Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Off to AK in T-1 Days!

I feel like the only way to prep for Alaska is to just go to Alaska. Nonetheless, Colorado has been the backdrop for all my training and prep along with a quick visit to Southern California, Hueco, and the Red River Gorge. Bouldering and steep sandstone equates to long mixed climbs in the Ruth Gorge yeah? I'll let you know.

Jason was kind enough to donate his raffle prize of a free month to Alpine Training Center, where Connie whipped me into shape and I finally got an idea of what Chris has been up to the last 14 months:
Lots of sandbag carries, push presses, ball slams, and slashers. I got schooled on work-outs like the airdyne, turkish getups, and farmer carries. Towards the end of my month, Connie tailored it for AK. Good times! Not only did it get my legs stronger and my forearms pumped, it worked a lot of my opposing muscle groups we climbers tend to neglect. I may pick it up later in the summer to help prevent overuse injuries from climbing, especially my shoulders.

A couple trips to Hessie Chimney with Jason and Blake helped keep my dry tooling in tune. Luckily it was fat this season and, all in all, it is as quality and classic as any winter climb in the Park:
Doug "Show me how to Dougie" Shepherd helped prep me for the trip with a winter attempt of the Diamond. The forecast called for sunny skies but 60-mph SW winds. We took our chances, headed up at 4am, and after hiking through some heavy gusts, the wind died down below the sheltering walls of Long Peak's giant east face. The approach to North Chimney from Mills Lake was a snow slog and Doug led the first block of getting up and over to the base of D7. The fresh snow slowed us down but, hey, what better training can you get for AK! The last slabbey stretch of the Chimney required Doug to shed his gloves and make some committing moves. Broadway was in rare form - steep walls of snow made the usual cake walk more interesting:




My block was to aid D7 and our late afternoon start meant only a few hours of light before I would be aiding upwards in the dark. Under the narrow view of my headlamp, I made slow but steady progress from piece to piece on straightforward A1 with the occasional balancing act traversing ledges in my double boots. But, it didn't feel right the entire time and I kept looking for the D7 crux I remembered from the summer of 2009. I figured any vertical gain brought us closer to the summit and the "super moon" encouraged me on. 4-5 pitches up by 2:00 am in the morning, I called down to Doug. The uncertainty of being on or off route, plus our tired bodies, brought me to rap down to Doug and take a break for food, water, and rest at a hanging belay. My down pants, Phantom 6000 double boots, and puffy jacket kept me just warm enough with the occasional leg pumps to get blood past my constricting harness. After a round of water and soupy Ramen, the MSR Reactor pot handle broke off, sailing into the darkness and ending our supply of new water. It's 4:00 am and Doug gives his first aid pitch a go. Swallows swooped by the belay and I dozed off in between feeding out rope and looking behind my back at the horizon, waiting anxiously for the sun to rise to warm my body. The Diamond's granite face eventually began to glow in the morning sun and we savored the moment. After jugging up to Doug, we realized we were at the base of the last pitch of Black Dagger, with a rotten, broken seam and chimney higher above. With no water and no cam hooks, we opted to rap down, where the stove pot waited on the deep snow of Broadway. The rap off Broadway provided more entertainment as nearly all of the rap stations were buried in snow.

Let me sum this up: incredible experience, great partner, brutal, and awesome at the same time. 35.5 hours car-to-car without a proper bivy and sleep - my longest single push in the mountains.

After a trip to the Red River Gorge heal-hooking up huecos, Doug convinced me to take one last alpine trip. This time it wouldn't be a day and a half outing - just a pre-work jaunt up Brain Freeze on Mt. Otis in the Park. Both Doug and I had climbed the route in 2010 so we planned to simul climb as much as possible. Doug took the first block, simuling through the unusually fat Changing Corners and all the way to the chockstone. From there, I linked two pitches out of the chimney system. 9:15 am. We skipped the short final step and rapped down so I could get back for half a day of work. I'm not sure it counts as morning alpinism if I got in at 1pm, but hey, it was another awesome morning in the mountains:

So Alaska here we come. Graham and I are super excited. I'm glad he is finally back from Eritrea, Africa - it was hard to plan for Alaska when your partner can only reach you via satellite phone. We are fully geared up and I just need to pack up tonight. And I couldn't ask for a better partner - Graham and I began our adventures together 10 years ago when he was 14 and I was 18. Since then, we have gone off on our own paths and repeatedly come back together from time to time to "stir the rad pot."

Sunday, we fly into the Ruth on Talkeetna Air to do a little window shopping. We will set up camp on the main Ruth Glacier and, weather pending, explore some new lines!

Thanks for all the support everyone! - especially Arun as I run off on missions into the mountains and chase my obsessions.