Mudrat
Member
Photos: https://goo.gl/photos/RBnawkQ5DnVKGNheA
Partner: Steven St. Pierre
Mileage: 17.5
Duration 4:20 AM – 12:20 AM (20 hours)
Rain, rain, rain was the theme for the summer of 2017. Weather thwarted efforts to climb in the backcountry most of the weekends since mid-June when I was last in the Gorge. A week before this trip we walked into the area and found the warm, humid air over Elk Lake updrafted and condensed on Marcy. It rained on us for two hours while we stood shivering in hopes of a break. That was not to be. We walked out with our tails tucked.
Steven St. Pierre went with me this time as I broke a vow to myself, one that I took on August 27, 2016—exactly one year before this climb. I swore to never day hike a route on Marcy’s East Face again. I wanted to camp if we climbed in this area. The trip to put up Revelations took 22 hard earned hours. With days growing shorter and an even shorter memory of the trials of the Revelations trip, I set my sights on the roofs and steep slab on the north side of the East Face. The top would follow the giant white streak from the 2011 rockfall. I hoped we could get the line up and exit to the car in a more reasonable time frame like 18 hours. I hear you laughing. Yes, it’s subjective.
We began at the usual time, around 4 AM, with cool temperatures and relatively low humidity. The stars twinkled brightly and I felt good about our decision regarding this route. It had exciting potential. We crested the Marcy/Haystack col around 8:15 and descended to the Panther Den. Skies to the south were a little hazy, but it was forecast to be clear.
Bushwhacking in the Gorge has been a series of navigational experiments. The closer one stays to the cliffs, the “easier” the terrain. We walked far too low in August of 2016 which added to the overall time it took. Steve and I passed the various walls and entered thicker forest beyond the Huge Scoop where we held to the same elevation until reaching Grand Central Slide. We crossed the streambed and trekked downslope, around a buttress and up to a glade below the East Face and our target. Raspberry and blackberry bushes were overtaking the glade (it was stripped in 2011 by the rockfall). It was around 10:45 when we reached the base of the route.
I’ve often noted that photographs can be deceptive and that there are often surprises even after dozens of study sessions. I anticipated that the start would be on a slightly off vertical wall with good edges to a series of cracks. Well, I was correct. It was off-vertical but overhanging rather than positively sloped. I studied the stone and tried a couple of options before getting frustrated with wasting time. Steve had an idea, so I offered him the lead of pitch one. The time was 11:30 AM when he bouldered up, gained a narrow ledge and traversed left. There was a little seepage, but it was quite dry overall. A nice change! Steve disappeared after climbing a vertical crack. A while later, he yelled, “Off belay!”
AN OVERHANGING START TO THE ROUTE
I readied myself and climbed. I can’t say I made it look as easy as Steve did, but I gained the ledge and finally the pitted face. The first thing one sees when cresting the lower wall is a large set of roofs that look like an ominous gray tsunami. The overhanging wall dwarfed Steve's frame. Easy technical face climbing and cracks led up to a foot-high left-facing corner and his anchor. The wall above was dead vertical below an overhanging roof with a horizontal crack in between.
We decided to trade leads, so I took the next and added a traverse into the mix. I knew there was a breach in the wall to the south. Thus I followed a small crack toward my target. The slab underfoot varied from about 50-75 degrees as I worked my way across, placing protection where I felt necessary. I stepped down over a corner and looked up to where the breach was located. I hoped for a clean crack, but found a somewhat mossy corner. There was enough clean stone on which to work, so I placed some sketchy protection above my head and committed to the move. Exiting the corner required the use of a couple of blueberry bushes before I flopped onto my stomach and walked up to the roof to create an anchor. The scenery was breathtaking. Intermittent steep grassy ledges led to the south and a broken roof system traversed north. Blocks under the roof were held in place by pinch-points. It was reminiscent of climbs on the Agharta Wall and the Huge Scoop. Steve was in the background and below a roof that looked ready to swallow him. The northern jaws of Marcy and Haystack were lit with intermittent sunlight. If I could only make a moment last forever...
TOP OF PITCH ONE BELOW THE TSUNAMI ROOF
LOOKING BACK WHILE LEADING THE TRAVERSE, STEVE SITTING ON THE SLAB
BREAKING THROUGH THE ROOF
STEVE LEADING THE FLAKE
Partner: Steven St. Pierre
Mileage: 17.5
Duration 4:20 AM – 12:20 AM (20 hours)
Rain, rain, rain was the theme for the summer of 2017. Weather thwarted efforts to climb in the backcountry most of the weekends since mid-June when I was last in the Gorge. A week before this trip we walked into the area and found the warm, humid air over Elk Lake updrafted and condensed on Marcy. It rained on us for two hours while we stood shivering in hopes of a break. That was not to be. We walked out with our tails tucked.
Steven St. Pierre went with me this time as I broke a vow to myself, one that I took on August 27, 2016—exactly one year before this climb. I swore to never day hike a route on Marcy’s East Face again. I wanted to camp if we climbed in this area. The trip to put up Revelations took 22 hard earned hours. With days growing shorter and an even shorter memory of the trials of the Revelations trip, I set my sights on the roofs and steep slab on the north side of the East Face. The top would follow the giant white streak from the 2011 rockfall. I hoped we could get the line up and exit to the car in a more reasonable time frame like 18 hours. I hear you laughing. Yes, it’s subjective.
We began at the usual time, around 4 AM, with cool temperatures and relatively low humidity. The stars twinkled brightly and I felt good about our decision regarding this route. It had exciting potential. We crested the Marcy/Haystack col around 8:15 and descended to the Panther Den. Skies to the south were a little hazy, but it was forecast to be clear.
Bushwhacking in the Gorge has been a series of navigational experiments. The closer one stays to the cliffs, the “easier” the terrain. We walked far too low in August of 2016 which added to the overall time it took. Steve and I passed the various walls and entered thicker forest beyond the Huge Scoop where we held to the same elevation until reaching Grand Central Slide. We crossed the streambed and trekked downslope, around a buttress and up to a glade below the East Face and our target. Raspberry and blackberry bushes were overtaking the glade (it was stripped in 2011 by the rockfall). It was around 10:45 when we reached the base of the route.
I’ve often noted that photographs can be deceptive and that there are often surprises even after dozens of study sessions. I anticipated that the start would be on a slightly off vertical wall with good edges to a series of cracks. Well, I was correct. It was off-vertical but overhanging rather than positively sloped. I studied the stone and tried a couple of options before getting frustrated with wasting time. Steve had an idea, so I offered him the lead of pitch one. The time was 11:30 AM when he bouldered up, gained a narrow ledge and traversed left. There was a little seepage, but it was quite dry overall. A nice change! Steve disappeared after climbing a vertical crack. A while later, he yelled, “Off belay!”
AN OVERHANGING START TO THE ROUTE
I readied myself and climbed. I can’t say I made it look as easy as Steve did, but I gained the ledge and finally the pitted face. The first thing one sees when cresting the lower wall is a large set of roofs that look like an ominous gray tsunami. The overhanging wall dwarfed Steve's frame. Easy technical face climbing and cracks led up to a foot-high left-facing corner and his anchor. The wall above was dead vertical below an overhanging roof with a horizontal crack in between.
We decided to trade leads, so I took the next and added a traverse into the mix. I knew there was a breach in the wall to the south. Thus I followed a small crack toward my target. The slab underfoot varied from about 50-75 degrees as I worked my way across, placing protection where I felt necessary. I stepped down over a corner and looked up to where the breach was located. I hoped for a clean crack, but found a somewhat mossy corner. There was enough clean stone on which to work, so I placed some sketchy protection above my head and committed to the move. Exiting the corner required the use of a couple of blueberry bushes before I flopped onto my stomach and walked up to the roof to create an anchor. The scenery was breathtaking. Intermittent steep grassy ledges led to the south and a broken roof system traversed north. Blocks under the roof were held in place by pinch-points. It was reminiscent of climbs on the Agharta Wall and the Huge Scoop. Steve was in the background and below a roof that looked ready to swallow him. The northern jaws of Marcy and Haystack were lit with intermittent sunlight. If I could only make a moment last forever...
TOP OF PITCH ONE BELOW THE TSUNAMI ROOF
LOOKING BACK WHILE LEADING THE TRAVERSE, STEVE SITTING ON THE SLAB
BREAKING THROUGH THE ROOF
STEVE LEADING THE FLAKE