There were a few parties already on the route. By day's end there would be several. Brian and I got the ropes out and racked up behind a team of two gents, resolving to let them get a pitch up and then follow to one side or the other of where they went.

This would be Brian's first day leading ice, and he did a great job throughout the trip. An experienced rock climber, Brian had contacted me last summer and offered to go out and climb some rock and suggested that we go ice climbing when the weather turned cold. This was our first time climbing multi-pitch ice together, and all things considered, I thought we clicked well as a team. We have some things to work on, not the least of which is getting me on the sharp end, but by the end of the trip we were maximizing efforts together and having a lot of fun.

Brian: I awoke Friday morning very excited. I was going to be out front for my first ice leads. The ride into Crawford Notch went quickly and Mike remembered where to park as he had been there last year (this is called foreshadowing, gentle reader). The approach was relatively easy save for the fact that I learned that I have the lung capacity of a small child. I huffed and I puffed and swore I would embark on some sort of training regimen when I got home. This was to be one of the many themes for the trip.

Willey's was different than I imagined. For starters it was much taller than I thought. It was also not the smooth sheet of ice I had imagined. The right side was mostly snow whereas the left side consisted of fat ice bulges the whole way up. It looked like a blast and I hurriedly geared up and scrambled up to the start of the route.