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INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN CLIMBING SCHOOL
WELCOMES YOU TO THE 16th ANNUAL
MOUNT
WASHINGTON VALLEY
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I
C E F E S T I V A L 2009 |
| THURSDAY,
FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 5, 6, 7 & 9 |
| M-16
Under the Gun on Howse Peak |
Written
by:
Steve House |
| On
March 23-27 Scott Backes, Barry Blanchard, and I climbed a new
route, M-16 (twice as hard as M8), on the East Face of Howse
Peak. We climbed twelve 5th class pitches up to A2 and WI 7+,
connected with long sections of 4th class ground. |
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first day was spent 3rd classing the lower snow slopes to the
first technical pitch, a WI 6 pitch led by Backes. A long 4th
class traverse led us to the first crux, an honest WI 7 pitch.
After a bivouac in a snow cave, we climbed the most sustained
section of the route: four 200 foot pitches, the first two being
WI 4/5 on bad ice. The third pitch was the crux of the route
and the hardest any of us has climbed, or seen climbed, in the
mountains. The fourth pitch was awkward aid, led by Blanchard. |
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The crux
began with a section of snow-filled "water-ice" leading to
a snow covered traverse which, after much digging and cleaning
of
loose holds, proved to be easy 5.5. That got you to the meat
of the pitch: an eighty foot convex strip, one foot wide,
never more than one inch thick, vertical in several places
and taking on a largely snow-like consistency. The climbing
was sustained and the pitch took me three hours to lead. One
of the difficult moves consisted of pushing down on the head
of my ice tool with one hand while reaching up with the other
tool for a placement. The ice was too thin to swing at so
I chipped an edge into it and laid my pick on it sideways
like a dry-tool placement. I have led a number of WI 7 pitches
and found this to be significantly harder.
The next day was stormy and we spent thirty-six hours in the
snowcave. We had 1,500 feet of snow and ice climbing to finish
the route, so on the fourth day of the climb, with the storm
easing, we left everything in the cave and made a fast push
for the top.
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| Backes
led an 800-foot long snow traverse with flutings reminiscent
of a Peruvian snow face. We then did a short rappel into an
ice gully which George Lowe and Jock Glidden had partially climbed
in the early 70's as a variation to the NE ridge. On the second
pitch in the gully, Backes was swept off his feet by a large
spindrift avalanche. We could see the ridgeline above us and
were determined not to let our efforts be for naught. We finished
our last pitch directly under an honest 40-foot cornice and
immediately set about rapping back to the cave. |
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On the last rap back into the cave Scott and I were down and
Blanchard had just rigged his device when a collapsing snow
mushroom hit him with force enough to rip half the anchor, shear
his pack from his back, and break his helmet. |
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next day we rappelled ten pitches and Blanchard, unable to weight
his leg or bend his knee, was helicoptered off the face from
the last rappel anchor (a spare pick driven as a piton). While
X-rays revealed no broken bones, the examining doctor found
the knee capsule to be inflated with blood. We made it back
to town with just enough time to clean up for Barry's fortieth
birthday party which most of the town of Canmore, and every
Rockies climber around, attended. |
Summary:
M-16 climbs the 3,500' East Face of Howse Peak in the Canadian
Rockies.
It was climbed over five days and rated VI, A2, WI 7+. |
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