Agharta Ice Route in Panther Gorge

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Initial Thoughts

I've dedicated the last eight winters to putting up new ice lines in Panther Gorge. In the back of my mind the circa 1999 line Agharta (WI4-) kept popping up. I wanted to climb it. It remains the longest line in the Gorge at 800' in length. Somewhere along the line, I thought it would be interesting to solo it the first time up. Two seasons passed since that idea floated to mind. Each year I found that I wasn't ready to make such a commitment. My goal was to climb it, not get hurt--soloing is a highly personal and risky undertaking so I don't do it with a cavalier attitude, but one of deep self-reflection and continual internal and external assessment during such a climb. Last week I decided that it was time to pursue the idea. I'd no idea if the line was in, but I felt it was worth a look. In any case, it would be a good training day.

The day before came and I woke up with excitement. I felt good. As the day progressed, excitement waned to apprehension, and I talked myself out of it. A friend talked to me about it and calmed my nerves. I woke up on February first without any expectations except that I'd take the tools...and a skinny bail rope...for an 8.5-mile walk to look at the route. I'd see if I felt like climbing it once there.

Agharta (WI4- / 800')

I started from the Garden Trailhead at 0440 in my usual stupor for that hour. The trail was well packed and the snow level low. A few rocks poked through. I knew the trail was broken to the Marcy/Haystack col, so if I could muster the ambition to keep going, I knew that I'd fall into a rhythm. I expected my internal dialog to be more chaotic than it was regarding the climb. It was oddly quiet. Instead, I fought the cold temperature (1F at the start) which dropped for two hours. As the sun lit the early morning sky, the temperatures rose, but the wind began to gust. I hoped it wasn't blasting Mt. Marcy's SE slopes like the last time I was in there; when Katie Vannicola and I found it too cold to climb anything.

The bushwhack to the Panther Den at 0845 warmed me. The snow was unconsolidated, and I punched through to my thighs some of the time. The lines, save two (Waking Cerberus & By Tooth and Claw), on the Panther Den were sublimated. They weren't being fed. I dropped down to the Feline Wall; Chimaera looked pitiful and delaminated. I had no hopes that Agharta was in place, but I was nearby, and it felt silly to turn back without a look. The bright sun and cobalt-blue sky fed my doubts further. From the southern buttress of the Feline Wall, I crawled up the steep unconsolidated slope toward the Agharta Wall.

Then I saw something unexpected. An amber glow was visible through the trees. Agharta!

I walked onto the snowfield and looked up the fat, tannin-stained line. It looked amazing. Wind-whipped parasols adorned the headwall 400' higher. The lower flows looked bonded and fat including the crux curtain about 200' up the line. Ok, the line was there, but I needed the mental mindset. I didn't have it at first, but some deep breathing and realistic assessment of myself and the line (again) put me in the mindset. I reminded myself that I could bail at any point.

The temps had, by now, warmed, but the wind was strong especially at the parasol level. I knew I'd climb into the gusts and spindrift.

An adjacent line popped in the sun and an orange-sized piece of ice fell onto the snow slope and rolled past my pack. I took it as a warning to be careful.

The sun was strong at 1015 when I stepped onto the route, the pack still a bit heavy on my back. I had the rope and gear inside. The initial 200' was WI2ish up to the WI4- curtain. I looked behind the curtain and it was 2 feet thick and in fine shape. I rested often and clipped to a tool when I sat for more than a minute or two. Once above the curtain, I sat in a small snowfield below the next couple hundred feet of WI2+ ice leading to the notch in the headwall. It was a fine place to rest. The Agharta Wall spread out to my right with various rock climbing routes in view: Throne to the Lions, Tail of Redemption, Kat Nap, Galaxy of Tears. Haystack sat to my east...my favorite High Peak.

Easy climbing up the flow over the underlying slab led to the parasols. I could see why this line bakes. If it was thinner, the sun could easily warm the chocolate-colored stone and melt the ice from underneath. I was happy to have it in a fat, bonded condition. The next challenge was to climb past the parasols and caves formed by the overhanging, but short head wall. The ice was not, however, overhanging (maybe WI3ish). An awkward move and few steps up placed me on the low angle top of the route. Easy, wind-blasted ice narrowed as I approached the end of the 800' route. It pinched down to a few easy flows in the trees and finally a small glade in the krummholz.

It was only here that I relaxed my guard and let out a sigh of gratitude/relief. A fall would have been catastrophic even if the climbing was moderate. I sent a message that I was ok and hunkered down in the wind while I changed into snowshoes. It was 11:30 when I began the bushwhack back to the Phelps Trail. My two obvious choices were to hike higher and angle right or via the trees above the clifftops while contouring downward to the NE. I chose the latter.

The snow was unconsolidated even here. Forty minutes later I met my entrance boot pack in the mouth of the Gorge. I was sitting on the Phelps Trail at 1215. I felt energized and happy with the day...grateful that all went according to plan. The winds were quiet on the N side of the pass. The exit was considerably warmer than either the climb or the entrance. None-the-less I was ready to be done when the last steps of the trip fell underfoot at 1537, just under 11 total hours.

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