KaskadskyjKozak

Yes, as you get above Source Lake. Lower down the crampons on snow shoes make the cat track easier to hike (it's icy).

We had headlamps on until Source Lake. :-)

Winter (meaning cat-track from the highest Alpental lot, to the climber's left side of Source Lake)

Good point, goatboy. For the record, my partner and I stretched out the rope and stood for about an hour directly under the moat yelling to our other team, asking what was up, and how the anchor/belay spot and route looked. We were told there was not a lot of room for a second, parallel belay spot or to run in parallel, so we waited for the follower to start up before I set up a belay. I honestly was wondering if our first leader might want to bail for a while standing there. Meanwhile we saw 5 people standing in a sunny spot on the ridge behind us. We weren't sure if they were climbers or hikers just hanging out. Nobody approached us to ask WTF was going on, or if they could jump ahead. It would have been easy to walk over to us where we stood and ask.

9.5 hours, including at least an hour waiting below the moat. i noticed you tried the NE butt earlier this season as well. :-)

If any party had caught up to us at the top of pitch 1 or 2 and set up a belay (or tried to do a running belay) fast enough to pass us I would have had absolutely no problem with that.

fuck yeah. we could fund Prole's retirement from his own contributions to the weed tax. bring it!

Sorry to hear about the toes, sunnyrem. When do you want to get out on ice (or mixed) again? Lane Peak/Lover's Lane is looking great right now :-)

Ed, nice job. How long did it take you from car to summit?

Were you the guys that just caught up to me on pitch two, and set up a belay immediately to my (climber's) right?

Amen. Pitch two was wide open with lots of belay trees for the third pitch - or even a running belay. If anyone was near me I would have encouraged them to fly by.

The first pitch was a bottleneck. I led the second rope team up, and there was a lot of waiting. The first leader had to break trail - cleaning off a lot of sugar snow (you should be grateful, it looked nasty). There were at least 2 lines possible on pitch 2, and even pitch 3. A party almost caught up to us on pitch 2 (the leader caught up as I was belaying my partner). But they never seemed to want to, or be able to pass - was that you? Looking down from pitch three I certainly couldn't see anyone in "danger" of catching up - see third photo above. In any case - this is a trade route. WTF do you expect? Get up earlier, or pick a different line. Hell, pick a different route. A "fast and light" group like you surely could have run up the East Face - nobody was there.

I haven't been up there this time of year. Some friends of mine mentioned that scramble is fairly exposed mixed terrain in April. Thanks for the info...

Excellent!

no pitons? (talking between now and early spring)

B.

we were the first team up and summited around 2:45 (cars at 6). There were 4-5 people on the route below us. There's almost no way they'd be home yet, so I would not stress for a couple hours.

we did a single rope rap and downclimbed soft 50 degree snow (the angle gradually gets easier)

bastard! you posted this as I was typing mine in! :-)))

Trip: Chair Peak - N Face Date: 2/20/2010 Trip Report: My partners mkporwit, CS, and SR met at the Eastgate P&R at the ungodly hour of 4 am to try and beat the crowds the surely must be descending on Chair Peak on a glorious Sat. We succeeded; we were the first team on the route. Unfortunately this plan backfired in that we had to deal with the sugar snow coating a lot of the ice. We had two rope teams. SR and I led pitch one. We got to the pitch by traversing right above a snow bridge crossing the moat. I am not sure if this is the "traditional" start of the pitch or not. We found the ice to be aerated and interspersed with loose stuff all day. Most ice screw and picket placements seemed suspect and anxiety levels were consequently high. Pitch 1: I used 4 ice screws. I set up a belay with 2 pickets and tool. Maybe 3/4 rope length. Pitch 2: My partner used 3 screws and a picket. We stayed middle right. Full rope length. Pitch 3: I girth hitched a couple trees, placed a green alien, and at least one screw. Belayed from a tree. Full rope length. Pitch 4: Just deep snow. Very short. I had pitons and nuts and never used them. Descent: downclimbed to equalized-piton-rappel station. Single rope rappel partially down gully. Downclimbed the rest (sugar snow). Approaching the moat: Upper half of pitch 3: View down from belay at top of pitch 3. Not climbers on route: If you stayed home today you are insane! Gear Notes: 4 pickets, 6 screws, green alien, double runners. Approach Notes: Icy in the morning, soft crud on the descent.

sprayers on top. kevboner below.

how short? i'm thinking of headed up there but only have a bunch of 16cm screws

how many screws did you need?

why is that? because you keep posting that photo of boner