Today the team got their first taste of the upper mountain. They left camp and quickly ascended the head of the Genet basin, up the “headwall”, on a series of fixed lines. The team topped out the ridge, and followed it for another 200′ of elevation gain. At 16,400′ the team buried a load of equipment and supplies in a cache pit, took a rest, then descended back to camp. Ascending the ridge is steep, fun climbing, and Seba reports that everyone did really well. Good work, team!
The plan is to take a rest day tomorrow, and watch the weather carefully for an opportunity to move up to High Camp.
The fixed lines run up the steepest section of the West Buttress route, known as the Headwall. Climbers ascend this 40-45 degree slope for about 600 feet.
Looking down at 14,200′ camp from the base of the Headwall, the steep slope that leads to the ridge, which takes climbers to high camp.
Here’s Seba:
Yehawwww team Grau aka best in the biz, aka fastest knife in the west- east, north and south. Buen suerte amigos y brazo por todos.