Last Ascent of Willis Wall?

[JayB]

The TR for the line that Jens and Loren posted for their route on Johanesburg made me think of the lines on Willis Wall, many of which seem to have seen a single ascent and then lain dormant for decades.

 

It seems clear that the objective hazard associated with those lines is such that snagging the FA might induce someone to roll the dice, but once that's been done no one really wants to put their life in that kind of jeopardy to second the line. At least that's what it seems like to me, but I could be basing these conclusions on bad information.

 

If I were to place a bet, I would wager that the line that Loren and Jens put up will fall into the same class as many of the lines on Willis Wall - enticing enough to induce someone into the FA, but otherwise too unappealing to warrant a reapeat.

 

So - if I'm wrong about Willis Wall, I'd be interested in learning which routes have been repeated and when. While we're on the topic, it would be interesting to hear about other major lines have yet to see a second ascent, and some speculation about why. In most cases I suspect it's a combination of unappealing climbing and a high level of objective hazard - but perhaps there are other reasons as well.

[Dru]

the sw face routes below the curtis glacier icefall, on shuksan, and the macdonald-mather on the coleman headwal that climbs through huge seracs, seem like other examples.

[Skeezix]

...but perhaps there are other reasons as well.

Jeff Clark tower in Boston Basin.

[Off_White]

I know folks that have done the center line on the Willis Wall, the route with the slight rib and the whisker of a promise of some shelter. It was quite awhile ago though, they topped out just hours after St. Helens blew up. I think I know of someone doing Thermogenesis too, though that line may not qualify as a Willis Wall route.

[Alex]

I think alot of the reason these routes dont get done is because in order to do them with any sort of safety you have to be intimately aware of current condititions. The only time I came close to doing Yocum ridge on Hood was the year I lived in Government Camp: I looked at the mountain daily, was on it weekly, lived the current weather. The only way to be intimately aware of the current conditions is to live nearby, or spend a whole lot of time in the vicinity of the route, waiting.

 

Which is my point: most people will recognize this pattern when they think about going climbing to Alaska. Fly in with a couple weeks of food, establish a camp, wait for a good window, go for it. Willis Wall's downfall is that it is Alaskan in nature, but if you are going to camp out on a glacier for a week or two 1) its nicer to fly all that shit in and 2) might as well go to Alaska!!!! The only people that are aware enough about the conditions are probably the climbing rangers on the mountain, or those with alot of time on their hands and who have the route as a specific objective (a pretty rare combination). Others are just rolling the dice.

[magellan]

Somewhere on this site recently, someone stated a ranger telling them Willis Wall had not even been attempted in 15 years.

[MtnHigh]

I'd agree with the analysis of alex. There are many of us willing to take a crack at Willis, but due to it's reputation, none of us have the resourses or balls to take action on our desires. It comes down to being dialed into the 'NOW' conditions. Most of us are clicking away on our computer, guaging conditions and weather patterns like an arm chair quarterback. It's the best we can do in our suckass M-F jobs.

 

One other point

The recent surge in climbing is dominated by fair weather rock jocks who have no interest (thank god) in Willis Wall adventures. Beckey-Chouinard gets done weekly, but stuff like Willis remains untouched. Yes!

[JayB]

Isn't the major deterrent that's discouraging a WW attempt the probability of being pulped by a serac avalanche?

 

It would seem that they would release more frequently during hot weather, but my understanding of the phenomena is that trying to predict when a particular serac band will collapse is kind of like trying to predict the radioactive decay of a single atom - even if you know the probability, there's no telling when it's going to break down.

[mattp]

Yes, the prospect of being "pulped by a serac avalanche" is a serious deterrent, but I think Alex is right. If you approached it as you might some other serious route in, say Alaska, you might watch reports of conditions on the mountain for a few weeks ahead of your trip and then hike up and camp out on the Carbon Glacier with supplies for a week or two so you could scope the route to try to guage surface conditions and cycles of icefall/quiet. You might also poked about with short forays up the lower bits of Liberty Ridge and Curtis Ridge to "scope it" from a different angle or check what different aspects are like and, if you had a strong parter, you could make a run for it and feel you were minimizing that risk. Willis Wall was a celebrated climb for a brief period in the '70's and I believe there were some climbers who did this. But times have changed and climbers looking for that sort of adventure now go to the Alaska Range.

 

All it would take is for the route to be featured in some "fifty classic alpine routes" book and climbers would be lining up to try it. A very exciting picture of a climber leading up a hanging ice cliff/bulge on the North Face of Mount Fay (in the Canadian Rockies) appeared in Chouinard's "Climbing Ice" book twenty five years ago, and the route drew lots of ascents.

[lummox]

like necrophilia. i just aint into it.

[bwrts]

I know someone who has done it twice...he lives in Wenatchee and knows a few people that post here. Exactly when he did it, I don't remember.

I will say though he gets up some crazy shit but does not climb things in order to tell all the world of his achievments.

[Dru]

Nobody climbs that Fay route anymore because the serac changed

 

And with respect to SnowDome, Slipstream has seracs down it maybe once or twice a week or so... AggressiVe Treatment and Borderline more rapidly.... and the route that forms up every year between Ag Treatment and Borderline has never been climbed because it sees a few hundred tons of ice down it every day.

[JoshK]

Serac cycles are interesting...I've been camped right near a very active ice cliff that started acting up in the cold of the night and then was slient during the heat of the next day. Maybe something with it re-freezing and snapping, who knows, but it definitely reminded me that simply figuring you can climb it when it is cold out doesn't remove any of the risk nescessarily.

[lummox]

Serac cycles are interesting...

spalling is more likely to occur with colder temperatures when plastic deformation aint likely.

[Alex]

Nobody climbs that Fay route anymore because the serac changed

 

And with respect to SnowDome, ...

 

I am not sure what you are talking about? The NF of Fay routes (Central Ice Bulge Direct specifically, but all of them in general) gets done very often. Gene and I did Central Ice Bulge Direct a few years ago, its a fun, short route with no hazard. The ice bulge itself has receded a bit and is no longer overhanging.

 

As far as Slipstream, its gets climbed regularly every year. Aggressive Treatment and Borderline are more conditions dependent.

[Dru]

Thats my point, Slipstream gets done a lot whereas Ag Treatment and Borderline have been repeated maybe once, if ever. Same with Reality Bath, serac fall is too frequent and in fact maybe MORE active now than during the first ascent(when it occurred every 20 or 30 hours) whereas Riptide and Gimme Shelter, with less frequent serac fall, have been done a lot more.

 

I thought I read on LTV that due to glacial retreat one of the Fay ice bulges had vanished making a former overhanging ice pitch into WI2. In that sense it sure as hell doesn't get done anymore.

[Alex]

Thats like saying "since Sea of Vapors doesnt form as WI7 and only comes in at WI5 anymore, it doesnt get done anymore". Every mountain route changes with conditions. That the ice bulge is no longer whatever rating doesnt mean it isnt the same route. Some routes get easier with time (due to conditions or gear advances), some routes get harder with time, and some routes like the Bonatti Pillar or that tower you posted a pic of earlier this year, just fall down the mountain with time.

Edited September 7, 2005 by Alex