All Mixed Up (RMNP)

Date: 11-4-06

Climbers: George Barnes, Matt Shepard, Nate Stutzke

Matt, Nate, and I met at Neptune’s at 3AM to head up to RMNP. We arrived at the base of the climb pleased to find nobody else on it. Less appealing was the increasing snow, wind, and spindrift pouring down the climb.
 

All Mixed Up and Matt enjoying full conditions.

Fetal Position Belay

Matt had been on the climb before, and had an idea of where the good belay spots were. To make the route go in 3 pitches, we climbed unroped on some low angle ice up to a snowy bowl maybe 1/4 of the way up P1. Here we threaded an ice curtain, and I belayed Matt up the "steep icy sidewalk pitch". Protection was fairly scarce on this pitch, as the ice was thin enough that you often had the pleasure of watching your tool bounce off rocks thinly coated in ice. Pitch 1 ended a ways above the first significant step and to the right side of the ice flow. Matt found an anchor of a cam, a piton, and a screw... a genuine alpine anchor.
 

George on P2

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun ^TM

Matt brought Nate and I up, and I took the rack for pitch 2. This pitch is steeper, but not sustained, so you get opportunities to rest after numerous bulges/steps. As I made my way up I noticed that maybe one party had been up the route recently, but in general the ice was pretty much pristine. At the end of the ice I commenced snow wallowing en route to the ice of P3 above. I was hoping to sink a few screws into the ice of the pitch above, or find some rock gear in the rocks on either side. Ten feet from either I reached the end of my leash with no immediate opportunity for an anchor. I traversed a bit left and right, but the arc I was scribing didn't bring me close to any anchor opportunities. The last ice was 20m below me, and pretty thin to make an anchor on. Time to get creative... if there's ice above me, and ice below me... it's time to start excavating! After several minutes of high aggression hacking I turned up snow, more snow, rotten ice, and finally some encouraging blue ice. I equalized 4 screws in this ice, backed it up with two ice tool snow pickets, and then sat way down into my snow bucket seat, feeling a bit like Simon. Nate and Matt came up without incident, though Nate looked a little bit worse for wear after taking a piece of ice to the nose.
 

The carnage

I belayed Matt 10-20 feet over to the left side of the pitch where he pounded in a few pitons and set up shop for the P3 belay. We patched Nate up, then sent Matt off in search of fame, glory, and spindrift on pitch 3. I belayed while Nate fed me elk jerky. It became apparent that a bowl above this pitch collects a lot of snow and then pours it down over the ice, as there were numerous times Matt completely disappeared. We finally got 3 big tugs on the rope letting us know that it was our turn to enjoy the spindrift. Nate and I climbed side by side until we came to a narrow chimney feature on the left side of the route. Here I pulled out a lost arrow and started up, telling Nate to wait below and to the side, not wanting to fall on him with crampons on. The climbing went quickly, though two moves before exiting the chimney I was overwhelmed with an incredible amount of pouring snow/graupel. I looked down, but couldn't see Nate 6 feet below me. I could also hear Matt laughing at my good fortune, so I knew I was close. Two swings and I was out of the chimney and pulling my warm mitts out of my coat. Nate quickly followed, reporting that he received about 3 feet of snow while waiting for me to climb out.
 

Matt on P3

On the top we slung a boulder with some webbing and a rap ring, and made a hasty retreat back to our piton anchor. While Nate beat out the pitons, I pulled the ropes and Matt set up our next rap station. This rappel got us just above the ice slabs of P1. We threaded a large curtain with new cord and a ring, cut old tat off, then rapped back to our packs. Matt and I felt good about the anchor so we simul-rappelled to speed things up.
 

George and Matt heading down

The new snow (6-12"??) made the descent bushwhack more pleasant, and we were soon back on Mills Lake trying not to fall down. Using the climber trail cutoff we reached the parking lot at 5PM, for a 12 hour RT day.