Brandon

The East Face had a lot of rock showing through. It might make an exciting mixed climb, but there was very little ice. It looked like snow patches over slaby rock. I remember shuddering a little when I looked at the E face on the descent and thinking that I would not want to get stuck out there. But the exposed rock may provide enough purchase and protection opportunities. With the freeze/thaw cycles over the last week, the snow and ice might be solid enough to climb.

This is the first trip report I've written here, so I hope it stands up to all of the great reports that others have written. I just wanted to share our experience on the North Face of Chair Peak last Saturday. My partner Doug and I left Seattle early Saturday morning, and after an approach that took a little longer than we expected, we made our way to the base of the North Face. Along the way we passed the NE Buttress, which though tempting, looked pretty thin (but definitely climbable by better climbers than me). We racked up on the edge of the moat. Initially it looked like the moat would be a good spot to belay from, but after closer inspection, the gap between the snow and rock extended much deeper than I was comfortable with. Doug took the first lead, pulling over the lip of the moat and traversing right to the left facing open book where some knife blade placements were found. There was some ice on this pitch, but most of it was rotten or only thinly covering the rock underneath. This pitch offered the most technical climbing, but also had the best opportunities for protection. In addition to two KB placements, Doug was able to place two screws, one of which was in rotten ice and probably wouldn't have held. The first pitch went nearly a full 60m, but failed to reach a good patch of ice only 10m further. Instead, the belay was a marginal picket and fluke placement augmented by shafted ice tools. Had I known this, I would have simulclimbed enough to reach the ice. I followed the pitch, and was alarmed by how quickly my claves started burning. After reaching the belay and continuing to the ice to place two good screws, I rested briefly and psyched myself up for the next pitch. The second pitch was a fully 60m up unconsolidated 50-60 degree sugar snow. I frantically thwacked and plunged my tools to get enough purchase to move one foot then the next up another step. I repeated this sequence, becoming more stressed with every step I took above the safety of my ice screws. At about 45 meters I was able to sling a pathetic little twig that probably wouldn't have held my body weight let alone a fall. But it gave me enough confidence to continue on to the tree belay just short of the 60 meter mark. I have never been so happy to see a tree in my life. After catching my breath, I belayed Doug up. We observed that we were left of the true route. In my haste to reach a safe belay, I had moved left rather than right into the shallow gully. Our variation looked a little less steep above us compared to the true route, but we were ready to get to the top in the easiest way possible. Doug passed me at the belay and continued up another full 60 meter pitch to a tree belay. This pitch was a little more consolidated with a few short rotten ice sections and had a few opportunities for protection, but was still quite runout. I followed up and swapped leads again for the final 30 meters up a soft 45 degree snow slope. Doug followed up quickly and after enjoying the level terrain, we made the short scramble to the summit. Our efforts were rewarded by spectacular views and perfect weather. We returned to our packs, reorganized our gear, and descended to the rappel anchors. With only one rope, we ended up reverse front pointing the lower section of the descent gully, but additional rappels off of marginal anchors would have prevented this. We made our way back to Source lake, and trudged back to the parking lot. We returned to the car happy to be done, and totally beat. This route proved to be a challenge for us, and offered a very committing endeavor, but little technical difficulty. We were surprised by the condition of the route, but speculated that with the recent cold weather, the snow had not gone through any significant freeze thaw cycles. The snow slopes seemed to be quite stable, but there is a crust forming over poorly bonded snow underneath. The next major snow fall will likely create extreme avalanche conditions. Considering the great weather and the popularity of Chair Peak these days, we were surprised by how few people we saw on the mountain. A party of two arrived at the base of the NF just as I started up the first pitch. The only other climbers we saw had climbed the descent route, and were descending as we reached the top. After two days of reflection, I'm glad we tackle this climb, but I'm in no hurry to repeat it, at least in the conditions it was in on Saturday. But with more ice and consolidated snow, this would be a great climb.