The last couple weekends, I've enjoyed getting out with some climbers. Generally, the steeper you go, the slower you go. Hoping to avoid long drawn out boring ordeals, i.e. belaying, Sam and I scrambled up the NW face of Storm Mountain carrying a 30 m rope and a few select pieces of gear. A week later, Jason Dorais power hiked up to Lone Peak Cirque, climbed the Central Thumb, and then ran back down. Working some aerobic effort into the equation made the belay time worth it.
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| This pic was taken in May 2011. In that month, I tried three times, unsuccessfully to get up some unconventional routes. Sam and I went up one of these unconventional routes without much of a hitch. |
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| Sam about to scramble up some Class A choss. |
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| Stairs is terrifying in the winter. And mildly mysterious in the summer. Cool slabs. |
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| Lower Stairs |
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| Jason Dorais looking up at the first snows of 2011-12. |
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| And pointing at our destination: the Central Thumb |
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| Jason leading up to the crux. |
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| The final pitch involves a slight downclimb and a funky (scary for me) traverse. |
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| After climbing through iffy weather, it cleared up. Took this on our way down. From here, we basically ran. And for future reference, it took us 1/2 hr to descend from the summit to the cirque (scramble and 2 raps); and then from the cirque to the Ghost Falls TH in about 1 hr 30 min. |
Nice work. I have always been interested in Storm Mountain. Just never found the time. I would be interested to hear more about your specific line, quality, location etc. I know that somewhere in all that choss there is a classic waiting to be found.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you need to get into simul-climbing to avoid those "boring" belays.
AJ