North Face Kahl Route III -

Fun route, climbed in August and had about 5 pitches up knee deep snow and then about 6 very fun full rope length ice pitches. Like previous note, we got way off route on the descent and almost had to bivi. Fortunately we found a cairn just as it was getting dark. The Sandbag of the Rockies says an enjoyable outing, but prepare for a long day. We left the car at 7am and didn't get back until midnight (mainly due to our mistake on the descent). My biggest piece of advice for the descent is to stay on the main ridge that you descend until you are down on the first big talus field and then hike all the way back around and you will start to find cairns that lead you down below the last big cliff into the valley. It may look like the wrong way, but if you cut down one of the gullies too soon, you will end up on sketchy terrain like we did. I noted poor rock quality because I was leading on some ice a few pitches from the top and a bowling ball sized rock flew by me out of no where, missing me by about 15 feet. Still another memorable climb that I wouldn't trade for anything.

If you like alpine rock this is a slog, we spiced it up a but by climbing up the decent rapple route but also tried to make a short cut on decent and ended above very loose cliff bands that took a bit to get through.