DAks ICE trip DEC 2009

Jon Webster & I did 3 days of Ice climbing in the Daks ( Upper State NY ) near Lake Placid - Sunday 12/27 - Tue 12/29.

We drove up Sunday Am in the pouring rain wondering what the hell we were doing. Jon got up @ 3:30 and my alarm failed & he woke me up banging on the front door @ 5:00 am. I think around 10:00 we were getting dressed to climb it was still raining. We huffed up to the cliff and the rain stopped and it was almost warm. at least for ice climbing). We climbed at the cascade practice wall and JDW did 3 leads and much to my surprise after 2 years off I did 2 leads. Felt real solid almost like i never took all the time off. First several Pics from Sunday @ Cascade.

Steve on lead Sunday

Sharp stuff

ICE climbing - Just some of the sharp & pointy stiff..

Steve - up above

Jed after the rain - sun's out now and cool reflectios on the ice

JDW heading up - Don't look up it may poke your eye out !!!

Monday it was snowing like crazy -->> Don was sick so Jed joined us - we hiked into The North Face of Pitchoff and JDW & I each lead one route -- Tendonitis & Arm and Hammer . Stuff got soaked then the temps dove and the ropes became frozen cables. Three days later they were still wet in my cellar with a fan drying them out.. I just coiled them today ( New years eve). Good thing we had two sets of ropes for this trip.

Monday @ NFPO

Tuesday -- COLD cold - Did I say COLD ..........

SIX below Zero and the wind whipping like crazy, wind shield musta been 20+ below . We all dressed with lots of layers and parked @ Chapel pond and hiked into the BEER WALL canyon. ICE looked a bit thin @ Lions so we went in deeper Don & Jed stopped @ ICE slot/ Shot what ever it was -- we went way back to Positive Reinforcement - It was HUGE FAT and some NASTY candled / chandeliered sections. JDW did first lead as he had never been here before & I have climbed here several times as far back as 1994 I think. Oh yea I forgot to the right of the ice we climbed at SIX below water was flowing down the cliff....... YES open flowing water at 6 below it had steam coming off the water - very cool .... Two other guys showed up so this guy Chris lead a route similar to what JDW just did and I did a line left and sorta straight up Both climbing at the same time -- ½ way up the ice got so rotten I had to hack away 12-18” Old candled blobs that would not hold my weight at all to get good sticks and get screws in. It was a lot of work on top of dead vert. After those two climbs we hiked out to ICE SLOT/ SHOT and JDW did the last lead of the trip . It was getting colder and we had a long drive home so off we went……………………

Last climb we did Tue .....


JDF on - Positive Reinforcement in very cold conditions


Positive Reinforcement - just before we climbed it.......-

It's getting to that time of year again - You know 2010 Cycle Goals

So what will they be this year 2010 & how did I do on least years goals . I guess I better go see what I said I would do in 2009 first .. see comments I made today.....

2009 Goals : Blog post ( Jan 2009 ) :
Goal #1 get in the best shape of my life and try to hit 150 #'s. I have a week to go and I hit 151.8 yesterday so I'm wicked happy. OK I did hit 150 in FEB 2009 - even got to 147 late Feb, and I'm proud to say I'm currently bulking up for a cold winter -->> and almost all the Halloween candy is gone thanks to me. Current weight 157. PS: I did stay in ther low to mid 150's all summer. After race season ended early in August with my back injury diet went to hell.
Goal #2 Train like a crazy man all winter to get ready to have Gary + his friends School the old man. ( next Sunday @ Santa Barbra Worlds I will do my best to not get dropped). I got dropped but not as bad as 2008 - maybe I can hang even longer in 2010. That will be a 2010 goal for sure.
Goal #3 Get Jon to also travel out to Gary's for this trip - This is a plan . I will stay 16 days , Jon 13 days + two of Garys friends a week each we will have one hell of a blast . Fantastic Father & 2 son's week - could not ask for a better time .
Goal #4 Climb OSM in better time by 2 min's vs. last MAY. LAst may best time 22:00 I think. I can't find my time for 2009. I will keep looking.
Goal #5 See Lance Armstrong race in the Tour de California . We plan to watch the TT day Friday2/20/09 in Solvang Calif . Another cool day for sure. But Gary has a killer ride to get to the race from his house planned 70 mile ride out with Mt. Figaro .... Something about a 12 mile climb with 4000+ feet of climbing I'm worried.. Then watch race and ride 30 miles back home . Total change of plans - Gary and Brian a teammate were invited to ride the Solvang TT - and GARY Won . That was a cool day for sure . Oh yea we saw Lance but Gary's win was a way bigger deal.
Goal #6 no Heart Attack. Still kicking ( or should I say Ticking) ........
Goal #7 Ride 5000 miles in 2009 - still have 3 weeks so I think I will be OK ( I'm @ 7100 miles already )

Note Last years ( 2009) training camp Stats =
Total trip 16 days - I rode 14 of those days .......45 Hours - 690 Miles - 44,100 feet of climbing Who hooooooooo