| High on the Koedt-Rowat Route (Gladsheim Southwest Face) Below is a description of the photograph you were looking for, and the circumstances surrounding the photo. Photographer: Drew Brayshaw Technical: Olympus Stylus 300E digital. Technical: Olympus Stylus 300E digital. Caption: Merran seconding the 4th pitch we climbed roped on the Koedt-Rowat route on Gladsheim. Story: This route begins with a few hundred meters of scrambling up slabs and ledges before steepening to a series of corners. We climbed five long roped pitches, at 5.10b/5.9 (depending on route chosen), 5.6, 5.8, 5.9 (shown here) and 5.7, to gain a hundred meters or so more of scrambling leading to the summit ridge. This pitch is listed as the 5.8 crux pitch in the guidebook (the 5.8 grade in the Black Book of Lies is a bit like the 5.9 A2 grade in the Rockies, a catchall for "hard climbing") and consists of slabs to a thin finger and hand crack in a left-facing corner, which steepens until it is slightly overhanging before easing off to slabs at the top. Mer has just pulled over the overhang in this photo. It must have been pretty tough for the Peters (Koedt and Rowat), climbing in kletterschue, with pitons, nuts and maybe some hexes, in 1974. But as Peter Rowat observed to me in an email when I sent him this photo and a message of appreciation for such a great line, "We were climbing pretty well in those days and didn't worry too much about running it out". To see the actual photo you must be a Paid Member |