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Partner: Don Mellor
The slides give us a glimpse of the geology of the High Peaks during the dry season. Sometime in November or December, they ice up, slowly at first until the anorthosite loses its heat, and the xenoliths and dikes disappear under a translucent covering of gray, blue, green, or yellow. Layers of snow change the character of the slides again. I love the cycles of nature.
The transition period to ice is a sketchy time for slide climbing, but it is usually when go hunting up high for the first sticks of the season. …and it helps that I love verglas (but I’m a little odd that way).
This was the thinnest ice I've climbed on Khyber with other ice trips over the years including December and February.
Khyber’s Slide/Bennies Loop
November 21, 2020: The Khyber Slide on Lower Wolfjaw has two large steps and, when there is bonded ice, they offer fun climbing. We found ice on the first step at 3,100 feet in elevation, but the sheet was delaminated and unsupported at its base…a giant semi-frozen bass drum waiting to fracture and fall. Only gravity held it in place, Don and I continued.
I climbed 30’ up the second step before retreating; a few key moves would have sliced the odds a little too closely for comfort. Finally, at the Khyber’s top (around 3,600’) we grabbed a hundred or so feet of thin, bonded ice before bushwhacking to the summit and exiting down Bennies Brook Slide to close the loop. Bennies had even less ice.
For the moment, the backcountry is not frozen and any ice one might climb requires intense scrutiny. It’s difficult to tell what this coming week will bring, but a bit more cold weather, and we’ll be in business!
Regardless of the ice, it is always a blessing to get outdoors, climb, and philosophize about life with Don.
Partner: Don Mellor
The slides give us a glimpse of the geology of the High Peaks during the dry season. Sometime in November or December, they ice up, slowly at first until the anorthosite loses its heat, and the xenoliths and dikes disappear under a translucent covering of gray, blue, green, or yellow. Layers of snow change the character of the slides again. I love the cycles of nature.
The transition period to ice is a sketchy time for slide climbing, but it is usually when go hunting up high for the first sticks of the season. …and it helps that I love verglas (but I’m a little odd that way).
This was the thinnest ice I've climbed on Khyber with other ice trips over the years including December and February.
Khyber’s Slide/Bennies Loop
November 21, 2020: The Khyber Slide on Lower Wolfjaw has two large steps and, when there is bonded ice, they offer fun climbing. We found ice on the first step at 3,100 feet in elevation, but the sheet was delaminated and unsupported at its base…a giant semi-frozen bass drum waiting to fracture and fall. Only gravity held it in place, Don and I continued.
I climbed 30’ up the second step before retreating; a few key moves would have sliced the odds a little too closely for comfort. Finally, at the Khyber’s top (around 3,600’) we grabbed a hundred or so feet of thin, bonded ice before bushwhacking to the summit and exiting down Bennies Brook Slide to close the loop. Bennies had even less ice.
For the moment, the backcountry is not frozen and any ice one might climb requires intense scrutiny. It’s difficult to tell what this coming week will bring, but a bit more cold weather, and we’ll be in business!
Regardless of the ice, it is always a blessing to get outdoors, climb, and philosophize about life with Don.
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