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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Sep 24, 2008 - 09:54pm PT
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big time bump
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada
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Oct 15, 2008 - 01:27am PT
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Bump, new update today.
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Delhi Dog
Trad climber
Good Question...
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Oct 15, 2008 - 11:11am PT
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Best of luck guys!
The link is great.
hoipolloi,
to see and experience...
goes something like this;
save some money
pick a place you want to go visit
grab a friend or two
or go alone
a map is good
book train
plane
or whatever
and start heading that way
if you're short on time
go faster
don't spend too much time
in one place
otherwise
go slow and enjoy the experience
use basic common sense
smile
stand firm
and post up a TR
when you get back:>)
Cheers,
DD
edit: don't forget the visas:>)
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Brunosafari
Boulder climber
Redmond, OR
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Oct 15, 2008 - 05:07pm PT
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speechless
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Oct 15, 2008 - 05:27pm PT
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That's gnarly lookin! Does anybody know what kind of ledge that is they're in?
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 15, 2008 - 05:36pm PT
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Awesome, go get it you guys!
Safe passage in the hall of the great spirits.
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Oct 15, 2008 - 09:13pm PT
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Holy crap! 5 porters died of exposure during the storm? Looks like rough conditions in Video #10.
Thanks for the links and updates!
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada
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Oct 20, 2008 - 10:24pm PT
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bump
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 20, 2008 - 10:33pm PT
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Crap
Holy sh'it
Man oh man
Also, somebody send those poor guys a heater.
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Bruce Perschbacher
climber
Carbonale,Ill. 62901.
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Oct 20, 2008 - 10:42pm PT
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Looks to be an amazing adventure, thanks for sharing with us. Good luck.
Cheers,
Bruce.
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Hoots
climber
Tacoma, Toyota
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Oct 20, 2008 - 11:10pm PT
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Video #13= AWESOME. Waiting to see how it goes.....
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Oct 21, 2008 - 12:14am PT
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Man, that is SO COOL. Someday.... maybe...
EDIT: Jimmy ROCKS, I totally love this C. many thanks!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Oct 21, 2008 - 12:45am PT
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Big balls for big walls - and at altitude; stout...
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poop_tube
Big Wall climber
33° 45' N 117° 52' W
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Oct 21, 2008 - 01:27am PT
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Great friggin show! Really captured the whole alpine feel. I felt a shiver down my spine while sitting here on my warm bed, brrrrr. We appreciate these updates more than you know!
Best Wishes!
Kia
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada
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Oct 22, 2008 - 08:54pm PT
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bump. New report up.
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada
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Video 15, The Descent is up.
Erik
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Conrad
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2008 - 01:39am PT
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Thanks for checking out the web page. The whole journey is up - with many thanks to Renan for his excellent work on Final Cut to compile the story.
I had tried this route 5 years ago with Bruce Miller and Doug Chabot with no success. Our route (to the right of the wall) was finished up by another team utilizing fixed ropes. Our goal was the Shark's Fin proper, a route that Mugs and Steve Quinlan had tried in 88, 20 years earlier.
We made it back on the 12th of October after 19 days on the wall and two days getting down. Our plan was to go capsule style in a quasi alpine manner. We started at the base and hauled our gear as we climbed. We used one big haul bag and one small haul along with our ledge and fly. We planned on a 10 day ascent and packed the according amount of food. On the second day a brutal storm hit and pinned us to the wall. We sat in the ledge for four days while it snowed three meters through out the Himalaya. Five porters lost their lives to exposure on the 19th of September in this storm when they tried to hike back to Gangotri and lost the trail. The Saddhus and Mahatajis (holy people) in Tapovan Meadow were getting worked. They live under boulders with a tarp and live on tea and flour. One saddu was on a 11 day fast and endured the snow.
After the storm let up we moved up - the route was pretty well plastered making the progress a bit of an effort. Eventually we got to the base of the big wall, which we dubbed "The Indian Ocean Wall" in deference to El Cap. The climbing went from vertical to overhanging, kinda like the right side in the diorite section. We drilled 13 bat hook holes, 8 rivets and three 3/8" bolts. For the iron we had 25 assorted beaks & peckers (the two larger sizes were very helpful) and placed them a bunch. The route to our high point was 35 pitches in length.
We moved our camp up, albeit slowly, and made a dash for the summit. As we had taken thin rations and made them thinner. We were running low on calories. After fixing three ropes we climbed over to the NE face and ice climbed to with in 100 m of the summit. We had hoped for easy ice or hiker 5.9, yet were confronted with what turned out to be more overhanging granite. Had we gone for it it would have meant an open bivy. With minimal food in our bellies and not much in the pack we turned around. Had we continued on our injuries would be much more severe than what they are now. With families at home and many pitches of warm rock still to climb we made the call.
Perhaps it is western folly to think we can climb to the center of the universe. We were very humbled by the experience.
Eric DeCaria and Zach Bones were in camp for Bagirathi III, super light and fast. The storm buried their gear and food. They set the new standard for hard boulder problems in the meadow. On a bigger scale the talked to us on the mini radios, phoned our families and trekked to the base of the route to help ferry our kit down. They are both totally awesome fellows and kind beyond words.
We had the same LO and cook from five years ago, Amrish and Sultan. Great help and a window into the culture.
The trip was funded by TNF, and as someone noted up thread, would constitute corporate climbing. My apologies - this is what I do.
The Korean team which climbed the left wall in the photo did an admirable job of hanging it out there. Pretty amazing line climbed in the middle of the monsoon (June ~ July). They left their ledge on the wall, a tent lower on the route (home to spent canisters and garbage) and a bunch of fixed rope. If one is not using gear & equipment it constitutes rubbish and should be dealt with accordingly.
The cabana ledge was an ACE ledge sewn and milled in Montana. The design is what is now what the BD ledge is.
Thanks to Jimmy and Renan for being stellar partners.
__
Werner - thanks for fixing the Toyota. My parents are happy that you are able to coax a second life into it. I brought you some water from Gaumuk, the source of the Ganges River. Do you still have the "more wag less bark" sticker on it?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Wild report. I love that region. Hiked to Gaumukh and Tapovan once but no climbing.
Looks like amazing rock but i'm waiting for another lifetime when global warming has made the place more YOsemite-like. (I did dip in the ganga where it emerges the ice cliff!)
Peace
Karl
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Those are really evocative clips there guys. Way to suffer!
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