Did any of you see the Super Bowl on Sunday? I didn,t but I sure heard about it on Monday. Everyone was talking about how they would have done things differently.
On Cathedral (for starters):
Diedre
Black Crack
Three Birches
Dresden
Diagonal
Standard Route
Thin Air
Remission
Repentance
And many routes on the upper left wall of Cathedral that are tr,d in very thin conditions on a regular basis, so thin in fact that picks and crampons actually touch rock! Nutcracker, Double Vee, and Chicken Delight to name a few. The list could easily go on and not a single one of them was an ice or mixed route before it was a rock route.
Let,s face it, we,re talking about an aid route that has been retro-bolted (from a ladder in fact), chipped, scraped, hammered, and basically carved out of kitty litter. It has little if anything in common with most of the classics listed above. I,ve also climbed ‘The Devil Made Me Dog It, as a ‘rock, sport route and broken holds off with my fingers unintentionally. I thought hard about the ethical issue and the potential for controversy. I talked with several people, both local and not, about this route. Not a single one had any objection, and in fact several encouraged me and now others have begun trying the route themselves.
As for the existence of ice on the route, well, there was none the day I completed the roof. However, I went above the roof to the point where there had been ice two weeks prior. Also, there often is ice flowing out of the cracks in several places throughout the entire route. I intend to return as soon as there is sufficient ice (which I hope happens in my lifetime) and connect the route to Cathedral Direct for the full ascent.
And the grade? Well, I truly and honestly don,t know which is why we have decided to have a bit of fun and use the two new grading systems outlined by the long time local hardmen of the area.