Climb: Niut Range Spring 2004 Horsecock Eating and Climb-Alpine Fun Fest
Date of Climb: 5/9/2004
Trip Report:
Don_Serl, fishstick (Gord Betenia) and myself headed up to the Niut Range for another go at the same area we had been in in 2002 and not in (due to weather) in 2003. Our objective was mainly to have a good time but also to climb some unclimbed stuff.
If you don't know where the Niut Range is - it is NE of Waddington across Moseley Creek. About 200 km northwest of Whistler as the crow flies. It's the closest mountain range to Whitesaddle Air base at Bluff Lake and consequently one of the cheapest flights in.
We left insanely late on Friday night and drove all night up the highway to Williams Lake and then over into the Chilcotin as the sun rose. I was asleep in the back seat and only woke up when Gord nearly hit a deer. We stopped for breakfast at Lee's Corners in Hanceville and I managed to get a full body coating of white cat hair from a local mascot.
By the time things were sorted and Mike King was available to fly us in it was Saturday evening. We were pretty near helicopter maximum weight capacity due to large quantities of technical gear, horsecock, whiskey and snack foods. Mike flew us up Wolverine Creek then made two short-hops to get us up to our base camp 300m above the 2002 camp on a flat moraine. There was supposed to be a tarn nearby but we only discovered it when Gord fell through some snow and into water up to his knees. Hmmm.
Basecamp with the view south to Nicholson.
We made dinner and crawled into the tents. Sunday dawned sunny and warm. We were all pretty tired so got up late by which time the snow was soft. Don went for a ski into the cirque to the west to check out "The Line" and the east face of Quartz Peak which were our two main objectives. When Don came back, Gord and I wandered up two small towers on the ridge north of camp. A bit of skiing and some ridge scrambling got us on the easternmost tower. I continued to the highest tower which had some class 4 to 5.2-ish moves on steep solid juggy granite. We called these towers "The Panpipes" due to hoofprints found on the eastern summit.
Monday dawned kind of stormy. In fact it was gray and windy all day. Snow fell off and on and I cursed Fern who had predicted "rain every day" on this trip before we left. I read 300 pages of a Charles Dickens novel. Around 6PM it really started to snow in earnest and we crawled into the tents for a confined evening.
Going insane in the tent c. 10PM.
Tuesday dawned sunny with clearing clouds. We'd recieved about 6 inches of freshiez overnight making for good skiing near basecamp but high avvy hazard on the chosen lines. I went for a ski up cirque to check out the views while Don and Gord wandered up "The Scree-Heap", a ridge-end immediately above camp. Despite the new snow few avalanches came down. However, "The Line" looked like death-on-a-stick to me and Gord. Don was still keen once the snow settled a bit. In fact the snow melted away quickly during the day.
Blackhorn under fresh snow across the valley at daybreak.
The Line looking scary with fresh snow.
Wednesday dawned clear and warm again. Figuring the snow still had not settled down we set out to explore some minor peaks forming easy objectives immediately north of camp in the cirque sout of Whitesaddle Mountain. Don and Gord set off for an 8700' peak while I went to bag some small towers of white Sierra-like granite nearby. Don turned back to camp due to some nagging minor complaint (previous day's overindulgence in coffee, horsecock and whiskey no doubt partly to blame), Gord climbed peak 8700, and I wandered up Sierra Tower and nearby Splitter Tower via some 4th class rock moves. Very good granite on these peaks. I got a nice goby on my hand trying to boulder up the thin hand crack on the gendarme on the south ridge of Splitter Tower in my mountain boots. Freshiez as a bouldering mat is a nice effective combination.
Sierra Tower looking up the east ridge.
Well Thursday rolled around and the snow was looking pretty stable so we got up at 1 AM and got moving by 2 AM. Alpine start . We skiied into the base of the east face of Quartz Peak (The Line still looking scary) and started up the east couloir which had been too sloppy and un-frozen in 2002. Leaving skis at the base we cramponned up the couloir climbing about 400m in one hour and arriving at the base of the upper NE ridge just at sunrise. We opted for the NE ridge rather than the East face direct finish option due to some sketchy looking ice choked offwidth on the latter potential line.
Well - the NE ridge consisted of loose rock covered with powder snow and thin ice. We started belayed climbing around 5 AM and arrived on the summit around 2 PM, about 10 pitches later. THe stuff was just too insecure to move together so we climbed one at a time. Slow. Oh yes, Don broke a crampon, I pulled a 'Tronc' and dropped my stupid Android-leashed tools three separate times, once while leading (Gord was able to downclimb and retrieve it), Don set off two separate slab avalanches nearly knocking himself off the ridge while I was belaying him from a gearles stance with a 50m runout, Gord bugged out with panic and suggested bailing at the end of every pitch, and we climbed some fun stuff on insecure snow covered slabs and loose M4 dry tooling. Don led about 7 of the 10 pitches, I led 2 and we soloed one. This was probably the second ascent of Quartz Peak (9650' +/-) and the previous ascent was in 1965 or 66 up the 3rd class south slopes. Good fun.
The east face of Quartz Peak from the base with line marked.
So now we had fucked up crampon (Don fixed it slightly with webbing) and bad snow conditions so only one descent line really presented itself for getting off the peak. Unfortunately this led full circle away from our skis at the base of the east face and involved endless sidehill traversing down the SW face and along the south flanks of Peak 9200, about 5-6 km over 3rd class rock, snow bands, one 30m rappel, post holing, snow showers and thunderstorms, running out of food and water, and finally a 300m climb back up to camp on a moraine by headlamp. So needless to say we were all totally fucked by the time we got back to camp between 11 PM and 11 30 PM. I was so tired and cold I had to put on extra polypro in my -20C down bag and was still shivering while I fell asleep.
Friday - we woke up late. Gord became the hero of the whole trip by walking back up to the E face of Quartz and skiing back with three pairs of skis and poles for us. Don made pancakes, I fried horsecock and we stuffed ourselves with food and water.
Gord skiing back to camp with two more pairs of skis and poles lashed to his pack.
Now we were all feeling rather worked over and not confident in the snow conditions up high and decided to give "the Line" a pass. In fact I don't think I'm up to climbing this latter feature owing to it looking fucking hard at one or two points. So if you are a keen alpinist contact Don because he will need a partner for it next year. I think Ade has first call on this as he was with us in 2003 when it snowed so much we never got off the airstrip.
Thus we decided our trip was over and it was time to come home. We hung around drying gear and posing. In fact I got some extreeeeeme gnarly lip scum and alpine fashion statement shots. This one is the best. Can you name who I'm imitating?
Flew out Friday evening. Went to a Chilcotin party near the King's ranch. Were stuffed with fine food and allowed to shower and shave. Hung out at Don's cabin listening to the loons call ( You have to be Canadian to really get the true essential spiritual-type meaning of this )Drove home today (Saturday). End of trip. Good times in the Niut Range.
NOTE: To save weight for the flight out ( we nearly didn't make it due to thinner air at elevation and lower load limits for helicopter) a full Glenfiddich bottle was left at base camp. Hopefully this will act as an incentive to see some more climbers in there in the future to repeat some routes and/or accompany Don up "The Line"
Gear Notes:
helicopter
alpine climbing shizzle
horsecock
whiskey
Approach Notes:
Whitesaddle Air Bell Jet Ranger III
Climb: Niut Range Spring 2004 Horsecock Eating and Climb-Alpine Fun Fest Date of Climb: 5/9/2004 Trip Report: Don_Serl, fishstick (Gord Betenia) and myself headed up to the Niut Range for another go at the same area we had been in in 2002 and not in (due to weather) in 2003. Our objective was mainly to have a good time but also to climb some unclimbed stuff. If you don't know where the Niut Range is - it is NE of Waddington across Moseley Creek. About 200 km northwest of Whistler as the crow flies. It's the closest mountain range to Whitesaddle Air base at Bluff Lake and consequently one of the cheapest flights in. We left insanely late on Friday night and drove all night up the highway to Williams Lake and then over into the Chilcotin as the sun rose. I was asleep in the back seat and only woke up when Gord nearly hit a deer. We stopped for breakfast at Lee's Corners in Hanceville and I managed to get a full body coating of white cat hair from a local mascot. By the time things were sorted and Mike King was available to fly us in it was Saturday evening. We were pretty near helicopter maximum weight capacity due to large quantities of technical gear, horsecock, whiskey and snack foods. Mike flew us up Wolverine Creek then made two short-hops to get us up to our base camp 300m above the 2002 camp on a flat moraine. There was supposed to be a tarn nearby but we only discovered it when Gord fell through some snow and into water up to his knees. Hmmm. Basecamp with the view south to Nicholson. We made dinner and crawled into the tents. Sunday dawned sunny and warm. We were all pretty tired so got up late by which time the snow was soft. Don went for a ski into the cirque to the west to check out "The Line" and the east face of Quartz Peak which were our two main objectives. When Don came back, Gord and I wandered up two small towers on the ridge north of camp. A bit of skiing and some ridge scrambling got us on the easternmost tower. I continued to the highest tower which had some class 4 to 5.2-ish moves on steep solid juggy granite. We called these towers "The Panpipes" due to hoofprints found on the eastern summit. Monday dawned kind of stormy. In fact it was gray and windy all day. Snow fell off and on and I cursed Fern who had predicted "rain every day" on this trip before we left. I read 300 pages of a Charles Dickens novel. Around 6PM it really started to snow in earnest and we crawled into the tents for a confined evening. Going insane in the tent c. 10PM. Tuesday dawned sunny with clearing clouds. We'd recieved about 6 inches of freshiez overnight making for good skiing near basecamp but high avvy hazard on the chosen lines. I went for a ski up cirque to check out the views while Don and Gord wandered up "The Scree-Heap", a ridge-end immediately above camp. Despite the new snow few avalanches came down. However, "The Line" looked like death-on-a-stick to me and Gord. Don was still keen once the snow settled a bit. In fact the snow melted away quickly during the day. Blackhorn under fresh snow across the valley at daybreak. The Line looking scary with fresh snow. Wednesday dawned clear and warm again. Figuring the snow still had not settled down we set out to explore some minor peaks forming easy objectives immediately north of camp in the cirque sout of Whitesaddle Mountain. Don and Gord set off for an 8700' peak while I went to bag some small towers of white Sierra-like granite nearby. Don turned back to camp due to some nagging minor complaint (previous day's overindulgence in coffee, horsecock and whiskey no doubt partly to blame), Gord climbed peak 8700, and I wandered up Sierra Tower and nearby Splitter Tower via some 4th class rock moves. Very good granite on these peaks. I got a nice goby on my hand trying to boulder up the thin hand crack on the gendarme on the south ridge of Splitter Tower in my mountain boots. Freshiez as a bouldering mat is a nice effective combination. Sierra Tower looking up the east ridge. Well Thursday rolled around and the snow was looking pretty stable so we got up at 1 AM and got moving by 2 AM. Alpine start . We skiied into the base of the east face of Quartz Peak (The Line still looking scary) and started up the east couloir which had been too sloppy and un-frozen in 2002. Leaving skis at the base we cramponned up the couloir climbing about 400m in one hour and arriving at the base of the upper NE ridge just at sunrise. We opted for the NE ridge rather than the East face direct finish option due to some sketchy looking ice choked offwidth on the latter potential line. Well - the NE ridge consisted of loose rock covered with powder snow and thin ice. We started belayed climbing around 5 AM and arrived on the summit around 2 PM, about 10 pitches later. THe stuff was just too insecure to move together so we climbed one at a time. Slow. Oh yes, Don broke a crampon, I pulled a 'Tronc' and dropped my stupid Android-leashed tools three separate times, once while leading (Gord was able to downclimb and retrieve it), Don set off two separate slab avalanches nearly knocking himself off the ridge while I was belaying him from a gearles stance with a 50m runout, Gord bugged out with panic and suggested bailing at the end of every pitch, and we climbed some fun stuff on insecure snow covered slabs and loose M4 dry tooling. Don led about 7 of the 10 pitches, I led 2 and we soloed one. This was probably the second ascent of Quartz Peak (9650' +/-) and the previous ascent was in 1965 or 66 up the 3rd class south slopes. Good fun. The east face of Quartz Peak from the base with line marked. So now we had fucked up crampon (Don fixed it slightly with webbing) and bad snow conditions so only one descent line really presented itself for getting off the peak. Unfortunately this led full circle away from our skis at the base of the east face and involved endless sidehill traversing down the SW face and along the south flanks of Peak 9200, about 5-6 km over 3rd class rock, snow bands, one 30m rappel, post holing, snow showers and thunderstorms, running out of food and water, and finally a 300m climb back up to camp on a moraine by headlamp. So needless to say we were all totally fucked by the time we got back to camp between 11 PM and 11 30 PM. I was so tired and cold I had to put on extra polypro in my -20C down bag and was still shivering while I fell asleep. Friday - we woke up late. Gord became the hero of the whole trip by walking back up to the E face of Quartz and skiing back with three pairs of skis and poles for us. Don made pancakes, I fried horsecock and we stuffed ourselves with food and water. Gord skiing back to camp with two more pairs of skis and poles lashed to his pack. Now we were all feeling rather worked over and not confident in the snow conditions up high and decided to give "the Line" a pass. In fact I don't think I'm up to climbing this latter feature owing to it looking fucking hard at one or two points. So if you are a keen alpinist contact Don because he will need a partner for it next year. I think Ade has first call on this as he was with us in 2003 when it snowed so much we never got off the airstrip. Thus we decided our trip was over and it was time to come home. We hung around drying gear and posing. In fact I got some extreeeeeme gnarly lip scum and alpine fashion statement shots. This one is the best. Can you name who I'm imitating? Flew out Friday evening. Went to a Chilcotin party near the King's ranch. Were stuffed with fine food and allowed to shower and shave. Hung out at Don's cabin listening to the loons call ( You have to be Canadian to really get the true essential spiritual-type meaning of this )Drove home today (Saturday). End of trip. Good times in the Niut Range. NOTE: To save weight for the flight out ( we nearly didn't make it due to thinner air at elevation and lower load limits for helicopter) a full Glenfiddich bottle was left at base camp. Hopefully this will act as an incentive to see some more climbers in there in the future to repeat some routes and/or accompany Don up "The Line" Gear Notes: helicopter alpine climbing shizzle horsecock whiskey Approach Notes: Whitesaddle Air Bell Jet Ranger III