By Jim Herson
I was totally dissed on my home turf! Peteman and I headed up the Salathe this weekend for my first "redpoint burn." Unfortunately I got bouted badly at the cruxes. I haven't figured out exactly why yet but you gotta figure there was a shoe problem somewhere in there. The cruxes were damp and the sewer pitch, although not flowing at full capacity, was still a prize. Peter, being sharper than Chan, opted to skip this pitch.
Anyway we arrived at Sous le Toit just as a pokey party who was NAILING THE ROUTE!!! arrived at the anchors above Sous le Toit. The only opportunity to pass them was to link from Sous le Toit to the roof (P28&P29). As I pass the anchors one of the Austrians fondles my rope, confers in German to his buddy, and then looks up and says "this is a very difficult route. You should use a real rope no?" Thrown into a rage I motored on through to the roof linking the two pitches into an aesthetic, if not pumpy, alternative to the hanging belay at P28. Call it 12d, three stars.
Jim