The Willy family lived in Crawford Notch, where we’re doing our AMGA ice-instructor course. They had a farm in the valley and during a particularly nasty flood escaped to the barn to make sure they wouldn’t be washed away. During a subsequent night in their new digs, a landslide cut loose and buried the family–some of whom were never found. When the Boston paper wrote the accident up the editors titled the piece “A Case of the Willys” and the familiar colloquialism was born.
Now, before you write in and tell me that’s untrue, I’ll punt and attribute the above tale to Marc Chauvin, one of our instructors and a local to the area. So there. Pulled rank on you.
Anyway, warmer temps forecast for tomorrow and we’re psyched. Today was a long day with highs in the teens. For the first time in my life I wore chemical heat packs under my toes–with great results, too. I love my new Lowa Vertical GTX boots and they were great today. Light, warm enough, and climbing really well.
We spent the day on “Willy’s Slide,” a slabby area up the valley from where the fateful landslide occurred. It’s a broad flow of ice and very moderate at WI 2-3. We practiced some short roping, flat-footing techniques, and the moved into multipitch guiding. On easy terrain one can focus on rope management and taking care of clients, rather than simply survival. Phew.
Tomorrow we’re headed back to Frankenstein Cliff where we’ll do some WI 3-4 climbing, focusing on guiding two or three clients at a time. Thankfully the highs are in the upper 20s tomorrow, with a bit of snow forecast. More to come!
