The Blue Light Special

Though I had spent most of the past week in a benadryl and illness induced coma, the high pressure system and a couple motivated partners spurred me to consciousness.  Though I ended up drafting on my partners more than usual (especial at camp) still manage to lead a couple solid blocks of leads and together we completed a first winter ascent on a big route in good style.  Surprisingly everything went to plan.  We made it to the bivouac on day one with minimal night climbing, made it to the summit and back down to our packs in the daylight, even the snowmobile ran on our trip out!

Our line followed the buttress between the two prominent couloir systems

Jens has to be the most knowledgeable person for the Stuart Range.  He claims something like 180+ trips into the range... I thought I was bored of the area after maybe 18 trips! Unfortunately the line was nearly devoid of climbable ice being mostly comprised of frozen turf, snowy rock and icy cracks.  It wasn't dry enough to take off the crampons or even holster the tools for a pitch nor was it icy enough to prevent complete dulling of those points.  A small price to pay... gear is meant to be used after all.

The Blue Light Special 

Me scraping up the lower buttress on day one

We climbed in blocks of 2-4 pitches depending on terrain.  On the first day Jens and I both lead a three pitch block which brought us to a rappel and a short traversing pitch to the narrow bivouac ledge.  There is nothing I love more than an alpine bivy where you have to guy the tent to keep it from rolling off a cliff and stay tied in for the entire night... sleeping with a helmet on gives you bonus points.

Pretty awesome exposure on day two... the void looking right back...

 Colin lead out on day two.  His block had some amazing exposure.  I mentioned to Colin that it was like looking into the void, then realizing it was staring back at you (Nietzsche?).  Jens with his vast area experience knew every turn of the upper ridge and ended up taking another block with long simul-climbing sections.  I took the final block which culminated in a complex pitch to the windy summit anchor.

Jens negotiating the hurricane winds at the summit

It's pretty rare that an alpine climb works out... but this one did in essentially every aspect.  Colin even made it to his party in Seattle on day two!