Page 14 - 2009 AMA Winter

Slowly the crack opens out to form two parallel cracks. The pillar later deepens forming the chimney section
bolted, a mixture of new Petzl expansion bolts and hangers and all manner of home made things. All are covered with a myriad of faded and frayed tat that the Americans and French seem perfectly happy clipping into to save 30 seconds on a pitch!
On inspection, one rope had been cut in four places with only a little of the core remaining. We cut this section out but it had a nick further down, the other rope was not looking too healthy either and we had to put an isolation knot in the middle. Badly shaken and with the day getting on we had no option but to push on to the half way ledge where we had intended to spend the night. Nic built a new belay as I thanked the Rock God for Petzl helmet engineers and no more rock fall.
Several pitches later see you at the base of the chimney, fairly uniform throughout sometimes with awkward overhanging chock-stone boulders and often with a crack in one of the back corners. This would probably go easier with a pair of lightweight mountaineering boots as it is wet and mossy throughout. Those deter- mined not to carry much water could col- lect some here but it is unlikely to save you much time and effort. The topo is mislead- ing in its indications of pitches as there are old belays everywhere; It is best simply to climb until the rope runs out and then to take a natural belay.
This is also the case at the exit of the chim- ney where the topo indicates a series of ledges. The reality is that the route contin- ues just to the right on exiting the chimney, on the obvious layback flake all the way to the half way ledge. Everything else is loose. Henry reached this point first and looked
hit the snow at the base of the tower. Thankful to be alive they turned on their radio and attempted to contact the teams above..
We awake at 4 but the strong winds low down in base camp convince us that today is not the day. At 8 however the weather is dry, warm and perfect for climbing. We race to get up, pack, eat and head back up the scree slopes to our lines.
For some of the team, this was the first time they had clipped into the ropes and jumared with a load on their backs and it is hard and un-nerving work. An American and French team that decided to brave the weather at four are a little way ahead; they did at least reduce our need to route find.
Voices drifted through the haze, “Are you
ok?”, “Is anybody hurt?” Nic had recently taken over the lead and had not fared much better in the rock fall, taking an equally large piece directly to his leg. He had however saved all our lives. We had decided lower down on the wall that we would back up all of the in-situ rusting peg belays; Nic had done so with the biggest cam we had, placed in a crack behind him. When the rocks came down and smashed the rusty peg belay into dust it was this cam and Nic that held the three of us on cut ropes.
Beyond the fixed ropes, the route is not what we expected. 5.7 but stiff for the grade with little in the way of reliable pro- tection. It consists mainly of slabs or huge layback flakes glued on with dirt. Holds are plentiful but camming the flakes is unnerv- ing to say the least. The belays are largely
The Cirque of the Unclimbables
12 ARMY MOUNTAINEER