[TR] Warrior Peak - Route 1 from Olympic Climbers Guide 10/27/2007

[Animal]

Trip: Warrior Peak - Route 1 from Olympic Climbers Guide

 

Date: 10/27/2007

 

Trip Report:

On October 27 OlympicMtnBoy any myself decided to climb Warrior Peak. We hiked 9 miles into Home lake, starting at the Dungeness TH. The view and sunset from Constance Pass was awesome as you can see below.

 

View from Constance Pass at Warrior and the west side of Inner Constance. Has anyone skied the couloirs on the west side of Inner Constance?

 

 

 

 

Sunday we headed back down the trail to climb the peak via route 2, but somehow we could not figure out where the route went. We did not spend a lot of time investigating route 2 because route 1 was calling "do me instead".

 

Route 2 we think we are on it?

 

 

Going to the Route 1 Couloir

 

 

Names of people I know from the Kitsap Climbers group in the summit register.

 

 

 

Overall it was an awesome trip! OlympicMtnBoy nice climbing with you, and we both enjoyed the great scenery. I would not call it class 3. There was one basically unprotectable 15 foot rock pitch after reaching the top of the Route 1 couloir, otherwise class 3.

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Rope, three nuts and ice axes.

 

Approach Notes:

Great trail up the Dungeness

[Animal]

Oh - the summit register is full with names, so anyone who visits the peak might want to bring a new register with them to add to the tube.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Thanks for the TR Animal, I still need to pull my pics off my camera. I had a fun time up there with ya. I definately want to get back and do something on Inner Constance from that side!

 

For anyone else, that was a fairly scary "3rd class" bit for about 20 feet. Maybe with more snow it might not be as bad, but an unprotected tumble there would not be pretty given the crappy rock holds, I was glad for the rope (getting down too) although a 40m half rope would be plenty. There might also be an easier but more exposed ramp option. Of course now that I've done it I'd go sans rope the second time. ;-)

 

Has anyone here done route 2? We weren't entirely sure we took the right "eastern most" gully. It was pretty steep where we popped out but I thought maybe one gully closer to the mountain could be better. That route looks like it has a lot more actual climbing than taking the standard gully, but our rack of 5 nuts and a few slings seemed skimpy up there in the wind with the coulds starting to blow around.

[olyclimber]

Wow, cool guys. When I'm healed up I want to join in on some Oly fun.

[Flying_Ned]

Has anyone here done route 2? We weren't entirely sure we took the right "eastern most" gully. It was pretty steep where we popped out but I thought maybe one gully closer to the mountain could be better. That route looks like it has a lot more actual climbing than taking the standard gully, but our rack of 5 nuts and a few slings seemed skimpy up there in the wind with the coulds starting to blow around.

 

As I recall, the three main gullies look almost equadistant from the center of the basin when carrying snow and there is another minor gully farther east--does that sound correct to you? We had to surmount a 20'rounded tower to get on route from the narrow saddle. You may have been on the correct route. It's a nice simulclimb in good weather with a few minor decision making challenges--over or around. I, too, was glad for a rope in a few places just for the exposure.

 

Where did you exit the trail? I'm wondering if it's easier getting into the basin climbing steeply from the minor waterfall - 3rd creek south of boulder shelter - or from the boulderfield/scrubby tree shwack south of there?

[OlympicMtnBoy]

We spent the night at Home Lake and then headed down to the boulder field and up from there. It was a bit south of the minor waterfall. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be with no snow. We were able to stay out of the slide alder entirely, basically headed straight up towards Inner Constance and the traversing back north below the cliffs to get back near the creek that comes out from the Warrior-Inner Constance cirque. We went back down the same way. It was a bit annoying in the scree in spots, but not a schwack by any Olympics standards.

 

I'll try to get my pics up, I had some better ones showing the gullies we saw and the one we went up.

[bremerton_john]

Great job guys. I see the register names there from the infamous trip with Williams, Wiggins, Mercer and Kaster when John got a fish-hook stuck through his thumb. Good times.

 

John

[diretissimo]

Has anyone climbed C141 peak? Can you mark it in one of those pictures?

 

I was 15 and a budding mountaineer when my Dad perished in a C141 into that peak! Unfortunately, I have yet to climb that peak in his honor or honor the OMR team that risked their lives searching for survivors in the midst of very high avi danger.

[Animal]

Has anyone climbed C141 peak? Can you mark it in one of those pictures?

 

I was 15 and a budding mountaineer when my Dad perished in a C141 into that peak! Unfortunately, I have yet to climb that peak in his honor or honor the OMR team that risked their lives searching for survivors in the midst of very high avi danger.

 

I believe C-141 peak is located on the third picture down from the top. It is the prominent peak on the right of the picture. This picture was taken west of C-141. Let us know when you want to climb it, and I am sure some of the Olympic brush monkeys will be glad to join you.

 

 

[Animal]

Great job guys. I see the register names there from the infamous trip with Williams, Wiggins, Mercer and Kaster when John got a fish-hook stuck through his thumb. Good times.

 

John

 

SO this was the location of the human fishing trip. Nice

[OlympicMtnBoy]

I put a few more pictures up here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/WarriorPeakClimb Nothing terribly new, but some more nice terrain shots.

 

Diretissimo, Animal pointed it out to you, that picture was taken from Constance Pass, there are some similar pics in my picasaweb folder. I would be up for going up C-141 as well, it looks like a nice climb with some interesting and sad history.

 

Do you, or anyone else, know exactly which glacier your father's plane crashed into? As I recall, the wreckage was left in place. With all the glacial retreat we're seeing, I wonder if we'll start to see some bits of the plane emerging from the ice over the next years.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Ned, here is a picture looking up the cirque towards the east.

 

This was taken standing a bit past the gully of the main route, the mass of Warrior rises up to the left and there were no other real options until the main gully splitting the peaks. We took the gully heading up and right as the left hand option looked more difficult than the 3rd class we were expecting (maybe not true, it look easier from closer). Out of the frame on the right is the glacier and the pass. I'm thinking maybe we should have taken the left gully as the right hand one sure adds a bit of ridge work.

[diretissimo]

Thanks for the info Animal and OlympicMtnBoy.

 

I live in Utah so maybe next summer we could go up C141 peak and repeat Warrior and other satellites?

 

My Dad's plane crashed 50 feet from the summit into a chimney. I think I can get photos from the McChord AFB history library. The cockpit stayed lodged in the chimney while the rest of the plane broke off and slide down the west slope with a few items, like an inflatable raft, going over the top into the basin on the east side. Supposedly, The Oly NP Service and the US AF removed all wreckage and then put a small plaque on a boulder down by Home lake. I can email you the names of the OMR guys that were part of the recovery if you want some first hand info.

[olyclimber]

I'm up for going up there! When I was going up Constance last I met some guy going up there by himself, watched him climbing up the other side of the valley from us up. I'd love to check out that bit of history, i think i recall that plaque at Home Lake from my boyscout days.

[diretissimo]

Porter and OlympicMtnBoy, lets talk over the winter about an outing to these peaks. We cold do C141, Warrior and then play on Constance for a few days.

[bremerton_john]

I asked one of the OMR members about the crash. He was involved in the summer recovery. Here are his words:

 

"The guy is correct in that the plane jammed into the side of the mountain. The cockpit was stuck while the rest of the plane simply blew apart. Most vivid to me were the I-beams in the cargo floor of the plane that had been ripped apart from front to back; breaking in the web, like the foot of the I-beam had stopped and the top kept going. The AF sent in a team and blasted the cockpit section off the rock face. Large parts ..like the wheels and pieces of the wing or tail were helo lifted off and taken to the CG station at PA. I was in on the summer recovery group that went in and removed all parts that had not been recovered in the winter. Fiberglass and insulation pieces 2 or 3 inches square were picked up among other things that had been buried in the avalanche debris. I doubt there is much left but a few traces. Initial cleanup and recovery was March 21-25 and then the final cleanup was July 26 and 27. Total OMR time was 1268 man hours."

 

I'd be interested in joining you folks if you want to plan something for next year.

 

John

 

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Cool, thanks for that info John. It sounds like we need a cc.com gathering in the Constance area next year! I saw some lines on Inner Constance from Home Lake that I'd like to try (bring your helmets), and lots of other peaks it would be awesome to explore. I'd love to spend several days just hinging out up there.

[Animal]

OlympicMtnBoy - Great pictures you posted on the seperate web page. I would definately be up for an olympic cc.com event in this area next year. Good idea!

 

 

[diretissimo]

I too would be up for a cc.com gathering around Inner Constance and maybe also some gathering to recognize OMR for their efforts in the C141 recovery almost 33 yrs later.

[Sherri]

Nice job, guys. Looking forward to hearing about the cc.comer's McTakeover next year!

 

My place is on the way to the park(I'm in Sequim). I'll be glad to put on a pot of tea for ya on your way through.

[bremerton_john]

Some additional commentary from OMR concerning the peak identities:

 

"After asking another OMR member, who was on the body recovery, he thought that the far right peak is C-141 is correct. The sketch in the GB shows it from the SE side. The plane however went into the side of Pyramid peak, which is at the upper left of the big headwall with the snowfinger going to its middle base. The recovery team went to the base of Pyramid by going up the long snowfinger and then up the finger to the left etc. Thought that ought to be clear if a group was headed that was next summer."

 

 

Has anyone climbed C141 peak? Can you mark it in one of those pictures?

 

I was 15 and a budding mountaineer when my Dad perished in a C141 into that peak! Unfortunately, I have yet to climb that peak in his honor or honor the OMR team that risked their lives searching for survivors in the midst of very high avi danger.

 

I believe C-141 peak is located on the third picture down from the top. It is the prominent peak on the right of the picture. This picture was taken west of C-141. Let us know when you want to climb it, and I am sure some of the Olympic brush monkeys will be glad to join you.

 

[OlympicMtnBoy]

All right, sound like a party! Thanks for that extra bit of info John, you coming to the party too? I'll put it on my calendar to see if we can organize something for early summer. :-)

[diretissimo]

John,

 

I sent you a pm with some OMR questions.