TR: Summer Solstice with the Aliens at GBNP
I apologize right away for the "poor form" of not posting the "original" GBNP TR before this one, but I haven't had time to put together the video yet from the "original" trip on June 11/12.
Anyways, on the "original" trip my buddy JWest spied the lil ditty of a line pictured below. I always like bringing back "projects" for Trackhead so I passed the photo on to him. Needless to say he probably didn't sleep for a week he was twitchin so hard. I got numerous vulgar PM's for beta and threats of an ass kickin if beta was not given :cussing:
The call came last Thursday and a message was left that it was a good thing I got next Tuesday (yesterday) off because Andrew McLean was coming along also. Oh great, now I not only will get my ass handed to me by Trackhead, but also McLean. Yahoo, lets go. :rolleyes:
I was curious if the line would be a first ascent, so I e-mailed the Park Ranger is this is what he had to say back:
Mr Xover,
Thank you for your question. At this time, I am not aware of anyone skiing that particular chute.
It wouldn't be advised due to extreme safety concerns. The rock in that area is very unstable, as is most of the ice and snow. I was in the cirque this weekend, and witnessed several small rock falls/avalanches in that area. The snow pack is melting rapidly, taking down small sections of the wall with it.
There are several other ski options in that area, with varying degrees of difficulty. Climbing up the slope towards the glacier and skiing down from there would be a definite challenge, with great views and a step angle.
If you have any further inquires, please feel free to e-mail again, call the park @ (775) 234-7331, or check out our website @ www.nps.gov/grba.
Thanks again,
Andy Marchand
National Park Service
Park Ranger
Great Basin National Park
With the thoughts of a first descent up for grabs, that only made Trackhead twitch all the more and get a small chuckle outta Andrew. :D
We rocketed outta SLC Monday night after work and roll into the Wheeler Peak Campground parking lot at dusk and hit the hay shortly after that.
Awoke the next morning and were skinning by 5 (4 am pacific coast time) and were a little wary as the snowpack had not frozen at 10k.
A shot of the line, dubbed Alien Chute by Trackhead, taken on June 12, 2005 from the West side of the cirque
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42530.jpg
A shot from yesterday on the East side of the cirque
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42531.jpg
Pink sunset in the middle of the Great Basin on the drive down...
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42532.jpg
that turned to orange as the sun set for the day...
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42533.jpg
with the moonrise over the mountains to the east.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42534.jpg
Trackhead was twitchin' so damn hard the next morning for me to get around he was virtually putting my boots and pack on me. He and Andrew skinned outta camp in a blaze of headlamp light; apparantly they didn't hear me yell the proper bearing to be following to the cirque cause they ended up one ridge over to the West. Friggin' wankers :D A quick radio call had them skiing this "lil" warmup slope down into the cirque.
Where's the skier??
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42535.jpg
TH and Andrew booting up to meet me just as the first rays of sunlight hit the cirque behind them.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42536.jpg
After they reached me, Andrew took a quick look at the line and started pulling gear outta his pack to leave behind. Of which included, the rope, the pro, his harness and 1 ice tool. I looked at him and asked, "so, how far are we planning to go up?" His reply was one of the quotes of the trip, "the whole way. we just don't need all that - it's not that steep." I looked at TH and saw him leave behind even more of what I would call "essential" gear. So, at that point I left about the same behind except both of my ice tools and pretty much realized that barring growing some huge nuts in the next half hour I wouldn't be climbing that sum-a-bitch to the top without a rope which Andrew so "spicely" chose to leave behind. :eek: I also think at that point I realized that TH and Andrew are not human; friggin Aliens they are :cool:
2 Aliens booting up the lower portion of Alien Chute
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42537.jpg
The line itself is about 1700 +/- vert that starts out at 40-45 degs then transitions to 50-55 degs about a quarter of the way up it and then meets a 20-30' vertical ice wall that TH rated at water ice 2-3. It then rolls over back to 50-55 degs of a little more ice back to the snow which steepens to 60-65 degs to the top which is blocked by a big phat cornice that Andrew said if he had a rope would've climbed also.
Needless to say, I got a little behind them and they started in on the ice, without a rope mind you, before I could catch them. After that, the next hour or so could be summed up as me down below getting baraged by a continous schrapnel of snow, ice and small rocks as they were dealing with their own "fun" above the ice fall. I had nowhere to escape to as I was in the upper portion of the chute just below the ice fall and so had to hunker down and thank BD for making such a bomber helmet.
This a shot of TH (courtesy of Andrew McLean) "skiing" down the upper portion of the Alien. They later told me that they never made a single turn up here as it was 60-65 degrees of double fall line, frozen hard ice and snow. Note the "whippet-ski" technique of TH.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42548.jpg
Another photo of TH (courtesy of Andrew) downclimbing the ice back to the top of the 50-55 degree snow where I awaited just below the rock to skier's left.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic42549.jpg
