Mental Recovery--Climbing Eastpost Spire
Tuesday, July 19
We had been intent on climbing the Kain Route on Bugaboo spire this day, but instead of getting the obligatory alpine start, we just slept in. Nobody else around camp seemed to be all that motivated either. Everyone seemed unsettled from the events the day before. I think everyone was searching inside to understand why we do what we do--I know I was. While we all understand in some abstract way that climbing involves risk--actually seeing the possible consequences of this risk can shake you to the core.
We needed time to sort these things out.
The tall peaks
that had brought us to the Bugaboos suddenly lost their appeal.
It seemed as if the mountains were out to get us all--they could not be trusted.
We decided the best thing to do would be to climb something easy with a low
commitment level in order to regain our confidence and our trust of the rock.
The Northwest Ridge of Eastpost Spire fit this description well. Eastpost
sits just northeast of camp rising only 800 feet, so getting there and back
wouldn't be too draining. While the face you see from camp is steep and
intimidating, the Northwest and Northeast ridges are only supposed to be 4th
class in difficulty. Sounded like the perfect outing to get back in the
swing of things.
Not knowing exactly what we would encounter, we packed up a
small rack of gear,
one of our ropes, some extra clothing and a little food and
water. The route starts as a hike up talus and scree to a small notch at
the base of the Northwest Ridge. While it was pretty loose and gravelly it
wasn't too hard to negotiate.
From the notch, we started up the ridge over lots and lots of stacked
boulders. We practically tiptoed up this section--still nervous about some
rock doing us in. Eventually we met a bit of a headwall. According
to the guidebook it sounded as if we should traverse left at this point and join
the Northeast Ridge for the last little bit to the summit. However,
eyeballing the terrain to the left was not reassuring. It looked like we'd
end up on steep, outward sloping, gravel covered ledges with plenty of exposure.
Definitely didn't look 4th class! We searched and searched for the best
way to approach this section. No way through this area really seemed all
that great. Everything was incredibly loose and broken. Angela was
not at all interested at continuing. I wasn't all that opposed to turning
back but thought we should really check out all our options before making that
decision, so we found a spot where we could unpack our bags and switch over to
roped climbing.
We built a belay anchor for Angela consisting of a couple of heavy, but probably loose boulders tied off to one another. With much resignation, Angela put me on belay and I tiptoed off towards the narrow section through which it seemed we had to pass. Knowing our belay anchor was probably not exactly bomber, I looked for some solid gear right away. I couldn't find any thing! Every crack was crap. I ventured a little further without finding any solid gear. I could see the climbing was about to get more difficult--the consequences of a fall here were just too great. This was not the way to go. Even if it was the way to go, we were not going this way.
I retreated. Angela was relieved to have me safely back
at the belay. The only options that remained at this point were to head
back to camp, or do the exact opposite of what the book
said and head to the
right instead of the left. Since the rock at least seemed to be more solid
to our right, we decided it warranted investigation.
What we found to the right was a relief. After climbing up one little boulder problem and heading around a blind corner, we realized that we had misinterpreted the guide book. What lay in front of us was much more easy scrambling along the Northwest Ridge. Apparently the guidebook was referring to some other "steep wall".
We continued along, unroped, finding the climbing fun and
reasonable. Eventually we did come to another steep wall. This time
heading to the left per the guidebook's description was definitely the right
thing to do. We found ourselves traversing below the summit in a moat
between the rock and a snow patch. It was a really neat place.
It was nice that things were finally making sense. We joined the Northeast Ridge about 70 feet below the summit. The views from here were really nice. The last little bit of climbing was considerably steeper than the rest of the climbing on the route, but with many big holds and not a huge sense of exposure, we continued to the top unroped.
The summit was
awesome. It felt so good to
finally get on top of something. We joked about whether or not we should open that
bottle of champagne when we got back to camp. Somehow an 800 foot, 4th
class peak didn't seem to warrant a champagne celebration, but after getting
shut down
on Pigeon Spire the day before we weren't sure if we'd be doing
anything more celebration-worthy.
The weather was great on top. Angela
and I both climbed on top of the summit block and posed for pictures. We
peered straight down over the edge to camp below. The tents were
little
colored specks on the gray rock. Further down the moraines we could just
pick out the green roof of the Kain Hut. We lingered, eating some food and
gazing at Snowpatch and Bugaboo Spires. They were starting to look more
inviting. Our desire to climb was starting to resurface.
Eventually we
headed back to camp, rappelling the first bit off of the summit. The rest
of the descent went without incident and we were back in camp by about 2:00.
The rest of the day was spent lounging around. The Seattle guys had climbed Eastpost Spire's Northeast Ridge and when they returned, we all hung out together on the rock recliners Sandy had constructed for us. It was a real joy hanging out with and getting to know these guys! Eventually, in the evening, the conversation turned towards the next day's plans. I wasn't sure what we should do. There was a strong desire inside me to climb Bugaboo's famed Northeast Ridge, but we had planned on climbing the Kain route first so we would have an intimate knowledge of that route before having to descend it at the end of the Northeast Ridge. There were lots of things to consider. We still had three full days, but climbing the Kain route would probably warrant a rest day. And then there was always the weather, which could change and shut us down at any time. Although I was feeling it inside, Angela was the first to say it. "Maybe we should just go for it and climb the Northeast Ridge tomorrow."
I was a bit shocked to hear this coming from Angela, especially after our mini-epic earlier in the day! But she was right. The Northeast Ridge was our main objective on this trip and putting it off might mean we wouldn't even get a shot at it. Over the past couple days we had talked to several people around camp about the route and descent and they made it sound like route finding wasn't that difficult--just look for and follow the rock with the worn out lichen. And, while we knew we had been a little slow on the snow on Monday, we knew we were a lot more comfortable on rock and should be able to move quite efficiently once we got to the technical climbing. So we agreed that tomorrow would be the day. Come whatever may, we were going to attempt the Northeast Ridge of Bugaboo Spire!
With thoughts of the unknown trickling adrenaline into our veins and uncertainty of what tomorrow would bring, we retired to our tent at 8:00, even though it would still be light for hours, to try and get some sleep . There would be no sleeping in tomorrow!
