assigned Bryan (powderhound) as my partner for the comp. Team Portland represent! The major change from last year's comp was one had to climb in 3 of the 4 major areas (Genesis to Mummy Area, Winter Dance to Dribbles Area, Twin Falls Area, and Unnamed Wall Area) in Hyalite canyon. Basically a ton of hiking and ice climbing The rest of the rules At 7 am Thursday morning 11 teams (7 men/3 women) consisting of one Hyalite local and non local per team literally ran out of the parking lot with the one goal of climbing as many pitches as possible in the canyon while still allowing enough time to get back to the parking lot by 4 pm. How fast were we running? Bryan and I reached the base of Dribbles in 40 minutes Bryan and I climbed in order: Dribbles Avy Gulch lower pitches The Western Over Easy Feeding the Cat Cave and Gully Crypt Orchid Mummy 1 Fat Chance Magically Delicious for a total of 10 routes/13 pitches and a 3rd place finish! I couldnt have hoped for a better partner... Bryan was an absolute monster and kept firing route after route even though he was up till 1 am the night before doing homework. Simply awesome... Ill climb with you anytime dude! As we were moving as fast as possible I only snapped a few pics the whole day. Out of the gate! Bryan early in the day: Day 4: Friday Shannon and Lauren rolled in Thursday night... Lauren spent her first day climbing ice in a chicks with picks session and Shannon and I did the hike out to Dribbles and Silken Falls to get away from the crowds and get Shannon some more multi pitch ice experience. Shannon following Silken: Dribbles: Day 5: Saturday For our last day we opted to head to the back of the canyon again to find Shannon some first ice leads! Shannon's 1st ice lead! Shannon's 2nd ice lead! Lauren's 2nd day of ice! Team Arcteryx enjoying a coffee break: Epilogue: So far 30 kicks ass. Maybe one of these days Ill start acting my age too MANY MANY THANKS to JoJo, Coop, Greg/NLs, Barrel and everyone else that puts together such a great event as well as everyone that I got to climb with and/or meet this week! Until next time Gear Notes: 2 bags @ 50 lbs each Approach Notes: Alaska Air

Great meeting you guys Friday! Sounds like you all had a great time! My partner in the ice breaker was Bryan Schmitz who posts here as powderhound! Team Portland and cc.com represent!

Welcome to the hood dude I nominate AlpineDave for the slide show

Thanks pink! Feel the STOKE! PM me if you're going be in town!

:rawk: How much for a cc.com thong? Stoke!

This slideshow is going to be awesome! :rawk: Looking forward to it!

Get stoked! Hope to see some of you here!

Nice send! See you tomorrow!

If it was harder than M5 I would have fallen off it :laf: Nice send dudes! I smell a flavor of the month!

In BZN 1st -> 7th. Pub club Saturday night

Ill post a pic/info/what to bring as the date approaches.

For sure after 5 pm. If you can make it by 6 then that should be enough time to show you guys around and get a few laps in

My preference is mono vertical but honestly it doesnt matter... just bring whatever you use in the alpine and check it out... learning how to do it on top rope instead of in the alpine is a better strategy IMO. I can post the dos and donts later How does the evening of Dec 9 or 10th work for people?

Dont be a dumbfuck. What do you think? Of course it does. That's why we developed our own routes that werent preexisting rock climbs.

I'm out of town till Dec 8th but if you can wait till after that I can show you all the drytool routes out there... try and find a night that works for who ever is interested.

What I have been told is the toes I originally damaged are more prone to frostnip/bite so I need to be extra cautious with them/more conservative in my boot/sock selection especially this winter. Assuming I make it through this one without a repeat incident I should be more or less back to normal back next winter (09/10) so it shouldnt be an ongoing thing. I have noticed (as Daniel was so kind to shoot video of ) that my toes get cold/wooden much easier... it was maybe 20s on dtail as well as Cody last weekend but both weekends they were acting like it was single digits out. The real test will be at the Bozeman Ice Festival next week

[video:youtube]

M4...? I could maybe see it being called M5 if one found it with less snow/ice/snice on it but currently one can avoid most of the true "ice tool to rock" with well placed sticks and good footwork... FYI/PSA some choss exists in the middle part of the mixed pitch... make sure you pick a protected belay spot for your belayer and think before you torque your tool behind something.

Throw a piece of leather over a pull up bar. Locate a pair of pliers. Do pullups. Add weight if needed.

cc.com in da house You better believe it

Trip: Dragontail - NE Couloir Date: 11/24/2008 Trip Report: Dragontail NE Couloir: The boys are back in town! Dave: Daniel: Daniel starting up the crux: Dave following: Miscellaneous: -14.5 hours car to car. -None of the other ice routes are in. Gear Notes: What I would suggest: 3 blades, 1 pin green, red, yellow c3 .4 -> 3 1 10cm, 1 13 cm You could likely ditch anything larger stuff than #1 and double up in the small stuff and be okay. Approach Notes: Snow covered boulder field... you know you want some

Eye bolts + ice tools [video:youtube] Rob + Christian Santelices and another Exum guide will be in Portland Jan 17th/18th for a two day seminar... DONT miss it!

Ill be in BZN Dec 1st -> 7th for the fest... give me a shout if you're in town!

Let me know if you want me to transport some TG IPA down Or perhaps some stumptown

Make sure you look at the front page today: Kantega N Face FA