August 22, 2007

Guide Jason Martin called in yesterday evening to report that his climb with Angelique Augereau (Albany, CA) on Mt. Whitney's East Face went very well. He relayed the following:

"Angelique and I met at a cafe at 8am to do our orientation and gear check. We then drove to Cardinal Pinnacle for some climbing practice before heading up to Whitney. We climbed the Original Route on Cardinal Pinnacle, which went fast - Angelique is a strong climber. The climb itself was a 5.6 route and about 4 pitches. Then, for some extra practice, she and I rapelled a 5.12 route that had lots of overhangs so we got to practice a hanging rapel with lots of exposure - fun!"

"The next day we drove to Lone Pine and picked up our climbing permit. We then began our approach to Whitney. It's a pretty long hike, over 4,000 feet of elevation gain and about 6 miles, and part of the trail involves scrambling through talus and scree. We arrived at Iceberg Lake and were happy to unload our packs. There were lots of other climbing parties camping, but most of them were planning to climb the Mountaineers Route."

"After bivying by the lake, we woke at 4am, left at 5am, and were on route at 6am. The very first pitch is sort of the crux of the route - it's not the technical crux but is the mental crux! We climbed up a little ways, then found ourselves looking down 1000 feet, over which we had to make a very airy traverse on a foot ledge with not too much for handholds. The technical difficulty drops to fourth and low fifth class on the next few pitches. Then we got to the Fresh Air Traverse. This pitch is the most fun on whole climb - it's mildly traversey and on 5.6 - 5.7 terrain. Next came the Grand Staircase. At the top of the Staircase lies the technical crux of the route, which involves climbing up a corner and through a sort of chimney/offwidth - about 5.7 - 5.8. Angelique did great on this part. We then had maybe about four pitches of easy climbing left until the summit. It's pretty wild because you can hear people talking and see people sitting near the edge as you approach the top. At the top, of course, everybody up there (the vast majority of whom walked up) was amazed and wanted to talk to us!"

"We summited at 1pm and started descending at 1:30. It took two hours to descend back to the lake. We hung out the rest of the day and went to bed early, then the next morning had a leisurely start and left camp at 9am. We were back at the car by 1pm. All in all, it was a great trip and Angelique did very well. It was a rather uneventful climb, which isn't a bad thing! Hopefully, I'll be seeing Angelique in Red Rock this winter for some sunny desert climbing!"