Mt Anne

I was filled with both psyche and anxiety when I picked up Simon from his place, packing assorted gear into the car for the first real mission we’d done together in a long time: A trip to Mt Anne to free climb a line on the SE face he had aided the first pitch of last year.  We were both familiar with the slog up to the Mt Anne/Mt Eliza plateau, and having done it myself only a week ago, I knew just how grim it was going to be.  With plans only to walk up the hill that day and camp at the top, we cruised up at a slow but steady pace, getting to the hut in an hour and a half, then after a quick break on to the summit of Mt Eliza in time for a perfect sunset, arriving at our campsite just on dark.  After a quick instant meal for a late dinner, a quick sort of the gear for the next day and some last minute tactics talk, we hit the hay aiming for an early start in the morning, expecting a big day.

Gourmet camp cooking - Young

Waking at 5:30 to the inside of a cloud, I was relieved when Simon made the call to sleep in for a bit longer. Getting out of bed at a more reasonable hour, we quickly had a Clif bar and a coffee then scooted across the plateau, still surrounded by mist.  Descending the gully that leads down to the base of the SE face I was pretty psyched out by the whole place; the huge scree slopes that were once attached to the cliffs, the magnitude of the landscape and the committing setting we were entering.  It was not until the bottom of the gully abseil when the sun came out and I saw the face for the first time that my nerves settled and I could enjoy being there.

Simon descending the gully towards the SE face -Lewis

Scrambling up to the base of the wall proper, the temperature was rising and so were my spirits, and keen to get into it while my psyche was high I asked if I could lead the first block, and thankfully Simon agreed, as calm as ever.

Business face at the base of the SE face - Young

Simon thought the first pitch would go free at 22 or thereabouts but would be a little bit bold. In my mind, I figured that if it was runout or hard, he couldn’t have done it rope solo… how hard could it be?  He was right about the 22 bit, but I was amazed how sketchy it was in places, especially off the belay; a solid effort by Simon last year. Nevertheless, it was one pitch onsighted and out of the way, and by this stage it was warm and sunny, no wind and a perfect day in the SW… the psyche was high! Simon had said the next pitch looked like classic fingers, and it was one of the most striking crack lines visible on photos. I was not disappointed when I got to the belay, the pitch above looked incredible.

Climbing the first pitch - Young

We went pretty light, hand hauling a small bag on a tag line without much gear or food and water. After a bit of a cluster fuck on the first pitch getting my systems sorted, we continued upwards, racking up and psyching up for what looked like a hard pitch on an amazing feature.

Good times at the top of the first pitch, racking up for the crux - Young

After some stemming up a pillar with thin gear I committed to the splitter finger crack, which was as good as it looked; a featured green/yellow alien crack with a few wider flaring pods for feet.  Making it to a strenuous rest at the top of the crack I was pretty worked, but managed to get enough back to continue up the flaring groove above. Insecure finger locking, stemming and body scumming in the v-groove took me higher and higher towards an easy looking corner, which appeared to continue to a ledge.  Totally spent from the onsight attempt so far, I made it to within a couple of metres of an easy hand crack and was faced with some unexpected crux moves at the very end of the pitch. With no other option I committed to the sequence and gave it everything I had, but was totally drained and couldn’t pull through, whipping off to blow the onsight of the route.  Totally fucked from a deep deep pump, I had a long rest on the rope and after swinging back up to my highpoint, pulled on and went to the top of the pitch.

About to step into the finger crack on the crux pitch - Young

Making it to the top with one hang was great, but it was not how we had wanted to do the route and I was pretty shattered to have blown it. Disappointment aside, I did realise I had put in one of my best efforts on gear anywhere, and to have gone so hard on such an awesome pitch in the location I felt satisfied with the experience, and with the pitch turning out to be around grade 26 I can’t be too disappointed. Simon seconded it free to the same point but came off, then tried to work out the crux a few times. Coming up to the ledge it was decision time.

I knew I was shattered and didn’t really think I could redpoint the pitch without a long rest, still pumped from the first try, but I also knew that I would regret not trying to free it. The main concern was that we still had 150m+ of virgin rock to climb and we didn’t know how hard it would be or how long it would take. I decided to go hard and have a shot.  I’m sure Simon would have had a redpoint if I had decided against it, but it was a pretty big mental choice for me to rap down again and psyche up to lead a hard pitch on gear for the second time.

Rapping down with some tunes playing on my iPod, I ticked up a few holds, worked out the crux fist jam move a little, trimmed the big cams off the rack and collected myself.
Cruising up the first finger crack part of the pitch, I felt much fresher climbing into the groove.  Placing the gear on lead during the redpoint, I tried to place a lot less than on the onsight attempt, instead trying to conserve energy for the crux.  I made it a move or two higher and got the crux fist jam in place, but I didn’t have enough power left to pull through, whipping off for another ride. The devastation quickly set in with the realisation I couldn’t free the route today.  Jumaring the tag line to the top to save my energy, I put Simon on belay and he gave it his all. With a stellar effort and a slightly different sequence he freed the pitch on second, to give a grade of around 26AO.

Simon climbing splitter cracks high on the route - Lewis

I handed the sharp end over to Simon for his block, and we continued upwards. With a lot of rock above us we wanted to keep moving, but were not too worried about time as there was plenty of daylight left.  After a short scramble pitch, Simon headed up a splitter hand crack of various widths for 20m to onsight one of the most fun pitches on the route at about grade 20. We were getting pretty high on the wall by this stage, and the exposure had started to kick in. Trundling a block from a ledge partway up the next pitch, it fell for around 5 seconds before crashing into the valley below. While the most rewarding style to climb, this showed the double edged sword of going ground up.

The next and last pitch was another stellar effort by Simon, cleaning a thin finger crack/seam as he went and onsighting it to produce a grade 22/23 thin corner into a squeeze chimney to the top.  Topping out of the first buttress around 5pm we took a few mins to chill out, have some food and the last mouthfuls of our water.

Chimneying to the top of the first 180m buttress - Young

After the first buttress we scrambled up a couple of hundred metres on steep grass to the foot of the last buttress. The line Garry and Simon took up this buttress on the FA of the regular route looked good, but at around 25 and very short, we opted to find a more classic easier free line, vaguely following a 1970s route up some chimneys. I lead the final 2 pitches to the summit at around 19 then 18, up a hand crack and scramble into the base of a chimney, then up the chimney and an offwidth to the top.  Topping out into the sun and enjoying the perfect evening after a rad day of climbing was one of my most memorable climbing moments and after the obligatory summit shot we cruised back across the plateau.  The perfect evening turned into a nice sunset and after annihilating a freeze dried meal and multiple cups of tea, we played some tunes and enjoyed the experience of the day to produce ‘Running On Air 220m 26AO’.

Simon in the midst of chimneys and offwidths on the final pitch - Lewis

All smiles at the top of the route

Walking back across the plateau after a long day - Lewis

 

Topo drawn in the log book