10-MAR-2007
Wake up! (nate)
We started at about 10 to 4 in the morning. I arrived at Nate’s place, who had awoke at 3am, we loaded up, and we hit the highway.
11-MAR-2007
@ 80km/h (Nate)
The ride was uneventful until, for whatever reason, I decided to get on the 400 north instead of hitting the 115 outside of the shwa. Here I am doing some map reading trying to figure the best route. Nate couldn't help but shoot this image.
11-MAR-2007
Saaaave meeeeeeee (nate)
Anyway, some route finding and snowy swerving at hardwood hills and Nate putting his climbing helmet on later we got to Bancroft. We hit up the Tim Horton’s which seems to be requisite when you go to the Eagles Nest, drove behind the plaza, and prepped for the approach.
11-MAR-2007
Harry and The Eiger
Due to the warm weather and the fact that the sun would bake a lot of the cliff Nate decided it would be a good idea to lead Dirty Harry (WI 4+), seen here, right away to ensure safe passage. I agreed. The north Face of the Eiger is noted, which was my lead after Dirty Harry.
11-MAR-2007
Nate on Dirty Harry (WI4+)
Here is Nate under the overhung, nasty ice on Dirty Harry.
He had some pins, a spectre, and some hope as gear. Seconding it
was awesome and pulling onto the ice was hard but fun.
11-MAR-2007
Nate topping out on dirty harry
Nate is almost at the anchor here after a bulge and squeeze between the ice and a boulder. The top wasn't as trivial as we both thought it would be.
11-MAR-2007
Dirty Harry summit (nate)
Preparing to rap Dirty Harry.
11-MAR-2007
contrived 1 (nate)
Next it was my lead. I saw ice up high (North Face of the Eiger) and a possible route up the slab of rock to gain it. It looked fairly trivial and I thought there were holds all over figuring I’d run up the rock to the ice and finish the lead quickly.
11-MAR-2007
snow is soft (nate)
With my feet 8 or so feet off the snow and not a bad hook with my left tool gained, I popped off and landed in the snow! Nate was awfully concerned! I was fine, though, and laughing. Although it was a head scratcher as to why I fell. I think I'll blame the pesky "lack of skill and gear."
11-MAR-2007
contrived 2 (nate)
I tried again to the right and ended up attempting to do something stupid, contrived, and mostly pointless, so I came back down, went up to retrieve a nut, and looked for another place to use up my turn. Here is the second attempt line.
11-MAR-2007
Finally, a Route (NF of Eiger)
For my third and final attempt Nate brought me around the corner to a dihedral with a line that he was interested in. I looked up and saw some poor ice and some tiny seams, but, with some encouragement, I tied in and grabbed the pin hammer and a small pin rack. Now, to give some background, I’ve pounded one pin on lead and I used the hammer I welded onto my tool, which is not that heavy, to say the least. It would be interesting to get on a difficult route and partially learn pitoncraft!
Nate made the first couple moves off the ground and I saw that there were some small holds that might bring me up enough to get to some gear and keep me off the snow covered, cooler sized boulders at the bottom. I got on the route and pulled on some small crap, hit a great hold behind a flake, placed my right frontpoint on an edge (right foot in this shot), and tried to get some gear. 10 or so feet up and a reasonable pin sunk I tried for the ice.
11-MAR-2007
Some thicker ice
A few more feet, another couple pins topped, and I was slinging a tiny cedar frozen in the ice. There was one screw below me – the couple I placed all hit rock after about 10cm so I chose one and tied it off! My one pick was beaten already from pounding on the ice below me so ice placements were interesting! My picks would sink, sometimes; the sharp one was fine, but the blunt one bounced out, off, and broke the ice.
