5:30am start, 2-3hr approach. Shut down. It was saddening, yet...motivating. As we looked up, focusing on a party that was already on our chosen route of the day, we realized...wow...we got here way too late. At that point we thought our day was done. Suddenly, we had a new idea. Lets just go back down, traverse over and do professor falls. According to my partners interpretation of difficulty, he figured, up and down in a couple of hours. That was of course based on regular season conditions. We, however, did not find this five pitch route in reg. season conditions. It was thin, chandeliery, and all in all, just down right sketchy. Every pitch was technical. Every move was a thought out process. But every pitch, we went up. Rock, ice, falling ice, falling rock, putting our feet on anything that felt some what solid. It was wicked!
We were definitely the first ones up this route for this season. What is typically a grade 3-4 route, for us, ended up being a 3,4,5 route. At the top of the 5th pitch we were stoked, and relieved, oh, and also super tired. I think from bottom to top it took us 3+hrs.
After a long rap down, a super long walk out in the dark we arrived back at the cars by 6:30. 13hrs car to car. Long day I must say. Conclusion: Leave at 4:30am next time, and move closer to the good ice. Driving home for 3hrs after a 13hr day of climbing...not my idea of fun.
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