[TR] Washington Pass - East Face of Lexington Tower 7/4/2009

[fenderfour]

Trip: Washington Pass - East Face of Lexington Tower

 

Date: 7/4/2009

 

Trip Report:

I just realized that I haven't posted a TR in a while.

 

Argus and I climbed the East Face of Lexington Tower last Saturday.

 

Holy shit is that a good route.

 

I mean, that is a fantastic route.

 

Did I mention how terrific that thing is?

 

Argus projecting success with the #6

 

A casual start had us on route at about 10:00 am. The snowpatch leading up to the first belay ledge was soft enough for us to kick steps with tennis shoes which prevented the need to carry ice axes up there.

 

Greg and Graham on Liberty Crack

 

Side note: You can grab a bamboo pole near the Liberty Crack turnout and use it instead of an ice axe if you think you will need it.

 

I got the first lead up the 5.7 protectable bit to the 5.7 unprotectable bit. Sure, it's only 5.7, but 30+ feet above your last piece of gear is still 30+ feet above your last piece of gear. I did a little gardening and managed to slot a #3 nut. I also found a boxed out pin scar that took half of a .4 camalot. A Red/yelly or yellow/green alien would be das schisse here. I finally got in a decnet .5 about 20' above the two shitty pieces.

 

That good piece allowed my balls to redescend and put me in send mode. It's not hard to be in send mode when on 5.7 terrain. I climbed and climbed and climbed.

 

I yelled down to Argus "How much rope is left?"

 

Argus replied "Shit, I've been climbing for 50 feet"

 

We ran pitches 1 and 2 together, simul-climbing for about 70 feet. Pitch 3 was a nice 5.8'is crack that had a little #5 action right at the top. It was a warm up for the upper pitches. We were leading in blocks, so I kept going on pitch 4, a 5.7 flake that protected very nicely. This pitch was kind of short and I was at the belay at the end of pitch 5 without noticing the 5.9+ section at all. By the numbers, that was the crux, but it really isn't.

 

Pitch 4-5 (I think)

 

This is where it gets all 5.9+

 

BTW - the belay in the pod at the end of pitch 5 is pretty darn cool.

 

Argus took over for the second half of the climb. He is much better at the wide than I am.

 

Pitch 6 starts with an airy foot traverse that could be protected if you want to put gear in at your ankle, and if you want to set up some rope drag for the difficult lieback. The lieback/flaring jam move was athletic and fun. I bet it was a little spicy on lead as Argus requested a little extra attention as he went up.

 

The infamous offwidth was next. Yes, the 2x4 is stil there. It's still in good condition, Argus did clip it. There are also 2 fresh(ish) bolts that protect the pitch nicely even though you could get through it with one #6 cam. Both bolts are on the left side of the crack. The first one is a few moves up the crack facing the climber, the other is on the face outside the crack.

 

The 2x4 from the belay

 

That was a fantastic pitch. It wasn't too hard, it wasn't too easy, even dragging a pack below me.

 

Looking over at Counterfeitfake climbing Rebel Yell

 

You belay in a chimney above the 6" crack and climb straight up into another less appealing OW. This leads to a second short chimney and finally to an unprotectable, but lower angle decaying OW above that. As a follower, I opted for the unprotected 5.9 face to the left. F*ck that crack.

 

You kind of top out here, but you aren't at the top of the tower. The final climb up the tower looked pretty unappealing from this side, so we skipped it. It was about 2:00 when we finished climbing. There s about 130' of low-fifth that gets you to the descent walk-off.

 

(all pics from Argus)

 

Gear Notes:

Set of nuts

Single cams .3-1

Double cams 2-4

Single 5

 

#6 was never needed thanks to the bolts

 

Approach Notes:

Park at the Liberty Crack pond, hike up for Liberty Crack, head left up the snow or scree to the rampy ledge on the left side of Lexington.

[Argus]

I looked at Beckey's topo again and the 5.9+ section is after the foot traverse section. I doesn't really show the chimney at the the traverse, so we assumed we were at what he calls the pitch 5 belay. Either way, still a fun climb.