Evolution Traverse - attempt or scout

We (Sean, Kim, and I) prompted by Kim decided to try the Evolution Traverse. This would be a big undertaking for us, but we thought we'd check it out.  Kim had hiked in to the base once, and then bailed due to the enormity (and weather I think). Sean hates bivying, so we decided to try to do it in a push, which would make things even harder. We started shortly after 2 am and hiked in to the start (actually we probably started a little east of where you are supposed to start). By then it was light, so that was nice. We busted up onto the ridge and on to the summit of the first peak (Gould). Then on towards the next with some creative scrambling and a short pitch of climbing where I regretted not bringing the nut tool. A bunch more scrambling over false summits brought us to the summit of Mendel. From there we had a nice ridge descent for a bit before things got spicier with some raps down to the notch before a long scramble up to Darwin. I was no longer keeping up with Sean, but we were still moving right along. It was 1:30 pm or so and supposedly about 40% through the business, although the hardest technical stuff was just ahead. We decided that if we continued on there would be unpleasantness - more unpleasantness than we wanted. This would take the form of a long cold uncomfortable bivy or climbing through the night with headlamps with route finding problems. Also we weren't sure we were up for meeting the technical challenges at the speed required to see us through. So we lounged on the summit longer and then headed back. Well after the pass Sean reverted to his normal mode of mountain transportation - running - and Kim and I continued to stumble down the trail to get out before 9:30 - over a 19 hour push - which was probably enough.

The theme of the day was "MEAT" according to Kim which she would yell out from time to time - prompted by trying to eat a bunch she had before it went bad. I am not sure we succeeded, as part of the reason Sean left us was intestinal distress.

We were trying to go light and fast, so I didn't even bring my camera! It did make the hiking and scrambling quicker and easier, but I didn't get many pics. We had a single skinny 50M rope as well as a set of nuts and a bunch of slings. We all brought rock shoes, but I was the only one who wore them (for the one bit I led).

Here is the spot track.

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=314886

Kim on Gould with the ridge to Mendel behind her

Here I am on Darwin with the rest of the traverse behind me

This traverse has teeth and isn't afraid to bite

All of these pics are from Kim's camera. Thanks Kim.

Disaster - sort of - good thing it is a Pentax

The unthinkable happened, while pulling my camera out of the case I had strapped to my chest it caught on something and popped out of my hand and out of the case and dropped from chest height onto a granite slab. CRASH. I said a choice word (or 2 - loudly) and picked it up. The flash had popped open but otherwise it was in one piece, except for the large cracks across the front of the lens - luckily they were just the clear filter on the front. I turned it on and it seemed to work, although it had trouble focusing with the cracks across the front. Still, the pics appeared to be ok and with a different lens it seemed to be 100%.

This looks like a good place to drop a camera - NOT

resulting in this

the cracks actually didn't degrade the image as much as you'd expect

especially with a larger aperture and zoomed in a bit

It took 4 hands and a skeletool to get the busted filter off the next morning, but then that lens (Pentax DA* 16-50mm) seemed to work fine too. That is good because I would have been extra super grumpy to have both busted my camera and to be carrying an extra 12 or so pounds of useless dead weight on a 3 night backpack trip. Thanks for building such a solid tool Pentax (the K5 and 16-50). Needless to say, after all the trouble getting the camera out of the case I went to the Cotton Carrier shoulder strap carrier the next day. Not only was it easier to get the camera out and back but it had a backup attachment so even if I fumbled it the camera wouldn't hit the ground. It still sucks to have fumbled my camera and to break an expensive filter, but it is so much better than it could have been.

luckily the camera seemed to still work fine (taken with different lens)