Our historic and contemporary look at significant descents from the mightiest of mountains and even more modest topography. We'll cover traverse here too.
Friday brings us to a more low-key, image-heavy post coming from Patagonia. Early last week, noted Polish ski-mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel and partner Jędrek Baranowski, repeated the Mini-Whillans.
A solid long-form presentation from The Teton Climbers’ Coalition about Sultana’s Infinite Spur taking us from alpinism to ski alpinism.
Some more details (and photos) about the fine adventure had by Hennessey, Gardner, and Fabrikant highlighted in Episode 10 of the THR Podcast: Up the Cassin, ski the NWB, and a walk to Wonder.
Some people cringe at the thought of oversight, others exhale with relief. Considering the gear we rely on for safe mountain travel, oversight is often a good thing. Climbers, mountaineers, and alpinists are likely familiar with the UIAA stamp of approval on much of their gear. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, or UIAA, helps set safety standards for equipment like climbing ropes, harnesses, and helmets. Recently, they adopted safety standards for avalanche rescue probes and shovels. In the future, expect the UIAA to establish standards for avalanche transceivers too.
One aspect of the route, the Whillans Ramp, is a long, exposed, and steep thread of snow bisecting the mountain’s eastern wall. Aside from the ramp and hanging snowfield below, this is a big wall theater visited more by alpinists than ski-mountaineers.
The line was first skied in 2012 by legendary skier Andreas Fransson. (You can read about Fransson’s thoughts on the line here. It is an excellent read.) He considered the one of his most, if not the most, technical descent he had skied. This is of note considering his legacy of steep skiing, including Denali’s South Face.
Bruchez, Jules Socié, and Aurélien Lardy completed the second descent of the ramp on the 21st, while the following day, they opened new adjacent ski terrain, calling it the “Mini-Whillans.
