Patagonia 2008

I am settled now back in Vancouver, lining up work for the summer season and rigging the occasional show at GM Place.

This season in Patagonia was amazing, they are already calling it the 'Season of Dreams'. I am very proud of all my friends who managed to climb inspiring lines. Colin and Rolo on the Torre Traverse, Freddy and Dana on their Fitz traverse, the Hubers on La Silla, and Tobey and Jesse on their beautiful St. Exupery FA. Will and I had so much fun hanging with all our new and old friends in El Chalten. Without these people, the trip would have been only full of all that nasty alpine climbing stuff!

After a frustrating battle with the Aerolineas Argentina airline strike, we managed to negotiate a 2-day bus ride that would take us into El Chalten, the town that is the access point for climbing in the Cerro Torre/ Fit Roy groups.

Will booking a flight in Spanglish.

We landed in Chalten at 3am to clear skies and immediately started hiking into the Torre Valley. Sun-up offered breath-taking views of the range.

Crossing the Torre Glacier enroute to basecamp in the Torre Valley.

The weather closed in on us before we were able to attempt anything, but we were back up a few days later psyched on trying a new route on Poincenot.

Our new route on Poincenot 'the DNV Direct'. Completed over 3 days in mid-January, it went at VI 5.11 X A1 1700m.

A pitch of perfect fingers high on Poincenot.

Will following the ridgeline on day one.

The route was huge, over 50 pitches long; hard, with many pitches of steep 5.11; and dangerous, with some of the worst loose rock either of us had encountered on granite. The 2 brutal open bivies we suffered were enough to make us want to play safer. The views of Aguja Desmochada from our vantage on Poincenot were too stunning to forget. Despite its proximity to the Niponinos basecamp, this, the steepest tower in the range had seen very few ascents and had never been free climbed.

Our original plan was to attempt a free ascent of the Huber-Seigreist line 'Golden Eagle'. It started on the west face, but avoided the steepest part of the headwall to the left, and climbed on the chossier south face. So we settled on trying to free climb on the west face, in the vincinity of the Wilkinson-Sharratt line 'the Sound and the Fury'.

Our free route on the west aspect of Desmochada, (V 5.12b 800m). A variation to 'the Sound and the Fury'.

Will leading the start of the headwall - STEEP! SPLITTER!.

The crux pitch went at mid-5.12. Tips fingerlocks ended upbruptly in the corner, and forced overhanging liebacking up the outside edge. The pitch was capped by a finger splitter remeniscent of the Optimator at Indian Creek. When Will reached the belay our tag line hung in space 5 feet out from my belay.

The higher we got, the better the rock was! Perfect hands forever.

Will and I exhausted on the summit at dusk.

The descent was hairy, and we finally got a blast of full-force Patagonian wind. We touched down after the last rappel with about 35 meters of our lead line, and 15 of tag - the rest was chopped dealing with the multiple stuck ropes. We literally stumbled back to basecamp and collapsed for 24 hours before we had the strength to hike down to town for some much needed rest.

The weather opened up again and we were forced to climb some more. Our objective this time was the beautiful north aspect of Aguja Innominata, a face I had snapped a photograph of during our Poincenot ascent.

The beautiful north face of Innominata with 'Blood on the Tracks' marked. Will and I made the first integral free ascent of this route first done in 2006 by Wilkinson-Sharratt-Tureki-Taki.

Finally, the weather closed in for a few weeks of much needed rest and we carried our gear out of base camp. Our plan was to establish a camp on the east side of Fitz Roy for an attempt on the North Pillar of Fitz. That's all it was though, an attempt. We were pretty fried at this point of our trip and rappelled after a very uncomfortable bivy on the route.

The approach gully of the North Pillar route.

And with that, our 2 month trip came to an end. This was truly an amazing expedition on world class routes. Thanks to the community in El Chalten, my partner Will Stanhope, and trip sponsors Mountain Equipment Co-op, Metolius, Five Ten, and Power Bar.

A Pogo Named Ogo

I just rolled into town and was greeted with a very wet Vancouver evening. I was travelling home from Penticton and work for Russ Turner in the Skaha Bluffs, instructing 45 teenagers from West Point Grey Secondary in Vancouver. Will Stanhope was working his very first contract as a rock guide too, and in between polling the kids on the 50 vs. Kanye battle, Will made sure he educated all on Ogopogo safety. According to Will, pogo identifies the species of reptile, and Ogo is the name of the Okanagan Lake inhabitant (The Lock Ness Monster being another identified Pogo). The most important safety precaution when dealing with the Ogopogo, says Will, is to never approach the Ogopogo. A very concerned student named Franklin was adamant that there should be more scientists studying the creature, we all agreed thoroughly.

I threw the rock rack into the trunk before heading east as I heard about an unclimbed roof crack on one of the Bluffs' northern-most crags, the Jug Haul Wall. In Skaha Rock Climbs Howie Richardson describes the the line as 'the biggest unclimbed roof in Skaha, split by a crack'. Well, Skaha isn't exactly a Mecca of roof cracks nor a bastion of traditional climbing, but I was very intrigued and willing to hike (and hike some more) to get to what very well may be a disappointment.

Will was easily convinced to come along as he was keen to continue in his tradition of establishing short, hard, poorly protected gear routes in Skaha. Several years ago Will and I scrubbed a short seam on a crag east of the Euphorium. The only gear we could find was a 00 Metolius Power Cam about mid-way up. Undeterred, Will went for the lead and the result was Groundfall Alice's, a stout 5.11 named for the local strip joint Slack Alice's, an establishment neither of us were old enough to patronize at the time. I remember a young Will being quite disappointed that Sean Dougherty, the man behind Skaha.org wouldn't add the line to the online list of new routes in the bluffs.

The thin seam of Groundfall Alice's

Will, inspired by a 'borrowed' Blurr hoodie (it's finders keepers in the Isuzu) gives his best B-Unit stance at the base of Alice's

As we stood under the roof looking up at the unclimbed seam I couldn't help but think of some similarities between the two routes.. As we pondered how hilarious it would be to be known for putting up scary, sort of stupid trad routes at a destination sport cliff, Will booted up for an attempt.

A local climber had apparently tried the line before and a few small slider nuts were in place in the roof. Will dogged out to the lip and managed to back up the crux piece, a #1 Slider Nut, with a 00 Metolius TCU. Thin. After a few tries at the sequence, he handed the sharp end over saying 'just don't die', and I went up to take a look.



I struggled and chalked up a couple more holds, then lowered off to try and lead it from the ground. I was unsuccessful, but found a very thin crimp that set the body up for the reach to a miserable sloper at the lip. From here, it was just a matter of sticking a ridiculously fun flying-squirrel move around the lip to an arete jug. Yeah, definitely a silly route, but fun nonetheless. The boulder grade might be something like V6 or V7, so 5.12+?

We both did it in the next try or two, pinkpoint. The stunning line has yet to see a redpoint, integral. You don't need much, but bring the 00 and 0 tcu. Before we sent we even had a name for Skaha's biggest, boldest, proudest roof crack. In a land of hard roof cracks, The Pogo Named Ogo Crack is a King Line...

Gangsta Will and the new route..