Gothics North Face, SW Ridge Route (3/7/09)

[una_dogger]

Great report! something about the lack of alpine zone that zaps my motivation... but this trip seems pretty alpine and i am pretty ignorant of the ADK's.

Who needs alpine when the slopes are so steep that all the trees just slide off?


Hey Leaf! I remember that view from Pyramid quite well!!!

Question: what was your gear list (not in entirety) but what additional gear did you need for this climb, outside of crampons & mountaineering axe?

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Equipment

IPOD and video camera? Just guessin'.

KDT

 

[leaf]

Question: what was your gear list (not in entirety) but what additional gear did you need for this climb, outside of crampons & mountaineering axe?

Yeah, the view from Pyramid is probably my favorite of the ADKs.. and Sawteeth is #2.

Gear list:
--mountaineering axe
--2 climbing ice tools - jeff had one, but i'm glad i took both because i needed them.
--1 snow picket - if we roped up in the lower sections, this would have been helpful.. next time i go when conditions are more IN, i'm actually taking 2.
--6 ice screws - pretty sure we had 6 among all of us. we used 3 screws. 16 cm ones. i'd take shorter ones as well.
--6 quickdraws or beeners with slings
--3-5 extra slings
--4-6 extra locking beeners, a bunch of regular beeners
--1 30m rope. i think it was 8mm? 60m fatty would have been overkill..though i know craig had an extra rope in his pack, not sure what kind it was.
--some webbing
ahhh.. what else.. hehehe.. KJE, i shot all that footage with my olympus digital camera.

and the crampons i used were G-14s climbing crampons.. i wouldn't climb this with regular mountaineering ones.

 

[una_dogger]

Wow --- that's alot of gear!! I'm impressed at how much goes into a climb like this!


Thanks for describing the crampons -- I couldn't tell from the video if they were 10 pt hiking type or something beefier.

I can vividly recall that face, its right there in front of you when on Pyramid -- I'm so psyched for you for climbing it! Was this the first ascent of this face for the three of you??
( I know it was your first)

How would you rate this in terms of difficulty - compared to the climbs you've been doing in the Whites?

Again, impressed!

 

[prino]

Sabrina
The picture of the rockface here which they are doing in the summer is on the south face of Gothics (You are right... that is the one you see from Pyramid) The one on the video is the North face of Gothics.

 

[Neil]

something about the lack of alpine zone that zaps my motivation...

That's cuz you don't know squat about the Dacks. Not your fault though living in Bahhhston.


Just to set you straight, I'm going to do a big Mac traverse on Saturday. (Nothing to do with ground beef) and will post a plethora of pictures.

 

[Dave Bear]

Gotta be one of the coolest TR in a long time! Way to go Court bringing us along on the climb! Nice pics from Craig also, thanks for sharing!

 

[leaf]

Yep.. from Pyramid is the South Face. That's the side I want to rock climb this summer. You can see the North Face from the summit of Big Slide/Yard Mtn. Here's a pic from Yard Mtn.

. Taken from summitpost.com.

Was this the first ascent of this face for the three of you??
( I know it was your first)

How would you rate this in terms of difficulty - compared to the climbs you've been doing in the Whites?

Yep, we were all North Face virgins. It's been on Jeff's radar for a few years and on my radar since November. Not sure about Craig.

Hmm.. well, it's difficult to say, because if the conditions were better, we probably would have taken the more exposed route, directly up the Face which would have been cooler.. and possibly more difficult. I felt like I was pretty challenged. It's awesome going to a place like this, because you never know what to expect. Half the fun is deciding what gear to bring, and figuring it out as you go.. roping up or not roping up.. getting to a steep ice bulge and gathering your wits, your rope and sinking in some screws. This kind of climb is way more exciting to me than something like Crawford Notch.. because you are out there, literally on the side of some mountain.. 7 miles from the trailhead and using your gear, your intuition and your route finding abilities to climb to the top.

Short answer to your question is, I haven't experience this type of climb in the Whites yet.

 

[una_dogger]

LOL..got it , North Face!

 

[Steve-o]

There you go again, thinking you can post whatever you want and it won't matter, because you're "giggy".
Jason

Yeah, get off your high horse!

Great video Cortney!
I especially liked the step-step-plunge.

You seem to have a knack for not only shooting video, but, editing and putting it all together. Great job!

You would be foolish to not submit one or more of your videos to a vftt film night.

 

[J.Dub]

[jealous]

Can't watch the video here at work, but will check it out when I get home.

You're inspiring: Gothics North Face just moved up several notches on my tick list -- hopefully next winter when it's fully in!

Might have to think about the south side rock routes, now, too. Thanks!

[/jealous]

 

[Doc McPeak]

WOW, that was a sensational video! Great job.

We're heading in to explore the eastern edge of the face, the easier TrueNorth slide, so it was nice to get a glimpse of what might be in store for us.

Now I have to take some video, find some cool music...

 

[DaveSunRa]

Outstanding video !!!

What kind of camera were you using?

 

[leaf]

Doc - Cool. Plenty of snow in the slide for ya.

What kind of camera were you using?

An Olympus Stylus 1030 SW