The Saddle North Peak

The view from the top should be great, but with the dropoff it looks a tad tricky - maybe a rope is a good precaution. I think a jump would have been a terrible call - what did you plan to hold onto on the other side? Also with how wet it seems to have been at the time.

Looks like there might be a spot for a massive cam near the end of the ridge (wouldn't want to carry one of those up a pass though), but otherwise it doesn't look like you'd get any protection in anyway. Maybe find a spot to stick a nut or hex into the rock on the escarpment side to anchor the belayer, leader climbs across with no extra pro, and then finds a anchor for themself on the other side and belays the rest of the team across just as a precaution and to aid if anyone in the group gets nervous on the way.

Is the fall continuous or just a steepish view down?

The crux move has a push-hold on the left hand, and if you overbalance, you would possibly go head first down a pretty consequential drop. Every move below this is easy on positive holds. I can't comment on anything above the crux.

Climbing up seems easy enough, but you have to remember that you need to free-solo down-climb the crux with a fall of consequence. Not recommended for anyone who isn't strong on rock.

Personally I will be taking a rope and some grass stakes up some time - and I will find a way of safely abseiling back down. Kind of seems a waste to carry a 50m rope to the top for such a small bit of climbing though!

There appear to be 2 gear placements on the route, one just above the crux looks like about a size 7 nut (or equivalent cam) and higher up there seems to be a bigger piece. Not sure how solid these are though.

Here's the possible pro circled:


Mike is just below the crux in this photo.

A pity you guys didn't get up, but it is pretty daunting, and you can't help anticipating the difficulty down climbing it again if you do manage to get up, as was the case when I was there last year and decided against risking it.

The previous long weekend, Andrew P, Neil Margetts and I summited North Saddle after climbing the climb section at the nek. We used a route more to the right than the route in the topo above, and the route you guys tried, and I found this a lot easier, although admittedly the exposure doesn’t get to me. The three photos below show the route we took on the short climbing section. In the first photo I am standing in the same position as Mike, but with much easier moves to the right than left and up.







Neil took the rope out for me, although neither him nor Andrew used it at all. I felt more comfortable with the protection, especially on the down climb back, but would have been okay without it. It helped tremendously that we had brought all the gear and rope to climb Xeni Peak, and it wasn’t only brought up for me to use on the short North Saddle climb.

At the summit cairn of North Saddle, with South Saddle behind, and the Cathedral range in the clouds.



Neil down climbing back to the nek.

Thanks Tony!

We are already making plans for heading up Nguza Pass and down Ntonjelana/Christmas Pass with a rope and some gear.

I looked at the right line, it did look easier, but the exposure worries me. I have lead climbed up to grade 12 (F1) on trad at Monteseel - so it isn't the moves that bother me, just the fact that I have to free solo down climb it. With some grass stakes left behind, I will find a way back down.