Alpental Ice - 11.28.10

So the quest for ice begins. (Earlier this year due to La Nina.) Adam and I were thinking of getting out earlier in the week to check conditions at Alpental. Early reports were not positive, so we delayed. I was hoping to head to Leavenworth this weekend, but that plan fell through, and so a quest for ice at Alpental was planned. I was going with Rod, while Adam, Zach, Steen and Kristy were also coming separately from us.

Rod and I were one of the first cars in the lot and we geared up in what felt like weather that was too warm. We commented that we might be "taking the tools for a hike" as Washington State ice climbers will often say. We donned snowshoes, and hiked into Alpental Falls where we hiked up to the falls.

Hiking up to the falls

Alpental I looked in from the base. There was a bit of a boot track to it, so perhaps it was climbed in previous days. I didn't like the drum like nature of the right side as it seemed not to be bonded to the rock underneath. Right in front of me was a snow gully like feature which I told Rod I'd give a try at. So we geared up and I started climbing. When I got to the first step, I didn't feel comfortable with the thin ice, and down climbed off the route collecting my screw on the way. We decided to head up valley to see if anything else was in to climb.

Around this time our friends showed up and went past us before we regained the trail. Zach and Adam headed back to the car to get their snowshoes for the off trail travel. We joined the women near the base of Alpental IV. Rod and I inspected the possibility of climbing Alpental IV while the other group set up some top ropes in the woods. We eventually joined them as neither of us wanted to lead any of the falls. Way too much running water.

So we all got to top rope three short lines in the woods. A fairly thick line on the right, a mixed (mostly rock) line in the middle, and a mixed (mostly ice/snow) line on the left. After we all tired out and started to get cold we took the top ropes down.

Kristy on the fatter ice

This outing went about how I would have expected it to go. I was happy to use my (new to me) tools and go leashless for the first time. Surprisingly, I did not over grip. But I was very concerned about dropping them as I have yet to build my umbilical. The freedom of going leashless was wonderful, and I was surprised that it did not take much for me. Perhaps because I haven't climbed ice in a while, I forgot about relying on the leashes. I look forward to more leashless climbing.

Exfoliation Dome - Westward Ho! - 10.17.10

Rod and I planned to get out on Sunday. Our goal was going to be The Blueberry Route or West Buttress of Exfoliation Dome. We wanted to get an early start, but not so early we had to ascend the "granite sidewalk" in the dark. We left Seattle around 5:45 am and arrived near the parking area around sun break.

However, we did not fully comprehend the beta for parking. Which I read as "park at the granite sidewalk." Other beta said it is the second wash. Well, we parked where a slide blocked the road and we walked the road for ten minutes before deciding that it must be the slide we parked at and proceeded back. The initial section was fairly wet, and we bypassed it in the woods before descending to the granite slabs in a few minutes. The slabs were still fairly wet and dirty, and I opined that we may not be on route, but we continued. We met an area that could be considered "the Grotto" and we climbed out of it on the left via a horizontal tree. At this point I continued in the woods as there was no undergrowth, and the going was fairly good. I found this better compared to the dirty wet slabs. Rod stayed on the slabs before eventually joining me in the woods.

At a section that looked like we were near getting out of the trees I suggested again that we may be off route. But we both managed to tell ourselves everything would be clear after the next bit. Rod started up some scary, possibly 5th class slabs. I didn't like them, so tried to bypass them around the left. But the slabs went on for a bit, and when I rounded the corner, I saw Exfoliation Dome about a quarter mile to the east. Rod was out of sight and high on the ridge above me. After some shouting we worked out a plan that would have him descend to me and then we would continue to the Dome from my location.

As he descended, I crossed an avy path bushwhack to a stand of trees. I waited for him there. He ended up having to rappel to get down and eventually reached my location where I was cold. It was not almost 11am. I told him there was no way we could keep the goal of the Blueberry Route, and we would have to settle for Westward Ho! a shorter mostly bolted route. We continued toward our route across another avy path into another stand of trees. On the other side lay the true granite sidewalk and we made some difficult moves getting onto it from the wet slimy corner that bordered the trees. The sun had yet to shine on the sidewalk, and it was still a touch slick from the morning frost. (It was 28° in Arlington as we drove through.) Rod and I gingerly made it up to the base of the route where we had lunch.

We actually made it halfway up the first pitch of Blueberry Route where there was a nice ledge and two rock seats. We had the crag all to ourselves, and geared up there. We packed the rope, water and a couple of poofy jackets and we were ready to go. We had brought a full rack for The Blueberry Route, but the beta for Westward Ho! was specific on what gear to bring. We decided to bring the full rack minus a few items just in case. I led up the first bit which completed the first pitch of The Blueberry Route, a wide crack up a slab. Unfortunately, a #4 didn't really fit in there, and made me wish we didn't bring it. I tried going further, but realized I would run out of rope if I intended to make it to the top of pitch one of Westward Ho!, so I backtracked and anchored and brought Rod up.

Rod led out on the next pitch, but skipped a bolt he didn't see before crossing the gully. then he had difficulty committing to the final move to make the first true on route bolt. He did finally come up with the right sequence, and then balked at making the moves above the bolt. He made a few attempts with very short falls, and a bit of hanging as well. He even attempted a lower and climb of the pitch on top rope to the bolt before he told me he wasn't feeling it and asked if I could give it a go. I lowered him back to my position and we switched ends of the rope before I headed out.

I climbed to the bolt on top rope. I initially feared what the pitch might look like as I often think of Rod being able to climb harder routes than me. I got to the bolt and found it to be fairly typical 5.8/5.9 slab. I eyed up the features, and climbed to the next bolt, clipping it. I did the same for the next bolt as well. Then there were some interesting moves up an overlap and leftward under a medium sized attached flake before rounding a corner and heading up after clipping another bolt. The difficulty eased off and I ran out of rope about four feet shy of the anchor. Rod tore the anchor, and I reached the anchor and brought him up. I think he slipped once, but otherwise had no major difficulties with the pitch on top rope. When he got to the belay, we discussed if he was up to leading it. This pitch was rated at 5.8 unlike the 5.9 previous pitch. He said it was now or never and took the rack and started up.

It appeared he may have been a little to the left of the route when his feet gave way while attempting to make a clip near the crux of the pitch. He took a fall that where he started on his feet, but finished with him skidding on his side down the slab. I asked if he was OK, and he said yes. I told him nice work in warning me about his fall, as he said "take" or "falling" just before he popped. He continued back up and had no issues with the rest of the pitch. I arrived at his location and we briefly consulted the topo before I set out on the third pitch.

This pitch was the easiest of them all, but once again rated at 5.9. The early section of the pitch was 5.6 and had at least 12' of spacing between the bolts. I had a bit of a scare between the widest spaced bolts when I was a bit left of the route on more lichen covered rock, and my left foot blew out. I did not fall, but it made me careful about getting the next bolt. The crux of this pitch did not at all feel 5.9, and I cruised the final section before bringing Rod up.

We swung leads and he headed off on the final pitch. From below, it was noticeably more dirty than the previous pitches and headed up through some overlaps before reaching the chains. Rod led this pitch and slowly overcame the overlaps placing tiny cams along the way. This was really the only pitch that required traditional gear. I hurried up behind Rod, and we began to rap the route.

No issues rapping, and we rejoined the rest of our gear at the base. We packed up and we started the long journey down the granite sidewalk. We were somewhat hampered by our lack of having not taken the sidewalk up and had to pick our way down like it was new to us. Fortunately the descent started easy with sandy ledges to skier's right of the slabs. Soon, we had to get on the slabs, and followed some corners and other features down. Then there were a few blank sections. I don't know if it was because I had a heavier pack, it was late in the day, or I had been sick, but I couldn't handle walking down the slabs at this point and reverted to crab walking. This proved not to be much slower than me walking, but we weren't making the best time. We eventually reached some bushes above The Grotto. We bushwhacked and down climbed a bit on the tree (mentioned in the guide) before getting into the grotto. The remaining slab bits were fairly wet and dirty and we were slow avoiding all the water down to where the path became boulders and not slab. Around 100m later, we were back at the road with headlamps on hiking back to the car. Turns out there is a nice parking area just after the granite sidewalk, but somehow we were unaware of that in the morning.

Overall this was an interesting trip. I am sort of bummed about not getting on the route we anticipated, but not surprising considering we turned the hour approach into a four hour ordeal. Westward Ho! was great, but descending the granite sidewalk I found not so fun. I think it will be a while before I head back to Exfoliation Dome again.

My pics are here.

Leavenworth - Pearly Gates - 08.08.10

The weather wasn't cooperating for alpine plans, so I stayed in town on Saturday in the rain. Rod and I were working out options and when Sabrina called Saturday night the plan was set to head to Leavenworth. It had rained there too on Saturday, but was forecast to be warm and sunny on Sunday, unlike the west side.

We left Seattle around 6am giving the sun time to dry things out if needed. We opted for the Pearly Gates due to the shade it receives. We parked outside the Snow Creek parking lot, and hiked up. This time I had no issues with the log crossings, and did both of them standing up and walking. Perhaps that little amount of time on the slack line last week really helped out?

The hike up was hot, steep, and long. We arrived at the base of the crag soaked. But now we were in the shade and cooling off. What a relief. We started slowly with Sabrina leading The Dog ate My Topo. It had some bouldery moves at the start, and felt stiff for the rating. Thin holds and slabby climbing for most of it. It was a two star route, but I didn't like it that much. Perhaps the rust of me not climbing rock too much lately is beginning to show?

Once all three of us were on top, we scrambled to the base of the second pitch of Milky Way. Rod led it and fell once or twice at the crux, combined with a fair amount of hanging. Once through, he brought up me and Sabrina. I really enjoyed this route more than the first one, and loved the friction crux. We rapped off and contemplated The Scene is Clean, but I did not feel up to leading it with the first bolt high, and a hollow flake to climb below it. So we rapped to the base.

It was already 1pm so we had a lunch and a big break before tackling something else. We looked through the book and Sabrina and I scouted Loaves of Fun. I decided I would give it a go. It is a blocky affair with good rests. However, I was rarely super comfortable with the gear. So I tended to place gear at every good rest and sewed it up a bit. There was a cruxy bit that I took a long time on due to not feeling great about my right foot options. (The rope was running in an area where I wanted to place my foot, and I just didn't like that place that much anyway.) After a long time in the spot, I managed a good right foot and made some moves higher, placing another cam along the way. The last bit of the crack system goes up a corner with a nice horn on top as a hold. I did some fun moves out around the corner, and then gained the slab which finishes the route. I brought up Sabrina and Rod, and we rapped off. Most raps here are exactly 30m and this was no exception.

We went over to Cloud Nine for Rod to lead, but he wasn't feeling sure of his crack skills. So he backed off. It was after 4pm, and I wasn't really up to another 5.8 gear lead, so we decided to call it a day.

The hike out was much dustier than in the morning, and I once again had no issues with the log crossings. I didn't feel so great about my climbing in this outing, but I haven't been out cragging in a while so I guess that is to be expected.

My pics are here.

Mount Buckner - North Face - 07.24-26.10

I was supposed to do Mount Stuart with Rod this weekend, but after finding there was a fair amount of snow on the route, he decided to postpone the trip as he wanted to do the West Ridge in one day. We threw around some ideas and came up with the North Face of Mount Buckner. Recent reports stated it was in, and neither of us had been to the mountain before, so it would be an adventure.

We took the long drive in traffic up to Marblemount on Friday evening. We missed an open ranger station by about 30 minutes and decided to bivy in town. We parked under the bridge that marks the start of Cascade River Road and set the alarm to get to the station before they opened.

We awoke and headed to the ranger station. We were third in line (although another party of two cut in front of us in the building.) We got a permit for Sahale Glacier camp and were on our way. Neither Rod nor I were feeling like we wanted to do the carryover, so we devised a plan to camp at the Sahale Glacier and do a lighter pack climb on Sunday eventually returning to camp and hiking out. This plan worked well with our desire not to have full packs on the climb, but would create a long summit day with potentially difficult route finding on the return.

We took a leisurely hike up to the pass and had a rest. Then we left most of the tourists and started our way up Sahale Arm. The trail is gradual, which was a welcome relief. We took our time and crossed some snow patches on the way to the upper arm. We showed our permit to the ranger at a brief stop and continued to just below camp. We rested a good bit before pushing the final 200' to the camps. We located a slab with a built up wind wall on a rock outcropping and decided to camp there. Rod was fairly tired and rested on his pad, while I sat on the rock for a while. I then scouted a bit of our return route. I found Rod still resting, and told him I would go filter water while he set up the tent. Upon my return, we lazed around for a while more before cooking up dinner and reading route descriptions. We wanted an early start on Sunday, but since we were tired, opted for a 4:25am wake up.

Unfortunately, we were not awakened by the alarm and got up late. By the time we were done eating and gearing up it was 6:15am. The snow was firm and we opted not to rope up for the ascent of the Sahale Glacier. We covered 500' of vertical in the first half hour, and were now in a moat taking off our crampons to skirt Sahale Peak around the right side. A few difficult moves on the rock, and then more easy ground got us to the Boston/Sahale Col where we put the crampons back on for the walk to Boston Peak. This was uneventful except for the 75' or so of walking on a cornice before getting back onto the safer snow pack.

We took the snow as high as we could go on Boston and then took our crampons off to climb the peak. The route beta we had said to climb to within 200' of the summit and then trend right around the peak to the Boston Glacier. Shortly after heading up, we found a downward trending ramp on the right side and took that. The rock was loose, but the the ramp was almost second class with a little third class thrown in here and there. We kicked a few rocks off, but nothing serious. We also did not witness any rockfall that was not caused by us. After too long on this traverse we reached the Boston Glacier and stepped out on it opting not to rope up until we hit a flatter section a hundred feet or so below us. There we took our first break. We noticed that there may have been an alternative bypass of Boston up higher. We had been traveling for about three hours at that point and were looking forward to the next portions of the climb.

We roped up for a crossing of the glacier and Rod headed out. I didn't like a way he was going, and lead us back around a crevasse and most of the way across the glacier until I was not headed in an ideal course and had him take over again. There were some footprints on the glacier which we loosely followed at times, but we did attempt to take a more direct path than the footprints.

In an hour, we were at the base of the climb. We took a brief break and Rod led out past the first cracks toward the left. We had only three pickets and decided to keep at least two in between us through the first section where we were passing a lot of cracks, and the snow was still fairly firm. As we swung leads and simul climbed, we started leaving just one piece in while feeling more comfortable about our situation.

I set a belay above the large bergschrund at a crack below a rock band. Rod surpassed a few cracks before bringing me up. There was a large runnel about six feet deep with near vertical walls running down the face. I couldn't manage to down climb into it and did a down climb of nearly forty feet to find an easier way in and then out the other side. This was to avoid climbing the rock above us which we had no protection for. After getting back above Rod on the other side of the runnel, I brought him up. He led out crossing the runnel above and then onto the rock. I quickly went through the easy rock band (2nd/3rd class) and was on the final slope to the summit. We swung leads and simul soloed with the rope to the summit block. The upper slopes had been seeing sun for a while and were much softer as we were able to kick our way up the slope with ease. We had burned a lot of time dodging the cracks and the runnel down low and arrived at the summit around 3:30pm. Rod was fairly tired and rested on the summit while I put my gear away and snapped pictures. We ate what we had and after about an hour of time on the summit we descended.

From our beta and my scouting of the descent route, it was steep and might take some time. I foolishly estimated one and half hours back to camp from there. We started the descent with good plunge stepping but the slope started to roll over and got steeper. There was an firm/icy layer down about 4" in the snow which made for insecure plunge stepping. I gave a brief try at glissading only to pick up too much speed in ten feet. Rod wanted to traverse while I wanted to head straight down. We eventually opted to traverse hoping the slope angle might ease a bit in that direction. It didn't really and at some point I caved in to down climbing face in. This was faster than the plunge stepping and soon we arrived at a rock band where we were able to relax a bit and fill our water bottles from a tiny stream. We did one final face in climb of snow down the chute by the rock and then did a long fast glissade on more gentle terrain. Since we both had to arrest to stop on lower angle glissading, we opted to plunge step down further to negotiate a rock band and then head back up a bit.

We were shooting for a snow covered part of the Davenport Glacier moraine. Once over that there was a snow band through the slabs below the glacier that would get us to the exit gully across Horseshoe Basin. We were finally on easier terrain and we started to move more quickly again. The sun was now behind the mountains and we welcomed the relief of not being in direct sunlight for the first time since the base of the route. We arrived at the exit gully where I opted to take out a second tool. We made our descent without crampons, and opted not to put them back on to go up this final gully. There were footsteps in it, but it was quite firm and I was glad to have two tools while Rod made do with just one.

We took another short break at the top of the gully to assess our next task. We had to ascend the buttress for a few hundred feet before we could get back on snow to lead us to camp. It was 8pm and we had some technical ground to cover before we could safely slog up the snow to camp. This ground proved more technical than we anticipated or wanted. The 3rd/4th class rock was loose and scary. We found one point where there were some slings around a detached flake that were perhaps used as a hand line to cross a gully. Rod and I didn't like the look of it, and saw some blocky terrain to our left and gave that a go. In was probably fifth class and we had no way to protect it. In the process of climbing it Rod knocked a few rocks on me, but they mostly went over my head or hit my backpack. My stress level was maxed. We just climbed as quickly as we could through that section and finally reached somewhat easier ground. The rest of the buttress relaxed to 2nd or 3rd class and then we were back on snow where we climbed for thirty minutes toward the setting sun and camp. The moon was rising behind us.

Rod and I had a running dialogue all day about when we return to camp. Most of it consisted of us packing up and hiking out. But we never anticipated coming back this late. We were both spent and when we arrived at the tent, Rod asked "Are you still thinking of hiking out?" I responded with some type of comment of needing to lie down. We were mostly out of food and water, so we just got in the tent and went to sleep.

We hiked out the next morning with no issues. Although we found out that the NPS is quick to act on a passed due hiker. We met a ranger in the lot who was checking to see if we returned yet as Rod stated our return time as Sunday night. Monday morning they had checked our climbing registration and called Rod's parents. Of course, the ranger in the lot did not tell us, nor did they tell us at the station that they had started proceedings. We found out when we got phone reception just outside of Burlington and I had a message concerned about our party. Rod made some frantic calls to set the situation straight. We decided there that we would both buffer our climbing registrations in the future to avoid this situation.

Overall, the route was enjoyable. It took us surprisingly long to climb considering the feet/hour compared to my Liberty Ridge climb last week. If I was inclined to climb it again, I would perhaps carry over eliminating the need to climb the chossy buttress back onto Sahale Arm. It would be much easier to hike out the Horseshoe Basin trail back. I also think that it would have been somehow safer to ski the descent than to plunge step. Not only that, but it would have been faster and less energy consuming.

My pics are here.