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BrownB
Trad climber
Tucson AZ
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Aug 22, 2009 - 06:37pm PT
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Re: First climbing trips in the Arrigetch-1963, 1964.
I discovered the climbing potential of this area through reading Bob
Marshall's book Arctic Wilderness, which included a photo of the north
wall of the Maidens taken probably in the 1930's.
In 1963 we packed the air drop boxes in New York City, double boxes
lined with wadded newspaper. I bought large burlap bags as a final
covering in case a box or two exploded on impact. Unfortunately, the
burlap was very close to the color of Arrigetch granite. Buck Cass and I
flew into the Arrigetch in a Pilatus Porter piloted by Andy Anderson
with the air drop bags between us over the bomb bay doors. Andy thought
he would not be able to complete the turn in the valley, so we dropped
high, right side of the valley leading to the Wichmann Tower. I did
notice that the bags disappeared into the general color mass of the rock
prior to impact. We then took off in a float plane from the raging
Koyukok river, logs and trees impacting the pontoons (Andy cheerfully asked me if I
could swim) finally landing at Lake Takahula. A long day's slog put us in Valley 46-62. We spent a week
searching for the drop with no success.
Since we had run out of food we had packed in, I hand-lined Arctic Char
out of the creek, which we ate seasoned with ground up salt tablets. Back out at Lake
Takahula two days went by and a plane appeared high in the sky. I
grabbed a tin plate and ran a sun beam along the ground then up, hoping
to vector in on the plane... success... it was Andy on a mail run; I hit
him right in the eye. In later correspondence Andy said that he
could in fact make a turn in the valley and drop on the way out, down
valley. Therefore in 1964 we hiked in first and set up a drop zone with
reflective tarps. Andy flew in piloting the Pilatus Porter, managed to
make the drop by himself and fly the plane as well (Andy was a very
skilled pilot able to take a quick catnap in the deserted Brooks Range
air space; if the plane deviated slightly from the intended direction, he
would correct immediately). In 1964 we recovered some of the 1963 gear,
including some chrome-moly pitons made by Chouinard and some Gold Line rope donated to the expedition by Allied Chemical. We did leave a cache on top of a large boulder on the valley floor, consisting of a wall tent and a few food items; the pictured items found by the 2009 expedition do not appear to match up with the stuff we left.
Comparing these recent and excellent photos to ours from the 60's, it
would seem the glaciers have retreated about 80 percent in the last 45
years.The photo of the Wichmann Tower on the Stanford web site http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/arrig/index.htm I took in 1963, on a reconnaissance flight "donated" by
Andy, illustrates the
extensive snow and ice of the 1960's. I recall dropping into a small
crevasse bridged with snow on the glacier coming out from The Pyramid
where, from what I can see in the recent photos, there is now nothing
but rock.
For more information contact me at brownell@truchasstudio.com
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 22, 2009 - 07:39pm PT
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So cool of you to contribute your comments, Brownell !
Although the snow/ice has receded, it seems clear that some things haven't changed in 45 years - it's still a place for tough guys (and gals), and bears still have a presence!
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blacksun
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe, California
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Aug 22, 2009 - 08:22pm PT
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Wow!
What a great adventure and a fantastic presentation!
My favorite TR ever!
Your photographs are fantastic. I love how the smoke added a dream-like quality, then the blue sky arrives, amazing!!!
You should shop this for print, maybe add just a little more on the actual climbing obstacles and on route pics if you have them, and it's perfect.
Thanks for putting out the energy to share with everyone. I'm sure it is inspiring many. Good on you guys!
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Aug 23, 2009 - 12:29am PT
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Hey!
What a great trip report.
What beautiful pictures and what wonderful times you guys had.
Thanks so much for sharing the love of the climbing adventure!
It's post like yours that make this the best climbing forum on the web.
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sollybonton
Trad climber
leavenworth, wa
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Aug 23, 2009 - 01:33am PT
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badass!
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Prezwoodz
Big Wall climber
Anchorage
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2009 - 03:54am PT
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Thank you for posting Brownell! I love the experience that radiates from this board!
Thank you to everyone who has posted as well!
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Aug 23, 2009 - 08:39am PT
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As I recall Arrigetch means "fingers of the hand outstrecthed".
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Aug 23, 2009 - 11:26am PT
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Wow, great TR!
We flew in from Bettles to "circle lake", a little pond, for our hike around the Arrigetch in the late 80's.
Your shots of some of the full body workout climbing kinda bring back some of those memories...yikes!
And the skeeters were awful.
Wonder if the cache is from Roberts and crew?
Be fun to go back and climb...man, that's burly terrain. I'd need a Sherpa fo' sho'.
Cheers!
-Brian in SLC
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Mike Howard
climber
Taos,NM
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Aug 23, 2009 - 11:35am PT
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Brown, Thanks for the historical reference. I would love to see some of your photos of the original expedition added here, the routes you did and the names of your partners, etc. Bump for a tremendous TR, hanging some proud boys. Cheers
Late edit: The Stanford site has some remarkable photos and the routes are listed. Great stuff.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Aug 26, 2009 - 09:10pm PT
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Hahahahaha! I've been saving my bump for this, the coolest TR in a while. Peaks I haven't seen much of, photos out of the Lord of the Rings, it doesn't get much better.
Keep posting photos, if you've been there.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Aug 27, 2009 - 03:52am PT
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My god that is the best TR I have ever seen.
Perfect mountains, views, meadows, aqua green bugs, the works.
Great photography, some really stunning shots in there!
Now I have something to dream about.
Mucci
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Aug 28, 2009 - 05:59pm PT
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WOW! holy f'kn shizzle batman!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Aug 30, 2009 - 09:17am PT
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A great TR with some stunning photos that deserves continual bumping.
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Prezwoodz
Big Wall climber
Anchorage
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2009 - 12:05am PT
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Thanks again for all the awesome posts! I sent it out to a few magazines to see if anyone would want to run a portion of it. Maybe it can make it's way in. Would be a first for me!
Here is a climb I named Derringer Chimney, it faces Shot Tower and is not all that long. We used the day as a cragging rest day. It's probably 5.7 or 5.8 and fun. These three pictures were taken by Rob or Marcin.
Me Heading in:
Me getting stuck.
Marcin Follows:
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tooth
Mountain climber
Guam
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Sep 18, 2009 - 10:51pm PT
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Thanks! That was an awesome TR!
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Hoots
climber
Toyota Tacoma
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Bump for one of my favorite TRs.
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ncrockclimber
climber
NC
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This is an awesome trip report that deserves to be back on the front page. I get wood every time i read it!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Glad this great TR has poked its head up again! Thanks!
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Mar 24, 2011 - 01:22pm PT
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Bump
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Mar 26, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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Double bump, reading about this in Jack Roberts books and seeing this TR makes me want to go sooooobad.
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