There was a thundering shudder as the Beaver float plane props struck into action, and momentum started to build.
Racing ever faster across the lake we were well and truly about to leave all our previous travelling troubles and more importantly, the insane amount of mosquitos behind.
Cirque Of The Unclimbables here we come.
Racing ever faster across the lake we were well and truly about to leave all our previous travelling troubles and more importantly, the insane amount of mosquitos behind.
Cirque Of The Unclimbables here we come.
Travelling ever deeper over the lush green wooded veil of the Yukon, it quickly came apparent exactly how remote we were going to be.
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| Waiting for things to get off the ground. |
In context, the Yukon territory is the size of Spain with a population total of 30,000, 27k of which live in the town of Whitehorse, leaving approximately 300 miles between us and them.
There's no doubt that the majority of us were looking out the cockpit window open eyed and in awe, apart from Wilki who turned a reluctant green, not helped as the incredible snow capped plateaux of the Cirque became visible along with some very turbulent rain and storm clouds.
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| The scale and beauty of the Yukon clearly demonstrated |
The pilot ‘Wild Bill’ clearly demonstrated his flying skills as we weaved our way over and through the mountain tops until finally clearing a particularly substantial peak, the spectacular and very obvious Cirque became visible.
Bathed now in sunlight both the scale and sinister beauty of the location became apparent. The climbing area Cirque consists of ‘The Fairy Meadows’ an open grassy area strewn with boulders the size of houses from the 800m Granite cliffs that encase it.
Access to the Meadows ( our home for the next 3 weeks ) is accessed via landing at Glacier Lake 2500ft down in the valley, and walking up through thick bear, wolf, and vicious beaver inhabited forest.
Access to the Meadows ( our home for the next 3 weeks ) is accessed via landing at Glacier Lake 2500ft down in the valley, and walking up through thick bear, wolf, and vicious beaver inhabited forest.
Jumping out of the plane, tripping off the skid and planting my foot in the icy water, I couldn’t help - like the rest of the team, look up in awe at our impending feat ( all apart from Wilky that had quietly curled into a crouched foetal position on the stony lake shore.)
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| Born to be Wild. |
Glacier lake was to serve as our BaseCamp for the expedition and we would leave the majority of our food supplies to be collected later.
Bags unpacked and re-packed with the essentials tents, sleeping bags and rations for a week - we helped each other on with the Bergan’s, and the accent to the Fairy meadows commenced.
I’d like to say that walking through a beautiful sunny, personally undiscovered wood was a dream come true - and it was for the first 3 minutes, before a Yukon national alert went out to all mosquitos in a 800mile radius that there was fresh meat in town. Mixed with the 35kg weight of some of the packs this was truly going to be a trip of firsts.
I’d like to say that walking through a beautiful sunny, personally undiscovered wood was a dream come true - and it was for the first 3 minutes, before a Yukon national alert went out to all mosquitos in a 800mile radius that there was fresh meat in town. Mixed with the 35kg weight of some of the packs this was truly going to be a trip of firsts.
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| It was to be appreciated - I left War and Peace at home and more gummy bears.. |
Hot, sweaty, and mosquito terrorised, we walked along the lake and up the steep winding trail, hoping every second with legs and shoulders burning that we would emerge from the tree line onto a flat meadow.
We broke through only to discover what was another 3 hours of steep boulder hopping.
We broke through only to discover what was another 3 hours of steep boulder hopping.
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| bbzzzzzzzzzz...SLAP! bzzzzzzz - Definitely that moment when enthusiasm turns to realisation.. |
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| Those mozzi's well and truly loved Wilki! |
Almost over 6 hours passed until the land levelled out and what a treat unveiled itself.
Pictures defiantly describes this place better than my feeble words.
Pictures defiantly describes this place better than my feeble words.
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| Home sweet home.. |
To all our delights the stories were true - loads of big wall climbing and boulders the size of apartment blocks to crawl all over.
Camp was set, bites scratched and a typical English tea brewed.
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| Wilki getting his climb on ( boulders the size of apartment blocks ) |
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| Sam ' Projecting' another route 5 meters from his tent. |
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| Finn getting his swing on ' The Cobra' |
OUR FIRST MISSION
The infamous Lotus Flower Tower is known in the industry as a climbing big wall classic, approximately 750m of vertical granite at its best.
What’s required for taming this mysterious beast?
Overall a dry rock and a 24 hour window of clear skies. As it stood we had arrived in a period when it had been sunny non stop for a week - was it going to hold? Not wanting to gamble our time away, we thought it wise to hit it sooner than later and scheduled to head to the face at midnight to make the most of the warm daylight hours.
Mission prep is key and hours were spent meticulously unpacking and organizing what we were taking. Travel light and fast was the order of the day.
Clear skies, warm weather and dry rock is definitely NOT what greeted us as we poked our heads out the tent at the agreed midnight kick-off. We could hear the nearby rivers swelling as it continued well into the early hours.
Sitting in our ‘cave kitchen’ we waited to the break of day and more importantly a break in the clouds.
Granite being of a dark shade, it dries quickly and by 11:00am with no more rain present we decided to seize what may be our only chance, and hit out to attempt the wall regardless of daylight hours.
After a 2 hour boulder hopping walk, the sheer towering magnificence and grim beauty of the wall was making itself known.
Granite being of a dark shade, it dries quickly and by 11:00am with no more rain present we decided to seize what may be our only chance, and hit out to attempt the wall regardless of daylight hours.
After a 2 hour boulder hopping walk, the sheer towering magnificence and grim beauty of the wall was making itself known.
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| Hoping or way from Camp to the Lotus Base. |
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| 'OOOH YEAH' |
TIME TO CLIMB
The first three pitches to climb are notoriously difficult to master because of their angle and shadow. They dry remarkably slow, if at all, hence are cold, slimy and slippery, despite which Sam skillfully dominated them climbing in a pair with Wilki closely followed by Finn leading my ass.
The aim for the day was to push hard to reach the halfway ledge known as Winnebago ledge ( on the principle that its large enough to fit a Winnebago). At that point we could make the decision to continue on or kick back and relax in absolute horizontal luxury.
The climb was a wicked concoction of long layback crags and ghooey wet chimney sections.
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| Up up and away. |
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| Finn taking the lead and loving life.. |
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| Getting a chimney wedge on.. ( Finn did this whole section with a fragile filming quadcopter in his backpack incredibly without leaning back on it. |
Hauling my derrière over the mid-way ledge in my usual totally undignified way, I discovered the lads had not only already released their feet from their rubber torture chambers, but had to my great delight, prepared a wicked feast of re-engineered beef jerky and gummy bears.
Whilst grazing contently and with a continual smile on my face from the release of my own feet, I managed to take in the beauty of where we were on the planet before realizing how overcast and cold it had become.
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| Sam realising 5 hats including hoods and helmets wasn't enough, but the backpack sleeping bag seemed to be a winner! |
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| Winnibego Ledge ( just to the right off photo 400meter drop ) still optimistic to our chance of a good sleep. |
22:00 The decision was made to wait out the limited number of night time hours, feast and see what the weather brought before we continued on.
02:00
I could hear a choir of chattering teeth mixed with the dramatic and monodic rustling of Goretex as everyone was clearly NOT sleeping and very much trying to get their bodies to burn the gummy bears in exchange for a morsel of comfort and content.
There was a mere hint of the return of daylight when it was decided that a return to the wall was necessary.
Definitely a hard decision to make especially as we were so cold. Turns out cold hands on cold rock isn’t the nicest combo. However Alpine / Bigwall veteran Finn McCann took no hesitation as he leapt on the wall, theres no doubt we all admired how he tackled it with the amount of furious determination he did considering the physical fatigue of the nights toils, ( especially with the pitch being a little more nails than in previous texts )
( personal note )
Its common knowledge that I've always had the ability to be naturally extremely resilient to the cold, yet have equally suffered different levels of hypothermia and cold injury. Alongside this fact, I can sleep in any situation - in any position - any time, and this was clearly noted by the boys with no exception.
Whilst on this particular night they didn’t close their eyes and paced the ledge, I got a couple of hours napping in.
Whilst on this particular night they didn’t close their eyes and paced the ledge, I got a couple of hours napping in.
However this gave precedence to an interesting body reaction I hadn't had before. Because I was in a closed foetal position for 4 hours, cozy and warm catching some Z's, unlike the boys that had paced the ledge - as soon as I, stood up all the warm blood must have rushed to my limbs away from my core, leading to a really comical and completely uncontrollable massive 10 minute total body spasm ( a shiver times 100 ).
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After I finished a body popping performance M.C Hammer would be proud of, the rest of us climbed up the next pitch, with me last, only to hit a wee traffic jam on a 4 foot 80degree ledge. A slightly trickier, un-comfy belay station in the whole scheme of things. Whilst bundled on top of each other there was no doubt it was nice finally be out of the wind, all but Sam who was already out the chimney climbing the next pitch and disappeared into a misty blizzard.
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| Braced backs to the wall in our snow and wind sheltered enclave. |
A very red, but relieved , faced Sam turned up, back down with Wilki, Finn and myself, only to confirm our initial thoughts. It was indeed snowing and a horrific flesh eating wind was still persisting on a rock face that from then on only becomes more exposed.
We waited like a squad of nesting penguins for approximately 30 minutes until the heat from our previous exertions dissipated to see if the weather was going to clear. However the ruthless decision no athlete wants to make had to be implemented.....
We Abseiled annoyingly off past everything we had accomplished in the full knowledge if the weather Gods were kind to us we'd have to climb again.
As we walked from the base looking over our shoulders, it was satisfyingly clearer than ever that we had indeed made the right decision as thick snow clouds engulfed the cirque and so continued for 3 days.
We Abseiled annoyingly off past everything we had accomplished in the full knowledge if the weather Gods were kind to us we'd have to climb again.
As we walked from the base looking over our shoulders, it was satisfyingly clearer than ever that we had indeed made the right decision as thick snow clouds engulfed the cirque and so continued for 3 days.
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| What greeted us the morning after... |
THE SECOND ATTEMPT
12 Midnight - We crawled out the tent to a dry glow - strong coffee and a bowl of porridge.
One and a half hours later we had scrambled in the dark to the loose rock at the face again, enthusiasm and speed in our favour, even rigging seemed to be quicker.
Head torches donned, Wilki took lead only to be greeted by the wettest of rock. 2 pitches up and in the faint light, I saw a head torch that should be going up, rather speedily come down 8meters as he performed the ultimate gymnastic diving back roll down the cliff.
With a will that very few possess, Wilki righted himself and continued into the dark and got the job done.
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| A cold dark start. |
With Finn leading I personally decided to start the morning off with a more relaxing notion, or so I thought; leaving the deck with a Dumar ( as practiced in White horse, a method of accent whereby you clip yourself to your rope and using a hoisting foot technique, climb the rope rather than the rock )
Needless to say, as before, I should of climbed. Packing way too many chocolate bars along with the filming quad-copter with all its batteries in my back pack , this was definitely not helping climbing a free vertical rope, that to ascend requires a sit-up and a chin-up in one action every 7 inches!
It wasn’t realistically till the 4th Pitch, 120meters up, that the sun decided to truly join the party and we got to strip the layers off and climbing became a joy again.
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| Finn in his element, appreciating clear skies |
Up the crags, through the chimney section and we were back on Winnebago ledge, once again munching Jelly beans and regurgitated Jerky. This time however their was definitely something different.
Ahhhh we weren’t wearing five layers, crawling into a corner and putting our feet in our back packs.
Whilst white clouds still flew over the mountain tops, the sun was out,the rock warm and the day still looked promising.
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| Finn thinking how much quicker he could climb if he didnt have a 75kg Jelly baby attatched to the other end of the rope' |
A mere 30 minutes passed before we were back on the wall again,and 45 more we were 2 pitches up, tied to the wall with 450 meters of air beneath us.
This is where the Lotus Tower comes into its own. There is no doubt it likes to mix things up.
The next 9 pitches consisted of one vertical flat wall with only what are referred to as ‘ chicken heads ‘ to assist your climb. In a nutshell like a vertical tarmac drive with very small intermittent stones sticking out.
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| Starting out on the second half ( can just make out 'chicken heads' protruding from the wall. |
Tough going for all climbing, even more so for Sam and Finn who took the leads usually with no clear routes.
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| Wilki owning this new form of rock... ( can see Winnibego ledge to right of photo ) |
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| Which way? |
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The crux ( or tricky bit ) of the whole climb is an overhang that till this day I have absolutely no idea how a human can get over, let alone potentially take a fall on. Needless to say, as it was Sam's turn to take lead he applied a grip that most Oranutangs cant compete with in an arm wrestle, and clawed his way over.
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| The Crux.. up and over we go.. |
10:00 pm Clouds getting thicker and the light most definitely fading, we were at the top of the chicken head wall and what almost seemingly seemed like the last pitch before the summit.
As Finn, Wilki and myself took in the sunset view and pulled on a few more layers, Sam went to investigate the seemingly easy pitch through a chimney to the summit - only to find himself totally wedged in the narrowing tunnel.
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| I understand why the guys do it.. |
Quoted by Sam = one of the politest people on the planet
‘F**K, S**T, B******ks, which D**k designed that route card, theres no F*****G way that anyone’s getting through here’ ………repeatedly!
Indeed we were all tired and when you have the finish in sight, nothings more disappointing then having to lick a cold wall, tearing up your backpack on rough stone, all whilst trying to gain traction with your extremely bruised tender feet. Especially when you’ve run out of the medicinal properties of jelly beans.
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| Darkness drawing in again.. |
Sam appeared back down with us to relay his frustrations, once more sparking Wilki, who took it upon himself to take one for the team, hitting up and around, not through the chimney, to complete a successful accent !
On reaching the summit slightly bleary eyed after the days exertions ( as highlighted by lack of summit photos ) we decided to grab once again a few hours nap until the dawn broke.
Once again I got my snore on whilst the others talked climbing politics.
16:30 Hit the base
17:30 Sleep!
Thus completing a 56 hour working day
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| Going home... |
After the best knock out sleep had in a long time, it was time to talk other climbing missions in the Cirque
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In a nutshell, it rained A LOT – for days!!! A bit of overhang bouldering was discovered but for the most part the books were summoned and a lot of tea was drunk and mosquitos squatted.
We smashed it back down to Glacier lake for a re-supply and it was definitely refreshing to wash the man parts and air the sleeping bags. Turned out to be wise timing as once again the temperature dropped in the meadows and the snow came in creating a stunning backdrop to camp.
Heading back up through the forest we still had all ambition to hit more walls and make the most of the 'on the doorstep' bouldering. However weather just wasn’t so. Days seemed to be filled but not with as much climbing on account of the rain stopping play.
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| Irony = to do all that, avoid all that rock fall, and then kick a rock on the way to make a cup of tea. |
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| Frank, our friendly Pica who so kindly left presents in our cereal bowls every morning ( he lives to torment further visitors to the cirque ) |
However we had our moments….
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Our time in sight, we had arranged for the pilot Warren from http://inconnulodge.com to collect us from the lake at latest on the 23RD July, in order to reach our connecting flights back. As it stood we managed to get him on the sat phone and plans were arranged to collect on the 22nd .
When the time came we packed our bags ( heavy ) and headed home.
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