Local Massachusetts Ice Climbing

 There's very little ice climbing worth checking out in Massachusetts. Suffice to say it's a surprise when you find things that actually look good. I think this one is in the Todd Swain Southern New England Ice Climbing guide. I'm not going to say where this is (ask me privately) since I think access might be questionable and I believe a local land trust may be looking to acquire the property. It is a beautiful spot, near many local trails in very western Massachusetts, and acquisition for preservation makes sense. It's also likely the "best" ice climbing area in the Bay State, there are several lines, and the potential for a few more.

Carpe Diem Direct Start

I just wrapped up a 6-day blast to Quebec. It was more than 30 hours of driving, 100 miles of snowmobile travel, and several nights spent bouge-style winter camping. Our objective was the direct start to a 130-meter backcountry classic called Carpe Diem 26 miles up the Riviere Godbout about 40 minutes drive northeast of Baie Comeau.

During a visit last winter Silas Rossi, Keith Sidle, Alden Pellett and myself eyed up the line and I was immediately drawn to it. If I only had more time I was certain it would be climbable with only modest effort. The route remained in my thoughts for an entire spring, summer and fall. 

Silas and I decided to put some effort in this winter. The approach to this route is arduous, and it's hard to imagine traveling 26 miles each way by snowmobile, packing the path to the route and climbing all in one day. On day 1 we did some recon and packed the trail. Days 2-4 found us camping near the route, testing a backcountry winter camping setup we hope to use for future trips. 

In the end things came down to the wire time-wise, but we established the 60-meter M6 WI6 Carpe Diem Direct Start, an amazing way to make an already classy backcountry route even more interesting.