Google killed Picasa Web Albums so the photos in this post don't click through to larger versions. Here's the album if you're interested: https://goo.gl/photos/SY7tQmBmgNTY3LUR9
Ross and I once climbed Grassi Ridge about 10 years ago. I was a far better rock climber back then but apparently had much less common sense. That day I think we set a record for the most dumb stories ever to come from a single climb. Many are still told to this day among our small circle of friends.
There was the great "ease yourself gently onto that dodgy piton" story. You can guess how that one goes. There was the "diabolical double rope predicament", wherein the second, who was tied into two ropes with each one somehow going in the opposite direction, was completely unable to move up or down as the unwitting belayer pulled tighter and tighter from 50 meters above. And of course there was the unforgettable "Andrew gets off route and has an epic meltdown as it begins to snow" story. That one chaffs to this day since this particular lapse in judgement on my part caused us to miss the best climbing on the whole route.
Grassi Ridge in December 2011
So, back on Grassi Ridge again, seeking a redemption of some sort. Brenda and I formed one rope team and Ross and Brian the other. On our first time here we only had Dougherty's "Suspected Alpine Climbs" which by modern standards would probably be considered a little thin on detail. This time we were armed with multiple topos from various Internet sources, some of which I gleefully noted had skull and crossbones or big "Off Route!" warnings at meltdown central.
We got to the base of the climb just before a guided party arrived. I suppose the guide should remain nameless since I'm about to bad mouth him. I'll just refer to him as a well known ice climber with the initials S.I. No one will ever figure that out.
Expecting S.I.'s group to be much faster than us we urged them to go ahead. Unfortunately this exposed the leader of the party that followed (ie: me) to an annoying stream of route and gear suggestions shouted down by S.I. from the next pitch above.
"The station is 5 metres above you!!".
"You're almost there! It's to the left!!"
"Easy climbing duuuuuude!!".
This in turn confused his clients because they thought, not unreasonably, that he was yelling instructions to them. So they started shouting. It turned into a bizarre early morning shout-fest in the mountains!
Thankfully it came to an end after a few pitches as they slowly moved out of earshot leaving us to enjoy the rest of the climb in relative peace. And what a great climb this is.
A big change from 10 years ago is the proliferation of bolts on the route; there are bolts at the crux moves and at every belay station whereas I don't think there were any bolts when we did it the first time. In fact there are even intermediate belay stations probably placed there by guides in order to more easily watch their clients. I'm no arch traditionalist but I think a something is lost when this happens.
An oddly negative post about what was actually a very positive day. We even got a new a story to add to our ever growing list of tall tales.
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