overzealous Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 Apologies if this should be in route or trip reports, but I thought here was more appropiate since I'm posing a question, feel free to move this if you think otherwise. A few weeks ago my partner and I climbed the North Face of Athabasca. I made a complete idiot move and took the wrong exit gully through the rockbands. (see linked picture) http://www.teambivy.com/v/chris/athabasca/athabascaFace.jpg.html Speaking to one of guys at a gear store in Canmore I was told that this is a common mistake (despite the straight forward route finding). I'm curious if anyone has been up where we were, if it is an established route/alternate, what they thought of it etc... If you're interested in my full take on the experience it is linked below this post. I'm fully aware of how my inexperience and bad decision making shine through in this report, so while you're free to lecture me, you're probably preaching to the choir. This was a big wake up call. The grading is a WAG (wild assed guess) since I don't have tons of experience climbing with crampons. If this mistake is common, as we were lead to believe I figured someone might have experiences to share in the same theme. Full Trip Report: http://www.teambivy.com/mt_athabasca_north_face_oct_7_9_2006 - Chris Quote
goatboy Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 I am not sure what you climbed but I appreciate the story! Great details and honest self-appraisal - plenty of good learning can come from that kind of self-assessment and discussion. I like the line in your website (on the Rainier trip report) that states, "bivy is a French word for mistake." Quote
stinkyclimber Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 My partner and I climbed through the rock bands to the left of the gully (for reasons I don't remember anymore) when we did the route a few years back in early August . I don't remember any difficulties, altho the rock was similar to your experience: loose and unprotectable. Not a bad option if the standard gully exit is congested or in poor condition. Quote
Alex Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 When you climb the regular N Face route and get to the "correct" rockband (only 15 feet of rock climbing before the ice starts again up the exit gully), there is an option for climbing around the band to the left, which looks lower-angle and easier only with junkier rock and no pro, or climbing around to the right side of the 15 ft rockband which is slightly steeper and has fixed pins (2 or 3) in a corner. If you climb the right-hand side, you discover the hidden exit gully that is pure 70 degree water ice for one pitch to the summit. However, if you didnt get to the right spot to begin with, if you had angled up to one of the other gullies, you would have missed the exit gully entirely. This is the only image I have of us approaching the rockband, which is just left-of-center. You can see how you might miss the fact that there is the sweet exit gully from here. Sounds like you just ended up in the wrong spot and didn't know what to look for, so worked with what you had... Here is my TR from the same route. http://www.mountainwerks.org/alexk/climb/TRCanada2003.htm#atha Quote
overzealous Posted October 25, 2006 Author Posted October 25, 2006 Cool picture and explanation. I don't think I was in that corner at all though. I was at least half a ropelength (so 100 feet) left of the correct exit. If you remember the large section of protruding rocks at the top of the face - I came up right of them, then angled back left over them. I'd love to go back and do the correct route. Quote
overzealous Posted October 25, 2006 Author Posted October 25, 2006 Goatboy - thanks for the compliments on the writing. I wish I could take credit for the bivy quip, but it's from a friend of mine (Shingo) I just recycled it. Quote
G-spotter Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 Goatboy - thanks for the compliments on the writing. I wish I could take credit for the bivy quip, but it's from a friend of mine (Shingo) I just recycled it. "bivouac is French for mistake" goes back about 30 years that I know of... Quote
G-spotter Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 Maybe Shingo is Chouinard or Whillans but I doubt it. Quote
overzealous Posted October 25, 2006 Author Posted October 25, 2006 I didn't mean to imply that he originated the expression, only that he was the first place I encountered it. I figured it was something old, but I had no idea it was quite THAT well known a quip. Quote
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