layton Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Climb: Inspiration Peak-North Face -2nd Ascent Date of Climb: 7/31/2004 Trip Report: Eric (aka Lunger) and I climbed the North Face of Inspiration this weekend to beat the heat. Nelson descibes it in his book (under the W.ridge section) as, "extreme," and, terrifiying," and "unrepeated" so that sounded like a nice climb to do. It is a 1500 face of Gneiss with some granite sprinked in the mix. It didn't have much mixed rock and ice like the 1st ascent, just some neve mantling onto two tools on the fiist pitch. So Eric, Pete (specialed), and Rolf (Rat) and I decided to all go up as a group and climb some north facing stuff. These guys are a riot and had my kinda sense o' humor. Couldn't think of a better, funnier, surlier, cantankerous, excellent climber, group of guys to spend some serious suffer-time with. It was almost a re-creation of the 1977 russian team with Betolius when they all went in and did NF inspiration. Standing on the top with Eric, I realized that this route hadn't been done in 27 years. It was climbed when I was 4 months old! The hike in was pretty chill, except in the sun where I sweat out every ounce of water and salt. Steam and powder came out when I had to pee. We camped at the col above Azure Lake (awesome view into the lake!). I was wide awake at 2am, an hour before the alarm. I guess the other guys were too concidering I was the only pussy to bring a sleeping bag. I did, however, have my "yellow hardman pad" that I see in all the photos. We hiked the ridge to the notch right of Little Mac spire and did a double rope rap (total pussies) into the steep snow, downclimbed a shit-ton, did another rap (good idea this time), and the downclimbed a shit-ton more. Lots of hard ice. I had two tools (pussy), but the guys only had one (pussies). We got worried when the clouds in the socked in lower valleys rose from the sun-rise and totally fogged out the downclimbing. Luckily the fog burned off by the base of the N.Face of McMillian. Rolf and Pete make it quickly to their route, the N.Buttress of East McMillian or the N.F. of East McMillian (not sure which one, they are almost the same damn route). Eric and I headed over to our route. The "2nd approach" to the actual climb took 5 hours of hard work. Eric and I pieced together a route on a face with no obvious line. We knew we were on the right track when we found an Ablokov Cam (Jeff Lowe stole this idea for his tri-cam) which was just a sawed off wedge of a fly wheel with a sling (worked great). Kudos to Eric for keeping a cool lead head on his pitches. I don't know if I spoke aloud or kept it to myself, but I'm pretty sure I whimpered a few times on my leads (total pussy). We then rappel the south face with our lead rope and a 60m 6mm tag line. Yes, shit got f&%^cced on the raps and it was terrifyingly steep. We made all our own rap stations with one super sphincter pinching rap off a slung chockpebble (a chockstone about the size of a dime). After much annoyance we were on the upper glacier. Then we did some gut churning downclimbing and did another rap off my ice tool leash (one of the raps was off Eric's nut tool keeper-cord). Then we dropped down a lot, traversed the slabs of terror basin, climbed below the s.faces of McMillian spires to the ridge and followed it to our tent. The descent took 7 hours. If the fog came back earlier (it fogged over every night) we would've had to shiver bivy like the Russians did on their 1st asent. All told it was a 19 hour day of constant movement and constant concentration. We were never out of control that day, however, and I was totally confident in Eric as my 1st climb with him. Rolf and Peter were "asleep" when we got to the camp. They had fun on their climb, but I don't think they were totally impressed with their route. They bootied a lot of gear (Kearney's?) Our route kicked ass. I'll rate it 5.fun and a Pabst Blue Ribbon for quality. It was a full on alpine mix. Eric took a cocktail of drugs to help him sleep and we drank a lot of whiskey. The next day we lounged about camp and hiked out in the blazing beautiful sun. Pictures to come, and I don't know if Pete'll post a TR of their climb, but I think Rolf should because he was WAY into sharing his feelings and shit. Gear Notes: 2 ropes russian ablakov cams galoshes worthless aluminum crampons with .25" frontpoints and tennis shoes 3 ice tools in total. Approach Notes: prepare to suffer. ugly scenery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandora Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Nice work d00d. You guys sound super tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Fuckin' Pussies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 That was an amazing ascent for an old man and a sexually deviant midgett with a negative ape index. Seriously though, nice job again guys I was thoroughly impressed! We were pysched on our climb too. It was longer, but probably not technically as difficult and a much less involved descent. I'll probably post a TR and some pics when I get a chance. Glad to hear you made it safely back to B'Ham in the state you were in. Eric was worked as hell too as he started driving east on 20 for 10 miles before he realized he was supposed to be going to Seattle not the Methow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted August 2, 2004 Author Share Posted August 2, 2004 It was easy with Eric on the rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Way to go. The N. Side routes are falling like flies. Soon, day climbs. Do you mean Erik Snyder? My wife kicked his ass on N. Face of Maude once. Maybe he's not so fat anymore. Sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted August 2, 2004 Author Share Posted August 2, 2004 No, another Eric. It would be a 30 hour day trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted August 2, 2004 Author Share Posted August 2, 2004 (edited) Looking down into Azure Lake. One of the most amazing views I've seen. Those waterfalls drop down literally thousands of feet, some free falling (look closely) for an amazing distance. From the Azure Lake Col Camp,above Terror Basin. Eric approaching the North Face of Inspiration Peak Fog clearing (finally) to show the N.Buttress of East McMillian Spire that Peter and Rolf climbed. Eric on the North Face (Russian Route) of Inspiration. CAn you spot the line? We were a little worried about route finding as you can see. We lucked out and made all the right choices. Looking down near the top of the climb after doing the hard chimney pitch. "Hey Mike!!!!," Eric yelled down to me, "The Russians have been here!!!" Evidence of the communist invasion of 1977. Mr. Ablakov's invention that american spy Jeff Lowe copied to catch up during the heated Cold North Facing Cascade Climbs War of the late 70's. This thing was placed when I was 4 months old! It is still in great shape. The whole climb could'a been done with these fuckers and some nuts. Pretty cool! Edited January 19, 2007 by chucK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Funniest shit all weekend; Layton (giving beta): Its like a couple green aliens, then goes to yellow aliens and a then a purple camalot. Rolf: Huh? Speak English motherfucker! What size is THAT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted August 2, 2004 Author Share Posted August 2, 2004 (edited) That Azure lake photo came out very strange. Here's another try... Edited January 19, 2007 by chucK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Does your horsecock cam or is it passive only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunger Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 the climb: pleasantly surprised by the rock quality. a few steep run out sections added spice. reasonably sustained and a position nonpareil. remote aspect, and so beautiful you want to hurl. committing approach, involved descent. as usual, the views are difficult for pics to capture. after the intense focus of the weekend, i finally let my guard down, and drove for 10 miles in the wrong direction... the crew: hilarious fellas, mixture of personalities. to quote rolf: good times, great oldies. i was 'russian left traverse specialist' amongst alpine machines. ambitious first partnership w/ Layton worked beyond expectations, and his levity made the grating descent bearable. re: special's comments: 1) respect your elders; 2) i believe they prefer to be called "little people." that Ablakov cam is a pioneer favorite--active or passive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 1) respect your elders; 2) i believe they prefer to be called "little people." 1. Yes sir, Mr. Wherley. 2. They don't like being called Midgets or Dwarves. That's why I like calling them "Midget-Dwarves." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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