Gietl and Schaeli climb Devil's Paw north summit

Posted by Lindsay Griffin on 15/06/2015
Schaeli near the start of the northwest ridge of Devil's Paw. The line of Black Roses is marked. Simon Gietl
View 1 of 4

Simon Gietl and Roger Schaeli have made the first ascent of the 1,000m northwest ridge of the north summit of Devil's Paw in a rapid 19 hours.

The highest peak on the Juneau Icefield, Devil's Paw (2,616m) is a four-summited mountain in the Boundary Ranges, straddling the border between Alaska and Canada.

Heli Putz, local ski guide and friend of Schaeli, had often spoken excitedly about the mountain, so in May Gietl, Putz, Schaeli, and another local guide Ed Shanley skied into the Paw.

The spring weather was excellent, and one-hour's ski travel above base camp brought Gielt (30, Italian, from the South Tyrol) and Schaeli (36, Swiss) to the foot of the ridge.

After a few metres of climbing the two realised that the ascent, with a headwall featuring wind-blasted rime that reminded the pair of Cerro Torre, would be far from a walk in the park.

The descended and prepared for a lightweight ascent, abandoning sleeping bags in the hope that they would only need one bivouac and could survive comfortably without.

They took a stove, food, crampons, and rock gear, with Shanley having to provide Schaeli with his own thin socks when the latter's proved to much for his tight rock shoes.

Route finding proved difficult, the rock was often wet or sometimes snow-covered, and there were large loose blocks that caused the pair some stress.

By late evening they were pushing through a dangerous stretch of deep wet powder below the summit when they decided it would be best to bivouac.

With wet feet and legs the experience was never going to be pleasant, so they were glad to get moving again after four hours and find a way through the headwall at first light.

Traversing well to the right, they finally discovered a chimney leading to the summit snowfield, and soon were standing on the highest point.

It had taken 19 hours in total, and it appears possible that no-one had previously visited this north top.

The pair had little time to rest as strong morning sun was already raising the temperature and making steep snowfields prone to wet snow avalanche. In five hours they descended a couloir on the west flank, and returned to base camp.

Due to the large species of lichen present on the climb, the 1,000m route was named Black Roses and graded 6c A1 M4.

Little climbing is recorded on the Devil's Paw, and accounts generally talk about atrocious rock on the summit ridges.

The main summit, the top immediately south of the north summit, was first climbed in July 1949 by Andrew Griscom, David Michael and Bill Putnam, who ascended the northeast flank.

The south top was first climbed in 1976 by Fred Beckey, Dougal McCarty, Jack Tackle and Craig Zaspel via the south couloir. This couloir has been climbed and skied several times since, as has at least one more couloir on the west flank.
 



« Back

Post a comment Print this article

This article has been read 1719 times

TAGS

Click on the tags to explore more

RELATED ARTICLES

Apply for a BMC expedition grant
1
Apply for a BMC expedition grant

An introduction to BMC and MEF mountaineering grants.
Read more »

The most impressive traverse ever completed?
0
The most impressive traverse ever completed?

Belgian climber Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll has been willingly stuck in Patagonia since Covid-19 kicked off, and making the most of it: jaws dropped around the climbing world when he became the first to solo the Fitz Roy Traverse late last week. This epic route, fantasised about by anyone who has ever seen a photo of the jagged skyline above El Chalten, was first completed by the dream simul-climbing team of Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell in 2014. The route traverses the iconic Cerro Fitz Roy and its six satellite peaks: 5km of ridge line with around 4000m of vertical gain.
Read more »

Galvan and Zerain disappear while attempting second crossing of Mazeno Ridge.
1
Galvan and Zerain disappear while attempting second crossing of Mazeno Ridge.

Hope of finding the noted partnership of Argentinian Mariano Galvan, and the Spanish-Basque Alberto Zerain, who were attempting an alpine-style ascent of Nanga Parbat's Mazeno Ridge, has now faded after an aerial search on the morning of the 1st July.
Read more »

Post a Comment

Posting as Anonymous Community Standards
3000 characters remaining
Submit
Your comment has been posted below, click here to view it
Comments are currently on | Turn off comments
0

There are currently no comments, why not add your own?

RELATED ARTICLES

Apply for a BMC expedition grant
1

An introduction to BMC and MEF mountaineering grants.
Read more »

The most impressive traverse ever completed?
0

Belgian climber Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll has been willingly stuck in Patagonia since Covid-19 kicked off, and making the most of it: jaws dropped around the climbing world when he became the first to solo the Fitz Roy Traverse late last week. This epic route, fantasised about by anyone who has ever seen a photo of the jagged skyline above El Chalten, was first completed by the dream simul-climbing team of Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell in 2014. The route traverses the iconic Cerro Fitz Roy and its six satellite peaks: 5km of ridge line with around 4000m of vertical gain.
Read more »

Galvan and Zerain disappear while attempting second crossing of Mazeno Ridge.
1

Hope of finding the noted partnership of Argentinian Mariano Galvan, and the Spanish-Basque Alberto Zerain, who were attempting an alpine-style ascent of Nanga Parbat's Mazeno Ridge, has now faded after an aerial search on the morning of the 1st July.
Read more »

BMC MEMBERSHIP
Join 82,000 BMC members and support British climbing, walking and mountaineering. Membership only £16.97.
Read more »
BMC SHOP
Great range of guidebooks, DVDs, books, calendars and maps.
All with discounts for members.
Read more »
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Get covered with BMC Insurance. Our five policies take you from the beach to Everest.
Read more »