[TR] Ice Bender - 12/8/2008

[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

[scheissami]

Sick!

 

I guess your toes held up okay....good enough to get third place, eh? Nice work!

 

 

[marc_leclerc]

N-I-C-E!

[hkrhnk11]

Nice work John, and congrats on the 3rd place finish! There was a lot of talent in the invitational, and even in the open comp. You definately scored some primo weather on thurs too, but what was up with the 1 day cold snap?!?

 

This was my first time to Bozeman and I can't wait to go back. Lots of ice and a really cool town.

[mzchristy]

WOW!! Ice Bender indeed! Congrats on your awesome finish.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Awesome John!!! You got yourselves the best present for growing Thirty years YOUNG!

 

Thanks for sharing the stoke. :tup:

[Spiral_Out]

Super Duper Fucking Sick! Well done! Isn't this what you are supposed to be doing at thirty? Just wait for that mid life crisis. Imagine the routes you'll send then!

[DRep]

Glad to see old Carocciolo is climbing strong again!

Edited December 9, 2008 by DRep

[mkporwit]

Nice pics

 

Looks like you had some great conditions before it all warmed up.

[powderhound]

Thanks for coming out John, sorry I didn't get in touch with you for some breakfast before you got on the road for PDX. Did you continue to chide Roger for me? Hope we can get some climbing in when I come back to live in Oregon for the spring.

 

Is that blood on the top of the "western"

Edited December 9, 2008 by powderhound

[billbob]

Badass TR, John, thanks for sharing!

 

I STILL have that old Chouinard ice tool for ya...

[JoJo]

I was stoked to have Mr Frieh in the Mammut Hyalite Ice Breaker.

 

I am eternally grateful for all he and the rest of the CC.com community has done over the years to help protect access up Hyalite Canyon. The road is plowed this season so come on out and get after it. Hyalite Provides!

 

Here are the results of the Thursday Invitational and Saturday Open Mammut Hyalite Ice Breaker Comps. Remember, the Open is open to anyone! Hope to see you next year.

 

Once again, the Thursday athletes ticked an impressive number of climbs, with some link ups never before completed. Men's Champions Pierre Darbellay and Alex Lussier (the 2007 Open Champion), not only broke trails to the remote routes Kansas Cornfield and Land of the Lost, they ticked off Cleo's while on their way to climbing 15 pitches total, and got to speak French all day to boot. This is two more pitches than the 2007 Champions Guy Lacelle and Ross Lynn. Whit Magro and Adam George showed everyone a new way to link up two of the absolute best, and hardest, routes in Hyalite by walking the ledge between Zach Attack and Upper Mummy Cooler. Pat Wolfe made first tracks of the year on The Sceptre in freehanging-dagger, way-burly conditions. Meanwhile Kris Erickson and Juan Villagra came within "one more route" of the top prize by tearing it up in the Genesis area when many other parties went for fewer, higher scoring routes.

 

Jen Olson defended her 2007 Championship, this time teamed up with fellow UIAGM guide and Canmoron;-), Lilla Molnar. This duo absolutely crushed it by scoring 3,000 points more than the nearest Women's team by climbing 11 pitches including two great harder routes, Responsible Family Men (should be renamed "Hard Canadian Chicks") and The Matrix, that no one else on the day climbed. In total, over 110 pitches were climbed on 48 different routes.

 

It's impossible to equally compare Thursday and Saturdays results since there was about a 35-40 degree difference in temperature and the ticks would have changed due to other parties, or not, on some of the routes that got climbed a bunch. Regardless, Nate Opp and Aaron Thrasher turned in one of the more impressive Hyalite days EVER in the Saturday Open event. They even made it back before 4 pm with time to spare. It was fitting, of course, since Nate was lined up for the Thursday Invitational but got skunked when his partner, Roger Strong, came down with the flu.

 

The other highlights from Saturday Open were a new WI 4 route by the Women's Champions Ashley Williams and Ashley Lehman. This is the 2nd year in a row the Ice Breaker Open has produced a new route. The Hardest Pitch award goes to Marc Beverly, a climbing guide from N.M., and his ascent of Airborne Ranger in mixed conditions. This M9 or 10 sketchy-cobbles onto the free-hanging dagger was only the 2nd ascent ever. Some of you may remember this is the rig Alex rode when it snapped and careened over the head of Scott Backes and Bill Belcourt with Alex escaping with "only" 8 stitches. It normally is done as a full ice pillar and only Whit Magro has done it in full mixed conditions as Marc did this weekend. Kudos! Needless to say, Marc earned an invite to the Ice Breaker next year on that one. Here are the complete results:

The 2nd Annual Mammut Hyalite Ice Breaker Invitational Results

Thursday, December 4th, 2008 : 7:00 am starting time, 4:00 pm finish.

• 100 point time penalty for every 10 minutes (or fraction thereof) late.

• Competitors must complete at least one route in three of four areas: Genesis/Mummy Area, Unnamed Wall Area, Winter Dance/Dribbles Area, Twin Falls Area.

• Full point score for each route divided by total number of ascents.

Men’s & Women’s tallied separately.

• Men’s & Women’s Champions each received a new Mammut Rope plus their names inscribed on the Ice Breaker Golden Ice Axe Trophy.

 

Men’s Invitational Standings:

1. Pierre Darbellay (Verbier, Switzerland) & Alex Lussier (Bozeman) – 7,750 points with no time penalty, 15 pitches. Fat Chance, White Zombie, Thin Chance, Kansas Cornfield, Twin Falls Left, Twin Falls Right, Cleopatra’s Needle, Slot Corner, Land of the Lost, Pillar Right, Curtains, Over Easy.

2. Kris Erickson (Livingston) & Juan Villagra (Argentina) – 7,367 points with no time penalty, 10 pitches. Clump Tree, Genesis I Original, Genesis I Middle, Genesis I Right, Hang Over, Hang Over Mixed Variation, Genesis II, Elevator Shaft, Solstice I, Equinox.

3. Bryan Schmitz (Portland) & John Frieh (Portland) – 6,775 points with no time penalty, 13 pitches. Mummy I, Fat Chance, Crypt Orchid, Cave and Gully, Feeding the Cat, Magically Delish, Over Easy, The Western, Avalanche Gully Bottom, Dribbles.

4. Whit Magro (Bozeman) & Adam George (Salt Lake City) – 6,583 points with no time penalty, 7 pitches. Zach Attack I-III, Mummy III & IV, Good Looking One, Curtains.

5. Mattieu Audibert (Quebec) & Ross Lynn (Bozeman) – 6,467 points with no time penalty, 14 pitches. Thin Chance, Switchback Falls, Elevator Shaft, Fat One, Itchy & Scratchy, The Scrappy One, Thrill is Gone, Avalanche Bottom, Dribbles, Silken Falls.

6. Pat Wolfe (Bozeman) & Stan Price (Billings) – 4,083 points with no time penalty, 9 pitches. Mummy I, The Sceptre, Twin Falls Left, Twin Falls Right, Cleopatra’s Needle, Slot Corner II, Curtains, Over Easy.

7. Mark Givens (Jackson) & Chris Hamilton (Bozeman) – 3,758 points with 100 point time penalty, 9 pitches. Fat Chance, Elevator Shaft, Itchy & Scratchy, Twin Falls Left, Twin Falls Right, Cleopatra’s Needle, Ice Breaker, Equinox.

 

Women’s Invitational Standings:

1. Jen Olson (Canmore) & Lilla Molnar (Canmore) – 6,933 points with 300 point penalty, 11 pitches. Fat Chance, Thin Chance, Crypt Orchid, The Matrix, Cave and Gully, Feeding the Cat, Fat One, Over Easy, Responsible Family Men, Avalanche Bottom.

2. Caroline George (Salt Lake City) & Sarah Hueniken (Canmore) – 3,933 points with 200 point penalty, 10 pitches. Fat One, Avalanche Bottom, Dribbles, Silken Falls, Fat Chance, Switchback Falls.

3. Audrey Gariepy (Quebec) & Amber Seyler (Bozeman) – 3,633 points with no time penalty, 7 pitches. Fat Chance, Switchback Falls, Elevator Shaft, Fat One, Thrill is Gone, Curtains, Over Easy.

4. Margo Talbot (Nelson, BC) & Althea Rogers (Bozeman) – 3,050 points with no time penalty, 4 pitches. G1 Original, Twin Falls Left, Ice Breaker, Elevator Shaft.

 

The 2nd Annual Mammut Hyalite Ice Breaker Open Results

Saturday, December 6th 2008 : 7:00 am starting time, 4:00 pm finish.

• 100 point time penalty for every 10 minutes (or fraction thereof) late.

• Competitors must complete at least one route in three of five areas: Genesis Area, Mummy Area, Unnamed Wall Area, Winter Dance/Dribbles Area, Twin Falls Area.

• Full point score for each route divided by total number of ascents of all teams.

 

Open Division Standings:

1. Nate Opp & Aaron Thrasher (Bozeman) – 9,933 points with no time penalty, 14 pitches. Hang Over, Switchback, Desert Dance, Slot Corner, Land of the Lost, Winter Dance 1st pitch, Curtains, Over Easy, Responsible Family Men, Dribbles. Each winners of a new rope from Mammut and automatic invite to the 2009 Thursday Invitational.

2. Tyler Nygard (Bozeman) & Hermes Lynn (Livingston) – 4,441 points with no time penalty. 11 pitches. Elevator Shaft, The Fat One, Scrappy One, Upper Greensleeves, Hang Over, Hang Over Variation, Soprano, Mummy 1, Crypt Orchid, Cave n Gully, Feeding the Cat. 2nd Place Award for each, a one-month pass to Spire Climbing Center.

3. Marc Beverly & Justin Spain (Albuquerque) – 3,793 points with a 200 point penalty. 6 pitches. The Fat One, Sleeping Giant, Cleopatra’s Needle, Airborne Ranger. Winner of a Mammut Slack Line Kit for “Hardest Pitch Award” (Marc Beverly leading Airborne Ranger in mixed conditions, only the 2nd ascent.) Justin given a Mammut belay device.

4. Dustin Fric & Travis McAlpine (Jackson) – 2,926 points with no time penalty. 8 pitches. Elevator Shaft, The Fat One, Itchy & Scratchy Show, Scrappy One, Thrill is Gone, Lower Greensleeves, Switchback Falls, Twin Falls Right.

5. Mike Ochs & Thad Swant (Great Falls) – 2,726 points with no time penalty. 5 pitches. Zach Attach first 3 pitches, The Fat One, Switchback Falls.

6. Caleb Sunde (Portland) & Casey Ambrose (Bozeman) – 2,718 points with no time penalty. 7 pitches. Fat One, Lower Greensleeves, Hang Over, Cleopatra’s Needle, Ice Breaker, Solstice 1.

7. Colter Anderson & Mike Kellch (Bozeman) – 2,508 points with no time penalty. 6 pitches. Elevator Shaft, Fat One, Scrappy One, Mummy 1, Solstice 1, Equinox. [i/]Winners of two signed copies (by all Invite Athletes) of Winter Dance for the “Best Costume Award.”

8. Ashley Williams & Ashley Lehman (Missoula) – 2,433 points with no time penalty. 7 pitches. Hang Over, Switchback Falls, Over Easy, The Western, Silken Falls, a new WI 4 route near The Western. Women’s Winners each taking home a new Mammut Rope and automatic invite to the 2009 Invitational, plus Ambler hats as a “New Route Award.”

9. Mark Berreth & Eric Lower (Bozeman) – 2,415 points with no time penalty. 8 pitches. Lower Greensleeves, Mummy Cooler 1, Over Easy, The Western, Avalanche Gulch Bottom, Silken Falls.

10. Rich Searle (Bozeman) & Rhys Dubin (Los Angeles) – 2,365 points with no time penalty. 5 pitches. Lower Greensleeves, Mummy Cooler 1, Twin Falls Left, Twin Falls Right, Ice Breaker. Rhys, age 16, was given a signed Bozeman Ice Festival Poster as the “Youngest Participant.”

11. Seth Timpano & Mark Anderson (Bozeman) – 1,957 points with no time penalty. 7 pitches. Sleeping Giant, Mummy Cooler 1, Switchback Falls, Crypt Orchid, Cave n Gully, Feeding the Cat, Over Easy.

12. Jason Baker & Rich Bennett (Hayden Lake, Idaho) – 651 points with no time penalty. 4 pitches. The Fat One, Scrappy One, Switchback Falls, The Western.

13. Pat Odenbeck (Belgrade) & Kevin Brumbach (Bozeman) – 2,833 points with no time penalty but only climbed in two areas. 5 pitches. Elevator Shaft, Good Looking One, Magically Delish, Crypt Orchid, Cave n Gully.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2008 by JoJo

[scottgg]

Awesome John!

[dbconlin]

Wow, ICE! That looks fun...I miss the frozen stuff.

[Jens]

Impressive getaway!

 

 

[Lambone]

Nice dude! i'm planning to make a trip there shortley....see Pete and swing some tools. Cheers

[G-spotter]

Third is good.... it means you came in in Not Last Place!