TR: NW Corner on North Winter Spire

[jrb]

Climbed it on Sunday with CBrown. The Route is still wet but more then doable. Still a ton of snow at the base of the climb, but you can get a nice stance to shoe/harness up and belay from. First pitch is dry and better then it looks. There is snow at the ledge, which help us get off route, but a quick rappel and we where back on route. The second pitch is dry and enjoyable, even with a little run out during the 5.8 lie-back. The belay ledge is awesome! Big enough to sit on with your back to the wall and take in the view. The next pitch (5.9 wide crack) is pretty physical for the grade, but not too bad. There are more then enough hand jam to keep the grade at 5.9. The pitch is wet for the last third, gets wetter as you get higher. When you get to the top of the pitch you see why, there is a big old pile of snow at the belay. Had to set the anchor right under the roof (small gear; blue alien, and something like #4 and #7 BD stoppers). If you still had a #3 Camalot there is a bomber placement, but I was out after lead the wide crack (I called it the Camalot pitch since I place all cams, most of which were Camalots). The next pitch was the wettest lead of my climbing career. The first 15 feet, which is run-out with no real gear, is just down right slimy. Thankfully the hand holds are big enough that feet are not that big of a deal. Warning the handholds aren’t jugs. After working through the slime the pitch settles down a bit and you can run to the top.

 

Getting down wasn’t that bad, just wet. I believe we did a total of five single rope rappels. Future parties might want to bring some long pieces of webbing to replace some of the rappel anchors.

 

[ivan]

[dalius]

Sounds very wet. Thanks for the status report.

[Alasdair]

Climbed this on Saturday and I would not say that the wet spots on the route are a major problem. There are a couple of wet spots but they are not that bad. The first comes in the 5.9 offwidth secton after it eases and the wet area can be climbed around to the left on 5.7 face holds. The wet spots out of the belay are definatly in an area that is run out but is once again located on easy 5.7 ground and only about 6 feet long. One thing all should be aware of is that the huge rock horn that is located on the 5.9 pitch is loose. When I pulled on this the whole block moved.