SummitPost - One of the steepest sections of Casaval Ridge -- Photos, Diagrams & Topos

One of the steepest sections of Casaval Ridge

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Kris approaching potentially the steepest section of Casaval Ridge, near the top of the ridge- 18 March, '7

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Deb

Steepness?

Voted 10/10

Having never been there but planning on going, what IS the steepness you mention? My desk depth perception isn't helping me out on this pic.

Posted Mar 19, 2007 9:44 pm


	Diggler	Re: Steepness?
	Hasn't voted	Hi Deb, as I recall reading, humans are notoriously inept at manually interpreting (i.e. eyeballing) slope angles. While some people might be able to disprove this, I certainly fall into this category. I would say somewhere between 50 to 60 degrees, but am not certain. Given your experience rock climbing (& from your profile pic it seems that you've been ice climbing too), I think if you're reasonably proficient w/ an ice axe, you should be fine (just don't slip- some places would be extremely hard, if not impossible, to self-arrest). If you're going to do it this season, hurry up! Snow conditions are good now, but I don't think it will last long this year.
		Posted Mar 20, 2007 5:01 pm


	rhyang	Re: Steepness?
	Voted 10/10	Maybe I'm just a sandbagger, but when I did it last June (after a big snowstorm) I thought it was more like 45 degrees. Conditions vary, of course. Daggering my axe and frontpointing with one foot while flatfooting with the other (pied a trois) seemed sufficient.
		Posted Mar 20, 2007 5:10 pm


	Diggler	Re: Steepness?
	Hasn't voted	Given said limitations in measurement accuracy/ability, I'm fairly certain that the uppermost (i.e. if you look at the final short section before/at the notch in the pic) section is 50 degrees or more (slope leading up to it is noticeably less steep). Snow conditions influence the route difficulty greatly here- we didn't even cross the Catwalk as it was completely snow-loaded (no room to walk), instead opting to walk over the rock to its L to where it ends. When you go there, bring the slope reader & let us know (I'm curious)!
		Posted Mar 20, 2007 8:09 pm


	Zzyzx	Re: Steepness?
	Voted 10/10	The steepest part is directly below the notch. I'd guess that it's about 45-50 degrees. It seems usually steeper than it is though. The bottom line is, if you slipped there and didn't self-arrest immediately, you'd probably end up on some rocks 1000-1500' below.
		Posted Mar 20, 2007 10:23 pm

PellucidWombat

Wierd

Hasn't voted

I recognize this spot, and when I climbed the ridge, the slope entering the photo from the left was far steeper than the slopes at the notch. My estimate is 50-55 degrees for the slopes to the left, and 45 degrees for the slopes leading to the rocks above and through the chutes. Similar steepness on the knife-edge section above the Catwalk.

Posted Apr 28, 2009 6:43 pm


	Diggler	Re: Wierd
	Hasn't voted	Seemed fairly steep to me (used dagger technique to get up it)! A lot of exposure (to climber's L) there, too! Glad to hear you got up this, Mark!
		Posted Apr 28, 2009 7:21 pm