Birdseye Perch on The Sabre 8/9/12
I've been to Sky Pond and looked up at the Cathedral Spires enough times to know I'm a long ways off from any serious technical climbing. The three spires; the skyscraping Sharkstooth, razor thin Petit Grepon and jagged Sabre are all serious undertakings in the climbing world, or so I've heard. The view of these three from Sky Pond is intimidating to say the least, which is why I was so amazed to see The Sabre's easiest route wasn't Class 5. Seeing a 4 on LOJ got me interested, and looking for something (relatively) short to do while I try to walk off my knee injury I decided to give it a shot.
I woke at 4am and made it to the Glacier Gorge trailhead at 5:45 where I met two other climbers heading to McHenrys Peak and Chiefshead Peak. Walking up the fire trail at a leisurely pace I decided to find an opening to witness the alpenglow for the first time all year. This break lasted a good 20 minutes for a less than spectacular sight of Hallet Peak in pinkish glow, I was hoping for something more pronounced. Anyways, I saw my first person just below The Loch and a group of campers coming down from the Andrews Creek site. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something run across the trail behind me, turning around I saw only my second ever pine marten. A ways farther up I found the climbers trail into The Gash, where I again saw something dart out of the corner of my eye, this time it would be my third pine marten. Lucky day.
The Gash absolutely sucks. I have never minded boulder-hopping, but the size and instability of the boulders paired with 3.5 hours of sleep did not mix well with me, and I started dragging. I didn't know exactly what route would steer me clear of the cliff bands, so I had to trust my instincts that led me to a small, steep snowfield cutting through a gap in the bulging cliffs. That early in the morning the snow was mostly ice and the pitch made me wary, so I stuck to the side until it evened out. After all, a guy just died on Andrews Glacier a half mile away a few weeks ago, and even though I wore my hunters orange shirt so the SAR could locate my cold, 'sploded on impact body easier...I kinda wanted to climb another day. So I played it safe.
Deeper into The Gash I began to locate what looked like bivouac sites under overhanging boulders and looked for an easy passage through another cliff band without going out of my way. At this point, I seemed to imagine voices in the deserted gorge before looking up to see two climbers on the first pitch of The Sharkstooth. I don't get to see climbers close up in action very often, and seeing these two climbers gave me an extra mental boost that propelled me up the 3rd class cliff band and to the base of The Sharkstooth. I don't know what it was about seeing the climbers, it just made me want to push myself a little harder and rise to the heights of The Sabre.
Climbing to the col between The Sharkstooth and The Sabre was easy going when I located the climbers trail to the west of the gully leading to the gap; the gully itself has lots of chockstones and loose rock to navigate. At the col I saw my first real view of the Petit Grepon; probably the coolest summit in the Park. Again I started hearing voices and noticed two climbers carefully ascending the thin spire. I'm considering myself lucky to have been surrounded by climbers above and below me; having seen them battle the sheer rock faces was incredible. But at that point, it was my turn to do some climbing.
All I knew about my route was it's used as a descent route for climbers ascending via the technical south face from Sky Pond and was listed at class 3/4. Heading up the lower sections was easy enough, mostly class 3 with a few tougher class 4 moves now and again. The midsection of the north face became more difficult as possible weaknesses in the face became fewer, but again the worst was only class 4. The final stretch along the ridgeline was the worst, though short. A few points along the way felt outside of the class 4 realm and into 5.0 climbing and the exposure on each side added to the excitement. A few quick moves had me on the summit, where I had a nice view down to the climbers topping out on the Petit Grepon and the two making slow progress on the upper half of The Sharkstooth.
I stayed on top enjoying the perfect weather for several hours watching the other climbers and taking short naps before deciding to take my leave while the weather was still good. Downclimbing back to the col was more difficult, but handholds were usually there when I needed them. Making my way back through The Gash was painful, and the walk back to the car was torture with a busted up knee. After exciting the fire trail and joining the mobs of tourists, a full grown black bear crossed the trail right in front of me for a nice photo and finish for a memorable day.
I woke at 4am and made it to the Glacier Gorge trailhead at 5:45 where I met two other climbers heading to McHenrys Peak and Chiefshead Peak. Walking up the fire trail at a leisurely pace I decided to find an opening to witness the alpenglow for the first time all year. This break lasted a good 20 minutes for a less than spectacular sight of Hallet Peak in pinkish glow, I was hoping for something more pronounced. Anyways, I saw my first person just below The Loch and a group of campers coming down from the Andrews Creek site. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something run across the trail behind me, turning around I saw only my second ever pine marten. A ways farther up I found the climbers trail into The Gash, where I again saw something dart out of the corner of my eye, this time it would be my third pine marten. Lucky day.
The Gash absolutely sucks. I have never minded boulder-hopping, but the size and instability of the boulders paired with 3.5 hours of sleep did not mix well with me, and I started dragging. I didn't know exactly what route would steer me clear of the cliff bands, so I had to trust my instincts that led me to a small, steep snowfield cutting through a gap in the bulging cliffs. That early in the morning the snow was mostly ice and the pitch made me wary, so I stuck to the side until it evened out. After all, a guy just died on Andrews Glacier a half mile away a few weeks ago, and even though I wore my hunters orange shirt so the SAR could locate my cold, 'sploded on impact body easier...I kinda wanted to climb another day. So I played it safe.
Deeper into The Gash I began to locate what looked like bivouac sites under overhanging boulders and looked for an easy passage through another cliff band without going out of my way. At this point, I seemed to imagine voices in the deserted gorge before looking up to see two climbers on the first pitch of The Sharkstooth. I don't get to see climbers close up in action very often, and seeing these two climbers gave me an extra mental boost that propelled me up the 3rd class cliff band and to the base of The Sharkstooth. I don't know what it was about seeing the climbers, it just made me want to push myself a little harder and rise to the heights of The Sabre.
Climbing to the col between The Sharkstooth and The Sabre was easy going when I located the climbers trail to the west of the gully leading to the gap; the gully itself has lots of chockstones and loose rock to navigate. At the col I saw my first real view of the Petit Grepon; probably the coolest summit in the Park. Again I started hearing voices and noticed two climbers carefully ascending the thin spire. I'm considering myself lucky to have been surrounded by climbers above and below me; having seen them battle the sheer rock faces was incredible. But at that point, it was my turn to do some climbing.
All I knew about my route was it's used as a descent route for climbers ascending via the technical south face from Sky Pond and was listed at class 3/4. Heading up the lower sections was easy enough, mostly class 3 with a few tougher class 4 moves now and again. The midsection of the north face became more difficult as possible weaknesses in the face became fewer, but again the worst was only class 4. The final stretch along the ridgeline was the worst, though short. A few points along the way felt outside of the class 4 realm and into 5.0 climbing and the exposure on each side added to the excitement. A few quick moves had me on the summit, where I had a nice view down to the climbers topping out on the Petit Grepon and the two making slow progress on the upper half of The Sharkstooth.
I stayed on top enjoying the perfect weather for several hours watching the other climbers and taking short naps before deciding to take my leave while the weather was still good. Downclimbing back to the col was more difficult, but handholds were usually there when I needed them. Making my way back through The Gash was painful, and the walk back to the car was torture with a busted up knee. After exciting the fire trail and joining the mobs of tourists, a full grown black bear crossed the trail right in front of me for a nice photo and finish for a memorable day.
