Went up to Wa Pass for a couple days with Takeo, Andre and Tom. Brrrr, it was cold.
Sunday we hiked out to Kangaroo Temple to climb the NW Face. The route follows the obvious left facing features just right of center.
At the base of the route, we found a bit of damp rock with icicles. The first pitch was sparsely protectable and slabby. Takeo is at the belay on the right, Tom following, and Andre leading on the left.
Andre and Takeo at the first belay.
The rest of the climb was on more featured terrain. The climbing was moderate and fun, the only problem was keeping hands warm on the cold rock. The occasional light snow flurries kept things interesting as well.
Tom, Takeo, and I are old hands at this, but KT was Andre's first Int rock lead. We scratched up his shiny trad gear in fine style.
Monday, Takeo, Andre and I headed over to SEWS for the SW Face. Since Andre needed credit, we made him do most of the leading, which he did in reasonable style. Here he's on the second pitch working on his crack technique.
And the sixth pitch working on his slab climbing.
Although it was cold and breezy for most of the climb, the winds died down once we reached the summit. The weather still looked a bit sketchy, though.
So we beat a hasty retreat down the south arete. This was the first time I've not encountered other parties on the descent, so it went pretty quickly.
The sun was out by the time we reached the base, making for a comfortable hike back to the car. Nice to the thawed out for once.
It's your lead. Chop, chop.