John working his way up in the dark, as soon as we hit the snow we were able to turn off the headlamps and use the moon to light our way. We stopped in a flat spot with willows to put on our crampons.
There is nothing like the rush of sunrise in an alpine setting pure energy, all smiles.
John lining up with the Bell Cord. Alpenglow hitting the peaks. Most of the way up we had perfect cramponing snow which softened as the sun came up. We were able to kick steps when we exited the couloir.
Me measuring the slope by placing the slope card on the shaft of my mountaineering axe. The lower angles I measured were around 35 degrees the highest was 43. Generally the slope seemed to be at around 39 degrees in these conditions. I am full of energy and excitement as the sun is coming up, that expression on my face will soon change as I gain higher elevation.
The runnels looking up the couloir formed by falling rock and ice. You can see rocks lying in the snow. Soon after this photo we got to the left side of the large runnel which was about 5 - 6 feet deep. Rocks and ice chunks began to come off the wall on the North side, they would bounce down towards us and the runnel would capture them. Both of us were climbing a little slower as we always had to keep an eye on the crumbling mountains above.
John has a natural talent for photography. The photos in this blog are a mix, most of the good ones are his.
.John exiting the couloir.
My weak attempt at staging a dramatic couloir exit photo swinging my ice axes. Pyramid Peak, another 14er, is behind me.
Exhausted after the long snow climb I took break in the saddle on top of the couloir and tried to cool off. The smile from the earlier photos is gone.
Looking from the saddle facing west, phase 1 is complete, over that side is where our route goes next.
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