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Stuart north ridge - solo


Retrosaurus

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Dissappointment when my partner bailed on an outing to the Direct Northwest Face lead me to an alternate plan that I have often thought about: north ridge, solo.

 

Pull the rack and slings out of the pack and the extra water bottles and most of the clothing and food. Crampons on tennies and an 3rd tool ice hammer for the glacier, an 8mm rope and light harness for the rappel. Good to go.

 

Left the house in the morning when my wife left for work and was hiking from the Teanaway by 9am.

 

Saw coneys or pikas (can anyone tell me the difference?) mounding up sprigs of lupine for winter. When the second one saw me he ran right up to me like he knew me or something. (Just thought that was cool.)

 

Arrived at Goat Pass at about noon and fell into the moat (Dooh!) while stuffing ice into my lone water bottle. I was pleased with how well old strap-on crampons work on sneakers although with the straps on tight enough to be secure, they really hurt my downhill foot. (Maybe this is not a problem with a less primitive binding system.)

 

I spent a few moments below the NWFace looking for the start of the direct route. Line diagram topos sure look a lot more straight forward than actual routes.

 

Crampons off at the start of the couloir and rock shoes on near the upper part of the couloir where there is finally more rock than dirt. It felt good to be climbing with rock boots on solid stone.

 

About halfway to the gendarme I noticed snow on the ledges off to the right. And yes, that was verglass. Hmm, 5.4 friction, verglass, a skiff of snow. I'm getting concerned. By the time I arrive at the gendarme I've had enough at looking at that dark, wet, icy chasm off to the right. I've never been down there either. The steep, solid, straight-forward 5.9 crack climbing on the gendarme looked inviting by comparison.

 

A long runner stolen from the rap anchor wad rigs a hauling harness for the pack. Clip the rope to the pack and neatly stack the rope and bowline the other end to my waist.

 

The first pitch was no problem, but when I reached the top of the pillar it was not one of those graceful mantle exits, but the grateful belly wallow/knees affairs. That said, it was not that tough and downclimbing the pitch would have been OK, although scary.

 

Haul the pack and stack the rope again and up the second pitch. This pitch has some of the best fist jamming that I can remember ever doing. The only other time I was on the gendarme I exited left. I exited right this time which turns out to be a bit more direct and straight-forward. I was a bit concerned about the pack hauling over some of the lips on the rock. It came up just fine, but would not have without a hauling harness.

 

I loaded the rope back into the pack and reached the summit at 5pm. Cloudless hazy vistas and warm sunshine. An orange and the rest of the water. Base of the mountain via Cascadian by 7. Longs Pass at 9. The truck at 10.

 

I guess I can think about doing the complete north ridge next time.

 

[ 09-12-2002, 06:57 PM: Message edited by: Retrosaurus ]

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quote:

Originally posted by Dru:

A "coney" is a rabbit, and a pika is a pika.
[sNAFFLEHOUND]

So does a coney have longer ears like a rabbit and a pika has the stubby little rounded ears?

 

And which one makes that really high-pitched "EEEEP!" sound?

 

This may sound a bit dopey, but I have been wondering about this stuff for years?

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quote:

Originally posted by Retrosaurus:

quote:

Originally posted by Dru:

A "coney" is a rabbit, and a pika is a pika.
[sNAFFLEHOUND]

So does a coney have longer ears like a rabbit and a pika has the stubby little rounded ears?

 

And which one makes that really high-pitched "EEEEP!" sound?

 

This may sound a bit dopey, but I have been wondering about this stuff for years?

Coney = rabbit = long ears.

 

Pika = round short ears.

 

Pika goes EEEEP!

 

-

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It seems to me that one of the principal drawbacks to soloing is that you have no one to say "whoa, isn't this cool" to. Three-ceeing the gendarme pitches is kinda bold, but as I'm sure Retro is aware, the North Ridge gets soloed on a reasonably regular basis, so my sense is that he just had a great time, and it only underlines the experience to tell someone else about it.

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quote:

Originally posted by Johnny Rebel:

Mitch my chestbeating brotha, congratulations on your hard man accomplishment.

But why do you feel it necessary to publicly boast? Just curious.

Climbers often like to talk about climbing. Writing about his day out is like talking about climbing.

 

Is that simple enough for you JR?

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