Kluke Lookout, McCauley Lake, Papineau Lake, Bow Lake - Feb 13-15, 2010
I was in the Madawaska/Maynooth area with a whole gang of people over the Family Day long weekend.
We climbed at Kluke Lookout, McCauley Lake, looked at Papineau, and climbed at Bow Lake.
Kluke Lookout is thinner than last year at this same time, but several of the routes - Ursus, Lepus Americanus, Lontra - were in. Quercus wasn't.
Danylo on The Wailing. Photo by David Britnell.
Blue Max (column) and Mortgage Derivatives (on right)McCauley - in very good shape. Lots of ice and routes - some thinner, some fatter than last year. I climbed Blue Esther and The Wailing (both excellent routes) and one of the Stooges (which are aptly named). The Wailing has formed up a little further left this year, so I chose to exit straight up through some shrubbery. The shrubbery-thuggery exiting The Wailing nearly got the better of me - bloody shrub just about sent my glasses to the bottom of the cliff; had to catch them in my mouth - so they completed fogged up when I put them pack on; couldn't see my feet at the top out - fun times!
Blue Max is just touching down (looked hard). Yellow Fever, Mortgage Derivatives, Bifurcation weren't in (thin, not completely formed).
Don C, Dave B, Jon N and Dave W put up three new routes (I'll let Don post them). There was a hardy fourseome from Guelph camped at the base of the crag (good on ya!) who were climbing in the North CWM, which looked to be in good shape. The East wall area looked fat; didn't check out the Talus area, but it looked like there was good ice at the far end.
Papineau Lake Overview
Slaughterhouse 5Papineau looked good from afar, but was far from good when we got close - on the thin side, baked and rotten. Slaughterhouse 5 looked the best of the lot, but would have been too difficult for me. My So-Called Life wasn't in. Ian Gets Out was thin on the bottom with some sun-rot showing. The short practise slabs were fat and blue of course.
Ian Gets Out
Bow LakeBow Lake - honking fat hero ice mostly, but the black rock is starting to poke through in places, as the sun is already packing a punch when it appears from behind the clouds.
Have fun out there folks. The ice is mostly very good right now.
Danylo
McCauley Lake:New Routes
McCauley Lake - additions:
Valentine Slabs Area
Going south from the North CWM area one passes a dark, sheer wall with thin, unclimbed ice before coming out to a more open area. Here, one sees the wonderful ice of the Main Area with the striking Blue Esther and The Wailing being the obvious lines. To the right (north) of Blue Esther is a large area made up of slabs, trees and cliffs: this is the Valentine Slabs Area. The following three routes are found in this area and are characterized by their deep blue color. The length of each route will vary considerably with the amount of snow cover. While they are of lesser quality than most of the routes at McCauley Lake, the first ascentionists had a lot of fun climbing them. They were all climbed on Valentines Day 2010.
Hillbilly Hare 45m, WI 3 (Dave Britnell, David Wardlaw, Jon Newman and Don Collier). Located high up on the far right side is a line of thin blue ice. Easy climbing, but in a very aesthetic location. Named for a Bugs Bunny character.
Freeze! Say Z! 30m, WI 2 (Jon Newman, Don Collier, Dave Britnell and David Wardlaw). This climb is located far to the left of the previous route and is characterized by two blue bulges of ice. There is a large coniferous tree at the top. The name of the climb is the favorite expression of a delightful autistic child that D. Collier works with.
Wardlaw’s Water Wall 20m, WI 2 (David Wardlaw, Jon Newman, Dave Britnell and Don Collier). This climb is the short blue ice bulge, around a buttress and left from the previous route. So named because D. Wardlaw did not want his name associated with such a trivial piece of ice. It didn’t work!
p.s. I have a picture to go along with this post but i can't figure out how to get it on!