South Face

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South Face

South Face

Leading summit pitch of Warbonnet. Note the fixed piton at my chest level (manky). The exposure is amazing - the summit horn I'm on is overhanging on both sides and terminates at a small pointy summit with a 1200 foot vertical drop to the valley below (Labor Day 2003).
rpc
on Sep 3, 2003 2:37 am
Lat/Lon: 44.07900°N / 115.0539°W
Image Type(s): Alpine Climbing
Image ID: 26882

Comments

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desainme

desainme - Sep 3, 2003 9:38 am - Voted 10/10

Exposed summit shot!

Are you using a crack or is it a slab with crimpers?

rpc

rpc - Sep 3, 2003 10:38 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Exposed summit shot!

Actually the pitch looks a lot worse than it really is. The place I'm at in the shot, I'm using pretty juggy holds - no crack though. The rating of 5.4 is probably fair for this pitch though there is one short sequence (below my position) of pure friction moves which could suprise people not used to hands free smearing.

Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson - Sep 25, 2003 4:31 pm - Voted 10/10

rpc--

This stuff gives me butterflies in my belly. How about the ramp on the left? Is it a route or was it too easy?

rpc

rpc - Sep 25, 2003 4:46 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: rpc--

Thanks Aaron!!

It gave me butterflies too when I first saw it from the safety of the belay notch. However, the point where I'm at in the photo is actually quite easy (....that's not a "sandbagged" remark either, probably about 5.4). There's good feet and hand holds and there's a good piece of protection in a thin crack on the ledge bleow me. Also there's a drilled piton (pretty old and probably useless) providing mental protection somehwere on the face. The crux of the pitch is at the very bottom of the photo where one is faced with a few (2 or 3) pure friction moves up a low angle slab (no face features for hands or feet). In terms of the ridgetop on the left, the photo makes it look more doable than it really was. You're looking at it head-on - it's actually very steep and does not have much in the way of feet/hand holds. Right side of the slab is definitely the easiest option. What makes this pitch intimidating before you commit to it is:

(1) the only bolt you see from belay ledge is about 40-50 feet away on top of the ridge and you don't see the intermediate pro placement opportunities (till you're there).

(2) you don't see the holds on the face.

(3) exposure - it's a horn in the sky and you feel it.

This was by far the most fun we've had climbing a mountain to date!

Thank you for stopping by!

Radek

Viewing: 1-4 of 4