Friday, August 05, 2005
Libertarian Survives Self-Inflicted Ordeal
I’ve returned from the mountains, having satisfied the three fundamental criteria for a successful expedition:
1. We returned alive.
2. We had fun.
3. We trashed ourselves.
I will return to posting essays here shortly, while my body heals and I catch up on missed work. In the meantime, a few brief words about our trip.
We did not manage to achieve either of the two big goals of the week: summitting Granite Peak in Montana and doing a 24 hour trailhead to summit to trailhead attempt of Gannett Peak in Wyoming. We (climbing partner Mats Roing and I) made two two-day attempts on Granite. Given our current climbing abilities (rope & gear needed) and condition this was a three day project for us. Mid-week we were joined by Rainer Wackermann for a backpack trip and nice scramble up the side of Black Mountain, also in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness in Montana. Mats and I did summit Tempest Mountain (listed as sixth highest named summit by America’s Roof) and also saw a wolverine on the side of Granite itself. At the end of the week I also soloed most of CD Couloir on Bridger Peak (just north of Bozeman MT) featuring some very nice slab scrambling – left the couloir for .30-30 Ridge only when rain threatened to turn things into an impassable mess.
We did not attempt the 24 hour Gannett project. I think that we’d need to go into this one well-rested and feeling 100% to have a reasonable chance of pulling it off. It remains on the list of future projects, as does Granite.
I may post a few photos here when available. I will return to posting weekly essays next week.
Related links:
Granite Peak route and photos: http://www.jackieandalan.com/graniteroute.html
America's Roof list for Montana: http://americasroof.com/highest/mt.shtml
1. We returned alive.
2. We had fun.
3. We trashed ourselves.
I will return to posting essays here shortly, while my body heals and I catch up on missed work. In the meantime, a few brief words about our trip.
We did not manage to achieve either of the two big goals of the week: summitting Granite Peak in Montana and doing a 24 hour trailhead to summit to trailhead attempt of Gannett Peak in Wyoming. We (climbing partner Mats Roing and I) made two two-day attempts on Granite. Given our current climbing abilities (rope & gear needed) and condition this was a three day project for us. Mid-week we were joined by Rainer Wackermann for a backpack trip and nice scramble up the side of Black Mountain, also in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness in Montana. Mats and I did summit Tempest Mountain (listed as sixth highest named summit by America’s Roof) and also saw a wolverine on the side of Granite itself. At the end of the week I also soloed most of CD Couloir on Bridger Peak (just north of Bozeman MT) featuring some very nice slab scrambling – left the couloir for .30-30 Ridge only when rain threatened to turn things into an impassable mess.
We did not attempt the 24 hour Gannett project. I think that we’d need to go into this one well-rested and feeling 100% to have a reasonable chance of pulling it off. It remains on the list of future projects, as does Granite.
I may post a few photos here when available. I will return to posting weekly essays next week.
Related links:
Granite Peak route and photos: http://www.jackieandalan.com/graniteroute.html
America's Roof list for Montana: http://americasroof.com/highest/mt.shtml
