| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2006-09-19 13:33:36 UTC-0400 |
| Description | Woody Hoburg Darren Verploegen Lost arrow spire: a classic two pitch C2 route that is not recommended as a first aid climb. "Not a problem -- we aren't bringing the first aid kit" The pictures will be a better description than words. The only thing the pictures fail to convey: how freaking windy it was, and any of the actual climb -- we were so scared we forgot to take pictures! Woody raps from the rim to the notch and sets an achor, Darren follows. A quick glance off the ledge we are on confirms that we are 2500 feet above the valley floor. And the first move involves stepping off the ledge, around a corner to a 5.7 pin-scarred crack. Never before has 5.7 felt so much like 5.10! We run up this to a 5.9 offwidth that we aid. Woody has just about 2 cams that fit, se we get to try leapfrogging cams. Big cams make a lof of noise and "pop" into a nice position when you weight them. Got the blood flowing a few times. The top of the offwidth was easy and went free. Then the real aid started. Most of the second pitch was bolt ladder, but several moves weren't. In three places, old bolts were sticking half an inch or so out with no hanger on them. For these nuts were handy for tying off the bolt head. Not bad as long as you don't lean back. Luckily the excitement was very well protected by bolts below. One particular move was on an old piton (with microscopic hole) tyed off with a piece of accessory cord that looked in more sorry shape than my shoelaces. The conversation afterwards was "Yeah I stood up on that one fast -- I didn't want to hear any noises." Further up, there was a tricam aid placement and one cam placement, and lots of bolts and pitons. It was so windy the aiders were always horizontal unless you were weighting them. Toward the end of this pitch, I ran out of draws, so a lot of bolts were skipped and some were clipped with cams and hexes just for the sling.We topped out and just enjoyed lunch and the view before the tyrolean back to the rim. Woody was a scared on the way across; Darren followed him in grand style. A truly classic first aid climb! :) |