Gravity's Rainbow: Know When to Say No

I prefer to blog about successfully climbing the great ice climbs of the San Juans. However, not every climb can be a success. Today Hannah and I bailed off the top of pitch 1 of Gravity's Rainbow. This was quite disappointing since we got up at 4:45am to start climbing at first light. This south facing classic gets so much sun it rarely forms. Some years it never forms at all. The back to back cold snaps we had with overcast snowy weather in between allowed this incredible 4-5 pitches of WI5 to form this year.

The route saw several ascents as recently as a few days ago. I was working while it was in its prime but took the first opportunity to give it a go. The above freezing sunny weather of the last few days detached 70% or so of the first pitch of ice from the rock. Though the steep sections seemed solid the easier ice was very insecure and barely over an inch thin. In places this raised shell of ice broke away entirely leaving bare wet rock below. Most protection was suspect at best.

I set my last 2 ice screws for an anchor in ice I was not sure was attached to the rock. The ice itself however seemed more solid than everything else around and the screws seemed solid. Still, I stomped a solid stance and belayed Hannah directly off my harness to minimize the force on the anchor.

Needless to say we didn't like it and I lowered Hannah and free-solo down climbed to a rock to rappel off. There was some good ice above us but there was also lots more junky ice especially at the tops of the steeper sections. Maybe it would have gone fine but then again maybe not. I don't regret our decision for a second, I only hope it forms up well again soon.