Here is a topographic drawing of the SE Face Original Route/Women at Work (VI 5.12R). We climbed to the top of Proboscis on August 5th, 2010. It was a warm, sunny day and we reached the top with large smiles and kind words at 7:30 pm.
We brought a free climbing rack and did not haul any extra gear from pitch 8 upwards. This was great in that we could climb lighter, but later during our 7-hour descent by rappel, we thought fondly of our bolt kit at pitch 8. I have noted the old anchors on the topo.
Draft topo for the SE Face Original Route (Women at Work)
If I went to do this route again I would bring a bolt kit and place a bolt anchor at pitch 12. Madaleine has a souvenir piton she pulled out with her hand from this now 2-pin anchor. This led to a discussion and a re-lead of the sideways traverse pitch (pitch 12 on my topo). Emily re-led the pitch as the evening light embraced our world.
One idea is to add a rappel anchor station or two on the face and get back to the route at the top of pitch 9. This would avoid re-leading the traverse pitch and even with the re-lead rapping off two less-than-ideal anchors. The route otherwise has bomber anchor stations for rappelling, courtesy of Nancy Feagin and Barry Blanchard in 1997. We rappelled the original route, but you could also rappel the Costa Brava free variation from pitch 8 to the top of pitch 4.
Our spirits were high from the summit day and we focused for the remainder of our climbing days on setting up the crux pitches (pitches 7 & 8) for a first free ascent. These two crux pitches were a lot of work, and at times we had all three of us on rappel engaged with the tasks at hand.
Emily and Madaleine at Work
Emily Stifler
Lorna K Illingworth
Madaleine
