don't call it a comeback: more washington pass??
Oscar is expecting a kid in October. We had talked back in June about taking a week down in Yosemite, but I hurt my finger and wasn't as enthusiastic as necessary, and plans evaporated. We still wanted to get out this summer, and plans eventually boiled down to a 5-day trip to the North Cascades in mid-August. With my big climb coming up in under a month, I was excited to get on some bigger harder routes. We headed up to Washington Pass and started climbin'.
First up was the Northwest Corner of North Early Winter Spire. This one features one cruxy pitch of 5.9 wide crack. I anticipated a struggle!
The camper is all up in it's natural habitat.
So is Oscar.
Oscar on the second pitch of the NW Corner.
No pics of me leading the crux pitch. It looked pretty much how Oscar looks here though. Head down, arm buried. You can't hear him grunting. But, he is.
It was a fight, but I was happy that I didn't get as worn out as I'd expected. Maybe the running I had been doing earlier in the summer was paying off?
You know how I know you've been climbing offwidth?
It was as Oscar took off to lead the fourth pitch, that we heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Sometimes up in the mountains you will see sight-seeing helicopters fly by. But this one sounded more serious. Then it started circling the group of peaks where we were. And it circled. For a long time. It was obvious there was a rescue underway and the helicopter was trying to find someone. I wanted to wrap our route up and get down to see if anybody needed our help. It's amazing how much more nerve-wracking climbing becomes when there is a helicopter circling above you.
Or below you, actually.
We finished the route as fast as we could, tagged the summit, and started rappelling. By the time we got most of the way down, the helicopter had extracted someone and left. We later learned it was a climber who had broken both bones in his lower leg while descending from the Liberty Bell/Concord notch. Ouch.
So since things were chill again I took a picture of Oscar rappelling.
And then hiked out.
That night, we knew a bunch of our friends were staying at a cabin in Winthrop between days of climbing. The only problem was, my phone was dead. So we drove to the grocery store and cooked dinner in the parking lot while my phone charged. Finally I was able to call and get directions! We rolled into the plush cabin my friend Meredith had arranged for the group. And had a few beers while catching up with everybody. And then we went back out to the camper to sleep! I love the camper. We slept in a little.
The next day we had planned to get up and climb the West Face of North Early Winter Spire, but we realized after everyone had left that I'd locked my shoes in the cabin. So I had to go to town, buy flip-flops, and walk in to the crag where my friends were to borrow the key to go get my shoes. With all this goofing around we decided we didn't want to drive back to the pass, so we settled on a closer objective- a route called Sisyphus, 10 pitches of sport climbing up to 5.10b with a little french-free.
There was nothing remarkable to take a photo of except for Oscar getting into a fight with a tree.
And my camper from far away! Hi camper! We're coming back soon! Real soon.
We got halfway up the route, through the crux which we shamelessly aided, and were looking up at pitch 6, and it was getting cool and windy, and late, and we wimped right the hell out.
Down to my camper, stocked full of beer and pasta, parked on the side of the road again for FREE. I am loving having this thing.
The next day we went to Prospector Wall to sample some of what is reputed to be the finest sport climbing in the state. Well I can't say I disagree. We'd planned on wandering down along the wall, cherry-picking the best routes. We ended up starting at the left side of the wall and never leaving, we did about 6 pitches and they were all really good.
First though, we did the approach in flip-flops because Oscar remembered it being easy and short and it wasn't really, then I realized I had forgotten my rock shoes and then ran back down
to retrieve them and came back with a different pack that contained my and Oscar's real shoes.
Yo dog.
Oscar sending it.
The next day was the biggie: the West Face of North Early Winter Spire. This route has a pitch on it that has mild controversy, some call it 5.11a, some call it 5.10c. I don't know what I would call it but it schooled me.
The objective. You can see the white stripe where the route goes up the shield wall near the top. The crux pitch is just below that.
We did the approach pretty quick, but I really felt like I'd been climbing for 4 days, I was tired. Soon enough we were back at the base of NEWS and getting ready to go.
But first goats right? You love goats, can't get enough goats?
Well we got on route and cruised right up it, to the crux pitch. Looking up at it, I figured I had everything planned out. I'd put my feet here, I'd do a couple tenuous finger-locks there, and then I'd get a good jam in that spot from which I'd place gear. Okay, all systems go, let's do this.
NO dice. Everything that I looked at from the belay turned out to be WAY, WAY thinner than I had thought. I couldn't get a finger lock in any of this. When the going gets tough, the wimpy french-free, and I was as wimpy as they came. I sewed that pitch up. Holy cow, it's like 30 feet long and I placed 8 pieces and pulled on every single one. Oh well, I'll come back again some day.
It showed me who was boss. Hint: not me.
I felt kind of badly for how thoroughly and abjectly I'd failed on that pitch. Until I realized that the 5.10a pitch after it, which I led cleanly, was my first 5.10a lead of the year. Well, I guess I was making progress after all.
This time we got a proper summit shot.
I took the classic rappel shot too!
And I snapped one of this lardo marmot here. Who says you can't get fat eating salad?
That night Oscar and I drove out to Marblemount before crashing in the public parking lot. And in the morning we drove home!
Thanks Oscar for a great weekend!
First up was the Northwest Corner of North Early Winter Spire. This one features one cruxy pitch of 5.9 wide crack. I anticipated a struggle!
The camper is all up in it's natural habitat.
So is Oscar.
Oscar on the second pitch of the NW Corner.
No pics of me leading the crux pitch. It looked pretty much how Oscar looks here though. Head down, arm buried. You can't hear him grunting. But, he is.
It was a fight, but I was happy that I didn't get as worn out as I'd expected. Maybe the running I had been doing earlier in the summer was paying off?
You know how I know you've been climbing offwidth?
It was as Oscar took off to lead the fourth pitch, that we heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Sometimes up in the mountains you will see sight-seeing helicopters fly by. But this one sounded more serious. Then it started circling the group of peaks where we were. And it circled. For a long time. It was obvious there was a rescue underway and the helicopter was trying to find someone. I wanted to wrap our route up and get down to see if anybody needed our help. It's amazing how much more nerve-wracking climbing becomes when there is a helicopter circling above you.
Or below you, actually.
We finished the route as fast as we could, tagged the summit, and started rappelling. By the time we got most of the way down, the helicopter had extracted someone and left. We later learned it was a climber who had broken both bones in his lower leg while descending from the Liberty Bell/Concord notch. Ouch.
So since things were chill again I took a picture of Oscar rappelling.
And then hiked out.
That night, we knew a bunch of our friends were staying at a cabin in Winthrop between days of climbing. The only problem was, my phone was dead. So we drove to the grocery store and cooked dinner in the parking lot while my phone charged. Finally I was able to call and get directions! We rolled into the plush cabin my friend Meredith had arranged for the group. And had a few beers while catching up with everybody. And then we went back out to the camper to sleep! I love the camper. We slept in a little.
The next day we had planned to get up and climb the West Face of North Early Winter Spire, but we realized after everyone had left that I'd locked my shoes in the cabin. So I had to go to town, buy flip-flops, and walk in to the crag where my friends were to borrow the key to go get my shoes. With all this goofing around we decided we didn't want to drive back to the pass, so we settled on a closer objective- a route called Sisyphus, 10 pitches of sport climbing up to 5.10b with a little french-free.
There was nothing remarkable to take a photo of except for Oscar getting into a fight with a tree.
And my camper from far away! Hi camper! We're coming back soon! Real soon.
We got halfway up the route, through the crux which we shamelessly aided, and were looking up at pitch 6, and it was getting cool and windy, and late, and we wimped right the hell out.
Down to my camper, stocked full of beer and pasta, parked on the side of the road again for FREE. I am loving having this thing.
The next day we went to Prospector Wall to sample some of what is reputed to be the finest sport climbing in the state. Well I can't say I disagree. We'd planned on wandering down along the wall, cherry-picking the best routes. We ended up starting at the left side of the wall and never leaving, we did about 6 pitches and they were all really good.
First though, we did the approach in flip-flops because Oscar remembered it being easy and short and it wasn't really, then I realized I had forgotten my rock shoes and then ran back down
to retrieve them and came back with a different pack that contained my and Oscar's real shoes.
Yo dog.
Oscar sending it.
The next day was the biggie: the West Face of North Early Winter Spire. This route has a pitch on it that has mild controversy, some call it 5.11a, some call it 5.10c. I don't know what I would call it but it schooled me.
The objective. You can see the white stripe where the route goes up the shield wall near the top. The crux pitch is just below that.
We did the approach pretty quick, but I really felt like I'd been climbing for 4 days, I was tired. Soon enough we were back at the base of NEWS and getting ready to go.
But first goats right? You love goats, can't get enough goats?
Well we got on route and cruised right up it, to the crux pitch. Looking up at it, I figured I had everything planned out. I'd put my feet here, I'd do a couple tenuous finger-locks there, and then I'd get a good jam in that spot from which I'd place gear. Okay, all systems go, let's do this.
NO dice. Everything that I looked at from the belay turned out to be WAY, WAY thinner than I had thought. I couldn't get a finger lock in any of this. When the going gets tough, the wimpy french-free, and I was as wimpy as they came. I sewed that pitch up. Holy cow, it's like 30 feet long and I placed 8 pieces and pulled on every single one. Oh well, I'll come back again some day.
It showed me who was boss. Hint: not me.
I felt kind of badly for how thoroughly and abjectly I'd failed on that pitch. Until I realized that the 5.10a pitch after it, which I led cleanly, was my first 5.10a lead of the year. Well, I guess I was making progress after all.
This time we got a proper summit shot.
I took the classic rappel shot too!
And I snapped one of this lardo marmot here. Who says you can't get fat eating salad?
That night Oscar and I drove out to Marblemount before crashing in the public parking lot. And in the morning we drove home!
Thanks Oscar for a great weekend!