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Alex and Rick – Christmas Day, 2008
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Unfortunately much of the snow cover had melted from the lower ridge, and underneath the snow the ridge consists of horribly loose volcanic rubble. This nasty-looking slope is what we had to climb up and across in order to gain the ridge crest. We stood here for a few minutes contemplating the debris that had evidently fallen from above, then unroped and crossed one by one, moving as quickly as we could. I was halfway across when Chris shouted out and I looked up to see beach-ball sized rocks tumbling down towards me. I jumped out of the way as fast as I could, but not quite fast enough to avoid some glancing blows. Fortunately the only damage was a couple of minor bruises and a broken wrist-watch strap.
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Rick approaching Vestal Basin, with Arrow Peak in the background.
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Rick near the summit of The Matron.
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Martin following the Red Wall. Maybe we were out of shape, but it felt a lot harder than its grade (supposedly 5.10a). On the last two pitches I was reduced to shamelessly pulling up on gear at all the crux moves.