| This might be a new route variation but not on purpose. I soloed the gully on the SE Face but got a bit off route where a second couloir is supposed to jag to the right. The climbing should have been low 5th class but after a 5.6 face section I found an old pin, which made me happy until I reached the ledge above, where there were two different bail anchors, which made me sad. Not having a rope to bail with I decided to keep climbing up, until the face blanked out, then I had to down climb some pretty sketchy stuff until I got back to the fixed pin. Here I went left and up and wound up climbing a short but fun open book pitch, 5.7 or 5.8, which led to the summit ridge. More than I was looking to do in ratty approach shoes but the last section was quite fun. Ran up and down Ritter after tagging the summit for a nice day. |
Ansel Adams Wilderness