| Chuck Blackwell, expert mountaineer and sales representative for Petzl, Arc’teryx, and Scarpa hosted senior merchant Paul Smedley, accountant (and staff photographer) Denis Callet, and me on a spectacular snow and ice climb at North Peak, which is north of Mammoth Mountain, just inside Yosemite National Park. The hike in began at 6am at 6500 feet. We reached the snow at 9:30am (and 9800 feet), and reached the vertical summit of 11, 800 feet with 4 pitches at 2:25 PM.
It was an unforgettable day with a tremendous adrenaline rush, and exaltation for what was accomplished. Chuck is a pro, Paul very calm, and Denis took excellent photos. All the gear, footwear, and apparel from Sport Chalet worked perfectly. The thrill of this matches the thrill of exceeding sales plan, and I can’t wait to get back and do something even more challenging.
Chuck says fewer than 50 climbers per year attempt this route. It was Unbelievable!
You need a lot of great gear
from Sport Chalet to attempt this.
I'm paying close attention to Chuck and listening carefully to his instructions. Paul is in the zone
and ready to go.
Chuck Blackwell, Paul Smedley, me, and Denis Callet at the trailhead.
We are
headed to the third vertical column (shadow) from the left.
But first we have to scale the rock wall--my new Scarpa Zen climbing shoes made the difference.
We are headed up the first pitch--all snow.
Now the second pitch--transition from snow to ice and now this climb gets very serious--when
you get here, there is no going back.
Now the
third pitch and all ice. As Chuck climbs, the ice chunks fall from
right to left, so we'll
stay on the right.
Fourth and final pitch from the summit--now it gets flat, and our leader Chuck follows us up.
The
summit is very narrow, and we need to head down so we aren't in the dark
on the descent
--so 30 minutes of enjoying the view, resetting the gear, water and
power bar and now good to go.
At 8500
feet on the back side heading down--this was no cake walk either--the
summit is in the
center. Notice Paul in the middle of the picture--well worth all the
preparation and hard work.
Let's do it again.
For Videos - Click the link below to see all 4
YouTube - Sport Chalet
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