Pics:
The cirque
The route
Spindrift welcome party!
Climbing photos from the route
Payne and Jesse on way to summit of Sumallo.
Summit cap of Sumallo Peak's SE summit. There is a NW summit that is the same approximate height just hidden in left of photo behind foreground rocks.
Rideout with silvertip behind. Traversing over to the Silvertip-Rideout col is NOT the fastest way off Zero Gully. Downclimb you must young Jedi!
We ended up placing a soft iron pin and an abalakov for rap anchors and downclimbing the rest of the gully. The pin was superfluous, we started rapping 30m too high, but with double ropes would be in the right postion. It seems like there must have been more snow and thicker ice and less bare rock than last week as per Don's report above. We could not find any kicked steps from last week and in fact most of ours from the way up had been filled in by spindrift on the way down.
We took a couple thin pins, a couple screws and a couple Tricams. All could have been used. I suppose pickets could have been used too but if you spend a lot of time belaying on this route you will have a very late day out at this time of year.