East Ridge on Eldorado Peak

May 4, 2013

Our original objective for the weekend had been Glacier Peak, but we did a little research and it sounded like the road was still washed out, requiring multiple days to rock an ascent. Since Cam was likely on the hook for daddy daycare on Sunday, we hit the road Friday night to snag a scarce few hours of sleep at the trailhead and fire Eldorado.

Our stop in Darrington to provision up with Starbucks Moca Frappuccinos could have been the smartest thing we did all weekend. We rolled into the trailhead at about midnight and set up our sleeping bags on the gravel next to the truck, then attempted to fall asleep until 2:45am. Some rest was had, but not much sleep, as a number of other parties rolled in over the next couple hours and broke the silence of our otherwise still, star-filled night.

2:45am was painful, but the cold Frappuccinos, cinnamon buns, and various other snacky items really pulled us through. We ate and slowly packed up, hitting the rough climber's trail at about 3:30am. In our sleepless stupor and with heavy, awkward skis on our backs, the section through the woods felt a bit like being a human pinball. The trail was pretty steep and let us make great upward progress. By the time we hit the snow, we'd gained around 3,000 feet of elevation from the trailhead.

With skis on, we made quick progress except for the few sections that were steep enough and icy enough that we slipped around quite a bit. Ski crampons would have been an awesome addition for sure. We ducked over the ridge at about 6,200 feet, had a quick boot pack down the far side, and then kept skinning up the long snow field until the crest and large bowl below the summt. Skinning up the long ridge to the summit wasn't too steep and things had started to loosen up a bit by then, so we ended up skinning to about 500 feet from the summit.

Right at the spot where we started to take off our skis and throw on our rope and crampons, we ran into another party of two—the only other party we saw that day. Turned out one of the guys was an old friend from Dartmouth who used to live two doors away during our Freshman year. What a small world, especially considering that he doesn't even live in Washington and that we were up near the summit around 9:00am.

The knife-edge ridge finish was much shorter than I would have expected and we quickly finished things up, enjoying the view on such a perfect day, and without a ton of wind. Our celebration was short-lived since we all wanted to get down as quickly as we could. Evidence of wet slides was everywhere on our ascent and we knew that temperatures were going to be exceptionally high.

The vast majority of our descent involved awesome skiing, never too steep and never too icy. A short skate across the basin got us to a long section of skiing down the snowfield which was fun enough that I let some whoops and hollers out, which is saying something for a guy who doesn't ski much. The short boot-pack section led us to mashed potato snow for the rest of the way out. Things were sloughing quite a bit and our knees were getting really tired, but we made it out safely and experienced the joy of removing our boots, but the pain of strapping them and our skis to our backs.

In not too long a time, we made it down the pinball section (things were a bit easier with daylight), and got back to the truck around 12:30pm. Celebratory beers with Ben and his partner were especially tasty and we were back in Seattle in no time (or at least it felt that way since I ate a ton of Ben & Jerry's and passed out. Thanks for driving, Cam!

Snow Creek Wall

April 28, 2013

Every classic climb list I've seen for Washington has included both Orbit and Outer Space, so, needless to say, they've both been on my to-do list since I moved out here. Leavenworth was a solid choice for the weekend, with enough warm days so far to melt most of the snow, but not good enough weather on the West side to climb a big volcano. Goran and I hit the road early on Saturday after a phenomenal night on the town in Seattle which left me slightly sleep-deprived and a bit hung over, but quite happy.

Orbit

We drove straight to the Snow Creek Trailhead on Saturday and made the approach in under an hour, just passing a group of three before the base of Orbit. We soloed up the bit to the gnarled tree and started firing pitches from there. Pitch 1 would have been an exercise in painful rope drag if climbed per the guidebook beta, so we broke it into two parts, with Goran taking the awkward chimney move and me taking the finger crack. From there, the route went pretty smoothly and quickly. We had plenty of daylight left at the top, so we decided to carry over the wall and hike directly down to the Pearly Gates. It turned out to be a bit of a chossy, bushwhacking adventure, but we found a trail eventually and made it to the crag. We got on Pearly Gates (5.10b) and No Room for Squares (5.8) before calling it a day and hiking out.

All that approaching and heinous descending made me incredibly ravenous and desiring of fried chicken. Unfortunately, Safeway was out, so we picked up beers and a whole roasted chicken, then headed to the campsite which Peter and Susan had graciously offered to share. I must have been asleep within a half hour after finishing my dinner.

Outer Space

The sabbath saw a leisurely morning with coffee and danish, then an approach back to the Snow Creek Wall to hit up Outer Space. Goran had been on the route before, so we decided to forego the forgettable first two pitches in favor of a spicier link-up start using Remorse and RPM. I led the first pitch of Remorse and was surprised at a couple of the moves, which likely meant that I'd taken a slightly wrong turn, but eventually made it to the bolted belay below the roof. From there, Goran grabbed the rest of the gear and headed up the roof. We'd seen a party on the route earlier in the day and noticed that they pulled over the roof to the left, which seemed like a good alternative to going straight up the 10b crack. Goran took this left turn on his lead and I followed the incredibly fun pitch with great exposure.

We arrived at Two Tree Ledge to find a party of three just starting the third pitch of Outer Space. Bummer. For nearly two hours, we hung out on the ledge in the sun, waiting for the party to clear off that ledge and the next belay. I took the crux pitch lead and had a blast swinging around from the flakes. From there, Goran brought us up the runout knobs to the base of the classic crack pitch where we waited for the party of three again. Things were starting to get pretty chilly at this point and we were bundled up in puffies and winter hats. I did the ice climbing warm-up dance quickly before taking the lead. It was nothing short of awesome, with great feet on knobs nearly the entire way and awesome hand jams that I actually made use of a bunch of times (big news for me as a total sportie...I could hear Dale saying "don't be afraid of the crack").

By the time we finally summited, the sun was starting to settle below the far ridges, so we busted a move on the descent to make it to the car before dark. I was highly motivated to get back to the leftover beers, danish, and chips. Victory tasted incredibly sweet.

Washington Pass Double-Header

April 20, 2013

News of the North Cascades Highway opening over Washington Pass spread like wildfire around the office this past week. Goran and I quickly agreed that, given the weather forecast and likelihood that visibility wouldn't be good enough to warrant an ascent of Glacier Peak or another big mountain, Washington Pass was a solid choice.

Southeast Couloir on South Early Winters Spire

We left Seattle around 7am and made it to the Blue Lake trailhead in about 3 hours, slowed slightly by a quick bout of motion sickness and painting of the shoulder with oatmeal not far from our destination. We pulled our relevant gear out of the car and quickly started skinning. The approach went quickly, with a short section through the woods and a longer section out in the open with enough visibility to see the spires on our left and not much more. We made it to the base of the couloir in just under an hour and switched our skis out for crampons and mountaineering axes.

There was a veritable boot-pack highway up the couloir and solid snow cover, so ropes were far from necessary. Things steepened and narrowed a bit as we went, but we made it up the chute very quickly. There was a group of mountaineers at the top, preparing to rappel the route. We said hi and scrambled the quick low 5th class move on frozen rock with our crampons to gain the summit. It was exceptionally soupy—we could barely see down to the valley floor in certain directions and definitely couldn't make out the other spires. With no view to take in, we quickly scrambled down and down-climbed the couloir, which went even faster than our climb up. Goran stopped at the wider section to slap on his skis and enjoy a few tight turns. I was not so bold.

The descent was pretty easy, but my knee was still hurting from our day on Baker, so I took things pretty slowly and had a few low-speed falls that must have been pretty funny to watch. We were quickly back at the car where I made salami and cream cheese sandwiches while Goran navigated the hairpin and road to Mazama.

Prime Rib

It was about 3pm by the time we made it to the parking area for the Goat Wall, but we were feeling frisky and decided to try and make it up as much of Prime Rib, a classic 11-pitch 5.9 , as we could before dark. We racked up quickly (thankfully with no trad gear) and quickly made the approach. Judging by the number of shoes left at the base, a number of groups were already high on the route. We started simul-climbing and swung simul-leads for the first 5-6 pitches. We were ticking off a pitch every 20 minutes, so we made it to the higher section with more consistent and exposed climbing in no time.

The clouds were ominous and the wind was picking up, but it didn't look like we were going to get caught in anything too nasty, so we pressed on, narrowly avoiding a little rock fall from some groups rappelling above us. We caught the next group just as we finished the 11th and final pitch. Up at the top, the wind was howling and we felt like a couple of windsocks with our hoods blowing back and tugging at our necks. The raps weren't terribly memorable or fun and involved a bunch of 3rd class walking between stations. Nonetheless, we finished the raps before dark and headed for the car with visions of burgers and beers dancing in our heads.

The 20-minute drive to Winthrop involved a number of "I can't believe we just did that" moments and high-fives. It was a big day to have started in Seattle. We made it to the brew pub with 5 minutes to spare before the kitchen closed. The burger and imperial stout could not have tasted better. There was even a live band to keep us from falling asleep on our table—it was awesome.

After a night at the Early Winters Campground and a decadent breakfast at the Mazama Store, we started the approach to Sisyphus. Unfortunately, mother nature frowned on our plans and a big snowstorm pushed through the valley. We still finished the approach, but it was obvious that we wouldn't be climbing any rock. We could only be so bummed after such a solid Saturday.