The Serac Barrier : Photos, Diagrams & Topos : SummitPost

Comments

cgrisha - Dec 19, 2006 2:00 am - Voted 10/10

nice

really nice picture and I like courage of climber, I wish I can do something like this

Flex - Dec 19, 2006 6:29 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: nice

Thanks. My partner and I are mostly rock climbers from Arizona, we decided to go there and just go for it! This route in particular almost killed us, but taught us a valuable lesson which has taken me far since then. Don't worry, you'll get there-some courage tempered with caution will get you up most anything.

rickford - Jan 2, 2007 3:17 pm - Voted 10/10

Looks like a fine adventure!

Flex, very cool photos!! I am very interested in your ascent of this route! Any chance that you could write a trip report about it???? What kind of lessons did you learn? How was the route? And, most of all, what almost killed you guys???? :-O

Flex - Jan 11, 2007 4:47 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Looks like a fine adventure!

My partner and I did this during our 2nd alpine climbing season, the Brenva had some significant rockfall prior to our ascent & we got slightly off route and found ourselves in some shattered, rotten granite. We were tied together glacier style with ~30-40 ft between us and no running belay. A small refrigerator-size block my partner was standing on gave way and he started falling head over heels backwards, I had only a moment to plunge my axe to the hilt in a small snow patch and hold on for dear life as all his weight came onto my harness. It shifted & I was pulled off my stance, but the axe held and Jeff had only some scrapes and bruises. We were shaken, but we continued to the summit. We learned a lot about ourselves & each other, and this helped cement our partnership and trust in each other. This really allowed my vision to expand, in that I knew that with the right amount of motivation, a solid partnership can propel you to incredible heights. To me this is the heart of Alpinism-partners who share a vision in the mountains. No guide can ever give you that.