Hiking & Climbing PhotosThe Spearhead - North Ridge (III 5.6)
7/30/06
| (1) | | The first rays of the sun hit McHenrys Peak and The Arrowhead (photo by Fabio Somenzi). |
| (2) | | Fabio works his way up the first pitch. |
| (3) | | Fabio belays at the base of the chimney. |
| (4) | | Looking back down the V-shaped slots of the second pitch. |
| (5) | | Fabio nears the top of the second pitch. From here it was several hundred vertical feet of class-3/4 scrambling until we needed the rope again. |
| (6) | | Fabio leads our third roped pitch up pleasant slabs. |
| (7) | | Me following our third roped pitch (photo by Fabio Somenzi). |
| (8) | | Me climbing around the block on our fourth roped pitch (photo by Fabio Somenzi). There was one move below the block that was really tricky. That move was probably the closest I've ever come to taking a leader fall. |
| (9) | | Looking at Green Lake and "Little Italy" from The Spearhead's Northeast Face. The short traverse we had to do across the Northeast Face was the most fantastically exposed thing I'd ever done. I was glad Fabio got to lead it ;-) |
| (10) | | The traverse across The Spearhead's Northeast Face. |
| (11) | | Fabio belays me on what Roach describes as the crux "steep, awkward slot." I thought this bit was really fun and protected nicely. I thought it wasn't near as scary as the traverse across the Northeast Face. |
| (12) | | Fabio reaches the top of our sixth roped pitch. From the top of this pitch it was an easy class-3 scramble to the summit block. |
| (13) | | Fabio admires Chiefs Head Peak's sheer wall and the arete that splits its north face. Rumor has it there's a 5.7 route up the arete. |
| (14) | | The summit block of The Spearhead. |
| (15) | | Me on the summit of block of The Spearhead - or as close as I was willing to get (photo by Fabio Somenzi). I didn't quite have the cajones to sit on the very edge and let my legs dangle out over the Northeast Face. |
| (16) | | Fabio descends past Frozen Lake. We didn't find the correct descent ramp and ended up scrambling down the nastiest talus ramp I'd ever had the displeasure of descending. By the time I reached the bottom I was bruised, bloodied, battered, and exhausted. The death march back to the car was agony. |
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