Freaky Fuming Flume
- Leaders
- Florian Pagnoux (C coI coS), Mark Simon (coB I), Martin Colwell (coB coI), Milan Klöwer (B coC coI coS)
- Program
- Winter School
- Type
- Ice climbing
- Terrain level
- B
- Trip date
- Sunday, February 2nd, 2025
- Difficulty rating
- Intermediate
- Prerequisites
- Ice climbing experience OR winter hiking + outdoor climbing experience + solid belay skills
Intermediate ice climbing for both those newer to ice climbing and those who have ice climbed many times before. The ice at Flume Gorge is all near-vertical so climbs will be physically demanding. The floor of the gorge is at least partially frozen so we will attempt to belay from the bottom standing on the ice. But that comes with its own risks as dropping anything into the water below will turn that into a clump of ice. Rafting not recommended.
There is a ~1 mile hike to reach Flume Gorge. Sunday will be in the early 20Fs and ice climbing involves a minimum of 50% standing around belaying, so having your cold-weather layering dialed and plenty of waterproof gloves to use throughout the day as pairs get wet are necessities.
We haven't fully decided yet on location, but given the icefest in the eastern white mountains we will likely stay in the west to avoid the crowds. We will make the final call on Thursday at the pretrip meeting, 6pm in the MITOC office.
Signup
- Algorithm
- first-come, first-serve
- Maximum participants
- 6
- Signups opened at
- Jan. 29, 2025, noon
- Signups closed at
- Jan. 30, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
- Notes
- What is your outdoor climbing experience? Which belay devices have you used?
- What's your secret to stay warm when standing around in the cold?
- Ice, ice ... ?