Joe Puryear

Perhaps even more remarkably, in that intervening 60 years, nobody had climbed the striking south face of Kachatna Spire, leaving it ripe for the picking by Michael Talstad and Eli Spitolnik.

It is worth noting, though, that back in 2005, Americans Chad Kellogg and Joe Puryear put up a fantastic new route on the southeastern ridgeline, which they called the Black Crystal Arrette, which skirts to the right of the south face until joining back up with it high on the headwall.

It's just begging to be climbed.

It's just this most beautiful aspect of that formation.

So it was like a solid day, I guess.

But for a whole third of the mountain, it felt like we were pretty efficient.

Michael and Eli were eager to reach the section of the climb that linked up with the Black Crystal Arrette, the only other established climb on this side of Kachatna Spire, where they would at least know that the route would go, based on Chad Kellogg and Joe Puryear's report.

We're killing it.