Goodbye tree, hello ice!

December was the month of in between. Our fabulous rock season ended in November. December came, but ice did not. We swung our tools at the tree in Shenley park in anticipation. Then, on January 1st, the temperatures dropped below the freezing mark, where they stayed for 11 days. Finally, last weekend, we had lots of climbable ICE.

Saturday got very busy at the three ice flows at the Meadows which were in good. There was a lot of climbers from the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh, other Pittsburgh and Ohiopyle climbers, even a group from Maryland. Action at the Meadows included Sam's leader fall. This was the first time I experienced someone falling on an ice lead. All of his three screws held. Sam is fine!

Sunday up on the ridge the snow was hip deep, and, at 4F, the ice was very hard. Laura asked me if I ever wanted to lead on ice. I actually did one ice lead once, a 2+ at Thunder Bay. Before I got on the climb I made everyone there promise that if I did one ice lead they'd get forever off my back about leading ice. So there you have it, don't ask me again, I am just too scared! Toproing steep ice is just fine with me...

From the many pictures that I took last weekend, I assembled my first movie.

Check it out! 

Another rewarding experience on the drive back home to Pittsburgh on Sunday night was that we saw a sun pillar. This is only the second time I've seen one. My first sighting of this phenomenon was on that ice climbing trip to Thunder Bay. Sun pillars occur when the sun is low in the sky and its light reflects off of ice crystals in the Earth's atmosphere. That gives you another visual of just how cold it was on Sunday! I did not have my camera handy in the car. The picture to the left is from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website, where you can read more about this photograph of a sun pillar.