I've had a little bug dancing around in my head. Ever since I climbed the Hitchhiker, he just wouldn't shut up. "Go climb the Passenger" he said. "Forget all those other spires, South Early Winter is all that matters".
"Oh, let's ride and ride and ride."
Fortunately for me Reed didn't even put up a fight when I asked him to climb the Passenger with me. Somehow I hadn't climbed with Reed in a month and a half. Somehow Reed had also never climbed at Washington Pass. I'm not sure which was more bizarre. At that, plans were made. Once I get a bug in my head it won't leave me alone until I do what it tells me. It hasn't led me astray yet.
SE Face of SEWS. Next up: The Southern Man (upper right portion of the wall)
This climb has actually been on my mind for quite a while, and was one of my summer goals that I was most eager to tick off. Although it is technically shorter than its neighbor the Hitchhiker, it is quite a bit more challenging, with rock quality that is as good or better than the Hitchhiker. While the two hardest pitches featured short, powerful cruxes, the 5.10 and 5.11 pitches seemed much more physical and sustained than those found on the Hitchhiker. In short it was a worthwhile challenge that I am stoked to tick off so early in the summer.
On Friday night we drove to the Blue Lake trailhead and camped in the empty parking lot. We were in no hurry the next morning and had a leisurely breakfast before starting the hike, which turned out to be a mistake as we arrived at the base of the wall just as another party was starting. This slowed our day down significantly, as the other party was hauling a large pack on every pitch (WHY?!) and we spent a lot of time waiting for them to progress ahead of us. Come on guys, fast is safe. Oh well, at least they were friendly.
A mist clung to the spires throughout most of the morning, and a high cloud cover remained throughout the day making the climb much colder than we expected.
Regardless, the climbing on this route is ridiculously good. The pitches are long but still each one left me wanting more. The line weaves its way through massive roofs which provide awesome exposure. Every time I am on this wall I get this weird floating feeling, sort of like a pleasant vertigo as I look down toward the highway 1500 feet below. It pushes me into that hyper-aware state that I have only ever found through climbing. The rest of the world disappears and I become so intensely focused on my immediate surroundings, noticing minute textural variations in the rock, the sound my shoe makes when I place my foot, how my protection interacts with individual quartz crystals in the granite. It's strenuous and meditative and exhilarating all at once.
Pitch 3, 5.11-. One of my favorites, it followed a splitter finger crack to a tricky pull around a roof on flared jams.
But I digress. We agreed to lead the climb in blocks, with me leading the first half of the pitches and Reed leading the second. We ended up swinging leads on the second half to save time so I ended up leading something like five of the pitches. If any of these pitches were located on the ground at Index or Leavenworth they would be ultra-classic four star routes. Each had perfect gear the whole way, with the exception of the crux pitch which had an exciting but safe runout on the 5.11 traverse. That section definitely pushed my comfort zone a bit, and made the true crux (a v5-ish boulder problem right by a bolt) feel relatively tame. There's plenty of beta online for this line so I won't waste time with a pitch-by-pitch breakdown. See the topo above.
I definitely suggest linking pitches 2 and 3 from that topo, as well as 4 and 5. The direct finish was enjoyable 5.10- crack climbing and is quickly becoming the standard, rather than the 5.7 escape to the left.
Reed's face should indicate how much fun we were having mid-day.
After the crux we worked our way through the remaining ridiculously fun 5.10 pitches and ultimately topped out quite a bit later than we were planning. Near the end I was starting to feel unusually fatigued, so we rappelled quickly and started the hike down. After half an hour of hiking I had to admit to myself that I had caught the cold that Stephanie had been dealing with last week. We talked about possible climbs for Sunday and I feigned enthusiasm, not wanting to ruin Reed's stoke. I think he caught on and we decided to sport climb at Newhalem instead (which we didn't end up doing either because the area is currently closed).
Reed's face should indicate how worked we felt by the end of the day.
Overall it was a good day and I feel fortunate that I managed to get through the climb before the plague took hold. Although a footwork mistake cost me the onsight I felt really good about my climbing and I am now looking toward the harder projects of the summer. But for now I am on a steady regimen of dayquil and spicy food to get healthy before I leave for Ten Sleep, Wyoming this weekend.
Managed to catch a great sunset between all my sneezing and sniffling.
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