Climb: Mount Goode-Northeast Buttress

Date of Climb: 7/3/2006

Trip Report:
Blake Herrington and I climbed the Northeast Buttress of Goode on Sunday. The route and weather conditions were excellent.

I left Highway 20 on Saturday morning at 9 am and cruised the approx. 10 miles to the North Fork Bridge Creek junction, where I met Blake (who came up from Stehekin) at 11:40 am. A nice walk up the North Fork Bridge Creek drainage brought us to the foot of Goode. A log jam exists just upstream on Grizzly Creek making that crossing simple. The North Fork of Bridge Creek was not so simple. The water was flowing rapidly and neither of us felt comfortable crossing in flip flops at any point so we continued up valley with hopes of a snow bridge spanning the stream. That snow bridge was non-existent and we ended up using the rope to cross the stream much further upstream than we needed to, but at least it felt safe. We later talked to another pair of climbers that crossed the stream in tennis shoes with no problem.



After crossing North Fork Bridge Creek, everything went exactly as planned with no time consuming errors. We traversed back over to where we would ascend the slabs and then worked our way up through the rock bands and some annoying slide alder. We finally broke out into the alpland below the hanging Goode Glacier and made our way up to the bivy spots, which are basically located on the highest vegetated knoll below the glacier. I’m glad we got there early enough to enjoy the pleasant evening and get some rest.







I love the shot below of the Northeast Buttress of Goode and a slim moon.



After a very mild night, we woke up at 4:45 am and departed camp at 5:15, heading up a snow ramp and then straight up glacial slabs to an easy access point of the Goode Glacier. The glacier went fast and we were on the buttress before we knew it. It was only 6 am but the sun was already bright and it was warm.





We pitched out the first two sections to get onto the buttress crest and then simul-climbed for around 800 vertical feet. The next few pitches were steeper, but really fun rock climbing with exposure. We simul-climbed the last few hundred vertical feet to the summit, arriving at 12:45 pm, 7.5 hours after leaving camp.




The route was entirely snow free, but there were a few patches of snow just to the right of the route conveniently interspersed to allow for hydration. I used rock shoes and Blake led the whole thing in boots.





The summit was nice and warm with hardly a breeze. We ate, relaxed, and enjoyed the view for an hour. It was cool to gaze down at the 2,700 vertical foot rock buttress we had just ascended.



We left the summit at 1:45 and then carefully down climbed to a rappel anchor just above an awkward traverse to Blacktooth notch. One short rappel and a couple moves brought us to the ledge and the notch. From here, we down climbed some more and then made two rappels into the Southwest Couloir. Once out of the couloir, we had a sweet glissade that took us all the way to the meadows.





Check out the huge chockstone wedged between the towers in the photo below. The towers are located on the ridge trending west off the summit of Goode. Blake spotted it on the way down and it is quite the geological phenom.



We worked our way over to the ridge line to the west (skiers right) and then descended, eventually picking up the climbers path, which deposited us on the Park Creek trail.



At the first stream crossing we stopped to give our feet an ice bath and then hiked 4 miles to the Stehekin road and the Park Creek camp. With 14.5 miles for me to hike on Monday morning, we left camp semi-early at 8:15 am to avoid the heat of the day (Bridge Creek trail traverses many open avy paths). We walked the road for around 2 miles to the Bridge Creek trail. Blake continued down the road while I began the final 12.5 mile trek. This hike was not the grueling march I thought it would be, but it wasn’t easy either, and my legs were very tired by the last three miles. Some cloud build-ups provided shade near the end which helped as well. I made it to the highway at 1:10 pm and then put my legs in the icy waters of Bridge Creek.

What a sweet route with an awesome partner!




Gear Notes:
nuts, 2 tricams, #1 cam, ice axe, crampons

Approach Notes:
Trails in good shape, Grizzly Creek has a logjam to cross, North Fork Bridge Creek requires wading.

Is that chockstone the one there's that famous Ira Spring photo of Beckey chimneying above?

sweet!

"Is that chockstone the one there's that famous Ira Spring photo of Beckey chimneying above?"

"I don't think so Dru, it seems like it would be much bigger than the width someone could chimney. We were a ways off though..."

The beckey photo is of the master on Rocket Peak

Good on ya for NE BUTT #2, Blake. I knew you were up there, so I took a photo of you guys on route. You have to look real hard, though

who is this Blake dude, and what right does he have to climb in this country???

awesome guys! great tr, great pics.

Right on!

Nice report.