Rainbow Peak Rock Climbing, Alaska 05/07/08
Dane and I decided quickly that it was to beautiful of a day to waste sitting around town or getting "societal" things done. So what else was there to do then go spend a day in the mountains? We thought at first about climbing The Wedge and doing a rock climb to get to the summit. We made of list of the items that would make it nice and relatively painless. Skii's, Snowshoes,Gaiters and Nutella. We had the Nutella. A plan-b was needed at this point. It was decided we would go climb a route on Rainbow Peak since it was relatively dry at this point in the year. We hopped in the jeep and hoped we had enough gas.
We didn't know it at the time but this would end up being our route up the rock portion of the hike. We roped up for 2 pitches and walked around on some sections. The wind was mercilous and probably shortened our climbing portion from some more enticing sections.
As we were hiking around a section I had to wonder about the possiblities on this wall. I think it would benefit from a bolting effort and some cleaning could leave some really nice routes. I would guess this rock face is 100ft atleast.
This is the roof section of the wall. Seriously neat stuff.
Dane looks for a good place to start heading up.
While I was belaying for Dane I was atleast partially out of the wind so I had time to take out my camera and shoot a picture from the belay station. There have been worst views...
We climbed a portion which dane moved around to the side on and I got to follow. I would guess it was probably the most difficult portion of the climb probably being around 5.10 or a bit less. I would have skipped it too if I had been leading it, no protection and crappy rock with a really bad fall. Dane didn't much feel like leading with his body frozen and it seemed like a good place to swap gear.
So we continued on and got to the most enjoyable climbing of the trip. This is not a very long crack system but by this point the wind was around 40mph. My fingers didn't have much feeling and my body was chilled immensly. The only gloves I had brought were on Danes hands and for some reason I figured he needed the hat more then I did as well. I yelled my way through it just to keep my mind off my frozen hands and lead up through the right crack in the photo.
Here is Dane following up the crack. I figure it probably was only about 5.7 or 5.8 maybe 5.9 with the wind factor.
Still he handled it in expert style.
Dane decided to keep his feet warm by wearing his hiking shoes for this portion.
After this pitch we scrambled a few feet to the summit where we enjoyed windy views and ran down the peak to the tree's fast as our frozen bodies allowed.
It was a great day to be out overall and slightly less epic then expected for going on a trip with Dane!
We didn't know it at the time but this would end up being our route up the rock portion of the hike. We roped up for 2 pitches and walked around on some sections. The wind was mercilous and probably shortened our climbing portion from some more enticing sections.
As we were hiking around a section I had to wonder about the possiblities on this wall. I think it would benefit from a bolting effort and some cleaning could leave some really nice routes. I would guess this rock face is 100ft atleast.
This is the roof section of the wall. Seriously neat stuff.
Dane looks for a good place to start heading up.
While I was belaying for Dane I was atleast partially out of the wind so I had time to take out my camera and shoot a picture from the belay station. There have been worst views...
We climbed a portion which dane moved around to the side on and I got to follow. I would guess it was probably the most difficult portion of the climb probably being around 5.10 or a bit less. I would have skipped it too if I had been leading it, no protection and crappy rock with a really bad fall. Dane didn't much feel like leading with his body frozen and it seemed like a good place to swap gear.
So we continued on and got to the most enjoyable climbing of the trip. This is not a very long crack system but by this point the wind was around 40mph. My fingers didn't have much feeling and my body was chilled immensly. The only gloves I had brought were on Danes hands and for some reason I figured he needed the hat more then I did as well. I yelled my way through it just to keep my mind off my frozen hands and lead up through the right crack in the photo.
Here is Dane following up the crack. I figure it probably was only about 5.7 or 5.8 maybe 5.9 with the wind factor.
Still he handled it in expert style.
Dane decided to keep his feet warm by wearing his hiking shoes for this portion.
After this pitch we scrambled a few feet to the summit where we enjoyed windy views and ran down the peak to the tree's fast as our frozen bodies allowed.
It was a great day to be out overall and slightly less epic then expected for going on a trip with Dane!
My Pictures can be seen at http://prezwoodz.smugmug.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
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Comments
Slackers
Thanks for sharing your journey--and some nice pics!
Lauren
Lauren Blackwell
www.redleashphoto.com
very most impressive !!
5 stars !
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Great set, love it.
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Also Happy birthday Andy! I'm pretty sure the Peppermint Hot Chocolates we drank after the climb was in your honor.
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com