Bargo Brothers Live Adventure Volume 3 June 26-July 2

Branndon Bargo / 24.07.2006

June 26, 2006 Day 8

Today is a great day to lounge around. Sunny with the best views so far. We spoke to some guys from New Zealand, Canada, and North Carolina about the route ahead. They also gave us a bunch of their leftover food, and I am excited to eat some of their reindeer sausage. We went by the ranger tent and talked to the ranger and his buddies that saved us. They work as Snow Patrolmen at Snow Basin in Utah. We told them we live in Park City and now we are best buddies, at least that is what I tell myself. We will enjoy the nice day and relax. The toughest climbing and most severe weather lies ahead.

June 27, 2006 Day 9

We woke up about 10 a.m. We wanted to cache our food at 16,200 feet. We left at 1:45 p.m. It was very warm. From camp the climb does not look that tough, boy was I wrong. It starts with a very steep incline, and keeps getting steeper the higher you get. This section is known as the headwall, and it is where the real climbing begins. We climbed 1200 feet to the Bergschrund - the highest crevasse on a mountain, an ice wall in this case. The fixed lines begin at the Bergschrund. There are about 10 sections, 800 vertical feet of lines that are protected by anchors. The anchors are three foot metal pickets. The lines are in place because if you fall you are a gonner. The slope is about 50 to 55 degrees. We used prussic rope instead of ascenders to cut back on weight, which was a big mistake. It took us much longer to ascend the ropes than most people. The other groups were coming down as we went up. When we got to the top it was close to 7 pm .It was very cold and windy. We climbed to about 16,300 feet and cached our food and CMC. A CMC is a “Clean Mountain Can” and it is our portable toilet that the Park Service makes us carry around so we don\'t dirty the mountain with our frozen hockey pucks. We cooked some noodles and soup, and then headed down the fixed lines to ABC.

June 28, 2006 Day 10

The visibility and weather was poor, and we heard the weather was bad at 17,000. We rested and watched the specialized high-altitude helicopter, named the LAMA pick up somebody with severe frostbite. It came back several more times to pick up gear from ABC, as they are packing up for the year. I met a guy from Geneva, originally from Spain, named Felix. A very interesting guy who has climbed 4 of the 7 summits. He is not going to the top because of a leg problem. He is being met by another group that will take him down. That group is being led by Vern Tejas, a very famous climber. He is the first person to solo Denali in winter, an amazing feat. As he left he said bye to me and Greg, and was pulling two sleds down the mountain, what a stud!