Cinema Gully 2/10/08

[wgreene]

Hi VTTFers,
Nothing very exciting here: a couple of points and questions on Cinema Gully and the area.

My buddy Rich and I decided to follow a day of top-roping in the Flume with a plan to climb Cinema Gully. We arrived there rather late, around 11:30. As we were walking south along 302 we saw a couple of climbers preparing to climb a column of probably grade 4 or 5 across the road just a few hundred yards south of the parking area.

When we got to Cinema, the first thing we noticed was a big avalanche deposition of heavy chunky wet snow, with the chunks on average around 4 inches. The snow was heavy but not set very hard. I remember remarking that it felt relatively warm that day. My car registered 23. There was steady snow and it looked like only a half an inch of snow had accumulated on the slide run-out, less than other areas, so our guess was that the avalanche much have occurred shortly before we arrived. I have seen chunky snow before in a wet slide avalanche, but is chunky texture normal? Also, I was surprised how relatively soft the run out was, other experiences I have felt the snow to be stiffer. Could this be due to the timing of the slide?

I thought that the gully had been cleared out and would be safe, but fortunately Rich gave me a reality check and we thought about coming back some day when it wasn't snowing and when we had an early start. Then we saw a small spin-drift avalanche come down and it was settled. It looked like the two prominent ice bulges were formed and some bluish ice was exposed, but it looked like it was quite in. What are conditions to look for when Cinema is in a good state for climbing?

There was some great ice bouldering along the train track. Rich headed back and I practiced there. That kept me busy until about 3PM when a bitingly cold wind blew in and sent stinging ice into my face all the way back up the tracks to the parking lot. As I was putting gear in my car, snow was accumulating incredible quickly inside my car. If I had left a door open for 10 minutes, I'd have an inch of snow to take home. Driving home along 93 south, it was remarkable to see the outer edge of the storm as a black churning ridge over the horizon, and drive on under clear skies in southern New Hampshire.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

When we got to Cinema, the first thing we noticed was a big avalanche deposition of heavy chunky wet snow, with the chunks on average around 4 inches. The snow was heavy but not set very hard. I remember remarking that it felt relatively warm that day. My car registered 23. There was steady snow and it looked like only a half an inch of snow had accumulated on the slide run-out, less than other areas, so our guess was that the avalanche much have occurred shortly before we arrived. I have seen chunky snow before in a wet slide avalanche, but is chunky texture normal? Also, I was surprised how relatively soft the run out was, other experiences I have felt the snow to be stiffer. Could this be due to the timing of the slide?

I thought that the gully had been cleared out and would be safe, but fortunately Rich gave me a reality check and we thought about coming back some day when it wasn't snowing and when we had an early start. Then we saw a small spin-drift avalanche come down and it was settled. It looked like the two prominent ice bulges were formed and some bluish ice was exposed, but it looked like it was quite in. What are conditions to look for when Cinema is in a good state for climbing?

The last time I climbed Cinema the ice was thin (many years ago), with our only pro being screws in a couple of ice bulges, perhaps similar to those that you saw. Long run outs are obviously dangerous in slab avy's and even in sloughing, and probably some kind of avy or sloughing is what killed the solo climber in Odell's a few weeks ago. I think that you made the right call in not going up. If the snow debris were mostly soft, I would suggest that the debris cone was the accumulation of continuous sloughing, rather than a slab avy. But, the large wet chunks suggest some slab avy contribution, probably from higher up where the drip soaks the snow and creates the water ice.

 

[giggy]

Hi Will,

The NEclimbs report on thrusday (sign up for it - its great) was saying pretty much anything "alpine" (alpine meaning obviously the pressie gullies, webster, willard (which cinema is one), willeys were to be climbed with care over the weekend, etc.. . I am no expert on avy - but to the best of my knowledge, the stuff on 302 (gullies) can avy after big snows like this week - though all in all through the season, most days its not an issue like the washington gullies.

I would say its "in" now for sure - not counting the avy. The bottom part is thin as dr d mentioned - I did the bottom snow/ice part in dec (after a another climb) and was lucky to sink my picks and pons 1/2 an inch. less than that actually. The bulges you saw are part of the route.

a pic. (not recent), but "in" conditions

http://www.ime-usa.com/media/conditions/2002 season/cinema_1-20-02_lg.jpg

http://www.summitpost.org/route/365184/cinema-gully.html

 

[Woody]

Cinema Gully is prone to avalanching. My son and I climbed it about a month ago and there was a large pile of avy debris at the base by the railroad tracks that we had to fight our way through to get on the climb. Here is a picture of the debris.

I have climbed it three time in the past few years and in my limited experience I have found that the first two full pitches have been very thin and finding places to place an ice screw can be difficult. You might want to be comfortable with simul-climbing if it is really thin. I haven't found that bringing rock protection to be very helpful, except for maybe placing a piton, which I have not done.

It is a really fun climb and if you have the technical skills to handle it and don't mind running out your pitch a bit then give it a try. The ice bulges at the last pitch are absolutely "in". The left side is fairly moderate and the right option is steeper solid grade three and can be a bit thin at the top.

As Giggy points out, take a look at the ice report on NEClimbs.com before you go for the latest report on conditions.

 

[wgreene]

Thanks for the info

Thanks all for the great information. I did notice while I was checking around the base of the gully that the ice and hard snow cover was very thin. I was having difficulty with footing in my plastic boots. Seemed like there was a lot of racky verglace-type surface under the powder snow. Looked doable with crampons, tools, and a lot of care.

I am on NEclimbs. It's a great site. Many props to Al hospers.