Had a fabulous day on Guinness Stout with Colleen shortly before Christmas. After much humming and haing over snow conditions, avalanche hazard, wind and temperatures, we decided to give Guinness a try with the hopes of continuing on to Guinness Stout but feeling it out as we went. By the time we actually left the car it was probably 9:30 so we knew we were going to have to boogie a little to get it all done.
Despite it being Colleen’s first day on the ice this year, I knew that if anyone was up for the day, SHE would be, and be more then capable! Of course she proved me right!
The first pitch this year is fat! Wow, what normally can be a little marginal for pro, this year takes full length screws and hearty swings the whole pitch! Nice treat.
The second pitch was also nice and fat and before we knew it we were heading to the final pitch of Guinness. Another great longer pitch of ice, in some less then ideal snowy conditions. At the top of this pitch we realized that it had been a few days since anyone else had ventured higher to Guinness Stout. There was an old trail though, and this really helped make the travel easier. After about 45 minutes of pretty steady uphill trucking we arrived at the final 2 pitches of Guinness Stout. It looked blue and beautiful and our watches said 1:50, so we couldn’t pass it up.
Great climbing and definitely a bit more “Stout” then the rest of Guinness:)
As we rapped back down we high fived our buddies who climbed behind us all day and tried to make it back to the car and get a bit of driving behind us before it got dark. 4pm found us back at the car and psyched from the day.
Thanks Colleen for rallying for the fun day out. Always impressive how strong you are “off the couch”:) Looking forward to the Next Step camp in February!