Priti

Megaladon Ridge provided as much hiking and scrambling as one could dream of, interspersed with 4-8 pitches of roped climbing, with some dubious rock quality. I’d give it a rating of 5.9, Loose-3/5, 2.5/5 stars. I noticed the rock was more loose but blocky on the climber's left of the ridge, and more solid but steep on the right. Staying on the ridge generally led to a decent downclimb, not a cliff, so that was the best option. Most of the big blocky-tower gendarmes were easy to skirt. The round trip is over 40 miles, and as much as I wanted to do it in three days, getting a permit had us at the trailhead at 10:30 on Saturday. It was a joy to get bored of the hundreds of meters of scrambling and easy free soloing.The area is so gorgeous and the perfect weather lured us into spending more than an hour by the river, enjoying the peace and let time expand and relaxing into the sounds of the burbling river and singing birds. I def didn't want to bring the stove, but I guess it was reassuring if we actually got terribly cold or HAD to melt snow. The warm meals were nice, and coffee in the morning. The Petzl Altitude harness was esp nice b/c it sits well under the pack straps, and I have gear loops on my pack, so the lack of them on the harness is fine! We brought the Beal Escaper, and debated between a 50m and 60m rope. The first rappel down the descent would have not made it with only a doubled over 50m rope. Careful about pulling rocks down on yourself at that rappel!

Such a great outing in an beautiful area with the best partner! Amazing write up!!

This is so true! The rock varied from place to place. Some spots were compact with little pro (getting on to ridge proper) some were loose (tower 1/2) some were solid but covered in lichen and gritty disintegrating rock (tower3) and some was good and blocky but still questionable in places! Definitely need to have experience with Rock Quality to be a good judge. I think if there was a rating for looseness this would get a L3/4 out of L5

Thanks y'all!

It was a little nerve-wracking to catch the drone again on the tiny ledges! Hadn't done it before, but successfully didn't drop it off the cliff.

We are stuck in Chamonix until July, at least. At least the views are great, while we practice our French and home cooking! Can't believe this is "Best of CC" already! Thanks!

Previous Fitz Roy trip report:

I was so surprised to see other people on it too! I thought we would be totally alone, not two other parties on route! I think maybe more people get on it than I thought.

Ward Robinson and Jim Walseth did the first ascent of this route. “On the third day cigarettes and coffee were all we had left. On the summit ridge we found snow patches and we brewed up a couple of times to keep ourselves going. During one such break we named the route All Along the Watchtower. For the record, it's the Jimi Hendrix version” - Jim Kennan Harvey did the first free ascent of the route. “Not only was the traverse virtually featureless, it was wet. Determined to climb it free, Harvey started by aiding across the sweeping arch, using his tee shirt and chalk ball to dry key footholds. Once the pitch was “prepared,” he lowered back to the beginning for a free attempt. He almost got through the crux on his first try, but fell when a small nubbin broke. He succeeded- just barely - on his third try, “grunting and thrutching” the entire way.” - Fifty Favorite Climbs

Nice report! I want to tag Sherpa Balanced Rock

Thanks to Jenny Abegg and Sarah Hart for the amazing beta sheet! Thanks to Mark Westman for great beta! Thanks to Tim Banfield for the amazing aerial shots of the Howser towers. It was a pleasure to get to climb such an incredible route, with great company (Dane, Allie who we met on route and my great partner Jeff). I'm thankful for the wonderful weather, and an understanding team at work.

It can't be said enough: Jeff and I are so blessed, and so thankful that we got to climb Fitz Roy! Nothing is ever guaranteed, and certainly not alpine climbing in the Fitz Roy range. Everything kept falling into place! And it was spectacular!!!! 🙏 🤘😍 . . . Timeline: Thursday: Planning for a climb on Mt Hood. Jeff calls from working remotely in Charleston. Let's go to Patagonia! Friday: Asked for time off work. Plane tickets look reasonable. Wait, where are our passports? We bought tickets anyways. Saturday: Jeff arrives in Seattle. So do our passports. We buy some more gear! (and pack) Sunday: Planes. Work from plane Monday: Planes and working remotely from BA, AR Tuesday: Plane to El Calafate, bus to El Chalten, say hi to MF Seba, call in to work meetings and grab a bite with Scott, Sami, and Lauri Wednesday: Hike up to Lago de Los Tres to check out conditions. They are cold, wet and windy. Okay! Thursday: Hike from El Chalten to Paso Superior and camp Friday: Approach to La Brecha and camp. The rock looks a bit wet, but the weather is great! Saturday: Climb! all day. all night. some wetness, some ice, but it's okay Sunday: sit for an hour and watch the sunrise on the summit of Fitz Roy. Rappel Sunday night: hike all the way back to El Chalten. No sleep Monday morning: Catch our shuttle to the airport with 20 minutes to spare. Finally sleep on the shuttle Monday: Fly out, work from plane Tuesday: Arrive in Seattle! (go to work)

Here’s a couple photos from the weekend Bergschrund C8CB0840-F52D-4CC4-AA6A-AD38B25DB30D.MOV Summit! we only pulled out the rope for the last ice step. I got deluged with spin drift! 🤣🤣🤣

Nice, good work! Thanks for sharing

Gorgeous photos! What a place, what a peak! Thanks for the TR!

Trip: Pasayten Wilderness - Cathedral and Amphitheater - SE Buttress of Cathedral Peak and Finger of Fatwa on Middle Finger Buttress on Amphitheatre Mountain Trip Date: 08/31/2018 Trip Report: Ethan and I climbed the classic SE Buttress (5.10a) on Cathedral Peak on Saturday Sept 1st and The Finger of Fatwa (5.11c) on the Middle Finger Buttress on Amphitheatre Mountain on Sept 2nd. The SE buttress was super enjoyable, following an obvious aesthetic line up the peak, on beautiful, sunny rock. One other party was in front of us, and let us pass at the headwall. The Finger of Fatwa follows a striking line, up a steep splitter .5” crack and traversing a set of two wild left-pointing roofs. I'm curious who else has climbed it since 2011 when Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington put it up. I don’t think this route gets much attention, judging by the amount of moss. But it should get done more! It’s so cool! We didn't get the red-point, but if we cleaned it up a bit, I think it would go next time! Belay under the roof Pulling the roof: A little bit of bouldering capped the trip! The weather was questionable on Saturday, but cleared up around 10am. We hiked out in a light snow on Monday, that cleared up to blistering heat by the time we reached the trailhead. Saturday sunset: Sunday sunset: Gear Notes: Wires, Doubles from tips to #2, single #3, #4 Coffee every damn morning! Approach Notes: 8-10 hours approach via Andrew's Creek Trailhead ... From Upper Cathedral lake, a 15-45 minutes approach

East Twin Needle, Himmelgeisterhorn and Ottohorn are some of the most enjoyable climbing I've done any where! Doing the traverse from Terror to Ottohorn would be such a good line.

But who is the boss, really? ... Nope our packs were the same weight, both when leading and following. On the upper 2K foot wallow, one 1.5L water bottle move back and forth between leader and follower. Last year we summited Denali, so we knew we dealt with 20K feet OK. We got the idea from the Smileys who had a similar schedule and felt the altitude but managed. http://smileysproject.blogspot.com/2015/06/denalis-cassin-ridge-classic-climb-45_25.html We asked our paying bosses, very nicely.

And here a GPS tracks! Cassin_Ridge.gpx And a couple extras: IMG_9713.mov IMG_9702.mov IMG_9659.mov

Trip: Mount Rainier - Liberty Ridge Trip Date: 05/27/2018 Trip Report: We were also on Liberty Ridge this Memorial Day weekend, climbing from Winthrop Glacier to the summit on Sunday. If you were climbing it on Sunday, there might be some photos of you here! Posting in case y'all are interested! Us: Summit camp: GPS tracks: topoMapsExport.gpx Gear Notes: IPhone Approach Notes: East side to gain Liberty ridge

The area was around the red line area in the first link you sent. We were definitely very nervous crossing the blue line area to reach our own cache. It was the soft new snow that slid off a harder icy layer. Here's some photos of the crown of the slide.

I got a couple photos of you Peter. It was good to meet you!

Rad line! Great photos... What an awesome way to start off the season

Mmm onions, wolves, Darrington deep-water soloing... Oooh la la... Love the photos. Thanks for sharing!

Woohoo! Yeah, thanks Tim! How were the avalanche conditions?