Hello Season

Ah, the alarm rings at an ungodly hour, no worries as I've been semi waking up for an hour prior anyhow. I roll out of bed and start shuffling around in the dark and turn on the cappucino maker. Bomber gives me a sleepy look wondering why I'm breaking routine, Ginger doesn't even bother to get up. I put on a few of my multiple layers and the rest go into my dufflebag for the car. Ice climbing season is back.

Lunch and my snacks are packed, I'm wolfing down a sandwich & sipping on my latte waiting for Colin. Almost exactly on time he appears. We don't say too much as he grabs some of my stuff, I grab the rest and we're off. Just before I lock the door, I'm ticking off the list in my head, crampons -check, harness - check, tools- check, check, check.

We get to Tom's, now Tom is a good friend (and missed as my ex-manbitch) and a great climber but he's too chipper and happy in the morning. Colin and I are fine to drive in virtual silence, at least until we have our Tim Horton's coffee. Tom don't need no stinking coffee to be happy, and I have to admit that this morning his enthusiasm almost rubs off on me. At least I didn't feel like stuffing a sock in his mouth to shut him up.

We're picking up Lyle in Cochrane and meeting Corrina and Nick in the Ghost. A big gang of us. We're going to the Hidden Dragon Crag which is below the Joker & the Candlestick Maker. The plan is to do some mixed climbing and play on some ice.

The approach up there is 1.5hrs which is shocking to my system I have to admit. Back to lots of uphill, a heavy pack, getting used to icy snow covered rocks, slippery tree roots and exposed terrain where falling is a really bad idea.

We set up our ropes, I watch Colin lead up the Gr 3 ice and notice it shatter and dinnerplate, ice season is back. I start up a Gr 4 pillar that Nick has just led. It feels awkward and my calves start to complain. I realize that I'm not trusting my crampons and I'm not dropping my heels which reduces the calf burn. The hands start to give the indication of the screaming barfies, I'm tired and I'm sweating. The truth is it really doesn't feel that good. When I get lowered it gets worse. I'm starting to feel very nauseous and the screaming barfies in the hands are in full swing. Its all I can do to lay down on the ground and wait to feel better. I can't recall feeling quite this bad before (although I probably have). Lyle offers to untie my ropes from my harness. As per the code of Ice climbers my suffering is not commented on. No sense asking me if I'm "OK", since I obviously don't look ok and nothing can be done anyhow, the nastiness passes. We've all been there, to add insult to injury a plate of ice whacked me on the forehead while I was climbing so I'm wondering if I'm bleeding. Thank goodness for the short memory most of us ice climbers have otherwise at that moment I could have cheerfully taken up lawn bowling and never swung an ice axe again.

And to you non ice climbers out there, yes I was wondering why the hell this was my sport of choice! No it was not fun, not the climb and not the aftermath. However on the positive note, I knew that all that could happen was my day would improve since it couldn't get much worse. And improve it did. I hopped on the mixed route and got soundly spanked but it was fun. And it was great hanging out with a group of climbers. Hanging with my peeps shall we say. The weather was cool but not too bad and I had more than enough layers to keep warm. Colin suggested I try the other ice pitch, and I figure I may as well. If felt worlds better than the first climb. No screaming barfies and no burning calves so I could enjoy the ice and the motion of climbing.

For the most part we were a bunch of grownups out there playing like kids in the winter. Colin had bought some new tools and we were all eager to try them out. It was getting dusk and none of us were in a great hurry to leave yet. Eventually though we had to pull our ropes and descend back down to our vehicles which we reached in the dark.

Today I'm tired and most of my muscles ache from the mixed climbing. I gotta get stronger for that style of climbing, wooeee! But its that satisfying tired when you've been doing something you love. And when I think of the start of last year's season it was way worse than this time out so its all good, Its all about that short memory.