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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 31, 2010 - 09:13am PT
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Considering all the factors – the height, the rock quality, the ice and snow, the technical aspects, the weather, the location and all of that – is the Northwest Face of Devil’s Thumb “unclimbable”? (EDIT, to the best of my knowledge, it is still unclimbed. Am I correct?)
Last night I reread (a pdf of) an article by Dieter Klose in the 2003 American Alpine Journal titled “The Fickle Face”. If I knew how to post pdfs I would, perhaps I will copy and paste the article, if that does not contravene copyright law.
When I worked on fishing boats out of Petersburg in the summer of 1977 I’d occasionally see the Thumb. I was hoping before the end of the summer to try the Beckey route up the East Ridge.
My main high school climbing buddy Steve, a year ahead of me, had headed to Alaska in 1975 after year at Humboldt State and he ended up staying up there (I believe he is still based in Sitka now. His surname, Fish. BTW his brother Gary – a year behind me in school – is the founder and owner of Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon). His boat (halibut long liner) was the first one I worked on.
But I incurred a very bad ankle injury jumping from one boat onto the deck (fecking halibut slime) of the Lillian S, the tender I was working on at the time and had to be flown by float plane from near Kake to the doctor in Petersburg, who advised I return to Cali to have the ankle looked at. There ended my only Alaskan ‘adventure’.
As a side note, when I was getting off the float plane in Petersburg, I met Jon Krakauer waiting to board as he was headed to do the East Ridge of the Thumb. I wished him good luck with a bit of envy and dare I say, jealousy that he was headed to the Thumb and I was headed to the Bay Area.
Personally, I think that someday, under the right conditions, some strong and experienced climbers will climb the Northwest Face, which may then lead to the question: Is it repeatable? (Probably.)
NB: Towards the end of the article, Klose mentions attempts by others, but no mention of Charlie Porter. I was always under the impression that Porter had also tried the face.
EDIT
A bit of searching on the Taco Stand:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1011890
I hope my thread isn't treading old ground.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Oct 31, 2010 - 09:44am PT
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I'm sure that Charlie Porter never attempted this face.
Yes, it is climbable. But the challenge is almost more in hanging out in Petersburg for a while and catching the face in the right conditions. Which no one has done yet.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2010 - 11:05am PT
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Bldrjac, I don't know where I got the notion that Porter had tried it.
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bmacd
Trad climber
100% Canadian
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Oct 31, 2010 - 01:05pm PT
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global warming is solving the objective danger problem, be patient.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 01:07pm PT
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Yes, it is climbable
HaHaHA! That puts paid to this thread, eh?
Maybe the question should have been
"Are today's climbers less inclined to endure the delights of Petersburg ad nauseum in the hope of getting a weather window?"
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2010 - 01:21pm PT
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Quite right Reilly, so let's have it die a quiet death, eh.
EDIT:
As the following two posts indicate, let's have this thread die quietly. Apparently, while I have broken stories and won several awards as a journo, my threads on the Taco Stand do not seem to generate much excitement, hmmm, perhaps a reality check for me.
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rwedgee
Ice climber
canyon country,CA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 01:29pm PT
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It's a suicide mission. Unless of corse you time the avalanches correctly.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 31, 2010 - 02:30pm PT
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Direct link to the Klose article in my post on the other thread.
And my summary of his argument (the top and bottom of the face are unlikely to come into condition at the same time).
I don't think we are adding any new info to his analysis.
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qt
Mountain climber
psg, ak
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BldrJack says no one has hung out in Petersburg yet waiting for the right conditions. but Klose's article points out lots of folks who have waited right below the face for the right conditions, spanning many months over many years.
That article doesn't posit it as "unclimbable" either, rather that it is not likely to get climbed (a big difference), and a waste of time waiting for conditions.
From the pics, the terrain looks climbable; it is the weather, conditions, hazard, good decision-making, or DEATH that have kept it from getting climbed.
Sure doesn't seem worth it. Its a rather ugly face in an ugly place too, so what, really, is the point??
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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This thread is worthless without pics....
...ah, there we go!
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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what is that tower to the right ? looks impressive...
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Chad,
The photo you posted is the NE Face.
Bob Plumb and Dave Stutzman climbed the North Rib which is the sun/shade line right of center in your photo.
The big unclimbed NW face is to the right of that rib and below it.
Lots of photos on the other thread:
John Scurlock photo
Here the North Rib is the shade/sun line left of center.
There's much better stuff in the original thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1011890
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Whoopsie! My Bad.
I just read some blog where someone had skied that snow slope just left of the arete on the far left in my photo and misread the photo description to be the NW face.
Anyway, thought it was pretty bad ass to have skied that slope.
Ian McIntosh is the dude who skied it I think.
Hope he doesn't mind I borrowed his photos.
Gnarly!!!
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qt
Mountain climber
gone
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Badass? Hardly. Ski porn has simply arrived at the Thumb area. Whats badass about having a helicopter zoom you around to the top of slopes of snow, and then pick you up? Where have the real badass adventurers gone who ski from sea level and back again in order to have a real adventure? Looks like a plastic, Disneyland type holiday. Hell, they don't even climb up the slope they're gonna ski! Its just a full-on ego-trip done in wussie style. The movie: "I skied devils thumb"...., or, well a slope attatched to it. Just another ski-porn spray-job. What a joke!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Kind of odd that the two skis don't seem to be a matching pair. Not in terms of graphics, anyway. I wonder what the price/square centimetre is for advertising space on those boards?
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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why do i get the feeling that QT has been hanging around petersburg getting spurned by those norge chicks?
i liked the pics BTW....and the ski tips.
EDIT:
MH, i dont know fi they match, but they are both Volkl skiis...on the other hand, if you can have a copter make you "miss" the adventire, i bet he can afford matching skiis...
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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looks dicey to me!
go for it..
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atchafalaya
climber
Babylon
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"Where have the real badass adventurers gone who ski from sea level and back again in order to have a real adventure? Looks like a plastic, Disneyland type holiday. Hell, they don't even climb up the slope they're gonna ski!"
Its still there. Please, hike up from sea-level, ski it, and post a tr. Have a "real" adventure. Thats priceless...
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qt
Mountain climber
gone
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I HAVE skied in & out, no sat phone, no chopper, several times, but a "TR" about it is not my thing. Climbing & skiing, unsupported, the pure adventure, thats the stuff.
Ski porn is a whole world apart. But hey, to each his own. Its just hilarious when that is seen as "badass". He flew-in, skied a steep slope for the CAMERA, & went back to his hotel.
Don't worry Hawkeye, lil norway treated me super-fine, wink wink.
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