Yesterday I moved camp up another 250 feet or so, to my fourth anchor. More route-finding fun ahead, as what I see above me doesn’t resemble what I should be seeing, based upon the FA team’s topo map. No surprise.
Rest day today! I sure need it.
Oh, and one of the FA team, “Palut,” left a comment on the site. Google Translate didn’t help much, but I encouraged him to email me. So, perhaps a dialog will ensue. We’ll see.
*************
Pictures (click the pic to enlarge in a new page, then you can right-click to view full-sized or download)….
Looking down the start of the fourth pitch. You can see the rap station set up with the chain anchor. Sections of this were very overhung!
Much higher on the fourth pitch. As you see, just drilling, drilling, drilling. But my goal was to get maximum distance between “rivets,” so I would extend as far as possible for each hole. This pitch is capped of with a large overhang. At first I thought I would need to drill at least three holes to get out that thing. But by carefully positioning the first hole, then reaching wildly for a ripple that went to almost vertical (very, very painful position), I was able to get one “rivet” in the middle of it and then reach over the lip for a final “rivet.” If it’s just going to be drilling, I’ll pay the price in pain to do the best possible job of a “rivet” ladder. Sigh.
The Titan can barely be called “rock.” This is an example of what I go through to find “rock” down in the layers of mud, to try to get something sort of “solid” in which to plant a drilled placement. Five inches of mud is the start. Then there are more compact layers. Finally there is something worth drilling into. As I start to drill, often a crater blows open around the drill tip, which necessitates more “clearing” of junk layers. Eventually I get to something that will maintain a crisp hole. Remember that all the junk I’m clearing away goes down my shirt and all over me. By the end of each day, I look like some sort of golem, or something like that. LOL
Just for general interest, this is the inside of the wallahwanee. It’s all blue, so the color cast is all blue. The sheer comfort of this thing is a real break from a hard, hot day of climbing!
Looking up at the single point from which the whole thing hangs.