FA – “Johnny Double” M5, WI4, 30m

“Saturday 27 March 2010 I was eying the remnants of the ice-falls at Balea Lake in the Fagaras Mountains (the Carpathians). A swing at the lowest ice dagger and its subsequent collapse indicated a no-go – the heat of the last week transformed all (snow and ice) into sugary mush.

Around the corner, however, slightly in the shade, I noticed a line that looked like a go. I put Ioana on a belay quite a ways from the wall, put in a screw to protect the belay and headed up the rock-face. Although quite rotten and wet the climbing wasn’t that hard per-se; wiggling in a no.1 camalot in a fragile, flaring slot and moving above it proved to be the crux, sweetened by another, backup no. 0.5 camalot in an equally flaring/crumbly slot one meter higher.

Rock dispensed with I moved onto ice where it seemed more stable, however not before i sent down the lower part of the ice curtain… Screws bottoming out and not really holding into the snice I chopped two holes into the curtain and sling them then moved up. I cut the cornice and dug for some belay on the upper plateau, until I found some healthy looking icicles. I belayed Ioana up then we abseiled back and I continued the descent on skis (with two tumbles on the wet slush).

We named the 30 m route “Johnny Double” and graded it M5, WI4.”

From “Johnny Double” M5, WI4 FA(?), posted by Cosmin Andron on 3/29/2010 (3 items)

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