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[TR] Waddington Range update - July-Aug 2005- various new routes 8/11/2005


Don_Serl

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Climb: Waddington Range update - July-Aug 2005-various new routes

 

Date of Climb: 8/11/2005

 

Trip Report:

Craig McGee, Sean Easton, and Eammon Walsh spent some time on the S side of the Wadd. Their major accomplishment was putting up a new ice route (called the "Uber Groove") well left of the Haberl-Reid. The line is under the Epaulet Glacier, but the seracs looked laid-back and there was no debris below, so they were "somewhat at ease". There were 10 or 11 65m pitches, the 1st being the crux at 5X, then consistent WI5 and WI4, easing to WI3 at the top.

Craig reports that Eammon and Sean (ice gods, for sure) say "it was their best pure water ice climb ever".

 

The crew then got about 80% of the way up the prominent S buttress on the NW summit, but some looseness, lack of a compelling feature to the climbing, cold, and finally a developing snow-storm put an end to the attempt.

 

The threesome then flipped over to the Tiedemann, where they made the coveted (and oft attempted) first ascent of the Grand Cappuccino, via the SW buttress. The first 4 pitches were 5.8, then it steepened, and the next 6 pitches finished with a 5.11 crux on the final pitch. Craig says "Great line, awesome position and climbing": the route is named "Moran Latte".

 

Jia Condon and John Walsh got scooped on the Cappuccino, but did a direct variation on the S ridge of Serra 2 on the way back out - directly up the crest from the Cappuccino col (from the intersection of rtes 274 and 275, pg 352, Wadd Guide). They then went onto the S buttress of Tiedemann with no bivy gear, starting at 2 a.m., intent on a speed ascent. They had a "sit" above the 2nd tower next nite for 4 hours (see photos pgs 316 and 317, Wadd Guide), having freed all the climbing to this point (5.10+/11-), and finished via a major new variation, up the snow/ice/mixed gully left of #236. They topped out about 30 hours after starting. BUUUUT.... the S facing descent gullies were stone-swept and riddled with crevasses, plus the weather was breaking down a day earlier than forecast. SOOOO... they bailed down the N ridge into the upper Chaos Glacier cirque, got on the radio, and called Mike King to pull them out. He JUST was able to do this, late in the evening after his fire-watch shift, with clouds swirling in and out - lucky boys - the following 2 1/2 days saw 6 FEET of snow dumped on an American Alpine Institute party high on Waddington! Woulda been MIGHTY unpleasant to bivy...

 

There are still a couple powerful parties "in the field", so there will be more to report once they hit civilization.

 

cheers,

 

Approach Notes:

Whitesaddle Air

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what about those two nice looking chuncks of rock left (west) of the new line left of 236. Maybe Janez would like them, or is one of them Cappuccino? 6 feet of snow, yikes. Bold climbing indeed. Pretty cool when the climbers give the Mt. a chance.

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