marc_leclerc Posted September 21, 2017 Posted September 21, 2017 Based on the lack of comments, people are clearly way more psyched on the 20,000th ascent of the NEB... Hats off to Tony and Jacob ! Quote
JasonG Posted September 21, 2017 Posted September 21, 2017 I think most of us are just afraid to look into the face of pure Badassery. It's hard to wrap my mind around it, that's for sure. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 21, 2017 Posted September 21, 2017 I think it is an awesome and amazing accomplishment, and definitely warrants more excitement than the 3500th climb of a dog route. Very cool and it is great to see people pushing boundaries and exploring. From Jacob's Facebook: "But also so stoked I don't ever have to go back up there again...". Makes me think the Jason is right. Route just needs some traffic now! LOL Quote
G-spotter Posted September 21, 2017 Posted September 21, 2017 Based on the lack of comments, people are clearly way more psyched on the 20,000th ascent of the NEB... Hats off to Tony and Jacob ! I want to know what the deal is with the old McGee attempt of the same route that featured reportedly 12+ climbing. Did they avoid it? Was it deliberately overgraded to keep other suitors away? I know Craig had a worry that Tommy and Sonnie were gonna show up and steal his line. But then he eventually gave up. Quote
ivan Posted September 22, 2017 Posted September 22, 2017 cc.retard is entering it's post-comments phase Quote
marc_leclerc Posted September 22, 2017 Posted September 22, 2017 They just found a better way. There was a fair bit of speculation on where the logical free climb would go between us. Good on tony for making so many trips up there to price it together, and great that Jacob was stoked to go up there. Both those guys are great. Somehow I think our Chinese Puzzle wall line, while harder, is a bit more plaisir Quote
G-spotter Posted October 24, 2017 Posted October 24, 2017 Here is some info from Jacob: Whilst I'm not entirely sure I would recommend the route, it's an outrageous wall and the climb features some excellent rock and stellar pitches as well as some looser/more runout sections. Tony began looking at the East Face in summer 2016, making two trips, eventually making the first ascent of "The Indirect East Face" with Paul Cordy. They traversed in from the left about halfway up and continued to the top at 5.10+ on a variety of rock qualities. Paul pulled off a block and broke his finger on the second pitch, after which Tony lead every pitch to the top. This summer Tony made 3 trips back to the wall hoping to join into his previous route from below, the first with Will Stanhope and the second two with me. On our first trip we went in "heavy", hauling bivy kit to a nice ledge at pitch 5. The next day we climbed 6 new pitches to within 50m or so of Tony's indirect route from the summer before. This was arduous and slow going, we hit lots of dead ends. We brought a light power drill and added 5 protection bolts, drilled ground up, on lead, tagging the drill from sometimes fairly sketchy stances. After almost cutting through our haul line, and generally struggling, we decided that perhaps big wall style wasn't the best tactic. I suggested jettisoning the bags and pushing for the top, but Tony pointed out that "we're not sending though". We decided to return with twin ropes and minimal gear to try the face in a push. On September 4th we hiked in and bivvied at the Propeller Cairn with Bronwyn Hodgins and Megan Cesarone and set our alarms for 4am. We crossed the dry bedrock, which the bypass glacier had slid from earlier in the summer and the ladies set off up the North East buttress. Tony and I noted ruefully that their route was easy 4th class scrambling until above the height it had taken us two days to reach last time. This time, knowing the way and having the few bolts in was an immense help. We swung leads, making it to our previous high point by early afternoon. On a corner pitch shortly above this Tony pulled off a bunch of loose rock and made some noises. I shouted down "are you ok?" and got back "I didn't fall!!" Tony was hanging from one arm on his only remaining handhold/foothold still attached to the cliff. We continued upwards, with Tony leading a lot of the upper section and me simul-ing behind, since he knew the way from the previous summer. I would pull up onto a ledge and see the ropes billowing above me, with no gear and no sign of which way Tony had gone. Every time I spotted some chalk on a hold I was relieved to know I was at least going roughly the same way as Tony! We reached the top at 5pm, signed the summit register and traversed to the south summit to descend the South West side of the mountain. This is not really a descent I would recommend. Mad props to Tony for having the vision, psyche and dedication to lure 4 consecutive partners up there with him. I could not have asked for a more solid, good humored partner, and generally great person to go on an adventure with. Woohoo! Quote
G-spotter Posted January 4, 2018 Posted January 4, 2018 MA just texted me that he and partner did the Navigator Wall FWA at M7+ R 1 Quote
JasonG Posted January 5, 2018 Posted January 5, 2018 Yowza. So that finishes on the South Peak? Marc, we need a report! Quote
JasonG Posted January 5, 2018 Posted January 5, 2018 Savage! I'm struggling to fathom what this would be a warm-up to..... Quote
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