Painted Wall Icicle

Bayard Russell has climbed the long coveted Painted Wall Icicle!

Located off of the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of NH, Jim Ewing and I had previously scoped out the huge pillar that regularly forms and falls off. Others, however, were scoping the line too.

A couple of years ago a true effort was launched to dispatch the line by Bayard, Josh Hurst, Doug Madera, and others. Bayard wrote about their efforts here. Long story short, when the ice was “in” the rock moves proved too challenging, and once the rock moves were sorted out there was no ice to link to the top. Murphy’s Law, right? During a very early form-up this season, Bayard snagged the line and opened the door for the rest of us to follow.

Maybe a second ascent?

Two days later Josh Hurst and I were standing at the base eager to climb the second ascent. The forecast was calling for overcast skies and flurries — perfect conditions. The forecasters got it wrong, though. Shortly after reaching the base of the route, the skies parted and the sun came out in force.

The pillar is huge, as can be seen below, but pieces of ice were constantly raining down from above. Josh began with a burn on the M9 mixed rock pitch to refresh his memory of the moves.

While on route, the pillar left of our objective crashed to the ground. Prior to its collapse, our guts told us there was too much sun and not enough adhesion. Following Josh, I took a turn up to the mid-point anchor to learn the moves and acquaint myself with the climb. Such cool movement!

After a short rest, Josh geared up for an attempt. Slow and strong, Josh was crushing it. Near the top of the pitch an axe shifted and skid out of a crack, resulting in a fall. As it turns out, this was a good thing. Just a few moments after getting back on route and climbing higher, Josh heard the pillar groan. He chose to back-aid away from the pillar right before it detached and plummeted to the ground. Ripping away from the wall , the pillar disintegrated on impact. Josh described it as a semi-truck passing-by five feet behind him. And like that, our hopes of a second ascent were dashed.

I took the opportunity to take two more training laps on the rock pitch. Not only was I able to better figure out the tricky sequences down low, but also get a little extra workout. The Painted Wall Icicle is definitely a plum line, and an instant classic. I am looking forward to getting back to it.