Topher following pitch 2, 5.12- with the Gunnison river below

About ten years ago, I went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison for my first time with Katherine Fraser. We peered into the South rim through a haze of rain to see snow laced ledges on the shear vertical faces. We were inspired, but denied the climbing adventure we desired, and yet the seed was planted.

It’s not easy to find partners for “The Black”. Its committing and adventurous traditional climbing with a short season between too cold or wet and too hot.

driving away from Montose and up to the south rim, a beautiful night for an adventure!

The stunning scenery across the crick

This spring, my travels found me in the Utah/Colorado area and I found my way back to the black. I found a couple reluctant partners for two climbs, but I also tried my hand at “mini-tractioning” some pitches. (a way of ‘safely’ climbing by yourself on a rope)

The day I went to the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison with the intention of rappelling in and climbing out by myself, was the first time in my life I felt severely nauseous from exposure. I walked up to the Chasm Overlook to find the anchors. I felt terrified and anxious, my stomach pleading to remain on the rim. I now understand how ’normal’ people feel in exposed environments.

I decided to take a methodical approach, all the while wondering if all my anxiety was foreshadowing of impending doom. I spent a lot of time planning the execution of rappelling and rope ascending, trying to think of every possible mishap. I planned on practicing my systems within the top 40 feet of the rim to make sure they worked before I committed to descending further. Why didn’t I practice in Rifle when I had the chance to be so much closer to the ground and with friends for back up?

Chris Kalous had given me a hand drawn topo for rappelling in to climb the top half of Tague Your Time (TYT). I referred to these simple line drawings countless times. In the end I rappelled in twice to the top few pitches of TYT. No mishaps. I enjoyed climbing with the mini-traction system recommended to me by various friends. I didn’t enjoy rappelling in, the jumaring, or the hauling. Unfortunately, as often is the way with enjoyable things, it was 90% work for 10% pleasure. I felt immensely proud of myself for stepping up to this challenge. It was terrifying, but also strangely rewarding, as masochistic endeavors commonly are.

I felt like I had won the lottery when Topher said he would climb in The Black with me. He agreed to do TYT with me in a day. As it turned out, his friend Anthony would also be joining us, but we would just fix the line and he would mini-traction behind us. Anthony helped out with hauling and carrying extra gear, as well; he kept our moods lighter with his endless stories about previous epics and his grunts and yelps while struggling below us.

On the second pitch of the route, which was my first 5.12 lead in The Black, I had a hard time shaking my nerves.

I felt rushed by the size of our objective as I was racking up.  A few times while I was trying to build up the courage to continue up the pitch, I thought about how big our day was and my fear:  I wanted to lower off and just give Topher the lead, but instead I just focused on the next foothold or gear placement and continued up.

Near the anchor, I was so amazed that I was about to “on-site” the pitch, I was “over-milking” a rest and I lost my balance and peeled off.  No on-site, but it helped to shake my nerves and I felt great about being able to send that pitch. I followed or lead the rest of the pitches to the 2-boulder bivy ledge cleanly. I found it exhausting both physically and mentally. I often seconded with more gear than normal and I think that added a bit to my fatigue. At the 2-boulder bivy, our ‘half-way point’, I was “wasted”. So bagged. I definitely appreciated why most teams take 2 days to climb/send this route.

I chose to lead the ‘crux’ pitch above the 2-boulder bivy. About a third of the way up the pitch I “had a moment”. I was doing some 5.11 climbing a few feet above good gear, which is not that big a deal for this route, but there were some ledges below me and I wasn’t confident about the route-finding. My foot slipped, adrenalin surged through my body, I thrutched like a novice and made it to a ledge. At this point my mental game was exhausted. The rest of the climb was a mental battle in which I was on the losing team. If my body was an elephant and my consciousness – the rider; this elephant was NOT going to climb above ledges without bomber gear at my waist, period. I, the rider, had no control.

I should mention that just prior to this adrenalin surge, I had a mental flashback of my accident which resulted in broken vertebrae after I hit some ledges about 18 months ago.

After trying to continue to lead the pitch, in which the elephant was in full control, I lowered back to the 2-boulder bivy ledge. My head hung low, I felt like I had just been benched or relegated to the ‘B’ team in a very important game. Anthony was a champ, generously sharing his own humbling stories to console me. My ego would like you to know that on top-rope, I mostly climbed well on this pitch

I will let the photos tell the rest of the story of an amazing adventure in a spectacular place with 2 great spirits. I am grateful for this is experience I will not forget anytime soon.

By the way, Topher, who was one of the first ascentionists on this route, sent the entire route in great style.

So we all managed to get back to the rim, 17 hours after we slid down our ropes into the blackness. I feel proud of this effort, despite a marginal performance.

Happy to be back in the black

early morning cheer

Topher leading us down the rappels

Anthony showing me the faces shaped by the pegmatite bands

Topher nearing the anchors of pitch 2

Topher starting up the second 5.12 pitch which is pitch 4

Anthony on mini-traction on pitch 3

This run-out 5.11a pitch has some spice for shorter folk

What face do you see?

Anthony making the most of the crux pitch (8) on mini-traction

Topher cranking out the final burly 5.12 pitch in the fading light

Hydrophobia on the left and Cryophobia links the ice in the middle of the photo

I have been wanting to climb Cryophobia for many years. Due to work and conditions– the stars have not aligned for me. One year, I hiked in 3 times from the North Ghost in attempt of this route. The success of finally ‘sending’ this route is made so much sweeter by the previous failures.

I first went up to Cryophobia with Jon and Magda. They were generous to climb in a team of three with me on an unexpectedly snowy day. The additional snow slowed the pace a bit as it hides all the great features for our tools and crampons and requires some extra cleaning.

Jon cruising up the first dry-tooling pitch.

Cryophobia has six pitches. The first and last pitch are mostly ice, the middle four pitches are mostly dry-tooling, with just enough ice to keep it honest (‘mixed-climbing’). ha.

what I love about Jon is that he is always smiling

The belay ledges were just large enough for our team of 3

Magda figuring out how to translate her plastic crushing to the rock with the metal bits attached.

  On this day Jon lead the crux pitches, (the odd pitches), and we both fell twice on the route in exactly the same spot. Jon did a great job of on-sighting most of the route. (Especially, since he is a dad with a full-time job and just got back from a job/climb in Patagonia!) I found the day a bit slow and cold, but I was super psyched to of made it to the top in our team of three. Also, the last pitch was a 70m rope stretcher of mostly grade 5 ice to a very windy belay. I was grateful, knowing that I wouldn’t have to lead it the next time I climbed the route

DAY 2.

A few days later, Kyle Vassilopoulos and I head into the route. I left all the ropes, etc at the base and most of the pitches equipped with draws. So we walked in with light packs and high aspirations.

A beautiful sunrise foreshadowed the success of the day. I am SO grateful for my truck. It is a ‘godsent’ in the Ghost Wilderness.

 Kyle lead the pitches I had lead previously and I lead the pitches Jon had lead a few days before.

Kyle cruising his leads in some crazy winds.

me relieved to have successfully clipped through the crux pitch

Kyle was nervous, knowing that this was his one-shot (this season) at sending this route. I had confidence in his abilities and my ‘beta-spray’.

Some ice on the top of the crux pitch

Looking across at ‘No-phobia’- a future project

Kyle starting the epic last pitch

Kyle was very psyched to send the last pitch and ‘send’ the route. So was I. So many years, I have waited for this route. One good thing about waiting is that it felt a lot easier now than it would of several years ago.

The Ghost Wilderness is a super special place, I am grateful for getting to have adventures there. In the future there maybe access issues that make this less accessible.