Plucking the Low Hanging Fruit: A Weekend of Sierra FAs
Nate and I ventured up to the Whitney region last weekend. After gawking at the possibilities, we bagged two new routes:
The Cleaver, Southeast Arete (II 5.7). First ascent Nate Ricklin and Scotty Nelson, July 11, 2008. Starts in the gully on the right hand side of the face. Climb 2 pitches of 4th and easy 5th on the right side and to the top of the white pillar. Climb 3 pitches up the pillar and the ridge, following cracks on the left side (up to 5.7).
Mt Russell, North Face (II 5.6). First ascent Nate Ricklin and Scotty Nelson, July 12, 2008. Apparently this is the first route on the North Face of Mt Russell proper. On the left hand side of the face locate a prominent right slanting crack and ramp system. Follow this for 3 pitches (4th and easy 5th) until it meets the first major crack system. Climb this crack system (up great rock) for 2 pitches of 5.6 to the summit ridge.
Posted in Climbing, First Ascents, High Sierra | 6 Comments
Share
You guys are my heroes.
represent! Nice job guys and congratulations on attaining PhD 2008 status!
Scotty looks a bit desperate in #32
Routes under 5.10 don’t deserve names
Just kidding, nice trip report!
Man I can’t believe how much unclimbed rock there is out there. Looks really cool!
You guys just keep knocking ‘em out.
hello … nice pics … but, and I realize that the way you guys went may not be the way we did, but we did do the SE Ridge of the Cleaver (though back then we had only Roper’s green book to go on so there was no name) in Aug 1979. A few photos of the route @ petercolephoto.com … enter the site, pick Alpine, then select California and then the 2nd thumb in from the left. That will load all climbs we did back then …. scroll down a ways, and you’ll see a couple of images of Mary Erdei on the route. I think we found the grade to be more or less what you all did. Cheers Peter
Leave a Reply