Something Wicked This Way Comes

Gothic Nightmare has been on my to do list for years.  Matt King and I finally made it happen this week.  The weather was less that prime with cold temperatures and a few inches of snow but to be expected I guess since it's December.  We didn't start the hike until 1pm because I got off work that morning.  We fixed about 100' before fixing the rope and calling it a day. 

Starting up pitch 1.

Matt had been having knee issues. He told me that night that it was aching and that he could probably only do the hike one more time.  So the last 4.5 pitches would have to get busted out day 2.  We left at 7am on day two.  

Snowy approach.

He belayed from the ground as I finished leading pitch 1.  

Jugging the fixed line

Next up was a dirty crack pitch that required a fair bit of mining to find solid placements.  Luckily I'd borrowed a bunch of wide cams from friends or else I definitely wouldn't have made it.  Pitch 3 and 4 followed a line of mostly hangerless bolts that stuck out of the rock 1-2 inches.  When I pulled on to the top of Pitch 4 the route was less steep and slightly on the NW side of the tower, this meant that we now had to deal with some snow and ice.  

Pitch 4 anchor.

I lead the last pitch and rappelled back down to Matt.  What a cool summit!  

Summit!

Selfie on top of Pitch 4.

 Luckily all the rappels went smoothly and we were back at the base before dark.