Marko Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Another fine day out with the Alpine Ropegun: http://www.colinhaley.blogspot.com/ (To be clear, we camped at 3200', to make it a day and a half with the AR.) From the sound of other ascents we had pretty nice conditions; good traveling down low, not too much postholing up high with decently attached snow bands, and excellent ice pitches. After the second ice step we took rock and turf to the right because the normal (I think) pitch after that wasn't touching down. It may have been quicker (though less exciting!) to connect snow ramps to the summit on the left. The traversing descent from Colonial's west shoulder down easy slopes to the west edge of the lower basin was painful wallowing, even following Colin's steps. I'd definitely say get on it in the next couple days, it's probably getting even better since the weather's starting to cool up high again. Bring pins. Quote
Ade Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Nice. And there was me wondering what it was like further North. Quote
Choada_Boy Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 CH continues his global tear. SWEET!! Quote
Chad_A Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 After seeing the winds down here in PDX, I rationalized that I should stay home and get some money out of a car I wanted to sell. Now, seeing this, I should've looked north, for sure. Thanks for sharing! -Chad Quote
JoshK Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Cool!!! From the crux pitch of my armchair (I, class 1, 2', bring doritos) I would think it would have been sloppy warm up there. Are things still freezing well overnight? Good job guys! -josh Quote
Marko Posted January 21, 2009 Author Posted January 21, 2009 Freezing but not freezing well really. At the road it was about 20°F at noon, 300' uphill from the valley it warmed up to around freezing and then basically stayed that temp day and night at every altitude. It was June-uary in the shade and full on June in the sun. On the well-shaded face the snow was definitely not slushy and there was no crust so it hadn't thawed either. Other than the last curtain not touching down and being kind of drippy (Colin lead rightward instead on insecure rock), the route is in great condition! For the approach we stayed pretty high above the creek but on the way down we were much closer except for the last bit, and thought that was much better; more open forest and less tedious traversing. Quote
Tokogirl Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Cheers to you both on a fabulous climb. Conditions must have been just right - good pro? Quote
Marko Posted January 24, 2009 Author Posted January 24, 2009 Thanks! Pro was OK. Conditions were good in that the ice took (short) screws and we didn't have to dig much for rock pro, especially on Colin's steep pitches. We made sure the belays were good... Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.