August trip to the Winds, and a lesson in improvised rappels

J1. wrote:Very Interesting...Im Pretty sure I was in the Cirque the same time you guys were...I definitely remember seeing many a party bailing off the East face, left side cracks route on Pingora. Does this look familiar?? A little advice when climbing in the alpine... - Using old TAT anchors for belay anchors, not always a good idea - Climbing a big grade IV route with little to no Alpine experience, not such a great idea. - 10:00am Start...Really bad Idea in the Winds. Now, dont start thinking that Im picking on you guys because Im trying to do the exact opposite. All the guide books that you can read about the Cirque are vague for a reason...These are BIG routes and especially in regards to Pingora there are no standard "belay" stations listed in the guide book mainly because its choose your own adventure while climbing this route. My partner and myself removed some shitty tat from East Face route the day after you guys climbed it...there was also alot of Tat that I saw that was left because I could see that it was off route in places and not worth swinging over to remove.. all in all after 7 roped 200 foot stretchers and some 400 feet of simul-climbing through the easy slabby section , we never once used Tat anchors for belays... Sam, I will say props to leading all those pitches, I didnt get the idea you guys were swapping leads which would have obviously made the climb go much faster. You were guiding your partner and unless your super fast on lead and building anchors I think it be tough to finish that climb in the daylight. Also props for choosing such a bad ass place to gain some valuable alpine climbing experiences. As far as your double ropes are concerned I'd throw those away dude. If your serious about alpine climbing get yourself some new doubles in like the 8.5 diameter or something. Your rope is essentially your life line up there. Last but not least great job in getting down at night with headlamps. We were watching your mini epic from our camp below War Bonnett and could literally feel the tension in the air..Glad everyone is safe..Cool Pics man !!

That's awesome! I left my Mammut biner because I only had one of those and the rest of mine are BD. I figured I'd make the rack more "even". I seriously cannot stop looking at that picture. You have no idea how incredible it is to see that again. I'm almost beside myself it's so cool.

Thanks for the advice, I take criticism well and will keep it in mind. A lot of the stuff you stated I took away from that experience.

And yes, I led every pitch. April doesn't lead yet so we were constantly re-establishing, flipping the rope, re-stacking the rope, etc.

I like to think that I can keep my head and emotions in check during tense situations.

Very cool to hear from someone who watched us come down. We talked to some people the next day that saw us coming down that night, they said they were praying for us.

Just out of curiosity, did you remove some green or yellow webbing with a rap ring on it? One was on a boulder on a ledge and another on a big tusk of rock.

Hey Sam, yea I think we removed that tat your refering to. Also some with a nut that was used as a back up I guess. My partner was leading those pitches when we came across them so I cant totally remember.

You guys were definitely making my partner and I nervous on possibly how commiting the route was. We had heard and read many accounts that the E face route was quite stiff for the grade and much longer than it is said to be. Also that it was a better climb than the other 50 classic thats around the corner with a line forming at the base..All this turned out to be true..

To answer some questions out there in Mountain Project land we chose the climb due to the fact that it wasnt that popular and we were looking for a little adventure ourselves...Like Sam knows now, there are many, many fine looking cracks to choose from on the face...Choosing the one that "looks 5.7" gets to be tricky once your up high on the face and are more commited to the route. What this route lacks in standard difficulty it surely makes up for in route finding difficulty if your trying to keep things moderate. And there was definitely some cracks toward the top that I led that felt quite harder than 5.7 IMO.

Sam, these experiences produce good climbers that become more competent after the learning that gets done in the mountains...good or bad..
Keep climbing hard dude and hopefully see ya climbing around the Cirque next year..
Its a sweet place!
Peace,
Jason

Yea you definitely pulled a nut of mine off the first pitch. It was a larger grey nut placed next to all the tat near the first belay ledge. We used it to back up the last rappel.

That was a good trip. Swimming in the lakes after 3 days of sending and dirtiness was one of the most invigorating moments of my life. Here is me on Warrior 1...onsighting 2000 feet off the deck was also invigorating...

DIAMOND FREE

rockerwaves.blogspot.com/20…

Sam, I apologize for posting my TR on top of your TR I tried to delete it but MP wouldn't let me!

It's SAD that I can't remove something that I posted on this site !
I guess it doesn't belong to me anymore !

I have reported the mistake to Mountain Project and asked that it be struck from your thread.
Great TR by the way! Aloha, Olaf

Yo Sam!

Sick report, that route looks pretty cool. way to giver 'e