The Call Of The Curtain
or, climbing on Curtain Call, 125 meters, IV, WI6
Jeff on the approach. The snow crust was just thick enough to support us, most of the time.
Looking up from the base of the approach ice (approx. 40m of WI3/4.) This climb is much larger than I thought based on the book description.
The “hall” behind the bottom of the curtain. Huge, with stunning ice formations!
Climbing into the cave through a hole in the curtain…
The photo of the Nomic in the header at the top of this blog is actually of Jeff’s tool, and the photo was taken during our first outing to Bear Spirit. This time around, the tools are mine. Although, ironically, the picks are borrowed! New header coming soon.
Looking up the right side of the curtain.
Jeff scouting possible lines. The curtain was fraught with cracks new and old, so we decided to take the safest, most solid line up the far right instead.
We’ll have to come back here!
Jeff even makes downclimbing and traversing tricky WI5ish ice look quite easy.
The initial 40-odd metres of our line were rather uninteresting. Then, we got to the mushrooms. That overhang by around 3 feet.
Funky climbing!
The 2nd pitch pillar. We decided that given how laced with cracks the bottom curtain was, this pillar – with a crack visible from the road – should probably not be climbed.
Said crack runs 3/4 of the width across the pillar. We considered the far, far left…
Wouldn’t want to be around here when the sun hits those daggers!
A stellar route in a stunning setting – we are definitely coming back to this one.
Rafal Andronowski Photography 