The Tooth - SW Face 07.19.08

Julie and I decided on the Tooth as we didn't have the ability to bivy at the trail head on Friday, and wanted to be back in town on Saturday evening. The Southwest Face is moderately harder than the more common South Face route, and less crowded. The 'summer' approach is being used now, but there is still enough snow that the talus field is not an issue. We had little difficulty finding the route (Thanks Scott) but did have some route finding issues while on route. The route basically climbs a series of corners to then join the South Face. Judging from another party on the route with us, there are different options/variations that can be taken. (They did different variations on pitches 1 and 4.) Climbing was nice, although there was an uncomfortable squeeze chimney on the first pitch, and there were some areas where protection was scarce. We rapped the South Face after chatting with a party of four on the summit. Overall a great climb on a great day.

Pictures are here.

Kangaroo Temple 07.05.08

Weather wasn't great, but we managed to summit in a long day. No real issues during the day other than some rain showers passing through. We stopped for the first shower, but climbed right through the following. The approach was a little difficult to follow through the talus fields, but it didn't seem to slow us down that much. We did don crampons for the snow up to Kangaroo Pass, but they did not seem necessary. (All these minor 'issues' seem to add up.) Slightly off route on the first pitch caused an intermediate belay. Then smooth route finding on the rest of the climb. The step around move was not as intimidating as I thought it would be, but it is never comfortable climbing without solid hand holds. We introduced an extra rap to get to the summit rap anchors, and found the descent route description to be somewhat off. ("Two double 50m raps to the packs.") The rap from the summit is a single 60m and the second rap is a double 60m back to the notch. Overall, a fun climb on decent rock, despite the rain.

Summit shot (photo by Julie Labrecque)

For more pics, click here.

Jessica's pics here.