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Gordon Laurens on the way to Grace Falls, at the base of Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park (February 2012)
11,200' Camp
Norm and Gordon at the 11,200' camp. In the background are Mt. Foraker and Mt. Crosson (12,800').
14,200' Camp
After a second night at 16,200' on the West Rib we moved down to 14,200' because the weather forecast was calling for a storm to move in, and the 14,200' camp is much more sheltered than the camp on the West Rib. (We were able to access the weather forecast by satellite phone.) It's just as well we descended, because Norm was having trouble with the altitude at 16,200' and was starting to exhibit some symptoms of HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema).
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Rick at Telluride
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Looking across from our camp at Iceberg Lake to Mt. Russell.
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Martin at Lower Boy Scout Lake, the last of the snow now thankfully behind us.
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The peaks of Chicago Basin – Sunlight peeking out on the left, Windom in the centre and Jupiter on the right.
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Stewart and Gordon at the col just below the summit of Teewinot, with the Grand Teton and Mt. Owen in the background.
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Rick and Tate at the British Museum
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Charles just below the summit of Mt Owen, with the N Face of the Grand Teton and the Enclosure in the background.
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Charles climbing a 5.7 pitch up the W side of the Ice Cream Cone. After he did the hardest section we noticed an easier traverse ledge coming in from the right. The rock at the top of this pitch was pretty `rank`.
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Pretoria at dusk from the grounds of the Union Buildings
Summit Day
This is the view from about 17,000'. The route goes along the rocky ridge crest, then crosses the snow slope behind that to reach the low point on the skyline ("Denali Pass"). From Denali Pass it goes up the other side of the right-hand skyline. The actual summit is hidden from view.
West Rib
We camped for a night on the West Rib at 16,200', then Gordon and I attempted the summit the next day (Norm decided to stay behind in camp). However, we found we weren't properly acclimatized and were moving very slowly, and Gordon was also having trouble keeping his feet warm. By mid-afternoon we'd only reached 17,500', so we decided to retreat.