Icicle High Country - Bong Buttress, Pipe Dreams 7/19/2008
Posted By: telemarker in Alpine Lakes
Trip: Icicle High Country - Bong Buttress, Pipe Dreams
Date: 7/19/2008
Trip Report:Kyle Flick and I climbed Pipe Dreams (5.10, 5 pitches) on Bong Buttress. Bong Buttress is essentially the neck, chin to the nose of the Sleeping Lady seen at the entrance of Icicle Canyon. Pipe Dreams is a route Ron Cottman and Bruce Ross climbed on this buttress in August, 2003. Each pitch of this climb is interesting, sustained, steep in a great alpine ambience. An added bonus was this route faces northwest, so we were in the shade throughout the climb. The best approach is up Hook Creek, and across Edward's Mesa to the buttress. You have to rap down to the start of the route. I and a couple friends had climbed Pipe Dreams 4 years ago and thought given the heat it would be a good route to repeat.
Earlier this spring Kyle and I tried approaching up the ridge past Pearly Gates and behind Snow Creek Wall. This was brushy and endless with rotten snow, and we stopped exhausted about 500 feet before the buttress. So, Saturday we got a 3.30am start after a baked goods breakfast at Homefires Bakery. The hike up to Yellow Jacket Tower is best done in the dark. Having been up Hook several times, I have my own way of accessing Hook from YJT that seems to keep me up high and has a minimum of schwack. Either way it's still a pain.
We made "normal" time up the the Mesa (4.5 hours) and walked the flat terrain over to Bong. From there, two short raps took us to the scrambling section to the start of the route. The pitches are thus:
P1: 5.9 double cracks to a pine tree
P2: Traverse straight left to a pedestal and corner, up then more traversing left to a stemming chimney. Belay below a steep, thin crack. 5.9
P3: Clmib the thin crack (5.10) then up some steep, outragesously fun jug hauling below an off-width.
P4: Climb the O/W, up to a notch where the views open up, then cut right up then over to another notch where you are now belaying on a huge ledge facing west. 5.9
P5: Climb a splitter headwall crack up to some overhangs, then cut sharp right around the overhangs and belay on the summit ridge. 5.8
From here, scramble up the ridge around gendarmes up the the "nose" of the Lady, which is the summit.
The views from the summit are amazing, all the way down to the road, Toketie Lake/Wall. This is a quality climb with no fluff pitches. One of these days it would be nice to camp in Hook and do this route at a leisurely pace.
I didn't have a camera for this one, so all photos are a hodge-podge of several trips up there, and our spring venture of the ridge.
BONG BUTTRESS
MT. CASHMERE EARLIER THIS SPRING
ICICLE CANYON IN SPRING
BLOCKHOUSE EAST FACE, HOOK CREEK
TOP OF HOOK CREEK
