From across the valley Cheops Shelf looks narrow, cross fall line and threatened by overhead hazards. That's atleast what I’ve seen in the past years of eyeing it from numerous angles. I felt I had seen it from most angles except one: the top. One thing I have learnt about steep lines is that looking down them usually puts my “from across the valley” jitters at ease. That was exactly the case on this day. (Lead image by Greg Hill).
PHOTO BY JOEY VOSBURGH
The sunny breaks lured us closer as we wallowed through facets to our ridge entrance point below the summit. A quick belay and Greg (Hill) located the exact spot and the hunt for an appropriate anchor was on. Once we were set-up with a bomber anchor, Greg rapped first and disappeared over the first roll about 30m below. His yell echoed up the corner and I rapped in next. I reached the final 20m slab and noticed the ropes ends were precisely at the start of the snow.. Perfect! Really glad we brought two 60m ropes now!
PHOTO BY JOEY VOSBURGH
The lined skied beautifully. Sluffing from our anchor excavation had already given the hanging slopes a bit of a scubbing and our confidence in the snow grew. The visibility never came in but with the enormous cliff wall on our right we had a great handrail and we slashed sweet pow to the creek. Mission accomplished!
GREG HILL PHOTO OF JOEY VOSBURGH
