scot'teryx Posted September 29, 2003 Posted September 29, 2003 Went up on Sunday morning only to find a group of highschoolers camped at the trailhead, literally. Their tent was right in front of the trail, next to their campfire . Tempted to get their lic plate and report the fire but decided they'll get theirs somehow. Fast approach to Lake Elan (or Vesper Lake) and then down the chossy hillside to the Glacier. Just as we had suspected, the moats looked pretty big. We had only brought crampons and no ice axes, and the glacier was rock hard ice. We then decided to go to the ledges and start the route up higher. The ledge system appears to be pretty creepy, but all in all it was no problem to get on the route. We got the start of the climb only to find out that Adrien had forgot the pro in the car and all we had was 6 slings, biners, and his 3 hexes. He led all 3 pitches up the dihedral with no pro, and some pretty poor belay stations, but easy cimbing, and alot of fun. Since we were a team of 3, it took a bit longer than expected. Reached the summit at 430pm, and then headed down to the car at 5pm, reaching the TH @ 7. Unfortunately the descent went slow since I hurt my ACL (?) in my knee. Good climb though, next year I'll go back to do the entire route, if those lower pitches are really worth it. What about a direct route from the start of the dihedral and then a straight line to the summit. Lookes like some good overhanging hand cracks and such. Anyone ever check it out? Quote
robertm Posted September 30, 2003 Posted September 30, 2003 I have climbed the direct up Vesper before (from the ledges directly to the summit) There is a nice solid dihedral down low which merges into the face after 3/4 of a rope or so. The climbing after that is 5.8 dirt with little protection opportunities. In fact my partner and I had to simul climb for a bit before he could excavate a crack for a #2. We then more or less tucked our tails between our legs and made for the ridge crest rather than continue up the face as it looked like more of the same. All in all the Wiegelt route is the better one to the summit... It could be that we were a bit too far left on the direct N. Face and perhaps climbed a different route?? Quote
Bronco Posted October 1, 2003 Posted October 1, 2003 scot'teryx said: We got the start of the climb only to find out that Adrien had forgot the pro in the car and all we had was 6 slings, biners, and his 3 hexes. He led all 3 pitches up the dihedral with no pro, and some pretty poor belay stations... Sounds like Adrian got carried away with the "light and fast" approach. Did you guys consider just soloing the route? Did you find any natural pro? Just wondering. Too bad about your knee, hope you heal fast. Quote
scot'teryx Posted October 2, 2003 Author Posted October 2, 2003 Bronco said: Sounds like Adrian got carried away with the "light and fast" approach. Did you guys consider just soloing the route? Did you find any natural pro? Just wondering. Too bad about your knee, hope you heal fast. We did consider it, but I refused, not worth it for myself as there were some wet spots in the upper dihedral Some natural pro, but it was so marginal. Quote
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