Mount Sill
Failed ascent of Mount Sill (North Couloir, class 4), with Michel Ferrary, September 16, 2000
Timeline:Â
For this climb, Michel and I approached Glacier Notch from the South Fork of Big Pine Creek. We camped at one of the tarns SW of Contact Pass. On the day of the climb, I remember encountering some 3rd class climbing on the way to the notch. We went up the L-shaped couloir roped up, as I had learned to do in the Alps. This was a mistake in retrospect, as we only had one ice axe: the consequences of a fall down the icy couloir would have been serious. We basically did not know what we were doing. We got to the steeper 4th class rock face but decided it was too serious for us, and turned around. This trip taught me that I needed to learn more mountaineering and climbing skills before attempting harder objectives.