Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 05:19pm PT
|
7th Ascent: Joshua Lavigne and Marc-Andre Leclerc. November 2014.
By Marc-Andre Leclerc
The Wild Thing was my first alpine route in the Rockies. I climbed it with Joshua Lavigne towards the end of a 13 day trip. It was an incredibly good experience overall, but certainly had a real 'out there' feeling as we climbed the headwall, pitch after pitch of runout dry tooling in the dark.
There wasn't lot of snow in the couloir either, early season conditions, so the lower section was punctuated by overhanging snow mushrooms that provided some hard climbing early on.
Josh led the crux, taking the next groove left from the original A3 pitch. This was burly and very poorly protected, say awkward M7 with an X rating.
On the descent I botched the route finding while trying to use my nearly dead headlamp. Ended up trying to rappel but found myself dangling in space at the end of the ropes and had to prussik back up, all off one hammered in wire.
By the time I was up it was light and we found the way down. Took us 29 hours car to car and was definitely one of my favorite alpine adventures to date.
Thanks to Marc-Andre Leclerc
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2017 - 10:05pm PT
|
1st Ascent: Peter Arbic, Barry Blanchard and Ward Robinson. (VI,5.9,A3,W4) 1987.
2nd Ascent: Joe Josephson, Sean Dougherty and Grant Statham. April 1992.
3rd Ascent: Rob Owens and Mike Verwey. February, 2005.
4th Ascent: Jon Simms and Jon Walsh. November 2008: (1st Free Ascent)
5th Ascent: Dana Ruddy, Eamonn Walsh and Raphael Slawinski. February 2009. Completed in a 29 hour continuous push. (Direct Start)
6th Ascent: Josh Wharton and Chris Alstrin. May 2012. (1st one day ascent: climbed free)
7th Ascent: Joshua Lavigne and Marc-Andre Leclerc. November 2014.
8th Ascent: Yamada Toshiyuki and Takeshi Tani. April 2015.
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2017 - 10:17pm PT
|
8th Ascent: Yamada Toshiyuki and Takeshi Tani. April 2015.
Takeshi Tani and Yamada Toshiyuki completed the 8th ascent of The Wild Thing Ⅵ M7 WI5 1300m on east face of Mt. Chephren in the Canadian Rockies. It took them 45 hours from car to car.
http://winterclimb.com/news/item/68-the-wild-thing-tani-toshiyuki
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2017 - 08:00pm PT
|
Bump!!
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
|
Jul 18, 2017 - 06:30am PT
|
Thanks for putting this all together Avery, a very compelling read.
|
|
Moloch
Ice climber
Calgary, Alberta
|
|
Since I used some of this info in this thread for our ascent (and the fact someone made an effort to keep track of ascents of some of these big Canadian Rockies rigs, thanks!), I figured I should contribute a few photos. Alik Berg and myself (Maarten van Haeren) made an ascent of the Wild Thing on Dec 13, 2017, single-push-with-a-nap, 27:30 car-to-car. The sub 24hr return trip awaits someone!! We spent approximately 22hrs on the wall, with a 2hr break about 3/4 up. As always, conditions were key. We were fortunate with low snow and moderate temps, which made it much more enjoyable (and faster!).
Below are some of the photos. Certainly lived up to all the hype, beautiful face, some really wicked climbing (especially the top half of the face). Most memorable moments include climbing an ice chimney where I could rest by squeezing my shoulders against the wall, climbing behind a big chockstone on the final pitch, and whimpering about the weight of my pack following the crux pitch. In general, pretty good way to get rad in the alpine with a great partner!
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2018 - 06:49pm PT
|
Thanks for the great pics, Moloch.
It's nice to hear this thread was was useful in your preparation.
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2018 - 07:20am PT
|
1st Ascent: Peter Arbic, Barry Blanchard and Ward Robinson. (VI,5.9,A3,W4) 1987.
2nd Ascent: Joe Josephson, Sean Dougherty and Grant Statham. April 1992.
3rd Ascent: Rob Owens and Mike Verwey. February, 2005.
4th Ascent: Jon Simms and Jon Walsh. November 2008: (1st Free Ascent)
5th Ascent: Dana Ruddy, Eamonn Walsh and Raphael Slawinski. February 2009. Completed in a 29 hour continuous push. (Direct Start)
6th Ascent: Josh Wharton and Chris Alstrin. May 2012. (1st one day ascent: climbed free)
7th Ascent: Joshua Lavigne and Marc-Andre Leclerc. 29 hours car to car. November 2014.
8th Ascent: Yamada Toshiyuki and Takeshi Tani. April 2015.
9th Ascent: Alik Berg and Maarten van Haeren. 27:30 car-to-car. Decenber 13 2017.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
Avery....my wife and I leave for the South Island on Tuesday...hooe to see you. I’m doing two slde shows in Christchurch.
|
|
Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
|
|
Bad ass!
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2019 - 06:34pm PT
|
During the third week of April, Toshiyuki and Tani made what was likely the 12th ascent of the original line of The Wild Thing 1,300 m M7 WI5 on Mount Chephren. It took them 45 hours car to car.
“I’m so happy we climbed such a beautiful line and mountain,” said Toshiyuki. “We are already planing our next mission. I don’t know if the conditions were good or not, but I needed to remove tons of snow on almost all of the pitches. It was more difficult than climbing. Tani lead the crux A3 sections. He couldn’t free it because of all the snow, he would sit on his protection and clean a path.”
Info via Gripped Magazine
I (Avery) make it the eighth ascent (There are probably ascents that I don't know about)
|
|
Avery
climber
New Zealand
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2019 - 12:12am PT
|
Bump for solid climbing content!
|
|
Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
|
|
Too much badassery to comprehend. Oy.
BAd
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!