17 Routes and a Highline (22img)
After training ended late thursday night, my wife and I met up with Kelsey and headed into the mountains. We drove back to a small cabin at the end of Archangel road and crashed for the remainder of the night, then got up Friday and hiked in to the climbing. The day started with some good sunshine, and we settled in toclimb all of the routes on one wall, so Kelsey could get the details for the guidebook he's writing.
Here's Kelsey, recording notes on a couple of the routes early in the day.
Kelsey follows up an easy route as the sky clouds over.
The nature of these mountain valleys is such that you can usually see the weather coming and know exactly what it will do, but only about five minutes before it hits you. At this point we noted the rain moving in over the shoulder of a nearby mountain, and prepared to get wet. There's still a touch of blue overhead, but we've spent too much time here to be fooled so easily.
The smart thing to do when climbing in the rain is to give up, head back to the tent, and eat some warm food and wait for good weather. We decided instead to climb a 5.10 slab route, pretending the streams of water flowing down the rock won't actually make it treacherously slippery. Kelsey prepares the belay as the first drops fall.
As Kelsey nears the crux of this featureless face, I manage to snap a quick butt-shot. The slippery rock elicits girly screams from both of us when our feet begin slowly sliding off the nonexistent footholds. Eventually we both manage to top out, soaked, but stoked. It worked out a bit better than expected.
At that point, wisdom got the better of us and we wandered back to the tents to get out of the rain.
It didn't take long for the sun to find its way back to our valley, and after a few minutes of waiting to give the rocks some drying time, we were back at it. This time we climbed a large split boulder on the valley floor. This rock is the size of a house and sits alone in the tundra, shattered as though it was somehow dropped straight out of the sky.
I had great angles from the top of the rock, so here's a few shots of different routes.
Here's Tracy, to prove she was really there and climbing!
And for the last climbing shot of the trip, here's Kelsey pulling down on some hard moves on the steep side of the boulder. After this route, we moved back up to the cliffs and eventually finished up with a tally of seventeen climbs in one day, despite the rain that came and went the whole time.
Late that night sometime we awoke to someone outside our tent calling my name. Our friends Ty and Will had heard we were out climbing and made the trip from Anchorage in hopes of rigging and walking the Reed Creek highline. I didn't have the gear for it, and neither did they, so I immediately fell back asleep.
We woke the next morning to more rain, so we weren't too stoked about climbing. Having completely forgotten the events of the night, I pondered what to do for the day. That's when somebody mentioned "Did Ty and Will really come by last night, or was that just a dream?" Pulling our scattered and groggy thoughts together, we came up with the plan of improvising the highline rigging and just walking the line instead of climbing, so I took off to find Ty, Will, and their gear. Jake and Sam were also out from Anchorage, along with Ty's dog, Blanco.
An hour or two later we had the line rigged and ready to walk.
Kelsey's mind balks at the idea of stepping out over the creek.
Ty steps up to the challenge. Walking barefoot is often the prefference of highliners, to get a bit more sensitivity of the movements of the line.
Will gives it a go. He didn't manage to make the walk this time, but I'm sure he'll be back.
Ty takes a fall, catching the line nicely, and exhibiting perfect facial form.
Eventually Ty made the walk, I believe his third highline ever. Then their group took off, due to obligations with something they called "work" later that evening. We stuck around with the line.
Kelsey gave it a few more tries, and managed to make it across in excellent form. A highlining first for him!
Kelsey worked a few falls trying to walk back the other way, which was made a bit more difficult by the leash and abrupt edge on this side of the creek.
After the fun and games ended, we wandered our way out and home to warm up and eat something for a change. One more weekend's adventuring to add to life's little experiences!
Here's Kelsey, recording notes on a couple of the routes early in the day.
Kelsey follows up an easy route as the sky clouds over.
The nature of these mountain valleys is such that you can usually see the weather coming and know exactly what it will do, but only about five minutes before it hits you. At this point we noted the rain moving in over the shoulder of a nearby mountain, and prepared to get wet. There's still a touch of blue overhead, but we've spent too much time here to be fooled so easily.
The smart thing to do when climbing in the rain is to give up, head back to the tent, and eat some warm food and wait for good weather. We decided instead to climb a 5.10 slab route, pretending the streams of water flowing down the rock won't actually make it treacherously slippery. Kelsey prepares the belay as the first drops fall.
As Kelsey nears the crux of this featureless face, I manage to snap a quick butt-shot. The slippery rock elicits girly screams from both of us when our feet begin slowly sliding off the nonexistent footholds. Eventually we both manage to top out, soaked, but stoked. It worked out a bit better than expected.
At that point, wisdom got the better of us and we wandered back to the tents to get out of the rain.
It didn't take long for the sun to find its way back to our valley, and after a few minutes of waiting to give the rocks some drying time, we were back at it. This time we climbed a large split boulder on the valley floor. This rock is the size of a house and sits alone in the tundra, shattered as though it was somehow dropped straight out of the sky.
I had great angles from the top of the rock, so here's a few shots of different routes.
Here's Tracy, to prove she was really there and climbing!
And for the last climbing shot of the trip, here's Kelsey pulling down on some hard moves on the steep side of the boulder. After this route, we moved back up to the cliffs and eventually finished up with a tally of seventeen climbs in one day, despite the rain that came and went the whole time.
Late that night sometime we awoke to someone outside our tent calling my name. Our friends Ty and Will had heard we were out climbing and made the trip from Anchorage in hopes of rigging and walking the Reed Creek highline. I didn't have the gear for it, and neither did they, so I immediately fell back asleep.
We woke the next morning to more rain, so we weren't too stoked about climbing. Having completely forgotten the events of the night, I pondered what to do for the day. That's when somebody mentioned "Did Ty and Will really come by last night, or was that just a dream?" Pulling our scattered and groggy thoughts together, we came up with the plan of improvising the highline rigging and just walking the line instead of climbing, so I took off to find Ty, Will, and their gear. Jake and Sam were also out from Anchorage, along with Ty's dog, Blanco.
An hour or two later we had the line rigged and ready to walk.
Kelsey's mind balks at the idea of stepping out over the creek.
Ty steps up to the challenge. Walking barefoot is often the prefference of highliners, to get a bit more sensitivity of the movements of the line.
Will gives it a go. He didn't manage to make the walk this time, but I'm sure he'll be back.
Ty takes a fall, catching the line nicely, and exhibiting perfect facial form.
Eventually Ty made the walk, I believe his third highline ever. Then their group took off, due to obligations with something they called "work" later that evening. We stuck around with the line.
Kelsey gave it a few more tries, and managed to make it across in excellent form. A highlining first for him!
Kelsey worked a few falls trying to walk back the other way, which was made a bit more difficult by the leash and abrupt edge on this side of the creek.
After the fun and games ended, we wandered our way out and home to warm up and eat something for a change. One more weekend's adventuring to add to life's little experiences!
John Borland
www.morffed.com
www.morffed.com
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Comments
I like the shots from the creek. Cool.
And this was just two days' worth!
www.morffed.com
I love it!!!!!
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