March 1, 2008
Cracking the Crag - Round 1
Joe, Toby
Cracked Crag Senior on the right, Junior on the Left after the clouds lifted. We skied the skinny chute high off the left shoulder of Junior.
Cracked Crag has been on my long term agenda for....a long time. But the approach in the winter is quite lengthy from anywhere you start. By the time Fallen Leaf road is open in the spring, the line has also lost some of the copious snow it needs to be properly skied. Here are some distant photos from amazing year of 2006 of this lovely craggy ridge. We had no where near this amount of snow on this trip.
January 2006 from Echo Peak:
April 8, 2006 from South Ramp of Tallac:
And the steepness clearly shown on April 23, 2006 from the base of Jacks:
So with Fallen Leaf road being maintained this winter and Toby having the means to get through the gate, the opportunities to crack the crag were suddenly quite good. Based on our views from the top of Cathedral Peak the previous day, we were inspired to get after the infamous steep face. All stars were aligned with the only wild card being the cloudy and windy weather forecasted for the morning. We've seen those forecasts fizzle many times in these parts (this is sunny California after all), so we had skins under our skis and shuffled off form the Fallen Leaf Fire Station by 6:30 AM.
Unfortunately the forecast was right. View from Lilly Lake:
Amenities were buried, but still functional.
Girls and I have been to Glen Alpine Springs many times. I always make them taste the soda water, they always hate it.
After Glen Alpine it was an up and down round about skin to reach Grass Lake.
At Grass Lake the wind cranked it up to 11. It was the most intense wind Toby or I have ever endured on an outing. It knocked us each over once, and put us in near fetal positions to escape it at times. It was truly incredible to see pine cones, limbs, snow, Buddy, etc. just flying through the air horizontally.
We skinned right up to the base of the our coveted skinny little line off Crag Senior never the less. But the cloud cover never even allowed a decent peek a boo look. We waited it out in a semi sheltered group of trees, but finally conceded defeat after 20 minutes of shivering. We began the long return to our vehicle, beaten by the weather.
But then.....Crag Junior opens it's heart to us.
So what else could we do but head on up? And we were quite pleased to see the wind spared us some pow.
Steep MoFo that only got steeper.
Looking back down. Flat light and my lack of photography skillz just don't do these lines justice:
The final headwall was one of the most gripping climbs I have made in several years. Surmounting the cornice was just not an option. So we climbed the steeper South facing wall that had no cornice looming above, but was solid rime ice. My whippet was in my pack, but did me no good with my whippet pole attachment at home in the garage. So I kicked in the steps and punched, chiseled, clawed in shallow hand holds through the ice. A few exposed rocks helped a bit for hand holds, but the 50+ degree ice face tested every nerve in my body and muscle fiber in my hands and arms to get on up. I don't have any pictures that really tell the tale, but here's Toby topping out after the super cruxy part. Notice the shallow footsteps in the bulletproof ice:
A picture that shows the top section of the chute. Our sketchy ice climb continues up, further to the left:
Almost time to ski. Living in the Moment.
Toby took the camera, I took the line:
Pretty tight through here.
Opening it up below Junior's nostril:
Now it's Buddy's turn. The first few turns were a bit tough for him too. I love this one:
And this one.
It's good to see even the hardest chargers struggle once in a while.
But of course the flailing was short lived. He soon got his paws under him and flashed it.
Toby and Buddy on the silky lower slopes. Still steep here too!
So nice out here once the clouds part. Jacks and Dicks behind gimpy.
Looking back up at Junior's nostril:
And now Senior decides to reveal himself for the first time of the day. Wives and kids were waiting at home though.
Then things really started improving (on our way out of course).
Any other dog would have been 2 miles and 3 hours behind us.
Looking way back from Fallen Leaf road.
Here's two days worth of work in one picture. Cracked Crag in the distance on the left and Camp Chutes off of Cathedral on the right.
So what started out as an iffy day, ended up being a first awesome experience with the Crag. Looking forward to getting back there again with more snow and settled weather to settle some business with Cracked Crag Senior.
I took a few short videos that actually do justice to the jet engine winds we were in most of the day. I'll try to get a link to those posted here too.
The Wind:
YouTube - Cracked Crag Wind 030108
The Climb:
YouTube - Cracked Crag climb 030108
The Top:
YouTube - Cracked Crag Top 030108
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