Ridge lines summer 2015

       
           Not everything fun we've been up to this summer fits into a theme of climbing mountains - for starters my brother and Alli got married in the San Juan Islands, Hillary and I got our minds blown eating ramen in San Francisco with Thad and Carrie, and striped blue and white tank tops have featured prominently in beach sessions on both Puget Sound and Cape Cod. But between major family happenings and barbecues Hillary and I have been getting after it pretty good in a variety of settings (please excuse the carbon footprint), with adventures consistently revolving around both great friends and endless mountain ridges. After the first trip to Switzerland in early July, I was about ready to swear off the things and had pretty well OD'ed on ridge climbs, only to be reinvigorated by the prospect of getting out with Hill in our home court mountain range (the Ecrins) and later by the golden granite of the High Sierra. I love a good straight in rock or ice climb, and someday I would like to have* conquered some of the more emblematic north faces of the Alps, but I think at heart I will always be a ridge guy, for at least four reasons: (1) the continuous spectacular position often afforded while climbing sidewalks perched in the sky; (2) the esthetic and logical qualities of ridges in terms of mountain architecture; (3) I've long given up on being a rockstar climber, and the challenges of constant "tricky ridge bullsh$$" often demand more technique and rope savvy than pure climbing ability, allowing me to keep learning without always training three days a week; and (4) I enjoy the continuous movement and physical output of efficiently covering lots of ground, which for me at least tends to happen in the kind of terrain pictured below...

*Note the important difference between "want to do" and "wanting to have done", in this case the major north faces of the Alps. This nuance, as pointed out by Krakauer in his book Eiger Dreams, would make for a great English grammar lesson and also gives a window into climber psychology. For the record, all of the photos below document outings that for me fell in the "want to do" category.



-- 4000m peaks in Switzerland with Olivier --

Van life in a rare patch of free camping real estate in Saas Fe. Olivier objects on principle to the Swiss tendency to pay for everything (camping, parking, right to enter a village), and kept up a sustained and mostly successful effort to freeload the above services as much as possible. His van, complete with bed and kitchen, was key.

              Lenspitze on the left and Nadelhorn on the right, our first objectives, as seen from the descent ridge. Plan A was to go up the steep snow on Lenspitze and then traverse to the Nadelhorn, but lack of a good refreeze (even at 3am and at 4000m) caused us to make a game time decision to head up the mostly rock ridge left of the face, which fortunately is also super classic, and then continue on our way to the second summit. This was a long outing and both of us got rocked by the altitude, arriving at our tent after 10 hours or so of climbing unable to eat, talk, or do anything but take ibuprofen and lay down for a little bit. Then there was the 6500' vertical depproach back to the van, which Olivier had parked another 800' below the trailhead in order to avoid paying for parking... 

                       Traversing to the Nadelhorn, with the Dom des Mischabel (4545m) in the background. I learned that the Dom is the highest peak located entirely within Switzerland (Mont Rose is shared with Italy) and is therefore a very popular objective. 

                                                                                                                                                      Camping below our objective for round 2, Weissmiess, with the regular route (our descent) in view. We came in from the ridge on the left, after a section of rock that you can't see in the photo. 

 Olivier charging across the north ridge of Weissmiess, which happens to feature mostly solid gneiss and moments of high quality climbing up to 5.6 or so. 

On the heroic home stretch just below the summit. Personally I would have set the track a little further from the cornices...

-- 100 Plus belles mission in the Ecrins with Hill --

             The Pic Nord des Cavales in the Ecrins National Park. The southwest ridge we climbed takes the lefthand skyline in the foreground while the descent comes down the righthand ridge. I suspected this route would be my style when I read in the guidebook that this classic itinerary "featured good rock and was once popular 20 years ago".

                                                                                                                               Hillary cruising the low angle section between the first gendarme and the summit pyramid, with some fine obscure Ecrins 3000m peaks in the background: Pic du Gény, le Plaret and the Tête de la Gandolière (left to right).

I was psyched to climb the whole thing in mountain boots, given that the route featured a good bit of 5th class climbing. 

Hillary at the end of the difficulties, with just a few hundred feet of ridge romping left between us and summit.

Helmets off on the summit, with a happy and also somewhat tired Hillary, who several days before had won 2nd place in a 50 mile trail race (see preceding post). That said, she still had more spring in her step at the end of the day than I did. Most of all I was psyched to get in the mountains the two of us, and to check off a local project in the midst of all our travels. Also it is worth noting that we  had knock out views of the Rateau (left) and Meije (right) for almost the entire day. 

-- Trip to the High Sierra in Yosemite: Chapter 1 with Terray and Sierra  --

                                                                                             Tenaya Lake and Peak. In my book this is undoubtedly one of the best roadside mountain destinations of all time, and was our daily staple for swimming, beers, snacks, and at least one attempt to catch fish. We also climbed Tenaya Peak on the left hand skyline, with Hillary leading.

Hillary looking good and keeping things casual while I get gripped on some splitter 5.6 a few pitches up the southeast buttress of Cathedral Peak - photo by Terray Sylvester.

Hillary and me on top of Eichorn's Pinnacle below Cathedral Peak, which is miraculously accessed by a single pitch of airy 5.4 - photo by Terray Sylvester.  

                                                                                                                  Walking off Cathedral Peak with Terray and Sierra.

 

                                                                                                      Somehow throughout the trip Hillary managed to keep squeezing in trail runs. Here she is on an evening run with Sierra and Terray to Cloud's Rest, with Half Dome and the Valley across the way - photo by Terray Sylvester. 

-- Trip to the High Sierra in Yosemite: Chapter 2 with Thad, Carrie and Will  --

Ponies prepare to ridge scramble. We believed at the time that we were at the base of the north ridge of Conness, and only realized that Conness was one peak over once we had summited what we later learned is called North Peak. Turns out backcountry travel without a map is a real gamble, which fortunately in this case worked out totally fine -- do both and continue on to Conness! 

                                                                                                                                                      Climbing up what turned out to be North Peak with Carrie and Thad. This one is definitely not in 50 Classic Climbs of North America, but it did feature some fun sections as well as a couple all points off dynos to get across the occasional deep but narrow chasm. Also the setting was correct, as Olivier would say. Photo by Will Murray. 

Jungle gym fun on the north ridge of Conness, which offered up this spectacular hand crack just below the summit. Hill and I were both really psyched to finally climb with Will, who has casually become an excellent rock climber in recent years. The last morning of the trip we were able to head up West Crack (5.9) together, which counts for me as one of the highest quality rock routes I've ever done. West Crack, however, is not a ridge and therefore is not pictured here. 

                                                                                                                                  Back to the subject at hand: this is the north ridge of Conness in its entirety, with the walk off North Peak just across the way behind the lake.