512dude Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Thanks for your prior suggestions... Friday evening approach was made to Nada and the trail was quiet with only a few hikers making their way down from the day. Evening temps. made the hike enjoyable and there were no bugs to be found...anywhere!?! Started up around 9am the next morning from the lake and found intermittant patches of snow. Except for the dam crossing at Snow Lake - which was running 4-6" above the wall, feet stayed dry. I have to recommend Goretex socks and Tevas. The snow pack is amzingly small but I suppose with the ultra warm spring and all... Arrived at Lake Vivian with it snowing, blowing and clouds. We noticed a party of 2 starting the S.Face and continued to move on, traversing the lake around its south side. As we arrived at the base the two climbers we spotted earlier were bailing due to wet rock and deteriorating conditions. We talked for a bit and decided to give it a go since you really never know unless you try. 1 rope length got us past the stuck #3.5 cam (which is moving somewhat and if I had time could have cleaned)to the tree area belay. From here we trended up and right. Another rope length got us just to the edge of Snafflehound ledge. The snow was still on and off but the sun would start to break thru at times and kept our hopes up. We noticed a fine crack starting off from the left side of the ledge. It runs up 20 or so feet and then moves thru a left arching roof. Past the roof the crack trends back to the right to meet up with a dihedral. This pitch felt like 10+ but it was cold and we had reduced friction with the wettish rock. Anyone know what this is or if it had been climbed? Next pitch ran from the crack/dihedral belay straight up, climbing on chickenheads and in the crack to another comfy belay ledge. We fueled up on some Rittersport chocolate, watched a few goats attempt to find our piss patches and finished up the last pitch to the fine finger crack on the east face of the summit block. It was blowing really hard over the summit and the temp was damn cold. I could only think that it would have been a hell of alot colder would it have been winter. Ahh the power of positive pessimism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 512dude said: Ahh the power of positive pessimism. loved that line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szyjakowski Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 512dude said: Thanks for your prior suggestions... Friday evening approach was made to Nada and the trail was quiet with only a few hikers making their way down from the day. Evening temps. made the hike enjoyable and there were no bugs to be found...anywhere!?! Started up around 9am the next morning from the lake and found intermittant patches of snow. Except for the dam crossing at Snow Lake - which was running 4-6" above the wall, feet stayed dry. I have to recommend Goretex socks and Tevas. The snow pack is amzingly small but I suppose with the ultra warm spring and all... Arrived at Lake Vivian with it snowing, blowing and clouds. We noticed a party of 2 starting the S.Face and continued to move on, traversing the lake around its south side. As we arrived at the base the two climbers we spotted earlier were bailing due to wet rock and deteriorating conditions. We talked for a bit and decided to give it a go since you really never know unless you try. 1 rope length got us past the stuck #3.5 cam (which is moving somewhat and if I had time could have cleaned)to the tree area belay. From here we trended up and right. Another rope length got us just to the edge of Snafflehound ledge. The snow was still on and off but the sun would start to break thru at times and kept our hopes up. We noticed a fine crack starting off from the left side of the ledge. It runs up 20 or so feet and then moves thru a left arching roof. Past the roof the crack trends back to the right to meet up with a dihedral. This pitch felt like 10+ but it was cold and we had reduced friction with the wettish rock. Anyone know what this is or if it had been climbed? Next pitch ran from the crack/dihedral belay straight up, climbing on chickenheads and in the crack to another comfy belay ledge. We fueled up on some Rittersport chocolate, watched a few goats attempt to find our piss patches and finished up the last pitch to the fine finger crack on the east face of the summit block. It was blowing really hard over the summit and the temp was damn cold. I could only think that it would have been a hell of alot colder would it have been winter. Ahh the power of positive pessimism. GOT A PIC OF YER LINE?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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