From: "Yann Merrand" To: Subject: 1989 arrigetch climbs Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 00:14:54 -0700 Hello Clint - Interesting compilation of Arrigetch rock climbs. It is definitely quite a place with a lot of potential for new ascents. It is one of the better trip I have done because of the remoteness of the area, the wildlife and the flora, and of course the magic of being North of the Arctic circle. The climbing is excellent although one has to be careful of staying off most faces that are characterized by thin exfoliation flakes. You might be interested in a few comments I have regarding the climbs we did in 1989 (Beckey, Brill, McGregor and Merrand). The North buttress of Central Maiden our group did is a different climb than the one ascended by Markel and Duggan. I communicated with Duggan once our trip ended and he confirmed that their line was further out on the face to the right (i.e. they did not climb the spectacular prow). Our line involved traversing left out toward the prow via a ledge, we started off the ledge up a vegetated chimney to crack climbing (5.8). After several pitches angling left, an exposed face climb right on the prow involved tricky route finding (i.e. little protection and ~5.7). It lead to a ~7-pitch long dihedral on the right side of the buttress (sustained 5.6-5.8). A multi pitch crack ended just short of the summit (~ 3 pitches up to 5.8). The last pitch of the route was a perfect hand crack through a roof that overlooked the entire face (5.9-5.10a). I remember ~30 pitches of pleasant climbing on excellent rock and spectacular exposure. We descended via a mixed gully to the right of the face which was quite unpleasant (scary); descending to the South and hiking back around through the pass to the East is probably a better choice significantly longer. Also, the East rib of South Xanadu I climbed with Bob McGregor was a grade IV, 5.9 route which actually ended on a subsidiary summit. On that day we did not have the bolt kit and had to stop short of the main summit. The climb was good but I especially remember the best trundling ever. Sadly, Bob died a month later when he fell into a moat on Mt Tantalus in B.C. I hope this was useful. Cheers, Yann Merrand