Bronco
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Trip: Burgundy - North Face
Date: 6/22/2014
Trip Report:
Several months ago Juan asked what peaks were left on my tick list. I boldly responded "North Face of Burgundy Spire" and scheduled a climb date between family, kids, work, etc, figuring/hoping it would never happen. Problem was, neither of us had climbed much rock in the last few years. I think we each secretly hoped the other would chicken out before we got to the point of having to take our leads. We did spend an evening fumbling with gear and thrutching up the Great Northern Slab route at Index and knocked some rust off which didn’t really make me feel any more confident other than confirming Juan remembered how to belay. Nonetheless, I borrowed a #4.5 and #5 from JayB for the 5.8 off width on the final pitch on Burgundy’s North Face Route. Reading the SuperTopo WA Pass warning that only “solid 5.8/5.9” leaders should attempt the route only reinforced my trepidation.
On the drive Saturday morning, we stopped at the Marble Mount Ranger station to see if we needed a permit or not. Turns out Burgundy Col is way outside of the park’s boundaries. Chatting with Rangers and a high profile, pro climber from out of state provided hearty conversation for the rest of the drive. We parked at the pullout at 11:00 am with a few other cars and started the hike, me not feeling great about our prospects but keeping it to myself. We had talked a bit about bagging Silver Star as an alternative but decided to wait and see how the day progressed. At the creek crossing, the old log was sagging into the water and slick so we looked for alternatives. I spotted a skinny log downstream 2-3’ above the waterline and charged across. Problems occurred about halfway to the opposite shore as the log started wiggling. With no good options, I took my medicine and executed a belly/side flop into the creek, losing a trekking pole to the swift water and banging up my knee and back on the stream bed. I thought I’d be lucky to get up Silver Star at this rate.
After wringing out my socks, we continued on up the climbers trail, encountering snow at 6,200’, intermittently losing the trail across the benches and enduring the typical brush and scree as we slogged up to the col. We distributed our bivy gear around the col and decided to take the scramble route up Vasiliki to scope out the next day’s route on Burgundy. I heartily banged my remaining good knee into a rock on the descent and hobbled back to the col. Unfortunately, the route looked entirely dry and, unless my various injuries caused a debilitating condition, we were going to at least tackle the first pitch the next day mostly due to Juan’s unwithering optimism. A couple of youngsters arrived after climbing Piassano and planned to get on Burgundy Sunday. Juan cheerfully chatted with them and correctly determined that with us being the slower (certainly older) team, they should plan to get on the route first in the morning. We shivered through the short, cold night and had a leisurely breakfast complaining about inadequate sleeping pads while the “A team” climbed the first pitch on Sunday morning.
We’d agreed to take it one pitch at a time and felt comfortable with the notion that the rap route followed the ascent route allowing us to bail if the climbing was too hard or my nagging injuries impeded climbing. Juan took the first block of leading, 3 pitches up to where the 5.8 starts. Arriving at the belay, I took the rack and looked at the layback flake like I actually meant to climb it. The pitch really doesn’t look bad from the belay and if you’re a gomer crack climber like me who laybacks most cracks anyway, it’s not bad and like most of the hard moves on this route, protects really well. Seemed like we were suddenly cruising the pitches I was sure we’d fail on. Starting up the second pitch of 5.8, I faced a difficult move but noticed a strangely placed old sling around a chockstone. As I considered lowering off the pitch and heading home, I realized it was a bail sling where someone must’ve arrived at the same conclusion as me, this route was more than we could handle. For some reason, that provided the stimulus to get my brain working on solving the problem again instead of focusing on falling or bailing. With Juan’s encouragement, we managed to thrutch our way up that pitch to Burgundy ledge.
John took the lead again and, despite my steering him way off route, somehow found and dispatched the 5.8 “awesome” pitch and brought me up. I must say, the follower’s backpack made the climbing very strenuous with the two big cams, ice axe (not needed) water etc. I completely forgot about the theory to go light on the pack when climbing close to your limit. Anyway, out came the big cams and layback technique for the final off width pitch, which was pretty fun. We ate a snack on the summit and started rapping down which was thankfully uneventful as was the rest of the descent and long drive home.
As a desk-jockey 5.8 climber, this route was very fun and challenging. If you’re a competent crack climber, it’s probably still fun but maybe not that challenging. Juan declared it “athletic” 5.8 and I agree. The bivi sites at the col were dry but plenty of snow just on the east side. We chatted with some guys camped on the bench who reported Clean Break being in great shape, most routes up there seemed to be dry and in good condition for climbing.
Here's John's excellent photos:
Juan on the Summit of Vasiliki
Me on Vasiliki with Burgundy in the background, note my extreme wind shirt!
Getting to business on pitch 4
Still working
Heading out on P5 past the point of consternation
The awesome 5.8 pitch
About to head up the last pitch
Juan, chillin on the summit
Put on my glasses to hide the tears of relief
First of many raps
Gear Notes:
Per super topo book, spot on.
Approach Notes:
Upon hitting Early Winters Creek, walk upstream 50 yards to the big stable log. High profile brain teasers.
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Old Dave, your question isn't really clear, obviously it's an old ice axe that someone replaced the original shaft with a unique piece of wood. I don't recall any climbers with those initials, JBP, could be any random person who had access to an engraving tool. I know, not much help, sorry.
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Totally agree with Water. Don't hesitate to hike back down to where the snow is good if you have doubts about self arresting in the event of losing your edge on the Hogsback. Typically, if the sun is out, you'll have better snow later in the day after it softens up.
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Hi Dan:
cam harder is right in his description, there is a schrund at the transition from the Tee Pee glacier to the gully leading to the SE face. It is climbers right of the chimney leading to the S Ridge and fairly obvious when you're looking up at it.
A partner and I climbed Tormet via the SE face July 8, 2011. The schrund was in good shape but still spicy, dare I say a "do not fall zone". My parter was able to step across, mine was more of a plant the tools and swing over. The rest of the face seems like it was class 3-4 and very loose. I was seconding and had to dodge a couple of good size rocks that were balanced on small ledges above. I think we mostly stayed to the climbers right of the depression/gully running up the center of the face. Seemed like it was fast and direct to me compared to some of the route finding issues on the S. Ridge but more risk of rockfall and getting your pants dirty.
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Nice job! Great to hear about Steve's return to the alpine environments and bagging the coveted FSA.
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Great story Mr. Abbot!
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Ok kids, I think the OP is possibly an older climber who probably experienced some problems posting his TR and I for one would like to see it. So unless one of you has a TR to post about climbing Willis Wall on vintage gear, please be nice so he posts it when it's ironed out. Thanks!
jca - if you want some help posting a Trip Report, send Jon or Olyclimber a Private Message.
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I agree with Gene, by far the best ad ever. I might buy buy them just to put on a shelf with your photos hanging all around them. Sort of a shrine to badassness.
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Looks like a wallow fest right now. Personally, I'd not be caught on that terrain in an unconsolidated snowpack.
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How about the alternate route Beckey mentions? "In late season it may be necessary to leave the finger for rocks to the left and traverse ledges on the E face around and up to the summit." Have you ever checked that out? Seems like Juan told me it was downsloping mid-fifth with limited opportunity for gear and bad potential consequences if a fall into the moat occurred.
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If you can spare a weekend, Icicle Creek probably has the most easy trad routes and pretty good rock for a beginner to learn good placements.
Otherwise, you can't beat the quality of granite at Index, just not a lot of sub 5.8 routes other than the Great Norther Slab area.
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The Chute was backed up for 15-20 minutes at a time, and i had to witness a fellow climber tumble down, hit another climber and preform self-arrest. Scary situation.
Good reminder to brush up on cramponing and self arrest skills? -
12,800 seems an unusual bivi. I can't help but wonder if this was a scheduled stop.
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I was just looking back at climbing dates and we were up there on July 8th 2012, a big snow year. I recall we were one of the first teams on the TFT that summer and there was still a bunch of snow. The rangers were laughing about having to dig out the BB privy over the 4th of July as it was still under several feet of snow.
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If you don't have any luck with responses here, you can call the Marblemount ranger station and ask them if they have any reports yet. Despite the wet spring, it seems like snowpack is about average for this time of year but melting pretty fast.
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Very cool TR, one of the best I've seen on CC.com in a long time!
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Projected opening date of October 6, 2014. Any bets on when it actually opens?
http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/wa/suiattle/newsletters.htm
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If you don't have any luck here, check www.turns-all-year.com as there seems to be a much more crotchety attitude and likely an older crew who may have known your Dad.
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Maybe they're hoping the rope slips through the device and not jerk them into the wall face first when the climber falls.
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I asked Lowell about it at Vertfest in 2013. He told me that if someone else wasn't willing to pick it up it was probably done. Apparently nobody else has been able to take it on.
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Ah ha! So there is something special going on. I guess I need to have Gordo get his guide's permit and make it official.
So how do the guides fight it out for those limited reservations? Battle Cage in the back of Chom's?
Does this mean he's been guiding all of these trips without a permit? I always assumed he was a guide of the first degree solely based on the eyewear.
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An utter embarrassment for those of us required to live under the rule of law, even though it sometimes holds us back. You're lucky you got away as lightly as you apparently did. And if you were riding snowmobiles in The Park after the lock-cutting....take your "triumph" down a few notches. Not cool, dude(s). Learn your lesson and move on.
I was curious about the snowmobiling myself and was shocked to discover that snowmobiles are allowed up to the White River Campground and other closed roads in the park during the winter. Seems a little out of character with the park but it's sanctioned.
Dave - very bizarre twist. You guys clearly wanted the climb badly and were willing to take risks both (ethical and technical) that I wouldn't deem acceptable. Better choices next time eh?
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Thanks dudes, after the difficult skimo season I had this year, I was pretty stoked for a successful and fun outing.
I continue to be amazed by the Dynafit TLT5-M boot. Light, climbs and hikes well and makes a punter like me appear somewhat competent skiing down. Stopping on the summit was the first time I've noticed cold toes in them and it was pretty dang cold.
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Burly and you get extra points for getting home for Easter! Nothing worse than having an epic except when you're supposed to be at a family function while having an epic.
[TR] Burgundy - North Face 6/22/2014
in North Cascades
Posted
Some belay ledges are pretty small and were really tight for swapping gear. A third person would be interesting for sure.