Lambone Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Hey b, We took a 37meter 7.8mil up the North Ridge, and climbed with it doubled the whole way. On the Gendarme, it BARLEY reached the 1st belay at the top of the pillar, and I had to belay a bit short of the best stance on the second pitch. It worked well because I was able to pull one strand through to haul the packs with, but we BARLEY got away with it. A 30 meter doubled would definately not reach. I'm not sure how youd make it work with three people and a 50 meter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcollins Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Lambone said: Hey b, We took a 37meter 7.8mil up the North Ridge, and climbed with it doubled the whole way. On the Gendarme, it BARLEY reached the 1st belay at the top of the pillar, and I had to belay a bit short of the best stance on the second pitch. It worked well because I was able to pull one strand through to haul the packs with, but we BARLEY got away with it. A 30 meter doubled would definately not reach. I'm not sure how youd make it work with three people and a 50 meter... Not sure either but it sounds like it'll work. Apparently have to pitch the rope down for the 3rd. Thanks, Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucK Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 I think a 50 would get you all up the Gendarme. First person leads on doubled rope. The other two follow separately on single strands. The problem I see with your plan is that having three people climbing is going to either cause you to go real slow (pitching it out [with 25m pitches ] the whole way up the ridge), or increase the danger (simuling with three people). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 yeah, chucks got it right. definately bring a Reverso if you do it that way with three. Good luck! Keep movin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleblebleb Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 (edited) I wanted a 30 m thin single rope, not a 30 m half rope. Anybody want to buy a 60 m 10.2 Mammut Supersafe and split it down the middle with me? Our doubled-up 60 m half rope was heavy, bulky and messy and we used the two strands as a single rope the whole way anyway. The 60 m half rope would be perfect with three people - two carry packs, third carries rope on approach, leader climbs without a pack and followers climb with packs. Bring the reverso! Edit - a doubled 50 m half rope would work nicely for the first pitch on the gendarme. I don't know about the second pitch, you'd better have the right pieces to build the anchor wherever you are when you run out of rope. I would not like to do it that way I think. Edited August 4, 2003 by fleblebleb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 My partner Larry and I did the N. Ridge on Sunday using a 60m half rope that we doubled up. Originally the idea was to just use it as a single strand but the rope drag was heinous and slowed us down considerably. So we doubled it and it made for really nice, comfy simulclimbing. We had none of the rope management problems that Fleb noted above. As a matter of fact, I would recommend this method. I will second the recommendation for crampons on the traverse. Although not absolutely necessary if you're wearing heavy boots (I was wearing la sprotiva approach shoes) that you can kick steps in, you'll feel one hell of a lot more comfortable with crampons. For a rack we brought 4 cams (green camelot, black metolius, purple metolius and #4 camalot), a rack of hexes and a rack of stoppers. We never used all of our gear. We were moving slow so bypassed the gendarme which in hindsight might have actually been faster. Bugs weren't bad down by Ingalls Creek nor anywhere on the route. They were heinous at Longs Pass and the trail ascending it. Fuckers were divebombing my eyeballs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcollins Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Good points Chuck. We're comfortable simuling fast with the party of 3 we have. I think we'll just have to make the 50 meter half rope work on the 2nd pitch. Damn this route is always full of compromises......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarred_Jackman Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 How cold would you bivy folks say it's getting up there? I'm looking at doing the Stuart Traverse and am trying to collect some info about the current conditions. I know there's snow on the top of cascadian, did you see any snow on the Sherpa ridgeline or anywhere else as the ridge heads towards the area of Dragontail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Not much snow up there. There are probably no snow patches on the north ridge of Stuart, for example. Here are a few photos from July 20: Argonaut to Colchuck Argonaut and Sherpa from the west Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcollins Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Jarred_Jackman said: How cold would you bivy folks say it's getting up there? I'm looking at doing the Stuart Traverse and am trying to collect some info about the current conditions. I know there's snow on the top of cascadian, did you see any snow on the Sherpa ridgeline or anywhere else as the ridge heads towards the area of Dragontail? I'd say it's............hell.........30 degrees at the bivi site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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