Climbed the South Face of Mt. Watkins with Nick. Definitely the toughest climb I've ever done. Spent two nights on the wall. 19 pitches, heinous approach and descent, got a quick sierra storm, and took some nice falls.
First ascent by Warren Harding, Yvon Chouinard, and Chuck Pratt over 5 days in 1964. They took 1.5 L/person/day. We took about 1.2 Gallons/person/day... and we were THIRSTY. Warren Harding was also superhuman.
Many prominent roofs, ledges, and crack systems aren't marked on the topo, but we always thought, "what would the first ascent party do here" and after a climbing for a few minutes, we'd usually find a bolt or some other indicator that we were on route... adventure climbing at it's best.
To hear about the first ascent, read Chuck Pratt's account here. http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=637156
First ascent by Warren Harding, Yvon Chouinard, and Chuck Pratt over 5 days in 1964. They took 1.5 L/person/day. We took about 1.2 Gallons/person/day... and we were THIRSTY. Warren Harding was also superhuman.
Many prominent roofs, ledges, and crack systems aren't marked on the topo, but we always thought, "what would the first ascent party do here" and after a climbing for a few minutes, we'd usually find a bolt or some other indicator that we were on route... adventure climbing at it's best.
To hear about the first ascent, read Chuck Pratt's account here. http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=637156
And finally after the 5th haul of the day... we finally got to the start of the "climb." This was around 2 or 3 pm.
Nick leading the first pitch. We had a few choices here. Either go for it and try to get to the Sheraton-Watkins ledge on pitch 8, or fix the first two pitches and sleep at the base. (note: topo says this goes straight up... obviously does not).
Lots of pretty flowers. Don't know what this is called, but this was my favorite... EDIT: canyon live-forever...
So we decided to go for it. Mainly cuz we had already drank our rationed quantity of water for the day, and we knew we were gonna be thirsty. (note: pitch 2 does not have hook moves... or a C1 section... nor any bolts on pitch 3 or 4.)
Nick starting up pitch 5... with Watkins Pinnacle behind him.
(note: this roof isn't marked on the topo... or the trees)
(note: this roof isn't marked on the topo... or the trees)
A different view of half dome from here. We could see the line of tourists going up the cables all day long. At night we saw a few "in-a-day" folks that were making their way up the Regular Route. They topped out around 2 am.
Looking down from the top of pitch 4. Yeah... 4 pitches of the "climb" and 5 pitches of the "approach."
Like the three No. 1 cams used for the anchor?
Hauling up to pitch 5, Nick somehow managed to get the tag line stuck on a cam. Took a little while to get this out... taking a pic while resting...
Pitch 6 was significantly longer and harder than pitch 5, the topo doesn't really differentiate between the two, however.
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