Vitaliy M. wrote:. . . but I prefer to enjoy a climb by not bringing more gear than I really need to. I actually prefer bare minimum.
V! What about the good 'ol days of humping 60 lbs of water up Mission Pk?
BCS N Arete is car-to-car is so easy that you should consider it a training climb & not one where you need to worry about going fast & light. You'll find it pretty chill
Remember, this was the climb where I carried the rope & rack on the approach, took on my partner's pack to speed him up the last 1,000 ft of gain (he carried nothing and I still was racing ahead), and then led all of the pitches with the larger pack (My Andanista Wild Things was pretty chill in the wide 5.8 corner & 5.6 Chimney). We did the whole route base to summit in 5 hrs, which I'd say was a decent time. We passed a party along the way that was decently experienced (they had done climbs on Incredible Hulk, so I imagine they had some sense of how to climb
)
I have to admit, though, that while I carried my axe, I ditched my crampons at a big rock where the ascent & descent routes intersected. They could have made the descent less annoying but were by no means mandatory.
BTW, I'm aware that I may appear silly 'building character' by bringing needlessly bulky things on easier climbs, but eh, I think it helps me for the harder stuff. The 5.6 on Ptarmigan Ridge was no problem in crampons, even with a 30-40lb pack. My Andanista has been a fun companion on things like: 5.6 squeeze pitch of NW Books of Lembert Dome, Selaginella (wide first pitch was fun!), 5.6 chimney on Cathedral Pk, 5.6 chimney on Royal Arches, 5.8 wide corner variation on Matthes Crest last weekend during our full car-to-car traverse, 5.8 N Arete of BCS, etc. I'm expecting to feel pretty comfy wearing it on our upcoming winter climbs
E Arete is on the short list for next year. Interested? Or what do people who have climbed it think about how nice it might be in the winter?