| Summary | None |
| Owner | Eric Gilbertson |
| Creation Date | 2013-11-25 20:36:52 UTC-0500 |
| Description | Nov 23, 2013
Eric, Katie, Charles, Dan, Kyle, James Odell's Gully, Mt Washington This was my first time back to Mount Washington since September when we climbed Pinnacle Buttress (sans Kyle and Dan). As last time, we drove up Friday night, slept at Intervale, woke up at 6am and got to Pinkham Notch at about 7:30am to start the hike. I think we made it to the base of the Ravine in 2 hours and after the talus field, started climbing the gully at 10:30. The only casualty we suffered during the approach was both Dan and Katie dunked their boots in the one river crossing. They must be tough as nails because I didn't hear either of them complaining the entire day despite the temperature being in the single digits with a wind chill below zero. At the start of Odell's Gully, we roped up and Charles and Dan left first because they were simul-climbing and would move at a much faster pace than the rest of us. After they were both gone, Eric started to lead on the left flow and I on the right. Because this gully was pretty wide, we could climb at the same time which helped us move more quickly. After we both ran out of rope, we set up anchors next to each other and brought up Katie and Kyle. One more full pitch of ice and then it was just a long snow climb to the top. We pitched it out but that was probably unnecessary and definitely slowed us down quite a lot. We topped out to the Alpine Garden at 3:15, packed up the gear and started the descent back to Pinkham via Lion's Head, finally reaching the parking lot at 6:15. Pretty productive 12 hour day if I do say so myself. Thing's I learned: -Iodine water tastes like shit -If you know there will be a river, bring only 1 nalgene, iodine, and those electrolyte lemon lime tablet things, this will save much weight and the tabs will mask the iodine -Eat a huge breakfast, consume lots of calories. I didn't eat enough that morning and got pretty shaky about 2 hours in. I also didn't bring enough food for later in the day and had to steal other people's food, like a savage. -Wait for the Escape Hatch to fill in with snow, to cut the descent down by a lot (much quicker than Lion's Head). Also stash your sled somewhere in the talus field and sled all the way to Pinkham. James |