Harry Seely Trip Report 1999

[e-mail received 8/9/99]

George,

Thanks again for your help. We had a great time in the Cirque. After waiting out four days of rain and snow we started up the LFT - planning on taking two days as several Austrians had been waiting ten days for good weather and rightfully had a shot at it before us (they were planning on doing it in a day). The first four pitches were dripping wet but the climbing got better after that.

Unfortunately, the Austrians (who were very fast climbers) chose to rappel into the chimney above pitch 5 rather than the more direct rappel route down the face. They accidently knocked a rock down on some friends of ours who had started after us and forced them to retreat. The injury wasn't life threatening but did cause quite a bit of blood loss and swelling. As a result, Chris and I completed the climb the next day in great weather and then hiked out with the rest of our party in order to get our friend to the hospital.

The bolted rappel route is right of the chimney (if you are facing the rock). It starts at the far right side of the ledge and doesn't join the route until the top of the third pitch. The rappel from the top follows the route in general but you can head to an anchor out toward the right edge of the face from the top of the "roof" pitch. In general, we just headed for the lowest anchor we could get to we rapping the headwall.

At the top of the headwall, I tried to run the last two pitches together. It was a little sporty because I ended up about ten feet short and my partner had to move off of the anchor to get me there (communication was impossible at this point). A more direct line might give you enough rope but I doubt it.

Guess I'll have to go back to do some of those many other tempting lines in the area. We did manage to do the first three pitches of Riders On The Storm during a break in the weather one day but other than that and some bouldering and the bolted routes around camp, we weren't able to get on anything else. It's an amazingly beautiful place - despite the terribly loose talus approach to the meadows.

Thanks again,

Harry