S. Face of Mt. Watkins with Nick (June 19, 2008) - Page 5

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

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rigged up the tarp taut, so we were cozy... The winds were insane at times.. and I thought the tarp might fly away... But silnylon is tough!

And even took a "shower"... We decided we were equally dirty.

And we spent about 2 hours "chillin" We heard some distant thunder, and we were ready to lower our gear out on the tag line, but never heard anything too close, so decided not to.

And soon, the sky opened back up again, and we resumed climbing. We were hoping to top out on Day 2, sleep on the top, but because of this delay, we knew we were spending another night on the wall. We could've lowered down from pitch 14, using the tagline and the climbing rope down to pitch 11 and slept on a ledge, but we decided to fix the next one and sleep here.

What the hell is this? Never seen a "bolt" like that before. I had a tough time climbing the "bolt ladder" and took 2 falls off of cam hooks. The first time, both cam hooks popped and I fell about 30 ft, the next time, the other hook held my fall. Which bent the hook...

After fixing pitch 15, and lowering, it was dark. We "re-inflated" some of our water bottles, gear, clothing, put it in the nooks of our ledge... And actually had a comfy place to sleep.

Water never tasted so good!!!

My bed for the night. Called up Kim and Kelly from this ledge, and fell asleep listening to "this american life"... the wall box (i.e. small stereo attached to an iPod) is a key item to keep moral high amongst the troops. For this climb, I just took my "legs" for cycling, and my shorts. I also had a down jacket too, which I used as a pillow for the night.