olyclimber Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Sweet! I can't wait to hear about it. Quote
Gary_Yngve Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 I noticed that Colin had not turned his hw in on time. Quote
wayne Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Great accomplishment guys. That may have been the most attempted climb that hadnt been done yet.There is nothing left out there quite like that. Quote
Chriznitch Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 so this is an official FA? either way, great job and way to take advantage of this weather "window" Quote
JayB Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Glad something good came out of this dreadful winter. Post the photos when you get a chance. Quote
pms Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Yes! Congratulations Mark and Colin. Wayne really summed it up well, a super classic. Quote
pms Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 idile speculation. Five days, if that's what it was, I'm thinking that fast as these two are, the climbing must have been difficult for them to take that long? Either that or they were having such fun they didn't want to come down. Quote
Dru Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 5 days - that's almost as long as someone taking 8 days on Slesse! Quote
Alpinfox Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Speaking of Slesse, this FWA of NR Stuart makes me think that this is probably a good time for the 2nd WA of NEB Slesse. Â Colin/Mark's next project? Â In any case, congrats to you guys. Quite a feather in the cap! Quote
Colin Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Thanks for the compliments, guys. It was a fantastic climb, and even with the awesome weather and conditions it still really worked us to pull it off. Â Here's a basic trip report - I'll write more when I have some more time to think (I'm way behind in all my classes now). Â Sat - Left the car at around 6:00 I think, and hiked all the way to the bivy boulder in around 6.5 hours, because we had a packed trail. Ran into NOLSE and crew who had just come down from the Ice Cliff Glacier. Â Sun - Slept in, and then fixed the first three pitches with two ropes. Â Mon - Left the base at 6:00 am, and began jugging the ropes. We chucked one of the ropes after jugging it, and we also left one of our sleeping bags at the base. We made much better time on the lower ridge than we had back in December, and arrived at the notch just as it got dark. We kicked out a small platform for the tent (BD Firstlight), and shared the sleeping bag that night, with a special "V" of nylon Mark had sewed up to be zipped into the bag. This system worked really well - it is obviously light, but quite warm as well. Â Tue - We slept through our alarm, and didn't leave the notch until 7:30. We made good time on most of it, and arrived at the base of the gendarme at around 12:45. The first pitch of the gendarme was straight-forward aid climbing, but still time consuming of course. The second pitch took a long time (finished leading right as it got dark), and was quite challenging because are biggest cam was a #3 camalot and more significantly because most of the cracks were totally choked with ice. The second jugged with two packs on the gendarme pitches so that the leader could climb without one. The remaining 4 pitches went fast, except for the '5.8 crack' which was also time-consuming aid. We finally topped out at around 11:15 pm, and began the descent down the Sherpa Glacier, which was straightforward. We pitched the tent town in the boulders, and Mark starting melting water and making dinner while I hiked back up to the base to get our rope and sleeping bag. We didn't get to sleep until around 3am and then slept in until about 10:30. Â Wed - Hiked out in the sun. Quote
Juan Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Way to go Colin and Marko. You are my alpine heroes. Â Sharp Quote
Colin Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 I tried scanning a few slides, mostly unsucessfully, but here's one on the gendarme: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=9552&size=big&sort=1&cat=500 Quote
pms Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 looking forward to the view from pedestal towards you. did Mark have a camera? Quote
Marko Posted February 25, 2005 Author Posted February 25, 2005 Yep. But it's going to take me a while to get my film to the processor... Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.