[TR] Kangaroo Temple- Northwest Face 9/7/2006

[ericb]

Climb: Kangaroo Temple-Northwest Face

 

Date of Climb: 9/7/2006

 

Trip Report:

Thursday, Touray and I made a 4:45 AM Issaquah departure, headed for Washington Pass to climb Kangaroo Temple, Southeast of the Liberty Bell group. We left the Car at ~ 8:30, aiming for Kangaroo Pass, despite the thick haze from the wildfires nearby. After a 2 hour approach, we were standing below our objective, the Northwest Face of Kangaroo Temple, a 5.7+, 5 pitch climb. The wind was working in our favor, keeping the plume from the Cedar Creek fire, (~ 1-2 miles away) to the Northeast.

 

 

Touray lead out on the first pitch, which was as advertised….run-out 5.7 climbing with limited pro. I think he got 2 pieces in on the whole pitch. Fortunately one of them ~ protected the sketchy downclimb into a gulley below the first belay station. We had stretched our 50M rope to the max on the exit from the gulley, so I pulled up the belay and gave him enough rope to make it to the tree belay. The downclimb on this pitch is probably as/more scary for the follower as there is no top-rope here and the holds are very thin.

 

first pitch

 

3rd pitch

 

 

I led the second pitch – a fairly steep left facing corner (5.7+ per Beckey), with great rock, good pro, and pretty good rests to the next tree belay in an alcove (~ 120 feet +/-). Touray took the next pitch (5.7) around a small roof which entered another left facing corner – not as steep, with good pro, but with very few features for hands and feet. There was lots of stemming and underclings on this one (~ 80 feet) to another tree. I took pitch four which was a sketchy unprotected face traverse (good feet, limited hands) on pretty crappy rock with limited pro. I finally got a marginal cam in a hollow sounding flake ~ 50 feet out, which I then surmounted up a face to the “Dance Floor” as Beckey calls it. This was a fairly low angle, highly featured slab with some limited pro opportunities in a corner crack to the right…glad to have the red tri-cam here, although the climbing here is pretty easy. The pitch ends with a ~5.6 corner with some looseness marginal pro. Again, our 50M came up short, and Touray pulled up the anchor to give me 30’ to another tree belay.

 

A short scramble led us to the summit where we looked down into the Cedar Creek fire near Silverstar. We took some pics, ate, drank and headed north to spy a triple bolted rappel anchor. While Beckey’s topo shows 80’ rappels, I’d estimate the first one was a bit longer based on the fun we had at the bottom of the first very steep rappel. After some fun scree skiing, we were on our way back down to the car, eyes starting to sting from the smoke.

 

Cedar Creek Fire

 

First Rap

 

All-in-all, I thought it was a great moderate route, with the big positive being sustained moderate climbing unlike many of the other climbs ~ this grade in the area which, in my experience seem to be 4th and low 5th class climbing with only a few moves harder.

 

 

More pix

http://ericbakke.spaces.msn.com/photos/?_c02_owner=1

 

Gear Notes:

Cams, micros to #2, pink/red tri-cam, small to medium stoppers, Should have had 60M rope

 

Approach Notes:

look for big cairn near right side of boulderfield from hairpin

Edited September 8, 2006 by ericb

[octavius]

Nice report. Four of us did the NW Face on Sunday, though I think we did a variation for pitches 4 & 5, going straight up and not over to the left. I got to lead pitches 1, 3, and 5. Very fun climb, and for a newbie like me a great 5.7+ climb.

 

Me finishing the 3rd pitch...

Edited September 8, 2006 by octavius

[ericb]

What did you think of the variation pitches?...I wasn't thrilled with pitch 4 of our route.....and pitch 5 was a scramble for us.

[octavius]

The way we went up, pitches 4 & 5 were both short, but both got my attention... easily as hard as the first 3 pitches. I think no matter what, it is a scramble to the true summit.

Edited September 8, 2006 by octavius

[pms]

Is this a Beckey route? original climb of peak rt. maybe?

[ericb]

I believe we did the route as described in the CAG red book, and shown as "original finish" on the topo. It looks like going up and right from the belay at the top of p3 can replace our so-so pitch 4 with a 5.7 pitch and add as much as 2 5.7 pitches to what was a scramble for us. What little I've seen written about the variations made them look a little sketchy ("loose death blocks"), so we stuck with the original route - not stellar either IMHO but OK. Alpinedave.com describes going up and right, not liking what he saw, and traversing back over to the "dance floor" and original finish.

[curtveld]

Touray lead out on the first pitch, which was as advertised….run-out 5.7 climbing with limited pro.

Sporty indeed! I turned back on this last June when it was dripping wet in addition to the sparse pro. Kind of unfortunate to have such a nice moderate route "protected" by an R-rated first pitch. Perhaps a fixed pin or bolt (gasp!) or two would be a good addition there. Yes, yes, with the FA party’s approval, of course.

[ericb]

Ya....later in the season, once it's dry, it's quite doable, just a little spicey. I can imagine that when it's wet, it's a whole different story. I'm not going to get in the bolting debate.....

[slothrop]

You can go up from the third pitch belay past/through a tree to an alcove below a few cracks. The option on climber's right is slightly deteriorating granite, but is solid enough. No death blocks. The left option (LFC) could be good, too, but looked harder.