Ice and Bug Bites

It has been awhile since I've had anything really worth posting. A few rock trips here and there. Plenty of bushwhacking, training and entirely too much working. Last Feb I took a job as a helper on an underground diamond drill rig. I moved into the operators chair recently and have been able to train and recover so climbing trips are starting to come together. The first was supposed to be over our Christmas shutdown. My last night at work I was bit by a spider...

Great place to have a massive abcess. Anyway I didn't think much of it at first. Went to our company Christmas party in Vegas. It didn't seem to be getting any worse. By the time I got home though this is what it looked like. I knew I was screwed, so I went skiing for one day before I finally went in. I had a pretty bad staph infection and cellulitis. So the cut me open.

The next day I went in and the infection had gotten much worse so as I originally thought I ended up in the hospital for a couple days hooked up to an IV.

After getting I recovered I tried to get out to Suicide Bowl again and have a stab at a wall several of us have been looking at for a few years. Stefan Ricci and couple of other guys flew out climbed two pitches of ice before backing off and hiking out.

I teamed up with Alan Gordon and tried hiking. This turned out to be a complete failure. Alan has been spending a lot of time out on the glacier recently filming and climbing so I figured I'd trust his decision to get on the toe. Every single time I've tried this apporach I've gotten pissed off and stuff in the same miserble never ending icefall. We bivied and bailed the next day.

Finally, last weekend Gabe Hayden and I teamed up and headed out and made the full approach from West Glacier Trail to Suicide in 4 1/2 hours. The main headwall was holding a lot of snow. I think the lines will be in much better condition in early spring. Fortunately, there was a suprising runner up. On the North side of the bowl there is a pretty neat wall.

We had one day to climb so after poking around we climbed the obvious flow on the left calling it "Mellow Character" WI4/5 120m. It should be noted that the glacier ice in the bowl is sinking so this line will probably be quite a bit longer next year if anyone ventures out that way.

We hike out in a little under 4 hours. The lines on this wall could be a day trip for a motivated party and a great option during periods of high temps.