Jump to content

[TR] - Ice Bender - CO, UT, OR - 1/14/2007


John Frieh

Recommended Posts

Trip: 7 days - Ice in 3 states

 

Date: 1/14/2007

 

Trip Report:

Summary:

Jan 8th - 11th: Colorado - Bird Brain Boulevard (BBB), Mixed climbing

Jan 12th: Utah - Stairway to Heaven (S2H)

Jan 13th/14th: Oregon - Gorge Ice

 

Ummm... where to start? Marcus and I had planned on a week somewhere the second week of Jan... we were tentatively planning on Cody but conditions lead us to CO. We left da Pearl last Sunday at 4 amish and 19 hours later were in Ouray.

 

Welcome to Utah:

welcome_to_utah.JPG

 

This is the statue in Ouray (not kidding):

statue.JPG

 

statue_2.JPG

 

I will let you draw your conclusions about Colorado kids :grlaf:

 

On Monday we hit the ice park... it was ice festival week/weekend so we knew if we wanted to get on any of the routes we had in mind we had to do it early in the week. We both pumped ourselves stupid on Dizzy with the Vision and one of Helgi's routes (forget the name). We ran into Tom Tom and Philonius (don’t worry Phil… your secret is safe with us ;) )... see their TR here: TR

 

On Tuesday we headed for BBB... the more or less objective of the trip. I had heard of BBB before but didn't know too much about it where as Marcus has a long, storied history with as he calls it "the albatross".

 

If you are like me and haven't heard of BBB for a little history/background (and some great pics) Jared Ogden recently wrote a great article on it: click me

 

Basically BBB follows a chimney system more or less (in a few places you leave it) for 1200' and is generally done in 7 pitches (we simuled 4 and 5 so we did it in 6 pitches). When in the chimney system it varies in width but never gets wider than a wing span. In a few places it narrows down to a foot or so across so taller people (hint hint... Marcus is 6'7") or fat people (hint hint… I like doughnuts) find the climbing much more challenging then shorter people.

 

BBB:

BBB_1.JPG

BBB marked:

BBB_1_line.JPG

 

But yeah... I'm no world ice travler but BBB is one of the coolest mixed ice routes I have ever done! We didn't get a ton of pics as while climbing it you can see each other for the first 10' or so off each belay and then they disappear into the chimney. But yeah... a few:

 

MD starts pitch 2:

MD.JPG

 

start of pitch 3:

JF_p3.JPG

 

MD following pitch 3:

MD_3.JPG

 

simuling 4 and 5:

simul_time.JPG

 

start of pitch 6 (for us #5):

MD_2.JPG

 

the 5.8 exit pitch:

JF_exit.JPG

 

So on BBB day the car almost didn't start but I suspect the fact that I made many many many offerings to the ice gods the weekend prior in Hyalite (see puked my guts out and lost my wallet) the car started after a few fuse checks.

 

We climbed BBB in 5:20... we could have gone sub 5 but a rope clusterfuck at one belay + Marcus having to channel his aid climbing placement experience for one anchor + someone (ummm... okay me) dropping one of their tools and having to downclimb 20' to it on the crux pitch cost us some time.

 

But really... who cares? BBB will numb yer ballz... go do it!

 

We ran into BillA and Brendon (spelling??? sorry man!)... the next day (Wednesday) the four of us headed up to the Skylight area.

 

Bill and Brendon on p 2 of skylight:

skylight.JPG

 

Marcus sampling some fine mixed climbing:

MD_mix.JPG

 

BillA:

BillA.JPG

 

Brendon:

bren.JPG

 

On Thursday Marcus and I drove to SLC... cheers to Kim for letting us dirtbag :brew:

 

On Friday we climbing Stairway to Heaven (S2H):

stairway.JPG

 

When fully formed S2H is 7 pitches long… only the first 5 were in when we did it. S2H is like 20 minutes on a paved asphalt trail from the car… maybe… if stop to have a sandwich… it took us like 10 minutes. Talk about urban climbing! Even better: S2H sports multiple mixed options on the side of almost every pitch so you could climb it differently every time :tup:

 

We only did the first 4 pitches as I was having a major gaper day… embarrassing to say the least. I’m hoping to go back and get all 5 (if not all 7 if they all come in) sometime. Great route!

 

After S2H we drove home. If you drive fast enough you can make the sunset last longer :)

 

headed west:

sunset1.JPG

 

On Sat I caught up on work and did some laundry while Marcus checked out the gorge.

 

On Sunday (today!) we headed out and did Starvin Marvin...

 

Starvin Marvin:

starvin_marvin.JPG

 

MD:

marcus_starvin_marvin_2.JPG

marcus_starvin_marvin.JPG

 

After Starvin we hit Dog River Coffee in Hood River where the cutest barista ever hooked us up with stumptown and smiles… All great trips start and/or end at Dog River :)

 

Gear Notes:

stump.JPG

 

Hair bender in the morning

Los Delirious in the evening

 

Approach Notes:

da Pearl to Ouray: 19 hours

da scenic route back :)

 

Music Notes:

Rilo Kiley, Arctic Monkeys, Johnny Cash (complete Folsom Prison is out!), Lucinda, etc etc etc

 

Edited to add title.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 27
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

you guys make any dolphins?? Or swans?? What about the penguin pump, was is used? Good time, nice photos.

 

Nope... only your bro is qualified and talented enough to craft such fine ice sculptures :laf:;)

 

I did use the penguin pump as well as every other trick I knew in the gorge but I still got barfies :( It gets cold!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BBB is one of my favorite routes anywhere. It is in the best condition I've ever seen it. Over a thousand feet of mixed climbing twenty minutes from the car, pretty awsome. Not to many other routes of it's quality in the lower 48.

Edited by sill
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DOOD- BBB looks like a kick in the pants! I dont really ice climb (cept for shit in the mtns.) but looking at those picks of that route make me want to sell my skis and get some tools of my own. (Well mabey not sell my skis, that was more for dramatic effect.) Nice TR! Thanx for sharing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...