mountainmatt Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Trip: Darrington - Exfoliation Dome - Blueberry Date: 5/12/2007 Trip Report: Chad and I met up on Friday, grabbed some beer and headed out to camp up in Darrington. We got up early the next morning and headed to the trailhead. After my last attempt, I was convinced to not get destroyed by the approach this time. We followed the beta from my last attempt and we were able to walk right up to the granite slabs in about 30 minutes, and 30 more to get to the base of the route. Besides some route finding issues on pitch 4 (head to the right set of cracks) the route went fine up to the terrace (all of the pitches were dry). After relaxing for awhile, we decided to try the final three pitches to the top although we had little information about them. We headed to the far left side to a set of anchors, and started up, first traversing to the left and then angeling back to the right to the top. The first pitch was mostly clean, but the remaining 3 were mostly covered in trees, moss, and dirt. We tried to get more to the left, and although clean, there was no gear anywhere. We topped out with the last pitch ending 20 feet from the summit. Due to bad weather, we didn't spend much time on the summit and headed to the ~12 rappels down the east side (see notes). Green Giant Buttress 3'O-clock rock Ahhh the joyous approach This beats bushwhacking any day Chad on the granite slabs Starting up pitch 3 Chad on pitch 4 Relaxing on the terrace Gardening anyone? On one of many raps... Gear Notes: Rack to 4", some slings are nice for the trees. Gardening tools if you do the wrong finish like we did. Approach Notes: The granite sidewalk is dry enough to walk without major difficulty. Note on descent: The initial 5 or so rappels are best done with a single 60m rope. The last rappel before the major ledge is about 20 feet short of the next set of anchors requiring some scrambling or the use to two 60m lines. The remaining rappels are double 60m rappels. The very last rappel is also about 20 feet short, but easily down climbed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 That crack on Pitch 4 keeps getting wider. It's only a matter of time before that slab goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 That crack on Pitch 4 keeps getting wider. It's only a matter of time before that slab goes. What did you expect on "Exfoliation Dome"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 That slab is just huge. It's maybe 25 ft wide, 100 ft tall, and 10 inches thick. When it goes it will significantly alter the fourth pitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn_one Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 That slab is just huge. It's maybe 25 ft wide, 100 ft tall, and 10 inches thick. When it goes it will significantly alter the fourth pitch. ...and whoever may be approaching via the granite sidewalk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterboy Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Hi Thanks for the Trip report. I have a question about rapelling off the Blueberry route - you mentioned a single 60m for the first 5 and then two 60m for the rest. I noticed that you are using twin ropes in your photos - what is the length of them? I have the same ropes (edelweiss 8.5mm, I believe) in 37m length. How do you think twin 37m ropes would fare on the Blueberry route rappels? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Waterboy, the anchors on Westward Ho were set for a 50 meter rope. I don't think any of them are that close to the full 50 meters, but 37 meters is probably a little short. If you try this, you'll end up rapping off a single bolt somewhere along the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I'm not sure how one gets to Westward Ho from Blueberry Terrace. Usually one gets there from the summit. Matt can it be easily done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 The Blueberry Route GOES to the summit, Catbird. However, you can rappel off the south end of the Blueberry Terrace to Westward Ho. In some respects this may be the easiest descent from the Terrace because once you get onto Westward Ho it is a clean shot back to the base of the West Buttress and there is no screwing around to get on down to the Sidewalk, but the first two raps are not entirely user friendly (I think it takes two to get onto the line of Westward Ho). By the way, I don't remember "racing" you down the rappel routes on the west side. I'm pretty sure we simply rapped as we normally would and I may even have done a bit of scrubbing on the way down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 No it wasn't a race. But we were exceptionally slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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