Aaron told us the approach was in great shape due to avalanche debris in the drainage, and the pillar was in good shape. Aaron also noted he got hit by a small rock on the chin though and showed us the 5 stitches he got... somehow this wasn't a hint to us that we should go somewhere else, and we still went there. After all, it's described as one of the best routes in the valley, and the approach is in easier-than-averaga shape (if you haven't figured that out yet, I disagree).
Indeed the approach was easy walking on top of debris, until it got icy and somewhat sketchy at the top (crampons would have been useful). We got there anyway, and Karétook us up the first two pitches in a journey of 75 meters (a tiny bit of simulclimbing with our 70 meter ropes). However, as soon as I got to the belay and was excited about the crux pillar, I noticed rocks were coming down every couple of minutes. It was a windy day, and we later found out that one should stay away from this place on windy days due to rockfall. Anyway, to make a long story short: while we were debating whether to keep climbing, another rock came down so we rappelled off and "got the hell out of there".
The avalanche debris provided for quick travel | The first half of the first pitch |
Karen trying his best to look like he means business on the climb | The crux pitch before we bailed, as lots of rocks were coming down (windy day) |
Karen at the exposed belay - we quickly got out of there | Gear | Time to leave! Dreading the descent... |
Cody was bizarre: walking on grass on the way to ice climbs... |