Indecision

Cold temps and the need for possible sun exposure made heading to Indecision my top choice. Kellie didn't realize it was a multi pitch route till it was to late.

I really sucked at taking pictures today. The first pitch was great, mostly solid and pretty high quality ice for such cold temps.

Kellie Expressing her joy of ice climbing

 

The upper pitches

 

We did the route in four pitches and made it down before the end of civil twilight.

This is the only picture I took of the whole route

Frozen hair and frozen breath, once the sun went down it got really cold!

 

Indecision and the PFM Wall

Bill and I headed south to Portage with thoughts of warm temps and fat ice. We did the full tour to the Whittier tunnel, things were pretty buried in snow, and the lake was still open. Across the valley, Indecision was like a beacon, it looked huge and promising from the road.

Despite the cold temps the swamp still had quite a few sections of thin ice, creating unfortunate little booby traps. The pool below Indecision was scary, small rocks I threw embedded themselves in the not so frozen ice. It was a "no go" situation.

So we walked back to the car, I wrang out my wet, swampy socks, and we decided to look closer at the PFM wall. I didn't see the line, but Bill was all over it.

It was steep and pretty. Bill cruised it. It was a super fun line, I'm glad I was on top rope.

Indecision

This was the warmest, sunniest day of climbing I have had all year. Days like this are why I like ice climbing. Warm sunny belays with great views and soft sticky ice is truly a pleasure.

Hiking to the Route
Photo by: Eryn Kaldor

 

Indecision
Photo by Erin Kaldor

 

Eryn at the Top of the First Pitch

 

View From the Belay

 

Indecision

I thought I was going to be cold all day today, but down in Portage there was a thick layer of clouds, minimal wind, and this soft falling snow that made everything more friendly.

Bill walking toward the climb. Indecision is first and biggest smear of ice.

 

The first pitch unfortunately had a large pool of water around the majority of the base. Luckily there was a solid area on the far right of the climb, I have no idea how deep that pool is. Its so black you just can't tell. Plus it was making those haunting, scary, echoing, booming noises. The top of this pitch had a festive water spout, but luckily again for me there was just enough ice on the side. I won the rosh!

 

Most of the upper pitches were cruzey grade 2-3ish. There was a ton of ice!

 

My standard end of the day self portrait.