Today, honestly, was one of my best days. It started early, and I am a bit stuffed up. A little free advice when y'all get here, DRINK LOTS OF WATER! your mouth will feel dry, and it will help with altitude acclimatization. I have been drinking more than 3 Liters a day + a decent amount of beer and booze. Rant over. Onward to ADVENTURE!
Got up at the ass-crack of dawn to go climbing with Sean, my guide, where we set out to tackle the First Flatiron direct.
The big boi up there in the front. 1000 feet elevation gain on the hike in, with over 1000 feet of climbing. After slogging up a muddy trail we arrived to find the start still had some snow pile, so we decided to call it an alpine climb.
A few dicey, unprotected moves, then some easier unprotected moves until Sean clipped the eyebolt (OLDE SCHOOL) about 75 feet up the pitch. Dude makes it look easy...It kind of is.... Kind of...
We moved fast...well Sean did. I moved fast for a dude that had not been on rock in over a decade. The climb lends itself to letting go. There are so many movement options that one has to simply climb and not think. I see why so many people free solo this route.
Looking down from the top of the first pitch.
Second pitch.
Third or fourth, they all start to blend together, as we were finding a groove. Note the slung horn as a belay.
Her I am, rock you like a torrential downpour...or something like that.
Sean moving swiftly up pitch 4?
Sean, having a moment of reflection, wondering how he got into this mess with a Native Floridian.
We ran into an injured soloist, with her boyfriend, she broke her ankle. We both offered to lower her so that the Mountain rescue team could get her out of there faster, but they refused. It was odd, and we waited for about 30 minutes until the unit arrived before casting off again. We could have had her on the ground and she could have been halfway to the ambulance had they not refused. People are strange.
Pitch 5, the last full rope stretcher.
After this, we short-roped the rest of the climbing. It was easy, and safer to move faster as it looked like some weather was headed in.
Obligatory summit shot with Longs Peak in the background.
We made it 4 hours car to car. The trail down was super icy, so we moved slowly. Between that, and the injured climber, we could have gotten nearly an hour off that time. By the way, the rescue squad was still getting her off the ledge. Sometimes having all the gear and personnel makes things worse...Sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment