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| Messages 1 - 14 of total 14 in this topic |
Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 11, 2019 - 04:29am PT
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 11, 2019 - 08:35pm PT
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1st Ascent-Andromeda Strain: Barry Blanchard, Dave Cheesmond and Tim Friesen (April 1983)
The Canadian Alpine Journal 1984
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Mar 12, 2019 - 12:09am PT
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hey there, say, avery... nice to see this ... nice to see a post from you, too...
thank you so very much!
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 12, 2019 - 07:13am PT
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The Andromeda Strain: Alik Berg, Juan Henriquez and Raphael Slawinski (May 2016)
Thanks to Raphael Slawinski (more to come)
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 12, 2019 - 06:22pm PT
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The Andromeda Strain: Alik Berg, Juan Henriquez and Raphael Slawinski (May 2016)
Thanks to Raphael Slawinski
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 14, 2019 - 12:57am PT
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(DTCB) The Doctor, The Tourist, His Crampon, and Their Banana (700m, V M7.)
Scott Semple and Raphael Slawinski (2006)
Mt. Andromeda graces countless postcards and coffee-table books, and, more to the point, is the climbing centerpiece of the Columbia Ice-fields. Andromeda is a university of alpine climbing. Over the years, as I worked my way through its routes, starting with the sweeping Skyladder through the “hard” classic Andromeda Strain, the mountain has taught me well, though at times (such when I whipped off of slush that passed for ice on Shooting Gallery) it could be a stern professor.
Having climbed most of the established routes more than once, I began looking beyond the red lines in the guidebook. If you squint at the photo in Selected Alpine Climbs, a possibility, the faint crease of a corner system, can be imagined left of the A- Strain. In spring, with the mountain well iced up, this unlikely line seemed ripe for an attempt.
Scott Semple and I got an inauspicious start, having overslept the alarm and woken with dawn illuminating the sky. But we had nothing better to do, so we wolfed down bananas and Danishes, piled into the car, and drove the remaining half-hour to the trailhead. The morning was disconcertingly warm, the snow on the moraines barely frozen. As the sun rose Andromeda’s northeast face came alive with noisy wet sloughs, fortunately well right of our intended line. We simul-climbed the lower portion, past the avalanche cone, up brittle ice and to the base of the rock.
At first a chossy crack had me looking for a way to traverse around the difficulty, but straight up was the way to go. Stuffing in cams, hooking loose chockstones, and grunting to make sure I had Scott’s attention at the belay— it was steep, dammit!—I was pleased to find a hidden runnel of thick ice lurking above. The first pitch set the pattern for the rest of the route: the stream of more (or less) thick ice down the corner system would be interrupted once or twice every pitch by steep dry-tooling. Our magic line kept going, twisting and turning and blocked by overhangs, so we could never see farther than half a pitch ahead.
As afternoon wore on, we secretly hoped for moderate ground. Instead, we found ourselves below yet another corner, with a dripping, slabby rock wall. But a delicate front-point shuffle, made more interesting for Scott by a broken crampon, opened the door, and soon we stood lashed to a small rock outcrop, looking up in dismay at a massively overhanging cornice. It seemed to grow the closer we got to it, assuming monstrous proportions. It took us over a ropelength of crawling beneath the cresting wave of snow before we were able to escape from the face. The gentle south slopes were already in shadow, though Bryce, Forbes, the Lyells, and a hundred other white peaks still glowed in the setting sun. We snapped a few photos, took a deep breath, and headed down. The Doctor, The Tourist, His Crampon, and Their Banana .
– Raphael Slawinski, Alberta, AAC (American Alpine Journal 2007)
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Mar 14, 2019 - 05:41am PT
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Man that traverse looks freakin' gnarly! Nice shot....
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Mar 14, 2019 - 08:32am PT
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This is a completely awesome TR! Thanks to everyone who posted photos and prose of climbs on this amazing mountain. I have always had the greatest respect for Canadian mountaineers and see why they got so burly good. University indeed!
Thanks guys, you humble me.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Mar 14, 2019 - 01:18pm PT
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The strain looks awesome.
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brotherbbock
climber
So-Cal
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Mar 14, 2019 - 01:53pm PT
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I read the title and thought this was gonna be about how a new type of weed caused an epic haha.
Pretty bad ass line fellas...well done, thanks for the TR.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 14, 2019 - 03:30pm PT
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A Strain was attempted a number of times in the late 70's by climbers such as Jeff Lowe. I would assume most were made in summer which is the wrong season.
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 20, 2019 - 02:25am PT
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(DTCB) The Doctor, The Tourist, His Crampon, and Their Banana (700m, V M7.)
Scott Semple and Raphael Slawinski (2006)
Thanks to Scott Semple
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Mar 20, 2019 - 02:59am PT
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I believe the late Michael Bearzi did and early repeat of Andromeda Strain(mid 80's) with a partner and wrote an article about if for Rock and Ice titled some like 'Taking the A-strain.'
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 31, 2019 - 04:17am PT
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(DTCB) The Doctor, The Tourist, His Crampon, and Their Banana (700m, V M7.)
Scott Semple and Raphael Slawinski (2006)
Thanks to Raphael Slawinski
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