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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 16, 2015 - 04:28am PT
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This thread is mind blowing!
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Avery
climber
NZ
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Aug 17, 2015 - 08:08pm PT
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Deprivation: Marty Beare and Pat Deavoll: 2004
by Marty Beare
Our climb began inauspiciously. A bergschrund acted as gatekeeper to the route. The five metre lower wall of the bergschrund collapsed in a pile seconds after Pat had completed an awkward lurch across to the upper side. Feeling lucky, we moved together up the first 300 metres of moderately angled ice-field and WI 4 runnels. An absorbing three sixty metre pitches of poorly protected vertical snow-ice and dry-tooling deposited us at the mandatory feature of every Alaskan climb: a 50º slope of blue ice. Regular polishing by spindrift avalanches ensures that these ice-fields have the texture and brittleness of glass. We pounded out three pitches of joyless window-pane climbing. Then Pat had the pleasure of leading 250 metres of braided ice ramps while I had the pain of humping the heavier of our two packs. The warmth of the late evening sun teased us as we wallowed up breakable crust. By midnight it had vanished in a chilly halo shortly before we reached a tiny bivouac eerie big enough for two dwarves to sit on. After an hour’s chopping the ledge was large enough for two dwarfs to lie on. For us, however, a reclining comma position also required constant body tension to support our lower legs that dangled over the edge of our perch. Pat fought the good fight with the bivi stove, in the process proving that the thermal properties of Black Diamond gloves, while superb at warding off the cold, are less effective at deflecting the heat of red-hot metal. After a dinner perfumed by the scent of melting nylon we settled into our bags and bivi sacks. It wasn’t warm and it wasn’t comfortable, but was definitely a blast to be more than half-way up the side of one of the best walls of ice in the world.
By morning we were feeling indescribably seedy. We had a hasty breakfast, untangled our spider-web of gear and ropes, and set off with headaches and cold fingers. The climbing remained intriguing and often literally kept us on our toes. Our line deviated from the original traverse and exit gully. We figured that it was more logical to link up with the third ice-field of the neighboring Moonflower route. The final ice-pitches of the Bibler Come-Again exit were a highlight of the climb. Way up there 1,500 metres above the deck we delicately placed our picks in a vertical seam of shallow ice that barely filled an off-width corner crack. After judicious alignment of left and right ice tools it was possible to reach over the bulge above into a plug of aerated snow-ice. A high reach on shaky footholds enabled relief via a thank-God dry-tool placement. A final five metres of vertical ice led to an abrupt change of angle and a view of the final ice band. This was our summit. In keeping with most other teams that make it this far, the top of the steep climbing was always going to be our high-point. Quite emotional with relief and elation we hugged, whooped, and took terrible photos of everything in sight. We then slipped into our well-practiced descent routine. This time going down was a joy. We descended the Moonflower route that the iconic Mug Stumps pioneered with New Zealander Paul Aubrey back in 1981. This stonking route is often vertical, occasionally overhanging, and rarely climbed. The sustained nature of the terrain through which it probes makes it an excellent choice for descent despite the approximately 35 rappels that must be negotiated. At three a.m. we eventually touched down on the lower edge of the bergschrund, about 53 hours after setting off. We hitched up to our sleds and began our mountaineers’ impersonation of skiers to complete the round trip to Kahiltna Base Camp and an early breakfast.
Thanks to Pat Deavoll
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Avery
climber
NZ
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Aug 18, 2015 - 03:44pm PT
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Deprivation: Marty Beare and Pat Deavoll: 2004
Thanks to Pat Deavoll
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Aug 18, 2015 - 07:57pm PT
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Nice work on this collection Avery!
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Avery
climber
NZ
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Aug 25, 2015 - 08:06pm PT
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Wall of Shadows: Jimmy Haden and Russ Mitrovich. 2002
The Wall Of Shadows was an amazing climb with solid veins of ice and neve splitting through perfect granite! Even though we did not summit Mt Hunter, the quality of the experience still ranks as one of my favorite climbs. I would still like to go back and do another route on the North Buttress to the summit! I'm not sure if alpine climbing can get much better than the North Buttress of Mt Hunter!
Thanks,
Jimmy Haden
Thanks to Jimmy Haden
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Avery
climber
NZ
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Aug 27, 2015 - 03:51pm PT
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Wall of Shadows: Jimmy Haden and Russ Mitrovich. 2002
Thanks to Jimmy Haden
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Avery
climber
NZ
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Aug 28, 2015 - 03:26pm PT
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Wall of Shadows: Jimmy Haden and Russ Mitrovich. 2002
Thanks to Jimmy Haden
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