Total Height:
Technical Grade:
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196 ft (60M)
WI 4
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Note for 21 Feb 04:
I went with Blair Piggot. FIRST ASCENT. Awesome day. No wind, no cloud, no negative temperatures, etc.
Just perfect. We originally skied in to Bennett Pass to climb some ice near there, but found it was all
covered in snow, we circled back to the east and got the first ascent of this fantastic gully climb,
directly under the summit of Akamina Ridge. It was a lot harder than it looks. The ice was bullet-proof
until the very top, then it was wet and soft. Click for detailed trip report
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17 Jan 04 - This picture was taken from Wall Ridge when Blair and I traversed across Akamina Ridge. You
can see Midnight Madness in the bottom-right side of the picture. Our climb sits between Midnight Madness
and Midnight Express (out of picture to the left). You ascend a 100m gully that is freakin' steep (red line to
the right of gully). The gully angles to the right a bit, but then tops out at the base of the ice.
21 Feb 04 - The climb is not the safest venture I've attempted. The entire climb is under a huge avalanche
slope with a big cornice looking down on you. The approach gully is at the top of a huge 30-45 degree snow
slope, and the gully itself (40-50 degree) is a huge terrain trap. Rather than ascend the snow slope straight
up from Wall Lake, we traversed it from Midnight Madness. Here we see Blair coming up behind me with Bennett
Pass in the background.
21 Feb 04 - This is another picture looking back at Bennett Pass. What a terrific day. A more logical person
probably would have taken advantage of the nice weather and got some turns in the great snow. Not me and Blair.
We would rather hang out in the shade and play on the ice.
21 Feb 04 - Here we see Blair leading his way up this gully. It's A LOT steeper than it looks. There are actually
three ice flows up this gully. Blair and I climbed the one on the right. The one on the left had broken off during
a recent cold snap. The one in the middle is really short.
21 Feb 04 - This is looking back down the approach gully. Again, it's steeper than it looks. We actually rapelled
the first 60m of the gully off a v-thread at the base of the climb. Then we downclimbed the next 40m.
21 Feb 04 - This is Blair leading the way up the climb. The ice down low was rock hard. I even had problems pulling
the screws out when I went up.
21 Feb 04 - Another picture of Blair leading the way.
21 Feb 04 - Now we see Blair looking at the crux. The part in front of him is actually overhanging (95-100°). I really
struggled in that section.
21 Feb 04 - Once Blair gets over the crux, he's about half way, but the rest of the ice is easy WI-3.