Hyalite Ice: Lower Greensleeves and G1

Anna and I took Sam out for his first ice climbs! Now he's hooked (get it!?).

Thats me running it out on Lower Greensleeves to set up a top rope.

I ended up using one screw. 

Theres Anna B

Anna adding a directional.

Sam's first swings!

We each got a pair of laps.

Then we moved over to G1 for some more top roping. Im leading it here but I end up down climbing.

Anna

Me in the chimney. It came in sooo nicely this year. I may not have been leading ice very long but I have been top roping G1 for years.

That upper chimney is my favorite chunk of G1.

Mr.BadAss himself soloing by. We just moved our rope out of the way for Whitney. 

Sam's turn on the rope and some steeper ice.

Colorado Ice Climb and Ski trip: Ouray and Vail

Anna and I, on her spring break, cruised down to Ouray for some ice climbing and then Vail for some skiing and more ice climbing. Ouray is an incredible slot canyon of farmed ice that has over 120 routes within 1 mile! The local brewery let us sleep in their empty room because the owner knew how much fun car camping in snow/mud is not. He also suggested we stay at Orvis Hotsprings just a short drive North. They have awesome raised tent platforms with clothing optional pools accessible 24 hours a day. I HIGHLY recommend a visit. We then visited some friends in Vail and did some skiing. The snow conditions were so poor that we decided to ice climb instead. 

Anna deciding which top rope anchor to use.

Too much fun. Everyone was having a blast!

That me in the red jacket on top of the flow. (Corkscrew?)

Rackin' up!

Well, for having planned on going skiing that day, we still found something fun to do and made some memories!

Hyalite Ice: Lower Greensleeves and G2

Lucas, Manfred and I went to Hyalite for my first ice lead and first ice multi-pitch! Smiling ear to ear the whole time, I easily led Lower Greensleeves. We also wanted the Hangover but it had climbers so we traversed over to G2. Since we only had a few screws and needed practice V-threading, and since G2 has a nice shelf half way up, we multi-pitched it. Lucas took the 1st half and then I climbed up to the trees for P2.

Lucas on one of his 1st leads. 

Practicing that V-thread.

Lucas following, hands free. 

A little ice cave behind G2.

10th Mountain Division hut excursion in Colorado to the Eiseman hut

Anna Berstrom, Donna and Tim McParlan and I skinning into the hut. This was the winter of no snow everywhere but we got incredibly lucky and it snowed ~12" while we were skinning!!!!!

A big ol' powder smile. 

The crew after our first lap out of the hut.

Tim and I were going lap for lap all day; we just couldnt get enough and neither of us had been in pow like that for a long time. Let alone pow in the backcountry in an uber safe scenario.

No matter how tired we got, you couldnt wipe the smiles off our faces with an SOS pad!

Got up early the next day for some more laps.

Some of the coolest people you'll ever meet from Illinois.

I though it was blue square and green circle? J/k this is a trail marker. If you have never been backcountry hut skiing anywhere, umm do it.