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2006
Mugs Stump Award Winners:
Fraser/Olson—Kichatna
Spires, Alaska Range, Alaska
 Jen
and I made an extremely rapid transition
from mild Vancouver to
the Kichatna Spires in a record two days. In Talkeetna we
barely had
time to scoff down a burger and beer on the patio of the
West Rib Pub
before we were summoned by Paul Roderick of Talkeetna Air
Taxi to
pack, no stuff, our embarrassing amount of gear into his
compact
Cessna 185. We flew in blue calm skies the 100-odd miles
west from
Talkeetna to the Cul-de-Sac glacier in the heart of the Kichatna
Spires. The weather gods were with us then but we would pay
our dues
eventually.
Paul planted us directly below our main objective; the aesthetic
Sunrise Spire rises for 800 meters above the glacier. Cracks,
corner
systems and buttresses define the golden granite. Already
we could
pick out the line we intended to follow; Klemen Mali's 2002
attempt
up a crack system on the right side of the feature. Neighbouring
Sunrise and surrounding us on all sides were the impressive
faces of
Citadel, the Steeple, the intimidating North face of Kichatna,
Mt
Jeffers, the Dark Tower and Cemetary Spire.
For the next two weeks we woke to blue skies every morning,
spurring
us to explore and climb the land around us. We skied onto
the ledge
glacier below the Citadel and Kichatna Spire. We fixed ropes
150m up
Sunrise Spire. We got scared and took down our ropes from
Sunrise
Spire. We climbed the South East Couloir of Sunrise Spire
to the
summit. We had long conversations about commitment and acceptable
risk. We put our ropes back up on Sunrise Spire. We pushed
our high
point up another two pitches. We made a summit bid.
The rock we encountered on Sunrise was friable and gritty.
The 200m
that made the steepest part of our climb was characterized
by loose
flaky rock and seamed-out cracks. The aiding and climbing
above our
fixed lines was tenuous and engaging. Past the steep buttress
we had
anticipated less demanding terrain. However we encountered
burly
pitches of rock that could aptly be described as kitty litter.
A
strenuous 60m icy overhanging offwidth capped our day in
the
dwindling 1am light. We huddled together for a couple of
hours of
frozen head-bobbing. In the morning we climbed another snowy
offwidth
before deciding to bail the way we had come. The decision
to retreat
was especially hard as we knew the couloir down the backside
would be
less demanding to descend than rappelling the entire face.
Regardless we lacked the mental and physical resources to
continue up
and could only go down.
We returned to camp midday after 36 hours of climbing and
descending,
and collapsed like beached whales in our respective tents,
in which
position we stayed for two days.
Our frustration at our failure to summit Sunrise hung in
the air, it
smelt worse than our polypro and it infested our relationships
with
each other and with the Spires around us. We made a despondent
attempt up the north ridge of Cemetery Spire, instead of
pushing to
the summit we ate lunch and then relied on the warming snow
to excuse
us from continuing.
The
next day, after climbing 450m of new ground up the the
West face
of Cemetery, we were stumped 50 m below the summit with
no wide gear.
We felt doomed. We rested again, climbed peak 7270, a walk-up
beside
Mt. Jeffers, and decided to call Paul for a ride out of
dodge.
At about which time the weather gods decided we'd had too
much high
pressure. The skies closed in and the winds picked up. We
waited 8
days; eating, drinking, reading, and going crazy. 23 days
after he
had dropped us off Paul was able to come and pick us up for
breakfast
at the Roadhouse grill in Talkeetna.
We came out to the tragic news of the disappearance and
death of
climbers Karen Mcneill and Sue Nott. If we had forgotten
amidst our
own drama, this reminded us acutely that the most important
part of
going out, is not getting to the top, but coming home.
The Kichatnas are a stunning piece of the earth and we feel
extremely
fortunate to have explored them.
Thank
you Mugs,
Katherine
Fraser & Jen Olson
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