Direttissima

I'd had plans for a while to do some Yam climbing with a group fo 3 more guys.  Now, I'm not very experienced climbing multi-pitch trad; I've only done a few routes in Jasper and those are pretty soft.  Yam would be my first "full on", big trad climb.

I had originally thought that we would split into two pairs and climb two separate routes, but that was not the case.  It turns out that essentially only Kevin was confident enough to lead up a big route.  That made me pretty nervous, as I knew we would be super slow and possibly dangerously cramped at belays.  Some encouragement kept me on the trip, but just.

Saturday morning we got going rather leisurely and started up the route at about 10:30 in the morning.  It was a truly great climb, the first pitch being quite sustained, and the last pure amazing.  Pulling through a chimney into a superman pose with 1000 feet of air underneath certainly made the climb memorable.  I did learn that Kevin is rather bold with his climbing, doesn't place a whole lot of gear, and is very confident.  I, on the other hand, am rather reliant on beefy belay anchors and well protected climbing.  That, fighting a cold, and being bonky on the route made me spook about 2/3 way up the route.  I got through it though, and I definitely want to log more miles on big climbs like this one.  I want to lead and build proper anchors rather than rely on a few manky old pitons which the leader didn't even test with a hammer.  That had me less than impressed.  A few photos courtesy of JP (I forgot my camera).

Looking up the route

Kevin leading the first pitch.  50m of 8+ on gear!

Following up somewhere on the route

The "sketch traverse", actually not that bad.  It's got 3 pins in it.

Double Rainbow all the way across Yam!

Sunday we spent at WAAAAASSSSOOOOOOOTTTCCCH which was crowded.  We still found a few routes to go up, but I only led up to 5.8.  That's how wrecked I was after 10 hours on the side of Yam.  There are a few OK routes there, but I don't think I'll be back.  It's so damn polished, short, crowded, and just not inspiring.  Next weekend I'll be exploring a couple of new (to me) areas in the Banff/Canmore area, so hopefully I'll find some sweet climbing.