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[TR] Little Swiss and The Ruth June 8 - 26th - 6/9/2009


Calder

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Trip: Little Swiss and The Ruth June 8 - 26th -

 

Date: 6/9/2009

 

Trip Report:

On the 8th Brian and I met in Anchorage for our first climbing trip to the Alaska Range. His friend knew a girl who offered to drive us from Anchorage to Talkeetna. We had a lot of gear to cram in one of the most interesting vehicles I've ever tavelled in.

 

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We had to tie the door shut and she brought us ear plugs for the oil pressure alarm that rang all the way to Talkeetna! Thanks Tabitha for getting us there!

 

We sorted that night and were able to get in to the Pika the next morning.

 

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We got right to it and climbed the Lost Marsupial (III 5.8)on the south face of The Throne. It was a fun route, but we didn't get to the true summit. The snow was cold in rock shoes so we settled for the false summit and skied back to camp. The whole thing went pretty quick and was pretty enjoyable.

The moonrise was sweet that morning.

 

 

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Approach to The Throne with Crown Jewel in the background.

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Back at camp with Lost marsupials behind Brian. The route goes up the low angle ridge of sorts to the left of the major gully splitting the south face.

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A few days later we skied over to the steep West face of the Throne to try to do something we hoped was new. We found an interesting looking line just to the right of the smaller of the two major rock scars on the face. We wound up bailing after a short first pitch. It went at about 5.10 or so, but the chimney part looked mighty tough. We got off the wall just ahead of the weather so that was good.

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The weather came in so the next day we climbed something behind the Munchkin that I have been told is called Little Arrapiles. We then tried to do the Munchkin via it's west ridge and turned around just below the summit.

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The Munchkin is the shorter? peak behind Brian. Those are the Trolls in the background.

 

 

 

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The next day brought more funky weather. We simuled the Middle Troll in just a few hours and summitted in a white out. Super fun, clean granite on the upper sections, lots of loose down low.

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The next day was clear so we had a go at a differnt line on the West face of The Throne. The first pitch had an anchor on it but it looked so good we had to do it. It was splitter 5.10 hands that ended too soon. The rock abruptly changed as we tried to push the route higher. It got wet and thin and the cracks disappeared. We only had knifeblade seams to work with and gave it a few tries but again we bailed. I have some good pics and some funny video but can't figure out how to load them up here. Maybe in the next couple of days.

 

At the base

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The next day we got up very late and ran up the Plunger, an awesome little feature between The Throne and The trolls. We knew there was a 5.10 and 5.12 but that's all we really knew. I lead the first pitch up to the base of this amazing splitter, definitely the 12. It was .75 camalots almost the whole way. Brian has baby girl hands (compared to me anyways) and onsighted the thing! His hardest ever trad lead and trad onsight. The thumbstacks became to much for me about three quarters of the way up and I aided the next couple moves till I could get to a sweet finger crack near the top. Fun little summit.

 

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We skied back to camp and did margaritas and burritos with our new friends Jamie and Brendan. We got hammered and invented snow shovel/frisbee horsehoes, an incredibly fun game that got us through the many weather days to come. We didn't know it then, but this was to be the last good weather we'd see that stuck around for more than a few hours.

 

Brendan and Jamie with the Plunger in the background.

 

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Our transfer day came and went and we squeaked out the next morning with Jamie and Brendan headed back to Talkeetna. We couldn't land at the Mountain House so we headed to Talkeetna with the boys. At first I wasn't too happy, but it worked out well. Brian and I were able to catch two meals, get a shower and restock on much needed booze and cigies. We were back in a plane that afternoon and at the Mountain house in no time.

 

The Ruth!

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We drug our crap to the Stump camp, about 4 miles from the Mountain House. The next day we had a go at Goldfinger (IV 5.11) but got one pitch in before the weather came. We saw these bear tracks just under the tower about 150 yards from our camp.

 

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The weather stayed bad for a few days and we tried again, this time getting three pitches up before the snow started for reals. The third pitch was soaking, which sucked. The climbing was great though, man I want to do this route. A lot of awesome stemming and laybacking.

 

The base of the route.

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It rained and snowed for the next four or five days and we knew we were fucked.

 

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The sled haul back to the mountain house turned epic when the wet heavy snow filled in the track and we lost the wands. In a total white out we could only see about 20 yards so we threw down the tent. About two hours later it cleared and we discovered that we were right where we wanted to be, almost. We stayed the night and got up early. It was freezing. I bent my shovel blade in half trying to chop out our deadmen from the now rock hard snow. We had to chop the glopped up snow from the previoous night off our skins. The tent poles wouldn't collapse.

 

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We pulled those heavy ass sleds back to the Mountain house (I will NEVER do that again) and hung out with our friends Nick, Nate and Lauren while we waited for TAT. Thanks for the hospitality guys!

 

Overall it was an amazing trip! Many thanks to Danny from AAI. Dude, we were giddy when we went through the bag of food you left for us. Thanks again!

Also Thanks to Brendan for giving us a place to stay and a ride in Anchorage. Best host I've ever had. We appreciate it!

 

Our last day in A town we climbed at the good vibes wall along the seward. Brian asked me to put this up otherwise it wouldn't be here.

 

I have more pics but a lot of them wouldn't load up. ANyone looking for beta about these places feel free to contact me and I'll tell you what I know.

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Gear Notes:

Knob Creek, Makers, Jose and Lagavulin. Good olives, nicotine and Gallo Salame.

 

Broke one North Face tent Pole, left two nuts and 4 pins. Bootyed one BD #12 nut.

 

Approach Notes:

TAT Baby!

Edited by Calder
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