Ingall's Peak - South Ridge - 08.21.09

Elevation Gain: 3400'
8 miles RT
Left car: 7:30 am
Summit: 3:00 pm
Back at car: 10:20 pm
15 hours car to car

Another late night in the mountains.

Lori organized a trip that was going to be to either the Tooth or Ingalls and was supposed to involve Adam, Lori, myself and some of Ken's students. By the time I had gotten off Forbidden I found out that Adam was still working and I choose the location of Ingalls. We were originally supposed to have three students, but one backed out which gave us nice pairings. After some difficulty finding our way onto I90 in the early morning, Lori and I finally met Deanna and Mike in Issaquah. We piled into Mike's SUV and headed out.

Once on the dirt portion of Teanaway Road, the tire pressure sensor light came on. Mike assured us that it has happened in the past with no issues. As it turned out, we pulled into the lot with a hissing tire, deflating before our eyes. We decided to leave it until we were finished with the climb and deal with it then. We then headed up the trail.

This was a test mission for Lori's knees after starting a new regiment of arthritis treatment. I was still recovering from my Forbidden epic and I think the students were fine with the slow pace we set up the trail. Just before Ingall's Pass we were greeted by a goat posing for us on a rock outcropping. We all stopped to take pictures. After our photo session we continued to hike toward the lake.

Nearing the lake we had to veer off the trail to start the scramble to the base of the climb. Having only done the approach to the south ridge in the snow it was unfamiliar to me. It was not completely obvious which way to go as you could not see the peak to use as a reference point. After a little wandering, Lori, Mike and Deanna found a gully-like ramp to ascend while I ascended slabs to the right of them. We reconnected a short distance from a notch which we passed through and made a few steps on snow at. Then it was just a short scramble to the base at the dogtooth crags.

Since it was 11:30am I suggested we eat lunch. (I had already been up for seven hours, so why not?) We sat about and sorted gear and ate our respective lunches. Around 12:30pm I started off on the first pitch.

Every other time I have climbed the south ridge, this first pitch is usually buried in snow. So we ended up climbing it to the lowest rap anchor as a first pitch. I brought Mike up and we were on our way. I led up a short pitch to move the belay below the main pitch while Lori started leading up the first pitch. I brought Mike up to my location and put on my pant legs and shell jacket as the wind was relentless. Thankfully the sun was shinning, so it was keeping the temps reasonable.

I led off on what was our third pitch. This is one of the nicest pitches of easy alpine rock to climb. The crack is fairly clean, and the pro is good. It is really an enjoyable pitch. I had told the students that they should consider themselves lucky that they were on Ingalls and not the Tooth, as it was a nicer climb. This pitch was fun, but a bit long, and with my reduced alpine rack, I almost ran out of slings to finish the pitch. I brought Mike up and had him leave the #3 cam in for Lori as she did not bring one. (For some reason, the beta on this climb says gear to 2" and one piece of beta even limited it to 1.5"!) I agree with Ian in that if you bring a piece, you'll use it. So I had the #3 and was able to place it at least twice on the route. Although two pieces at 2" would go a longer way for the earlier pitch as getting the #3 in was a squeeze. Next time I may just bring a large hex instead of the #3 cam and see how that works.

After bringing Mike to the top of the pitch we hung out a bit. He was experiencing some leg cramps and wanted to rest them a bit, while I wanted to take pictures of Lori climbing the pitch. After a while of hanging out, I got under way.

In no time, I was at the top of our fourth pitch and done with the technical rock climbing. I brought Mike up and we relaxed a bit. I looked down to see that Lori and Deanna had not even started the final pitch and we decided to untie and head for shelter from the wind. I hung out behind a large rock in the sun while watching the clouds force their way over Mount Daniel, Chimney Rock and the Lemahs. Mike laid out in the sun and wind just above me. I'd occasionally run back to the route to check on the progress of the other rope, and then return to my perch.

At one point, I decided that we should hit the summit while waiting and Mike went up and touched it, while I straddled the rock. We then went to check on Lori and Deanna. At this point, Deanna was on the final pitch and I told Lori that Mike and I would hit the summit again and then start the rappels as it was getting late (Lori and Deanna probably arrived at the top a full hour and a half later than we did.) and the clouds seem to be winning their battle eastward to our location as well.

Mike and I went back to the summit to take pictures, this time Mike straddling the summit and getting his picture taken to boot. We hustled back to the anchors where Deanna was on top at last. I started setting up the rappel so I could add a rappel ring to the next anchor which only had one. Once the top rappel was set up, I had some minor difficulty in making the initial moves onto the rappel as it involves a turn around above the anchor. Once on rappel I made my way quickly to the next station. I had enough time alone at the next station to add a rappel ring and then set up my rope for half of the double rope rappel to the next rap station. Around this time, Mike joined me at the rap station and asked "how are four of us going to stand here?" The ledge there is tiny, and so I then set up my rope as a single line rappel and rapped it the next station to make room for Deanna and Lori.

Down at the lower rap station the wind seemed to be at its worst. I tried to huddle behind some rocks, but I mostly got flapped around by the wind. After a while, I was joined by everyone and we set about the next rappel. At this point I let Lori go first as I was pretty sure she wanted to be back on the ground. It also gave me time to put on a down jacket because the wind was really starting to chill me. After Lori and Mike made the next short rap, they set up a single rope rap to reach the packs.

By the time I reached the next rap station, I had discovered that the rope did not reach and we had to convert the single rope rap into a double. With some quick action this was done and Mike got to be the first to rap to the packs. Lori got on from her location (where she built an anchor) and made the short rap down to the packs as well. Once Deanna made the rappel I was all that was left.

I reached the packs, where we sorted gear, had a snack and started out way down. Going down the loose talus proved slow and then we had a bit of trail finding to make sure we didn't cliff out. Once back at the trail Lori almost had a run in with a goat and her kid. It seemed the goat was defending her child (and the trail) and started walking toward Lori (who was in the lead) with her head down. I started yelling loudly (and the others joined in) and that spooked the goat enough to run up the slope a bit. We all quickly passed and were on our way.

Most of the hike out was uneventful. While the parking lot was near full in the morning, we did not see people until our way out. There were a few camping near the trail, and a handful coming up by headlamp once we had crossed over Ingall's Pass. Back in the parking lot we were greeted by a few more who were getting ready for the popular parking lot bivy.

This turned out to be a good thing. Because not only did we have the tire change to deal with, but the dome light was also left on in the vehicle, and it would not start. The other climbers offered us a jump start, but asked them if they could wait until we changed the tire first. Other than a few issues with how to remove the jack and the spare tire, the tire change went well and soon we were being helped with a jump from the other climbers. Once the truck was running we hopped in for the slow ride back out. (The spare was a donut, so we took it easy.)

And we saw a porcupine on the road on the way out. It turned its back to the vehicle and raised its quills before wandering to the side of the road. Cool.

My pics are here.
Mike's pics are here.
Lori's pics here.

The Tooth SW Face - 05.17.09

2600' Elevation Gain
4 miles RT
Left Car: 7:45am
Summit: approx 4pm
Return to car: 10:30pm
15 hour car to car

It was time for me to revisit the Southwest Face of the Tooth. Last year Julie and I had a great time with great weather on this climb. I had fond memories of it and decided I would share them with some friends (and a stranger.)

So I finally saw a coyote in Washington. Not in the desert where I expected. Not even in the wilderness. When we picked up Steve at the Eastgate P&R, there was a coyote pouncing around the tall grass on the north side of the lot.

We arrived a touch later than expected at the Alpental lot and geared up deciding to bring snowshoes, but leave the crampons in the car. The snow was already soft as there was no refreeze during the night. We started hiking up the trail behind a Washington Alpine Club party of about nine. Bare boots seemed to work well as there were nine people ahead of us stomping in tracks. When the trail started to head for the gully near Source Lake, we donned snowshoes for the softer less consolidated snow. Shortly after the gully got steep we went back to bare boots as the WAC was making some nice steps up the gully. We passed the WAC group in the basin as they geared up and we made our way to the base of the climb after stashing snowshoes and trekking poles at the notch.

We got the to base of the climb in a little over two hours, and noticed that about half the first pitch was still under snow. I proceeded to find a spot where the moat could be filled in and we could access the rock for the first pitch. After some snow engineering and gearing up, we were finally starting the route around 10:45am. Lori led off in boots on some spicy wet moves to gain the flaring off width. After some slow progress and minimal gear options she gained the ridge a bit. Then back across the top of the off width to easier ground and the tree at the top of the first pitch. I followed up, and Matt led behind wearing rock shoes.

I led out on the second pitch with minimal gear options and got to the point I believe we belayed from the previous year. (Having looked at last years photos, I attempted to belay from a much higher point this year.) I searched for a while for adequate anchors before building an anchor with blue and green aliens, and a slung horn. I brought Lori up and we discussed the next pitch.

Lori headed up the money pitch which starts on some slabby moves and gains a wide dirty crack before transitioning right into more blocky terrain. Now with rock shoes on, Lori sailed up the pitch. Steve and Matt had wisely set up a belay below me and Matt proceed to lead the pitch above me. He was well past me by the time I got my rock shoes on and headed up. I got to the next belay and had some water and a snack before reracking the gear, and heading out.

Once I turned the corner, there were people everywhere, as well as ropes. I climbed through/past a WAC group anchor, and then went to the final wall. I put a piece in and attempted to head out on the catwalk. There was no gear above my last piece and the rope drag was horrible. After a bit of attempting to make the moves go, I down climbed to the ledge and set up a belay to bring Lori up. By the time she arrived, the WAC were pulling their ropes, and we would have the summit to ourselves. She led off on the ramp variation as she did not like the description (not good pro) of the catwalk that I had given her. She reached the summit with some hooting and hollering, and then brought me up. As it was late, I left the gear in for Steve to clip to save us time.

We spent a brief amount of time on the summit, and prepared our raps. While I know many people do double rope raps off the South Face, I usually prefer single rope raps. However, the last rap station is somewhat dubious, and it also is a little higher than 30m from Pineapple Pass. So after two single rope raps we decide to do a double to the pass. This reminded me why I favor single rope raps. The ropes were blown in the wind and got tangled. Being the first to rap down, I had to stop at least three times to clean and rethrow the ropes. It seemed like an eternity. Once back at the pass, I waited for Lori, and we went to retrieve Steve's and my packs from the base of the climb.

After some time, we were joined by Steve. Shortly afterward, Matt yells that he is having trouble pulling the ropes. I put my harness back on and ran up the snow to help him. We pulled at the ropes, and it almost felt like there were knots on both sides of the anchor. I told him it looked like the ropes were twisted and perhaps we should set about getting that in order. Once untwisted the rope pull acted the same way. At this time Steve came up to help and mentioned that the knot may be catching on the lip. With a strong flick of the rope, it cleared the lip and we were pulling the rope. After that, it was time to hike out.

The snow out was super soft. Ken had told me waist deep mashed potatoes, and he was correct. Once out of the steeper sections near the notch, we donned snowshoes and proceeded to the gully. With headlamps on, and back in boots, we plunged or glissaded down the gully where we put the snowshoes on again and hiked out.

Overall a nice fun trip. Although it was long, it was not an epic, and other than pulling the ropes, we did not experience any issues. I think when the weather is nice and we are exploring the route, time just got away from us. Sure there were time wasters. It took a fair amount of time to make a safe starting belay at the base. Lori took a while on the first pitch. I took a while finding a suitable anchor on the second and even the fourth. But there was no negative impact other than we all missed dinner. It was really great on the hike out to see the stars start coming out and it was my first time up in the Source Lake Basin at night. It was also my first night hiking in a while, and I do miss it.

I will say too, that I remembered enjoying this climb more last year. This year, I felt like the route had worse rock, and less pro. Not sure if that is a symptom of this being my first alpine rock climb of the year, or how my memory softened the edges. I do remember thinking when I first climbed it why it wasn't done more often. I now have a better understanding of why it is not done too often, but I think it is still worthy of doing.

My pics are here.
Lori's pics are here.

Leavenworth - 10.28.08

After last week's trip to Leavenworth, Lori decided there shouldn't be anything keeping us from a return trip to give Classic Crack another shot. So we decided to go out and warm up on a few other cracks before attempting to tackle Classic Crack.

One thing I can say is, the Leavenworth climbing season is coming to an end. When we left the car around 10am, it was still around 40° out. As soon as the sun goes behind the ridge or clouds, it tends to get real chilly as well.

We started out on a crack we had dubbed "Puppy Crack" a few weeks earlier. This because we thought it was Dogleg Crack, but it is shorter (and easier.) After "Puppy Crack" we set up a top rope on Dogleg Crack. From a technical rating standpoint, it turns out Dogleg Crack, 5.8+ is not a particularly good warm up for Classic Crack, also at 5.8+. (We didn't realize it had the "+" until we were already trying to climb it.)

After a few attempts each, we both successfully climbed it without hanging or falling. The key for me was unlocking the right foot moves on the thin face while on the lower portion of the crack. After that, the crack climbs straight up for a bit, (easiest part of the climb) and then to the dogleg. After we were both confident about Dogleg Crack, we moved on to Classic Crack.

It was getting late, and neither of us felt comfortable about going unbelayed to the the anchor at the top, so we belayed it, and both rapped off, while I set a directional. Lori gave it the first shot, and was able to climb it to the top with a few hangs and hollers. I started climbing and did not get too far off the ground when I once again had difficulty unlocking delicate foot moves. After some hanging, Lori had to lower me as she was in an uncomfortable situation at the belay up top. I told her to clean the anchor and rap off as it was getting late, and I was getting chilly.

Overall, I have noticed for me that it is still the footwork that takes priority when crack climbing. Unlocking the moves on the lower portion of Dogleg Crack made all the difference on that route. Due to the right leaning nature of the lower crack, your right foot needs to be on the face through that section. Mostly Lori and I figured that you used the right foot stances just to bump up the left foot in the crack, and that the left foot was used for moving up the crack. A similar issue occurred for me on Classic Crack. The previous week I had got farther up the climb. However, I believe I muscled (pull up) my way through the delicate foot work, which tired me out. This time, I was having difficulty unlocking a move I had no difficulty getting past last time, but was attempting to climb it in better style. So I think when crack climbing gets hard for me, I will not blame the jams, but look to the feet.

My pics are here.

Lori's pics are here.

Leavenworth 10.21.08

Ian, Lori and I headed up the Icicle to get some late season cragging in. Ian was interested in leading Classic Crack and we were all going to top-rope it. Slightly cold but decent weather was in store, and on a Tuesday in October, we could pretty much guess there wouldn't be a line at Classic Crack.

We climbed most of the routes on the 8-mile rock. Lori and I were disappointed with our attempts at the old school 5.8 Classic Crack, after we cruised the 5.7 Givler's Crack a few weeks earlier. We were expecting our performances to be better. My morning performance was really weak as I couldn't even manage a clean ascent of the 5.7 Mickey Mantle. I felt somewhat redeemed when I was able to climb Twin Cracks (5.8) fairly easily as our last attempt at 8-mile rock. Ian lost a #1 C4 Camalot deep into Classic Crack. A NOLS group showed up and they said they would attempt to retrieve it. (They were unsuccessful.)

We then hiked up to Be-Bop Rock where Ian and Lori both led Bit of Heaven, a slabby 10a. I gave it a go on top-rope, then led the uninspiring 5.6 Junior's Cookin'. At that point, the sun went behind the ridge, and it was time to head home.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of finally trying to climb Classic Crack. I was hoping for a better performance, and I'm not going to let that get me down.

Ian and Be-Bop Rock.

Autumn in the Icicle.

Hiking out.

Lori's pics are here.

Leavenworth - Gilver's Dome - 10.05.08

With a somewhat grim weather forecast for the weekend, Saturday was a write off. But Sunday looked promising on the east side of the Cascades. Lori and I made plans Saturday to head up Sunday morning. Rain occurred most of the drive over including areas NE of Steven's Pass where the snow level was reaching down below 4000'. We were not optimistic. Upon arriving in Leavenworth with the clouds breaking up, spirits heightened.

The goal for the day was the 4-star classic: Givler's Crack. It is a two pitch climb with a 5.8 crux right off the ground and a long second pitch with a really awesome 5.7 hand crack. Lori led off the first pitch in great style and was soon at the belay. After some decision making on which crack she should take to get there. (There is an alcove after the crux, with two cracks leading up to the belay ledge. Lori took the left crack.) The second pitch starts at the base of a hand crack that goes straight up the face. I cannot say anything else about the crack other than the climbing was awesome! After about 20m, the angle eases and then eases again before reaching a boulder for the belay. I brought Lori up and we hung out a bit before walking down to our packs.

With the time being around 1pm, we hunted around for our next objective. We found it in Rare Earth (5.10a), a steep bolted slab. I felt unsure of climbing it, and let Lori have the lead. She progressed slowly up the slab with some minor detours that were perhaps easier ground. After a fall around the fifth bolt, she cruised up the second unrelenting half of the climb. I followed the pitch but had to take twice as it felt my feet were going to burst into flame. Because of my height, the first three bolts went easily, but the second half of the climb really did not have breaks. It was a relief to finally arrive at the anchor.

We hiked back down to the packs and proceeded to climb Freewheelin' (5.7). A short crack with a slab finish a little to the left of Rare Earth. I found the start awkward and bypassed it somewhat with a flake to the left. I lie backed the flake until I had a decent opportunity to gain the crack. After having climbed Givler's Crack, this climb was disappointing. The crack was flaring and did not take jams well. It ended quickly and then picked up as a very thin crack to the right that wouldn't even accept my fingers. A brief stint in the second crack led to a slab with a bolt which didn't seem necessary after climbing Rare Earth. I brought Lori up, and we proceeded to our next destination.

Our final goal of the day was to climb Dogleg Crack(5.8) at Alphabet Rock. We had some difficulty getting down from Freewheelin' and spend a while hiking over to Alphabet Rock. Interestingly, we found a crack we though was the Dogleg, but was too short and did not have an anchor at/near the top. We then realized we were too far right and found the correct route and proceeded to set up a top rope. I was too tired at the end of the day and gave up without really having completed a move. Lori attempted the route and had difficulty with the lower crack and then proceeded to climb the route Hind Quarters (10a) and switching back to Dogleg Crack near the top. We tore down the top rope, and headed back to Seattle.

A great day was had. The weather was good if a little variable. Givler's Crack is easily one of the best routes I have climbed. Although Givler's is popular, we had the route to ourselves and only saw another party coming up as we were leaving the base. Since it is a 4-star route, it spoiled us for the rest of the day. Especially Freewheelin' as it was not nearly as good as Givler's Crack. I'd recommend if you were taking the 45-60 minute walk up to Givler's, that you may wish to stop at Freewheelin' first. Unless you are trying to beat the crowds. Although if there is a line for the route, Freewheelin' would be a nice diversion during the wait.

My pictures are here.

Lori's pics are here.