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Posted

To followup on Jason Martin's comment that there may have been an earlier ascent of the Spindrift:

In February 1982 Gordon Adams and I climbed the central rib over 2 days, Big Four had very good snow and ice coverage. After our climb we got to the flat area at the base of the face at twilight, and while taking a break two "hippie " looking characters appeared, with crampons, axes, packs. Asked what they had been up to one replied "climbed that couloir" Me: all the way? him "to the top"

I don't know what to believe. we couldn't see any tracks but the light was very dim. After we trudged back to the parking area the only other vehicle there was an old school bus with a wood stove pipe coming out a window.

Anybody know who these guys could have been?

Posted

Pretty cool that some dudes climbed the route in 1982. Some people really keep mum around here. Perhaps to mum sometimes. Oh well, it'sall just for fun anyways.

I was pretty young but didn't the winter of 82 see quite a bit of snow? And 83 was the year that we didn't get much?

Posted

I say give Bart and Avypoodle (Jason?) credit for the F.A. We can speculate about how it must have been climbed already, since the mythical alpine giants of the rough-and-tumble seventies were so damn burly, and since the access is so easy, etc. Bart stepped forward and claimed the first ascent, knowing that people might be skeptical. But it was important enough to him to make the statement, and he was a 15-year-old kid for crying out loud, and that's impressive.

On the other hand, if the route had been ascended previously, it obviously wasn't important enough to the guys who did it to claim a first ascent, and so they shouldn't be too disappointed if they got swooped by Bart. In fact, at this point, I think it would be lame of anybody to come in and claim a FA; if they didn't care to be noticed then, why should they care now? If a first ascent isn't recorded, and if you leave only tracks in the snow as evidence, then I think the prize is still up for grabs. Otherwise, you've got the standard parade of clowns claiming that they witnessed RURP 3rd-class the route in his flip-flops back in 1974.

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