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Climate demonstration

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:51:00 +0000

Today I attended the big climate demonstration in Copenhagen with up to 100.000 other participants. I had an absolutely great time and there was an awesome and peaceful atmosphere. More than 500 organisations had organized the demonstration among which Greenpeace was a major and very visible player. As a longterm member of Greenpeace I joined their delegation which was great fun - they had the best bongo-drum band of the whole demonstration!

Starting out at the Christiansborg Parliament Square.

The front of the Greenpeace delegation.

Yours truly with a Greenpeace slogan at the end of the demonstration at the Bella Center where the Climate Conference is taking place.

Video of the Greenpeace delegation.

See the official video from Greenpeace here:

Change the future!

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:14:00 +0000

The World Climate Summit is currently taking place in Denmark. Our apartment is directly across Hotel Scandinavia which host the Brazilian delegation which as the fourth largest polluter of CO2 has a crucial role in the climate negotiations.

In order to remind them of their need to act now to change the future of the melting ice climbing routes (!) I am displaying a backlit Greenpeace poster on my balcony.

If you want to be part of changing the future I encourage you to take part in the peaceful Climate demonstration on December 12 at 1 PM at the Parliament Square. More than 50.000 participants are expected which will be the biggest demonstration in Denmark ever.

The Eternity (18) and Auntie Jack (19), Mt. Victoria, Blue Mountains, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:39:00 +0000

Mid April 2009: After a stop in the Australian sports climbing capital Nowra (which I didn't like particularly much), we had reached our final climbing destination: the famous Blue Mountains West of Sydney. We went to several single pitch cracks with Sofie which was great fun and it was great to be back on sandstone. The most memorable climbs for me were the awesome crack line The Eternity (18) and the sustained face climb Auntie Jack (19) at Mt. Victoria.

Hans leading the famous and awesome crack line The Eternity (18). One of the most fun cracks I have ever climbed as it was very varied and kept you thinking from the bottom to the top!

Elvira toproping Auntie Jack (19) in the sunset. A great line which however was a bit unnerving. It was protected by a mixture of carrot bolts and nuts/friends. According to my taste they could have thrown in a few extra blots! Also, a few bolts up I found out that my carabiners were too thin and the bolt plates could thus pop out of the carrot bolt!!!

The infamous Australian carrot bolt system. Left you see the carrot bolt onto which you place a bolt hanger (right). It is important to use carabiners which are big enough so the plate cannot exit the bolt during a fall. The carabiner was actually too small which I discovered while leading Auntie Jack - quite unnerving!

Another beautiful sunset at Mt. Victoria! Unknown Aussie climbing Giggles (16), which was a nice route.

And finally, the most famous view in the Blue Mountains: The Three Sisters.

Integral Crack (19+), Booroomba Rocks, ACT, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:41:00 +0000

After climbing Mt. Kosciuszko we drove to Canberra, the capitol of Australia, to visit Uncle Guy. He was so kind to offer to take care of Sofie while we went climbing in Booroomba Rocks - a great granite slab just outside Canberra. In order not to waste precious time on the approach we actually go there with Sofie and Guy the day before the climb - it is also a nice hiking area.

My goal was to climb the famous Integral Crack (48 m, 19+) which turned out to be an absolutely fantastic pitch! As it is stated in the guidebook "A classic by any standards. The best line at Booroomba..... with sustained face climbing and excellent natural protection". An excellent line which follows a thin crack in the solid granite. It is sustained throughout the 48 meters of climbing, which is a rare quality.

Next, we climbed the line Roy's Crack (50 m, 14), 10 meters to the left, which is infamous for bad protection and has been the scene of one death and several serious accidents. I didn't find it that hard to protect but in particular the lower part was an awkward off-width crack, which I think could scare beginners and thus cause them to quickly put pro into less than perfect places. Anyway, I found the route to be a bit loose and vegetated and not near the quality of Integral Crack.

A great way to welcome climbers!

Sofie and Hans on top of Booroomba Rocks scouting the approach to the base of the climbs.

The South Buttress with Integral Crack in the middle and Roy's Crack to the left.

Hans leading Integral Crack - one of the best crack routes I have ever climbed!

Hans just above the off-width start and approaching the vegetation on Roy's Crack!

Ascent of Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia (2229 m)

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0000

Mt. Kosciuszko (2229 m) is the highest mountain in Australia and has gained fame a one of the peaks of the original Bass list of the Seven Summits. Many mountaineers aspiring for the seven summits thus come to The Snowy Mountains to "climb" Mt. Kosciuszko. This is quite a joke given that it is a hiking summit which anyone with even a minimal degree of fitness can "climb". Nevertheless, it is actually a beautiful area as the alpine vegetation is quite unique (in particular the snow gum trees are beautiful), and it is thus a worthwhile hike - in particular if you come off season to avoid the massive summer crowds!

On March 26, 2009 Sofie Frederikke, Elvira and I hiked to the summit. It was not the best weather as it was quite windy, but we had a great day - and now Elvira and I have both climbed two of the seven (Mt. Kilimajaro and Mt. Elbrus, respectively), and Sofie has her first!

Snowy Mountains seen from the parking lot. Mt. Kosciuszko is hidden in the clouds on the left. Mt. Clarke is the peak in the middle and Mt. Lee is the peak to the right.

Closeup of the beautiful bark of a snow gum tree.

Elvira pushing the pram with Sofie towards the summit.

Sofie and Elvira on the summit of Mt. Kosciuszko :-)

The Seaman Hut is located halfway between the parking lot and the summit. We took a break in the hut on the way down to get a rest out of the wind!

Creon/Tales of Brave Ulysses, Left Watchtower Face, Arapiles, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:56:00 +0000

On March 23, 2009 I got a chance to climb a multi-pitch route in Arapiles as David Morse and Jack Scott had found a partner (John) for me. John turned out to be a great partner as he had climbed in the area since the sixties and thus knew more or less everything about Arapiles and The Grampians!

We decided to climb a route on the famous Watchtower Face and choose the route Creon/Tales of Brave Ulysses (110 m, 18) which turned out to be a great route!

The Watchtower Face. The Watchtower is the pillar in the middle of the picture. The "real" fire watchtower is seen on the top of mountain, which was actually were some of the terrible "Black Sunday" Victorian wildfires were spotted from on February 7, 2009.

Closeup of the route on the left. We also climbed a route on the Kitten Wall on the upper right side of the Watchtower Face.

John leading the first pitch, which was a slab with an interesting traverse on flakes.

I led the second crux pitch which goes up The Siren Buttress seen here. The crux was the initial overhang - after that the pitch got a lot easier.

The last pitch is quite short (< 10 meters) going up an interesting crack corner.

To get more out of the day I led an excellent grade 15 crack on The Kitten Wall which is located above the Watchtower Face. Here John is abseiling the route which goes up the crack to the right of the rope.

Finally, we abseiled the Watchtower Face with an excellent view of Mitre Rock and Mitre Lake.

Grey and Green Wall, Mt. Stapylton Amphitheatre, The Grampians, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Both The Grampians and Arapiles are renowned for their trad protected multi-pitch routes, which is one of my favorite kinds of climbing. Unfortunately, it is not really possible to climb such routes with a baby onboard and I was thus lucky to bump into David Morse (Wales) and Jack Scott (Australia) in The Pines Campground, Arapiles. They were happy to bring me along on a multi-pitch climb in The Grampians as I had the car to bring us there - and they were psycked to try this area.

On March 19, 2009 we thus drove to the Mt. Stapylton area to climb on the Grey and Green Wall. It turned out to be a fantastic day with three great pitches in the most beautiful surroundings.

David Morse on the approach to the Mt. Stapylton Amphitheatre. The famous (and very hard) Taipan wall is the orange rock in the right. The Grey and Green wall is just left of the Taipan wall.

The forrest below the walls sports many boulders which are used for bouldering. Here Jack Scott is praticing his off-width chimney skills on a funny looking boulder.

The three pitches we climbed on the Grey and Green Wall:
1) Spillway (18)
2) Navarre (17)
3) Sweet Dreams (19)

Our first pitch was Spillway (18), led by Jack Scott, which was a slab route protected by the Aussie carrot bolts.

Next I led the awesome pitch Navarre which followed a left-trending diagonal corner. I thus had my feet on small ledges on the wall while using the crack of the corner for my hands (and Friends!). Super position!
Here Jack Scott is cleaning the pitch.

We had to abseil halfway down the wall to get to the start of Sweet Dreams. David Morse led the pitch which started out with delicate slab climbing without a lot of protection. The route then changed character and became an overhang which looked quite hard. However, once you got the feet up on the overhang (as Jack Scott shows here) it was surpricing easy and a lot of fun due to a lot of hidden holds in the crack.

Jack Scott abseiling the wall. Great view with the approach route on Flat Rock seen in the backround.

The Organ Pipes, The Plaque Area, Mitre Rock and Bushranger Bluff, Arapiles, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:07:00 +0000

From the summits of the mountains in The Grampians one can see another mountain in the horizon rising out of the flat farmlands, which is Mount Arapiles. Arapiles is one of the most amazing places I have ever climbed. It sports around 3000 climbs that are almost all within 5-15 min walk from the road. Although most of the best routes are multi-pitch and were thus not suitable for us with a baby, the area had plenty of single-pitch high-quality routes for the week we were in the area. Like The Grampians it is mainly a trad climbing area - small wires or RP's are a must - in particular on the harder routes.

Arapiles is made of hard sandstone like The Grampians but was more broken and in some places more quartz-like. In my opinion, the rock quality at Arapiles was thus not quite as good as The Grampians, but don't get me wrong - it is still fantastic!

We ended up climbing in four areas with baby Sofie: The Organ Pipes, The Plaque Area, Mitre Rock and Bushranger Bluff. Below is a selection of pictures from some of the routes we climbed:

Arapiles:
Mount Arapiles, sporting 3000 climbing routes, is quite impressive as it shoots directly out of the flat Victorian farmlands.

The Organ Pipes:
The Organ Pipes is a popular beginners area due to a variety of easy routes and its very close proximity to The Pines campground. Note the climber on the middle and top of Piccolo (Australian grade 11, French 4) on the "pipe" in the middle of the picture.

Hans at the crux bulge of Piccolo (Australian grade 11, French 4).

Elvira top-roping the first of two overhanging cruxes of D Minor (Australian grade 14, French 5). The route is the major crack seen on the left-hand pinnacle two pictures above. The route has three stars in the guidebook but I found it too unsustained to deserve that.

Elvira at the tricky traverse crux of Crescendo (Australian grade 17, French 5+/6a).

All these routes were 35 meters long, so I just managed to set up a top-rope for Elvira on all three routes with our 70 meter rope! In this way one of us were always at the bottom of the climb with baby Sofie.

The Plaque Area:
The Plaque Area is so close to the road that you can almost belay from the car! It was thus ideal with a baby. The routes are quite short (10-15 meters), but were on excellent rock and thus worthwhile. A wallaby was also checking out the area!

Hans leading Minimus (Australian grade 14, French 5).

Elvira following on Maximus (Australian grade 17, French 5+/6a) - the best route we climbed in the Plaque Area.

Hans leading Age of Reason (Australian grade 18, French 6a) - a novelty as the Plaque (giving name to the area) is part of the climb! The crux is to get from the plaque back onto the rock - a long and hard move!

Mitre Rock:
Mitre Rock and Mitre Lake (a salt lake) seen from Mount Arapiles. It is a small outcrop which, however, contains a number of good routes - many of which are single pitch and thus suitable to climb bringing a baby.

Elvira below the Exodus Area where we climbed two excellent routes: Salem (the flake above Elvira) and Morgul Khan (following the right side of the red rock left of Elvira).

Hans leading Salem (Australian grade 18, French 6a). As the guidebook says ""Impeccable climbing up an exquisite line"!

Hans leading Morgul Khan (Australian grade 18, French 6a). A good line but not as exquisite as Salem.

Bushranger Bluff:
Bushranger Bluff is a small crag at the summit plateau of Mount Arapiles. The main wall is in the shade most of the day, and we thus took refuge up there on a very warm day. The climbing is very easy in this area, and thus a popular beginners crag as we quickly realized when we were met by a swarm of top-ropes and a climbing school! Nevertheless, we had a great and relatively cool day at the crag.

Hans leading Sexless Sue (Australian grade 13, French 4+) which had a great overhang with big holds at the top.

Elvira following The Ghost of Melville (Australian grade 13, French 5/5+) - the hardest route in the area!

Sunny Day Valley and The Watchtower crags, The Grampians, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

After climbing the dubious dolerite rock on Tasmania our next climbing destination was The Grampians. Having heard that this should be one of the best climbing areas in Australia I was pretty psyched! However, we were now on our own with Sofia and could no longer count on Auntie Gabrielle babysitting while we were climbing, so we had to restrict our climbs to areas with single pitch climbs and very easy access! After reading the guidebook and scouting some of the crags we ended up climbing in Sunny Day Valley and The Watchtower which both had 5 min access on good paths.

Sunny Day Valley:
We first went to Sunny Day Valley at Mount Hollow. According to the guidebook this area should have high quality single pitch trad routes in all grades on perfect sandstone rock - and we were not disappointed! We started out climbing some of the easier routes to get familiar with the rock and then worked our way up to Australian grade 18 (French 6a). I immediately got totally psyched as the rock was soooooo good with nice pockets and cracks, super gear placements and excellent friction. It was like climbing on sandpaper!

Here is a short picture gallery of the climbs we did:
The Back Wall
A look down An-tics (Australian 10, French 3) - nice rounded jugs!

Hans belaying at the top of An-tics. Note the awesome looking rock formations in the background.

A look down the great corner of De Blanc (Australian grade 12, French 4).

Hans leading the nice crack route Regatta (Australian grade 13, French 4+).

Elvira at the crux of Overkill (Australian grade 17, French 5+/6a) - the best route we climbed on the Back Wall.

The Main Wall
A look down on Waxman (Australian grade 11, French 3/4).

Australian Martin Grymel leading Texas Radio and the Big Beat (Australian grade 17, French 5+/6a) - the best route that we climbed on the Main Wall.

Martin Grymel at the top of Texas Radio and the Big Beat. This was only his second lead on own gear - a good effort in my opinion!

Elvira laybacking at the top of Texas Radio and the Big Beat.

Elvira laybacking the crux start of Halfway Hotel (Australian grade 18, French 6a).

A nosy Black Wallaby looking for food near our backpacks.

The Wall of Fools with the hardest routes at Sunny Day Valley. Unfortunately, the access was to rough with a baby to we did not climb any of the routes on this magnificent wall.

The Watchtower:
The sandstone rock at The Watchtower does not hold the same high quality as Sunny Day Valley, but the 3 minute drive from our campground in Halls Gap made it possible to rush over there a couple of times to do a few climbs after laying at the pool all day or hiking in the National Park. Initially we climbed the nice corner Beelzebub (Australian grade 15, French 5) which was a trad climb.

A look down the nice corner of Beelzebub (Australian grade 15, French 5).

We then moved on to the bolted face climbs Silvertop (Australian grade 22, French 6c) and Jugular Pulse (Australian grade 21, French 6b). Face climbing is my favorite and I was thus excited to give these routes a try. Unfortunately, I had on fall in the tricky crux of Silvertop but then completed the route - no onsight this time :-(
Jugular Pulse was protected with the old fashioned Australian specialty - carrot bolts - for which you need bolt plates that we didn't have at the time. However, the routes had a shared top anchor and we could thus climb Jugular Pulse in a top rope. It was an excellent route that was significantly easier than its neighbor - too bad I could not give it an onsight attempt!

Unknown Frenchman attempting Silvertop (Australian grade 22, French 6c).

Climbing with a baby:
So this was our first time bringing baby Sofie to the crags and how was that? Well, you certainly have to lower your expectations in terms of how many routes you are going to climb per day (on average we did 2 climbs per climbing day). Other things to consider is the access as you will need to carry a lot of extra stuff (e.g. pram, food, diaper changing stuff and toys). Finally, you have to think about the safety of the baby in terms of where you place the baby while you climb as rock, gear or yourself might fall to the ground! We also experimented with which time of the day to climb in order to allow Sofie to get her naps, and found that for our baby it was best to climb in the late mornings/early afternoons, which was typically to hot for her to sleep anyways. That it was sometimes almost to hot to climb as well was just too bad for the parents.....
The logistics are thus significantly more complicated, but it should not stop you from climbing as it is definitely not an impossible undertaking!

Sofie climbing.

Sacred Site (18, 35m), The Moai, Fortescue Bay, Tasman Peninsula, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Ever since I saw a picture of the awesome 65 meter high column The Totem Pole standing directly out of the Tasman ocean I have dreamed of climbing it. However, the easiest route is Australian grade 24 (French 7a) which is above my onsight level and the pole thus remains out of reach for me.

The Totem Pole at Cape Hauy with the Tyrolean traverse in place. The base of the much bigger column The Candlestick is seen behind The Totem Pole. The hike out to The Totem Pole and The Candlestick is worthwhile even if you are not going to climb them - they are in a very beautiful setting.

However, when I flipped through the guidebook of selected Tasmanian climbs I stumbled upon The Moai which is another freestanding column albeit on the shore and "only" 35 meters high. I noted the route Sacred Site at Australian grade 18 (French grade 6a, US grade 5.9/5.10a) and another dream was fostered.

After climbing the routes Fiddlesticks and Moonraker on the questionable dolerite rock, Elvira had had enough of dolerite climbs and I thus needed another partner for The Moai. Luckily, Gabrielle’s neighbor Anna Brooks was a climber and was keen on going to The Moai for the third time so we ventured out to Fortescue Bay on February 27. Anna had met two Aussie climbing brothers, Max and Alex, at a previous trip to the Arapiles, and they were also keen on going so we ended up meeting them at the Fortescue Bay camp site.

The 2 hour hike to The Moai is worthwhile in itself. It begins at the beautiful Fortescue Bay beach and then venture into the bush following the coastline and passing several other beautiful bays. It was very nice to have Anna with us as it would otherwise have been tricky to find the turnoff from the hiking path to the rappel anchor leading to the base of The Moai (which is not visible from the hiking path).

The beach of Fortescue Bay with the bush in the background. One of the most beautiful approaches to a climb I have ever done!

Anna rigging up the rappel to get to the Moai seen below.

We had brought an extra 70 m rope to fix at the rappel anchor in order to be able to do the rappel in one go rather than the usual three rappels. It was a very windy day, but luckily The Moai turned out to be somewhat shielded by the shore and it was thus not too bad to climb it. However, the ocean was pretty wild, but we managed to get to the base of the climb without getting wet.

Video from the base of the rappel.

There are three routes up to the top of The Moai: Sacred Site (18), Burning Spear (22) and Ancient Astronaught (24). Max and Alex initially climbed the Blunt Instrument (alternative first pitch of Burning Spear, grade 20) while Anna and I went for the Sacred Site.

Max and Alex climbing Blunt Instrument (20). The leader is at the crux of the first pitch which was quite hard for a grade 20 in my opinion.

The first pitch of the Sacred Site route is an easy 10 meters to a belay ledge on the North-East side of The Moai (opposite of the Blunt Instrument route). I set up a belay and then the real climbing began. Initially, I followed a crack going rightwards and taking me directly above the ocean. It was a very wild experience to look down on my feet and see the roaring ocean below......

Two photos looking down at Anna belaying below.

The mental crux was just after the second bolt (there are two bolts on the second pitch which otherwise is easy to protect mainly with friends). I clipped the bolt and looked up at rock that looked pretty difficult - then I looked into the white ocean below and sunk my dry spit! However, as I moved upwards I constantly was pleasantly surprised to find good holds. Eventually, I climbed up a big flake with my hands on both sides of it, and just hoped that the whole thing wouldn't pull off! After the flake I moved leftwards and ended up at the fixed top anchors of Ancient Astronaught. It was just great to reach the anchor and yell "Yiieehaaaahhhhh".

Video from the summit of The Moai.

Anna and Hans at the summit of The Moai.

Hans rappelling from the fixed anchor of Ancient Astronaught - one 60 m rope will get you to the base of The Moai.

Once we had all climbed The Sacred Site, we started to climb up the route we had previously rappelled. The first step was easy and we thus just climbed it with a prussic on the rappel rope. When we got to the second step I saw the big chimney and yelled "Oh no! Not another chimney!?". However, it was actually quite fun to climb in contrast to the exit chimney on Moonraker on Mt. Wellington, which I had climbed the previous week. Finally, Anna led the last step which was the hardest at Australian grade 16. How weird having to climb to get out from a climb!

Anna leading the chimney (grade 12) on the second step back to the hiking trail.

Anna leading the third step (grade 16) back to the hiking trail.

As we started the 2 hour hike back to the car the sun started to set. I was in the front with my headlamp and got startled by several blue penguins standing on the hiking trail! They hurried into their burrows under big wooden logs and I just enjoyed the view and the funny noises from the penguin colony. What a perfect ending of the day!

A blue penguin on the trail - an awesome sight!

This is one of the most memorable climbs I have ever done and I fully concur with the description in the guidebook: "While there are many cliffs around Fortescue Bay, the prime attraction in the area is a triptych of dolerite spires; the Moai, the Candlestick, and the Totem Pole. Each is totally different from the other two, but they all possess an adventure-climbing flavour that adds to the appeal. These summits have retained an exclusiveness which is rare given the current popularity of rock-climbing. A trip to any one of them is not just another day at the crags - but it is a day you will surely remember for a long time to come.".

Moonraker (16, 78m), Step Tier, The Organ Pipes, Mt. Wellington, Tasmania, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:58:00 +0000

On February 22 Gabrielle (Elvira's sister) was super kind and took care of Sofie while Elvira and I went up to the Organ Pipes on Mt. Wellington to climb another multipitch route. We decided to climb another moderate 3-star route and chose Moonraker (16, 78 m) on the Step Tier.

Moonraker (16, 78 m). The route is marked with a red line.

Unfortunately, we made a mistake on the approach and thus ended up bush-whacking for an hour until we finally found the correct start of the route. I then started climbing a crack for 2 meters and then traversed right on dodgy rock to reach a larger crack which continued past a big cave to the 'Step' of the Tier where I set up the first belay. The crux on this pitch was to get out of the cave halfway up where I had to choose between climbing the now overhanging crack or traverse out to a thin face on the right. Sucking at climbing overhangs I chose the latter option.

Looking back at Elvira at the base of the climb and the traverse on dodgy loose rock.

Elvira climbing the upper part of the large crack on the first pitch.

The second pitch climbed the left-hand arête of the Step Tier. It turned out to be quite a hard pitch to onsight considering the moderate grade. The crux was the route finding as I constantly had to go left and right to search for the path of least resistance. Like Fiddlestick the airiness of the upper pitch (looking down at Hobart 1000 m below) and the questionable quality of the rock (dolerite just looks and feels like a lot of bricks put on top of each other!) added to the alpine atmosphere of the route.

Looking back at Elvira at the first belay on the top of the 'Step' of the Tier.

Elvira topping out on the second pitch.

According to the guidebook the third pitch was only 5 meters long, so mentally I had already finished the route when I got to the top of the second pitch - WRONG! These 5 meters was a chimney between a short rock tower and the main rock with the rappel anchor. It turned out to be awkward to get into the chimney and even worse to climb it. The chimney was as wide as my climbing shoes which prevented me from bridging the gap with my feet - and not wide enough to allow me to bend my knees to chimney up by having a foot on each side of the chimney. Having a backpack on certainly didn't make it any easier either and eventually I got myself so stuck in the chimney that I could hardly breathe. I solved the problem by finding a small crack on the right-hand side of the main rock where I managed to put in a friend without being able to see the crack. I then used the friend as a hanger for my backpack and pulled it up to the top when Elvira reached it a bit later.
Elvira squeezed into the chimney of the third pitch.

Elvira and Hans at the top of Moonraker - a bit relieved that the 'alpine' adventure is over! Hobart is seen in the background.

We quickly rappelled down using the two fixed anchors on the side of the Tier facing Hobart. On a ledge on the backside of the Tier below the second belay I noticed two sling anchors around questionable rock. It was evident that previous parties had bailed the route to avoid the last chimney. In a way I do not blame them, although I would rather climb the chimney than rappel in the rocks they had chosen as anchors!

P.S. Australian grade 16 corresponds to French grade 5+ and US grade 5.8.

Fiddlesticks (14, 55m), Flange Buttress, The Organ Pipes, Mt. Wellington, Tasmania, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:40:00 +0000

I am currently enjoying a three month paternity leave with Sofie and Elvira in Australia. Besides visiting Elvira's family (two sisters and their children) we also get time to climb and do some sightseeing.

Last Friday we did our first climb in Australia, as we climbed the popular route Fiddlesticks (grade 14, 55m) on Flange Buttress, The Organ Pipes, Mt. Wellington (1270 m), Tasmania. The mountain is situated just outside the capital Hobart and the rock face sporting 450 routes (trad, bolted and mixed) is actually visible from Gabrielle's (Elvira's oldest sister) house!

The Organ Pipes on the East face of Mt. Wellington sporting 450 routes (trad, bolted and mixed).

Gabrielle was extremely kind to offer to take care of Sofie while we went climbing and we thus picked the easiest 3-star route on the mountain Fiddlesticks to familiarize us with the mountain and the Australian grading system.

It took us a little while to find the correct access to the route navigating boulder fields and thick bush, but after one detour we found the route which is easily recognized by two big parallel cracks in a corner.

Elvira negotiating the boulder fields on the access route. Hobart is seen in the background.

Fiddlesticks. The first pitch climbs (30 m) the two parallel cracks in the corner above Elvira to a notch left of the tree seen on the route. The second pitch continues on the right crack for approximately 15 m where after the route traverse left onto an exposed arête to the top.

The climbing is great albeit the rock is a bit loose and some flakes are hollow. I thus take great care while I lead the route in order to put the protection (mainly friends and some nuts) in the good part of the rock and not to dislodge any rocks onto Elvira belaying below. I climb with a small backpack containing extra clothes, water and snacks which turns out to be a bit of a drag as the corner provides good body squeeze rests - which however are hard to use with a backpack on!

Elvira doing a body squeeze rest in the left crack at the top of the first pitch. This position is a bit unnerving as the crack continues all the way through the arête - which is thus free standing at the top.....

The belay on the top of the first pitch provide a stunning view of Hobart. Elvira yells "This is why I love climbing!" as she gets on top of the notch and take in the view.

Elvira at the first belay at the top of the notch. A great position with an awesome view and exposure.

On the second pitch I got myself established back in the crack in the corned and climbed for 15 meters until the crack started to look pretty difficult. It was then obvious to climb to the left onto the face/arête. As always it was a bit unnerving to leave the conceived safety of a corner and move out onto an airy face. The view of Hobart and the ocean 1000 m below only made the feeling stronger! However, the climbing now got easier and soon I was on the top of the route, only to see that also this arête was detached from the main rock.......

A picture of my feet on each side of the detached arête at the top of the route.

Elvira making the last moves on the route.

Elvira and I at the top of Fiddlesticks with Hobart and the Tasmanian Ocean in the background.

Video of the fantastic view from the summit.

All in all it was a great route with almost an alpine feel to it.

P.S. Australian grade 14 corresponds roughly to French grade 5.

Drytooling in Hans Tavsens Park, Copenhagen

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:06:00 +0000

This Sunday I went to Hans Tavsens Park in Copenhagen to drytool on two concrete climbing walls with Kristoffer Szilas, Anders Strange Nielsen and Morten Johansen. In particular Kristoffer has been very active in making first ascents on the walls which are up to 5 meters high and have just published a drytooling guide which can be downloaded in PDF format here.

Morten Johansen leading the left route facing the graveyard on the highest wall (graded D5+).

The drytooling experience in Hans Tavsens Park is very realistic compared to mixed climbing on rock: you have to "feel" the holds carefully to find good placements and balance your crampons and ice tools carefully in order not to fall. Finally, the walls are bolted and with top anchors allowing you to lead the routes.

Kristoffer making the first ascent of the left route on the short wall facing the graveyard (graded D6-).

Another option if you like drytooling training in Copenhagen is the outdoor climbing tower on Artillerivej 71 as previously described on my blog. There you climb on big wooden holds which gives more physical pump but less technical training.

Nordic XC skiing with a baby

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:09:00 +0000

This year Elvira and I went to Beitostølen, Norway to celebrate New Year while nordic / cross country skiing with our 4 month old baby Sofie. We were extremely lucky with the weather and thus enjoyed 5 days of skiing in almost perfect conditions in the beautiful scenery below and above the tree line.

Coming back today we already met people asking the question "Is is possible to ski with such a young baby!?". Well, the answer is YES, although you obviously have to be a good skier and take extra precautions to keep the baby warm. That said, all babies I have heard of love staying in a ski pulk / sledge and will sleep deeply for hours - the sound of the skis going through the snow is better than any nursery rhyme!

Rather than using a traditional ski pulk for the baby we bought the XC Ski Kit to convert our Chariot Cougar 1 Carrier into a sledge with skis on:
Elvira pulling our Cougar 1 Chariot fitted with the XC Ski Kit.

The Chariot system offers several advantages and disadvantages compared to the traditional ski pulk:

Advantages:

The Chariot is lifted above the ground and the interior is thus warmer than a pulk.
The skis offer less resistance than a pulk (in most snow conditions) and is thus easier to pull.
You can easily put the wheels back on the Chariot and then use it in the evening as a trolley.
The cabin is wind-proof and thus offers better protection than a pulk - in particular when the baby/child is awake and wants to look out.

Disadvantage:

The Chariot is higher than a pulk and thus much more prone to catch side wind and potentially tip over (happened to me once by a strong wind gust which was NOT a nice experience).

As for Beitostølen it is a very nice place with lots of cross country trails below and above the tree line offering circular routes for almost all weather conditions. Most trails are marked with wands and can thus easily be followed even in bad weather and some trails are even lighted till late in the evening. Later in the season when there is more snow there are also more adventurous routes for the experiences backcountry skier that are not marked or groomed. The area also has a small downhill ski area which is great for kids and beginners but would bore an experienced skier in less than a day.....

Well, we had a great trip - a few pictures and movie clips are shown below:

The author pulling the Chariot with the prominent peak "Bitihorn" (1607 m) in the background.

Elvira and the Bitihorn.

Family picture with Sofie hiding in the Chariot.

The Chariot XC Ski kit can obviously also be used for snowshoeing which we did on our last day.
A video of the beautiful surroundings.
A video of me skiing with the Chariot.
On our third day Elvira took a rest day while I skied one of the longest trails to the foot of Bitihorn. It was a windy day which kept most people away from this wind exposed route and I thus had a great adventure with little baby bunting sleeping soundly in the Chariot.

Training for the ice climbing season

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:41:00 +0000

The ice climbing season is quickly approaching and luckily we have an outdoor climbing wall 300 meters from my home which has given us permission to use the wall for drytooling :-) We have thus fitted the wall with wooden holds, rather than traditional plastic climbing holds, which gives great grip for ice tools. This weekend was my first go on the wall this season and it was great fun. I went there with a couple of friends including Kristoffer Szilas which is among the best mixed climbers in Denmark. It was in particular fun watching him negotiate an overhang by a figure 4 followed by a figure 9 - see the video below!

The climbing tower on Artillerivej 71. Note the light colored wood holds for drytooling on the left.

Kristoffer Szilas doing a figure 4 to negotiate the overhang.

Kristoffer Szilas climbing the wall.

Climbing on Bornholm, Denmark

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Believe or not - you can actually climb in flat Denmark on the beautiful rocky island Bornholm south of Sweden. Earlier this month I went there for two weeks primarily to read some of the 730 grant applications I am currently reviewing for the Danish Medical Research Council but I also had a few days to go climbing and see some of the beautiful scenery :-)

The climbing turned out to be fantastic. Elvira and I visited two crags, Hammerbruddet and Randkløve which were both in extremely beautiful settings with great granite rock. The crags on Bornholm are rather small and most routes are fairly short and on own gear, but I would still strongly recommend going there as there are plenty of high quality routes too keep you happy for a while - and then there are a ton of interesting sightseeing you can do on rest- or rainy days. Finally, I truly enjoy the special atmosphere and culture you find in this remote part of Denmark. The Danish Alpine Club has made an online climbing guide: http://bornholm.danskbjergklub.dk/ and the official Bornholm tourist site is: http://www.bornholm.info

Below you find a selection of our climbs and Bornholms sights:

Hammerbruddet is an old granite mine which sports great routes around the artificial lake Opalsøen.

Hans leading the route Chip og Chap (5-), Hammerbruddet.

Hans leading the super classic Hammercracket (6-), Hammerbruddet - one of the best routes on Bornholm.

Elvira and Hans at the top of Chip og Chap, Hammerbruddet with a fantastic view of the lakes Opalsøen and Hammersø. In the background you can see the ocean and the Hammershus Castle Ruins.

Elvira following on Victory (4+), Randkløve.

Elvira getting the rope ready under the crack Sorte Else (5), Randkløve. Another great classic on Bornholm.

Elvira enjoying the ocean view from the top of Victory. Awesome crack right on the ocean front!

And then some non-climbing pictures from our Bornholm sightseeing:
My parents, Elvira and Sofie on Dueodde - a beautiful beach on the Southern tip of Bornholm.

A typical yellow-painted half-timbered fisherman's cottage in the harbour of Gudhjem.

The windmill of Gudhjem - the largest in Denmark!

Bornholm is famous for it four round churches, of which the one in Østerlars is the most visited. The building on the left is the bell tower.

Østerlars Round Church is also beautiful inside with old chalk paintings. Again I was impressed with the ability of my Nikon D300 to take pictures in low light conditions at high ISO (here 1600) without much noise. Great in a church like this where you are not allowed to use flashlight!

Olsker Round Church - not as popular as the one in Østerlars, but equally beautiful.

Post mill in Svaneke [a.k.a. Bechs Mølle] - a beautifully preserved mill originally from 1629.

Hammer harbour - note the Hammershus Castle Ruins in the background.

Click here if you want to read more about our trip with a focus on Sofie.

Talk with super-alpinist Carlos Buhler Monday November 17 at 8 PM

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:59:00 +0000

My friend and US climbing partner Carlos Buhler will visit Copenhagen to make a presentation on some of his amazing alpine climbs on Monday November 17 at 8 PM.

The venue is Auditorium 2, Entrance 44, Rigshospitalet:

The talk is organized by the Danish Alpine Club - you can read further details on their forum:

http://www.danskbjergklub.dk/forum/showthread.php?p=10455

Looking forward to seeing you at the talk (admission is 60 DKK)!

Christiansborg Rundt - swimming 2 km around the Danish Parliament

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Today I participated in the 2 km open water swimming contest Christiansborg Rundt for the second time. It is a great race in the harbour of Copenhagen swimming in the canals surrounding Christiansborg Palace - the place of the Danish Parliament.

This year I completed the race in 47 minutes 24 seconds which is 36 seconds better than my 2006 time - and this year the route was even 100 meter longer than in 2006! I was thus quite happy with myself although I realize it is not an Olympic record! I ended as number 328 out of 411 males - so at least I was not last in the race :-) I was also just happy not to freeze my but off in the 18 °C cold water!

It is a great event with a lovely atmosphere and it is just fun to watch the oldest part of Copenhagen from that angle!

The start of my heat.

I had enough surplus of energy to wave to the photograph (= my wife Elvira who could not participate this time because of her recent delivery of our baby).

You get to swim past some of the most famous buildings in Copenhagen such as the Royal Library "Black Diamond" seen on the left (I am a little dot in the water on the right).

Even number 328 gets a medal :-)

Sofie - day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Day 1 in Sofie's life. We are still at Hvidovre Hospital were they are taking VERY good care of us. Sofie is now sleeping a lot better than the first 24 hours which is probably due to the fact that she is drinking a lot more milk now. Great as this allows the parents to sleep more as well :-)

Below a few pictures of the day:

The wrinkled hand.

Grandpa's hand.

Sleeping after a nice meal.

Sofie in full size = 51 cm.

Well, its about time that this website return to its focus on climbing :-) Future updates will thus be posted on my wife's blog www.elviravaclavik.com which is dedicated to Sofie! Take a look at the pre-birth ultrasound scans and more....

Previous posts.

Baby Sofie Frederikke Bräuner has been born!

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:20:00 +0000

At 00:27 on August 20, 2008 my baby girl Sofie Frederikke Bräuner was born. Both mom and baby are perfectly well and sleeping as I write this blog. It took less than 30 minutes from our arrival to the hospital until the baby was born, so that was almost an Olympic record!

Sofie is 51 cm long. weighs 3244 grams, is very beautiful and looks like she will become a strong climber!

Elvira and Sofie just after the birth. What a chock to get out into the real world!

Sofie shortly after birth and still wet.

Sofie on the scale reading 3244 grams.

Sofie finally sleeping after a restless first night.

Sofie with open blue eyes.

The lucky father and Sofie.

Previous posts.

Cerro San Lorenzo - free lecture on September 4

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:01:00 +0000

I will give a lecture [in Danish] on my trip to Cerro San Lorenzo, Patagonia, Argentina on Thursday September 4 at 8 PM.

Localization:
Danish Alpine Club
Løvstræde 8a, 3rd floor (entrance in the courtyard)
Copenhagen.

Free entrance - all are welcome!

Previous posts.

Cerro San Lorenzo part 6 - descent and route 40 home

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000

The next morning (June 20) we woke up to lenticular clouds and a beautiful halo around the sun. Looked like bad weather was coming our way and we thus packed our stuff to begin our descent. Also we were running out of food, gas and time which made the choice easy.

The halo around the sun
[photo by Carlos Buhler].

As mentioned in part 4 it would not be fun to descent the frozen ravine that we ascended from the Rio Oro valley and we thus decided to descent into Chile although we didn't know what we would meet that way. That also made that descent route more interesting and we thus walked North from the Camp 1 plateau over a ridge and descended into a gully.

Carlos at the ridge North of Camp 1 where we descended into Chile.

The gully soon changed into a snowfield with packed snow - wished we´d had those conditions the day before yesterday on our approach to our intended route! At this point we also noted a big lake which I remembered from an internet photo - we were on the right way as the Refugio Toni Rohrer (a.k.a. the Agostini hut) would be just North of the lake in the forest!

Carlos descending the snowfield. Note the big lake. The Refugio Toni Rohrer is located in the forest behind the lake left of the river.

We stayed on the snowfield until we reached the flat part of the glacier seen on the right on the picture above. The conditions were perfect and only once did we have to rappel to get down two steep steps.

Carlos rappelling the steep steps.

Eventually we crossed the glacier to get to the left side of the lake as the right side looked steep and exposed to rock fall. Also, we were convinced that we would find the path of the normal route on that side of the lake (which we did).

A look back at our descent route from the col on the left. Initially we descended the rocky snowfield until we were forced onto the lower part of the glacier at which point we crossed it. We then descended the moraine (as seen here) until we joined the path of the normal route marked by cairns.

On the left side of the lake we followed the moraine until we found the path of the normal route which was marked with cairns. The path led us to the Toni Rohrer hut which we checked out but decided not to use - it was not particularly cosy and we had to pay to stay there which would be a hassle.

The Toni Rohrer hut (a.k.a. The Agostini hut) - the base camp of the normal route.

The hut can be reached by horse and there was thus a nice trail out of the valley which we hiked until it got dark. Sat up camp in the forest and the next morning we hiked the last bit to Puesto Muñoz.

Carlos hiking the last bit back to Puesto Muñoz.

We had a last lunch with the cowboys and then drove of - we had to catch our airplanes in Buenos Aires (2500 km away) in three days! Instead of driving the same way "home" via the ocean route 3, we decided to drive North via Routa 40 following the Andes mountain chain. It was a much more beautiful drive which I can highly recommend. In particular the town El Bolsen and the Rio Negro area was extremely beautiful, where Bariloche was a overrated dump with ugly slum ghettos (at least the parts we were driving through).

The beautiful hippie town El Bolsen with its motto "Zona No Nuclear"!

The lake in the center of El Bolsen.

The beautiful Rio Negro area.

Mountains of the Rio Negro area.

Final reflexions:
Back in Denmark a month later it is time to reflect on the trip. Obviously we did not reach our primary goal of a new route on the East faces of Cerro San Lorenzo, but yet I would not call the trip a failure. We found a new approach to the mountain, made the first ascent of a rock tower, saw the beautiful landscapes of Argentina (all together we drove 6500 km!), and had a great time with all the people we met on our way.

The mountain has a huge potential for new routes on the East, South and North-East faces and there are plenty of rock towers waiting for their first ascent. You will have to work a lot harder for these first ascents than doing an alpine climb in e.g. Chamonix, but you will for sure have a much greater adventure!

GPS coordinates
Oh, and then just one last thing: a map of the area with our place marks. Click here to download a Google Earth file with our GPS coordinates (krz file format which you need the free program to open).

Google Earth map with our place marks.

Read the previous parts of the story:
Part 1: Cerro San Lorenzo - getting there.
Part 2: Cerro San Lorenzo - advanced base camp.
Part 3: Cerro San Lorenzo - life at Puesto Muñoz.
Part 4: Cerro San Lorenzo - attempt on Cerro San Lorenzo.
Part 5: Cerro San Lorenzo - ascent of Aguja de Rune.

Previous posts.

Or go to my homepage to read other climbing stories: www.climb.dk

Cerro San Lorenzo part 5 - ascent of Aguja de Rune

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:59:00 +0000

The next morning (June 19) the weather was still perfect and we thus packed all our rock gear and walked over to the peak we had picked out.

Carlos getting ready to climb the peak behind him.

This time the approach was extremely simple as we just followed our tracks from yesterday to a rocky ridge which we initially climbed unroped. As the exposure increased halfway over we roped up, and Carlos lead about a rope-length of scramble mainly by just swinging the ropes back and forth between the rocks on the ridge. At the bottom of the steep wall, he established a belay and secured my passage across the ridge.

Carlos (in green Gore-Tex) building an anchor at the base of the steep climbing. Great view and great exposure!

Next Carlos started leading what would become the first pitch following a crack system starting directly above the belay and then trending rightwards.

Carlos taking the first step onto the vertical wall of pitch 1.

The first pitch was climbed by a combination of drytooling, free climbing and semi-artificial climbing (i.e. resting on pro while figuring out the next moves).

Carlos leading pitch 1.

Eventually he disappeared around the corner to the South face at which point the rock got loose and he thus progressed slowly as he cleaned the loose rocks away. After ~4 hrs he yelled "Secure" and I followed as quickly as possible by a mix of free moves and pulling on gear.

Carlos at the second belay.

The next pitch initially followed a corner crack which was unfortunately too wide for our friends. There was not many other features to accept our pro but luckily there was several suspect looking chock stones in the crack which Carlos could then use as pro by putting slings around them. Given the wide crack and lack of features on the walls he decided to aid the first part of the pitch as there was not much to hold on to with his hands or icetools.

Carlos aid-climbing pitch 2 with "on-the-spot-made" etriers.

Once he got above the vertical wall, the steepness declined and the climbing got easier, but also loose again! It was thus slow and careful going. The sun was now setting, and I was thus very happy when I heard Carlos yell "I am on the summit!"

Video from the summit of Aguja de Rune.

Again I climbed as quickly as possible by a combination of free moves and pulling on gear - we wanted to get down before it got completely dark as we only had one headlamp with us! When I got to the summit we hugged and yelled "YES!" - we finally managed to climb a new route! What a great felling!

Video of Carlos rappelling from Aguja de Rune.

While Carlos rappelled the route I was left on the summit in almost complete darkness. There was no wind or sound and I had the most spectacular 360° view with Cerro San Lorenzo glooming in the moonlight. What a great feeling to just sit there for a few minutes enjoying the exhilaration of a first ascent!

Rock needles seen from the summit of Aguja de Rune.

Back in the tent we discussed what name to give the peak. Carlos and I met for the first time in 2003 while ice climbing in Rjukan, Norway. He was there with his wife, Christa-Lee Mitchell, and I was there with three of my Danish friends, Rune Klausen, Sune Hermit and Carsten P. Cooper-Jensen. Regretable, Rune died in a rappelling accident on Pyramide du Tacul, Chamonix, France in August 2005, and given that we both knew him, I suggested to name the peak in his honour. Carlos quickly agreed, and we thus named the peak Aguja de Rune (Rune's Needle in English, Aiguille du Rune in French). We also discussed which grade to give the climb. Free climbing in the summer in friction shoes it would probably be French grade 5c (US 5.8) and the way we climbed the route it involved aid A2+ and drytooling D5 sections.

Aguja de Rune seen from the tent after our ascent. Summit of Cerro San Lorenzo is seen in the back in the upper righthand corner.

The next day we descended into a valley on the Chilean side and then drove back to Buenos Aires to catch our airplanes. Read more about that in the next post: Cerro San Lorenzo part 6 - descent and route 40 home.

Previous parts:
Part 1: Cerro San Lorenzo - getting there.
Part 2: Cerro San Lorenzo - advanced base camp.
Part 3: Cerro San Lorenzo - life at Puesto Muñoz.
Part 4: Cerro San Lorenzo - attempt on Cerro San Lorenzo.

Previous posts.

Cerro San Lorenzo part 4 - attempt on Cerro San Lorenzo

noreply@blogger.com (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:24:00 +0000

On June 17 we finally got our weather window. We took off from Puesto Muñoz early, got up to our advanced base camp where picked up our stuff and kept on going. We walked along the North side of the upper lake and then climbed up the ravine towards the col as we had previously planned [read part 2 for details].

Carlos climbing the ravine. I was glad that the rocks were frozen solid into the ground. In the summer this would be very prone to rock fall/slides. However, as it was steep in places and not possible to secure, it would not be fun to descent this way....

We were very excited to see the terrain on the other side of the col. Would it be possible to get on the glacier and would the glacier be passable???

Looking down from the col towards Carlos and the upper glacier lake.

We were thus very happy when we reached the col and saw that it took us directly onto the glacier with snow-filled crevasses. Our strategy of circumventing the lower heavily broken glacier had succeeded :-)

Carlos on the col walking towards a big plateau where we put up camp. North face of Cerro San Lorenzo on the left.
Our route is in the corner between the North and East face above the red dot.

We had ascended from 500 m (Puesto Muñoz) to 2000 m and the sun was setting. We thus put up our tent and crossed our fingers that the perfect weather would continue the next day where we hoped to reach the base of our route.

Panorama video from the col.

Our camp on the plateau with an excellent view of the North & East face of Cerro San Lorenzo.

Looking South from our camp towards El Rincón and the moon.

The next morning we woke up to another day of perfect weather and a stunning view of the North/East face of Cerro San Lorenzo. Our line looked awesome - now we just had to get there, which meant approximately 2-3 km horizontal and 750 meter vertical approach.

Close-up of the North face of Cerro San Lorenzo. The big couloir in the middle has previously been climbed - our route was the couloir/ice line on the right.

We roped up for glacier travel and started walking. Initially it was easy going as the plateau was wind blown, but as soon as we got close to the East face the snow got deep and fluffy.

Easy going on the plateau.

Tough going in the lay side of the East face....

Eventually, the snow got so deep and unconsolidated that we walked in snow to the middle of our thighs.

Carlos making tracks in thigh deep snow among seracs and deep crevasses. Not a fun place to be in!

We had walked 1/4 of the distance to the route in 1/2 day and the snow was just getting deeper and deeper. We thus realized that it was pointless to continue towards the route. It would take us at least 2 days of very hard work to get to the base of the route, which would leave us with little food, gas and energy to climb the route and descent [we had brought 3-4 days of supplies].

Carlos taking two steps in 10 sec. Deep snow!

At this point we thus decided to turn around and walk back to the plateau. What a disappointment!

We had actually brought randonnee skies for this situation, but they were back in base camp and we didn't have time to go down and get them as we had to leave for Buenos Aires in a few days. We were completely surprised by the large amount of snow on the upper glacier as there was hardly any snow further down the mountain. However, we later rationalized this peculiar phenomenon as follows: the wind always blew from West to East and thus blew the snow over the large East face where the snow would then accumulate at its base. Thus, albeit there had been only little snowfall this season it had all accumulated on our approach route!

A disappointed Carlos climbing back to the plateau camp with the heavily broken glacier and the North face of Cerro San Lorenzo in the background.

However, we didn't give up that easy and thus started looking for other objectives close to our camp on the plateau.

There was certainly lots of opportunities for rock climbs on the many rock needles surrounding the camp:

Lots of rock needles surrounded our camp, screaming for first ascents!!!

Aguja de Rune
[photo by Carlos Buhler].

The next morning (June 19) we decided to give the rock needle above a go. We loved its beauty shooting directly out of the glacier all alone.....

Read the next part of the story: Cerro San Lorenzo part 5 - ascent of Aguja de Rune.

Previous parts:
Read part 1: Cerro San Lorenzo - getting there.
Read part 2: Cerro San Lorenzo - advanced base camp.
Read part 3: Cerro San Lorenzo - life at Puesto Muñoz.

Previous posts.