TR: NE Ridge of Triumph

[Sol]

Hiked in on tuesday the 2nd with my lady tradchica, and our former geology teacher, an old skool cali-climber from way back. Left the car around 2, made the bivy just below the col around early evening. took a while because the teach was quite a bit slower than us with a big ol' pack full of heavy, old gear. bivy was great, running water close by, astounding views of triumph and the pickets. left the bivy around seven the next morning. climbed one stretch of the glacier but mostly bypassed below it on the slabs. shed all extra gear below the ridge. jumped on route. I led with two 8.9mm ropes while both seconds followed on a single strand. two looonnnggg simul blocks got us from the beginning of the route to the last step. lead two classic pitches through this, then one more simul pitch through the heather to the summit. hazy forest fire views to the south and pickets, backer, shuksan to the north. 6.5 hours from bivy to summit. was quite slow for myself (I like to climb fast), but not so bad for a party of 3. descended via 5 double-rope rappels, 2 single, a stretch of simul-climbing, and a bit of unroped downclimbing. witnessed a giant serac topple right where we were going to be traversing. once back to our gear we killed big water, i took a long overdue bong toke, and we traversed back to camp. got back to camp around 8ish, for a 13-hour day. having lead all of the climb, including the rope-tangling rappels, I resigned myself to the sleeping quilt to roll joints as trad chica cooked dinner. ate. slept. woke up early and watched the sun rise next to the pickets. left. In all, I think i've climbed too many truly classic routes this summer to say much about this one (dirty, not so aesthetic climbing, long descent, manky rap anchors). but, nonetheless I am happy to have ticked it off the list, as anyone who has viewed triumph close up can attest, it is a much too dramatic mountain to ignore.

[wayne]

I am glad I did the route in the fog, I hear that view sucks