A couple summers ago, Jens Holsten and myself made the first free ascent of Dragons of Eden on Dragontail Pk. in the Stuart Range of Central Washington. We were lucky to have a great crew of monkeys up at the lake to psyche us up. Our good friend Max Hasson took some beautiful shots of us high on the route. Recently I unearthed some forgotton pics that my wife Ginnie Jo had taken from Aasgard pass the day of the send.
Here's myself leading the 2nd pitch of the route(11c), termed by first ascencionest Wayne Wallace, "Butterballs to the Gripper." It's a phenomenal pitch, that starts with steep, sharp, splitter fingers and slowly widens, finishing 150 ft later with a perfect handcrack:
Here's Jens on the 3rd pitch (11b) of the route Prayer for a Friend (5.12 A2), on the iconic South Face of Prusik Pk. This route was put up a few years back by Fitz Cahall and friends, who were able to free everything but the incredible headwall.
Though we had intentions of freeing the route, we got completely SHUT DOWN, and didn't even get up the beast. Our first day saw us bailing on bold and dirty terrain on the 4th pitch (12a). And our second day found us rapping into the finishing headwall to take a look-sey. For now, its' way outta my league. But, for the right climber, the Prayer headwall offers an overhanging 5.13+? tips crack challenge, that will likely be the hardest pitch in the range...
Check out that headwall!
Thanks for stopping by and check back soon.
-Sol
