Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Denali 2nd Ascent

Second ascent of the Washburn face on Denali involved over 6000 feet of vertical ice climbing in bad conditions. Full story here. I liked this part:

I got in a couple of decent screws on the low-angled shield at the start, but higher up they twisted uselessly into air behind sun-baked chandeliers. For a while I could stem between the cascade and the rock beside it, thus avoiding putting my full weight on tools driven into snow and air-filled ice. But then the stems ran out, and I was forced to move around to the front of the pillar – and to fully load my tools. ‘I’m not sure I can climb this ‘ flashed through my mind, as my picks bounced uselessly off of the rock beneath a detached skin of ice. I forced the thought down and committed to the marginal placements.”

Photo is of “New picks after being dragged over two vertical kilometres of snow, ice - and granite.”

No comments: