"The best ice-tool in California is a fast car". When the ice in
California is in you got to go! It won't stay there for long!
This is indeed true for "Widow's Tears" in Yosemite. Rarely formed and short-lived,
up to fifteen years have passed between successive ascents. Qualifying for the
top-twenty list of the world's highest waterfalls, this long and sustained
climb took the first ascenders, Kevin Worrall and Mark Chapman, three days to
complete in 1975, bivying twice on the route.
So when Bill McConachie sent me an email with subject line "BIG ICE" and
message "Yosemite ice is IN!! Let's climb it Tuesday!" I had no excuse for
not skipping work and join him. Although my consciousness told me I should work,
my rational side argued that in five years, what will I remember ? A day at work
or a day ice-climbing in Yosemite?
Sure I will remember this day of ice-climbing.
Ten pitches of steep, sustained and exposed climbing made for a day (and night)
I will never forget. Although the 5th pitch is considered the route's most technically
difficult pitch, that's not the crux of the route. The crux of
the route is that none of the last six pitches are really easy. Every time we
turned a corner or passed a bulge in the ice we thought the angle would kick back.
Every time we were wrong. With four pitches to go we had to put on our headlamps.
In vain we yelled to the lead climber "How does it look? Do you see the summit ? ".
Cold, wet, hungry, and tired we pulled over the summit thirty minutes past midnight.
Happy to have completed a great climb, and happy to dig into the haul-bag for dry clothes
and food. Like zombies we staggered down the descent trail, now and then taking short
naps in the snow, and finally reaching the car well after sunrise.
