Andy Jacobsen called Tue night and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. “Do you want to come with Travis and I to ski Lone Peak? We are planning on skinning up into the cirque, climbing a 5.10 route on the summit wall with skis on and descending the Northeast Couloir”. Andy has been talking/daydreaming about this project for a bit, but I never thought it would actually go down. Despite having very little climbing experience I wanted in.
The following is our trip report from a long day requiring many pics-
AJ sets his watch to record the day at the trail-head in Draper.
Travis Kemp left, Andy Jacobsen right. Long dirt road approach.
Shedding some layers early on.
Travis deep in the scrub oak on Jacob's Ladder.
This is the first time I’ve taken trail shoes, climbing shoes and ski boots into the mountains. They all came in real handy, but I felt like Imelda Marcos.
Hit snow line about 7K and booted a bit.
Travis gets the first glimpse of the climbing objective.
If we can climb this?
We'll be right on top of this and get to ski down!
Getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Still much doing to be done.
We rolled into the granite cirque and the badass mofo climbers went over the route on Summit Wall.
I melted water.
Refueled and refreshed from the really long approach we made the final move to the wall.
We found it! Gulp!
Trav took the lead on the lower 5.8 section.
The cracks still held snow and ice which made it one of the more challenging things Travis has done. And this kid has done some crazy and challenging things.
AJ belaying with that smile he gets when things get interesting.
I followed up next making a few moves I would call ‘climbing’ then thrutching around for a bit and finally reverting to jugging most of the way.
Can you say in over your head. I can!
Andy crushing it. He and I had our skis and Trav's skis split between us.
AJ nearing the belay station.
I know I’m a super novice, but I can’t say enough about how impressively Andy and Travis both climbed. I don’t like using the word crazy because it’s not. It’s time, experience and mastery being pushed to the limit.
Sick and twisted good times brought to you by this gentleman.
It was getting late in the day with slower going than we had anticipated due to the wet rock.
We got to watch this huge wet slide rip by a neighboring slope as well as golden eagles and hawks buzzing overhead. Beautiful place to spend a Wednesday afternoon.
Travis led the next pitch, a dry 5.6 which brought us to the crux.
The crux! This final pitch is a 5.10 overhanging roof crack.
This was the big reason Andy and Travis had chosen our route. They wanted to climb this pitch. There are plenty of easier routes we could have climbed and then hiked to the summit. These guys don’t seek out ‘easy’.
The sun was dropping low, the rock was cooling and we still had a scramble through rock and snow to the summit after this pitch. We would have had to haul all the packs (and me) which would be a lengthy effort. None of us were excited about a bushwhack out Bells Canyon in the dark. Unfortunately, our climb ends here, staring up at what was soo close, but soo far.
A quick rap off the wall put us back in the cirque.
It felt really good to get out of that vertical world and back onto my old trusted friend the snow. If you look close you can see Andy and Travis at the base of the route on the left above the cliffs.
We all learned a good bit that day, about the route and ourselves.
Success is surviving and picking your battles. We will be back soon.
The ski out was delicious sunset corn for most of the way.
We made it back to the trail exhausted, just before dark.
Talked a lot on the hike out, about what to do different next time, and what was for dinner.
Checking back in with the watch at the car. 6,300ft of ascending and the same amount on the descent.
Thanks for letting me tag along guys. Redefining epic!
