[Otter]

Marmot and I are back from our trip to icicle. First off thanks to krustyclimber for the great advice on where to find some good toproping. We headed over to icicle canyon friday night...set up camp in upper Johnny Creek.. the only place there were sites left by 8pm. We had a bit of a snack and looked at the stars dangling just above the backlit slopes of the alpine lake wilderness...the moon rose bright in the sky and we were quite content to be right there at that moment. It was to bed early with us so as to try and get to some good spots early. We were at 8 mile rock and climbing just shy of 8am. We were the only ones there for a while and then a couple more climbers showed up to tackle classic crack. We were on Mickey Mantle. Marmot having the first climb...he kept going way right of the rout in the bowl between our rout and the 5.9 finger crack...trying to avoid the crux move over a nearly featureless bulge to an undercling...he finally cheated a touch to continue on and then went on up with so much speed it was tough to keep the rope tought. It was my turn...I had no problem getting to the good little lip to stand on while pondering how in the world to get past that bulge to that beautiful undercling a good few feet out of my reach.. i tried all sorts of different oddities..then also moved to the right to see of i could get around another way...hmm..nope..then i thought..well i'll just give a go at that finger crack...looks fun...got half way up it about where it starts to have a bit of a backwards angle and decided i was a bit overmyhead...I shimmed my way back over to the original rout and gave into a cheat over the bulge.. once above it i examined the whole thing and realized that someone as tall as Marmot (6 1) should be able to reach that undercling and shimmy there way up..but anyone under maybe 5 10 would be hard pressed to get over the bulge that way. After that spot it was a fun little clamber on up to the top. Marmot decided after hearing my comments and seeing me up there he wanted to try it again..and he did just that and did manage to conquer the bulge. Quite pleased with himself! I on the other hand was looking for something abit more up my ally. There was an interesting featured spot on the east facing part of eightmile rock between the 5.9 finger crack and the 5.10 Hornblower...it in itself looking quite fun but most likely over my head...I had marmot move rope around so i could try an unamed rout just a few feet to the left of hornblower... and then noticed a couple wasps going into the same little feature in the rock half way up. DRAT! A wasp nest! thus ended that idea. After taking a look around i noticed a spot on the far west side of the rock. This is a place that obviously has been climbed but not regularly...at least recently. (it is not listed in the book) There is a wide ledge where there are a few dried up plants and a lodged lump of a rock that i thought might work as a toprope anchor...when Marmot went up there to look (go through the gully to the far left and up around to the ledge) he discovered two different sets of bolts spaced about 8 feet apart. Each set only had one remaining good bolt. We had long slings with us so were able to set up a system. If anyone wants to try this set up you will need a webbing sling in a 20foot loop and a sling in a 15ft loop. It was my climb. I started on the ledge just above the ground and stood there a while realizing that the deep set back crack (almost a skinny chimney at this point) was a dangerouse place to lodge ones leg..a slip would be a sure snap. Stemming just tothe outside of the crack and then halling up onto the flat surface of the seperated rock (i am still learning terms here) From here there is a bulge on the right side that tries to argue with ones hips when ever any attempt to climb this thing like a normal crack is attempted. The top of this bulge has a beautiful hold for the right hand..and then arm when one gets to that point and feet can be wedged into the four inch area of the crack far below. There is a pocket at face level at this point... I had to wedge way arm in, palm against the rock on the right side and upper arm/elbow against the left side. I hung out here trying allsorts of things with feet but as was observed by those around..there just isn’t much to do with ones feet except maybe a touch of weight relief and balance. At this point i kept trying to lunge myself up and then lowering back to the nice flat standing spot. It was when i was stuck..two thirds of my body into varying areas of the crack and hanging there by that lodged arm and a couple of twisted feet that i was about to give up, when the peanut gallery below started cheering me on... bullying me is more like it. The earlier climbers who had come to do classic crack were brought over more likely from my grunts and groans..and kept egging me on to keep going.. the trick was..HOW to keep going? I just could not let go with that bar lodged arm.. or i would be spit out of that odd crack quite ungracefully. I finaly started shiming that arm at the samee time as i shimmied my feet below...lift the elbow and inch then the palm and so on till i could get my right palm down and shove up... left arm finally free and reaching for... oh crap..poison ivy! a tiny little twig of it! (mind you next time i will have gloves and clean the next pocket area of the crack out and make it a touch easier from this point on) (hmm..i can’t believe i am even considering doing this climb again!) I was able to use an incurved pocket on the left face of the crack for my left leg at this point...i had noticed this feature earlier while i hung out in that crammed first pocket for so long.. but couldn’t use it at that point...came in handy although a touch awkward because of the odd splits like angle my leg was at... to push me up and over the second poison ivy infested pocket and to a bulgy area just shy of the lege and to the top..where i sat and panted for a while. I did it... and it was the most difficult climb I have done. I would like to call this thing Elbow Grease, and if anyone wonders why.. they should just take a look at my poor elbow from that bar lodging/shimmying bit. Once lowered I was sure to thank our neighbor climbers for the bullying...it was that extra push I needed and one my husband would not dare do! ( I would also like to commend those two guys for picking up the couple pieces of trash that were around left by other climbers...and carrying it out.) I was exausted...we retrieved gear and moved on back to the truck for a bite to eat and then did some further scouting. We ended up at Barney’s rubble looking desperately for someplace in the shade, and found it only to find that the bolts no longer had rings. We discovered this about quite a few bolts on this rock. I hope they get replaced because it really is a great place for setting up topropes. I was very tired and very hot at this point and really not up to much. We talked to quite a few other climbers and then Marmot found a slab he wanted to do... give him some work on trusting the feet when there is nill for hands...he just practically ran up the thing. I had not wanted to climb it..hating slab climbing with a passion...not because i can’t do it but because i just plain don’t enjoy it... I really like more complicated maneuvers or things that use more than just the outside edge of ones poor aching toes. I went ahead and gave it ago..but should have listened to myself..i was too tired and hot... and needed to cool off before i got any more woozy. I came down and did a bit more scouting and found a few more places to climb next time. Then went for the ice in the cooler! It was time for us to start heading home. What a wonderful trip ..even if we only climbed 6 runs between us. It is a beautiful area.. every climber we met was friendly... and I went away with that silly grin and climbers high I always strive for when out climbing!