Tom_Sjolseth

Trip: Chair Peak - North Face + NE Buttress Date: 3/1/2010 Trip Report: Daniel Jeffrey and I linked up for a great climb up the N Face and NE Buttress of Chair Peak today. We met at the P&R at 2:50AM to get an early start. We were headed up the well-packed trail by 4:15 after a stop for supplies at McDonald's in North Bend. The trail is great until just above Source Lake where there is an annoying breakable crust. We were sinking in calf-deep in snowshoes which made for slower going. We gained the ridge, then headed over to the N Face in fairly deep, soft and wind-deposited snow. The first pitch is really fat right now with great plastic ice (brittle in some spots, but plastic for the most part). The remainder of the route is just as fat with some great, punchy snow and more fat ice. We topped out at 7:30 and spent about 30 minutes on the summit enjoying the views. From here we walked down the descent gully (no need for rappel here) to the notch and the rappel slings. We rappelled here, but didn't really need to as we would later find out on lap #2. After the first 20 feet, we down-climbed the remainder of the descent gully below a huge, looming cornice and made our way back over to the NE Buttress. Here, we decided to do another lap before things started to heat up. We took a left-hand variation to start and the ice was a bit brittle, but then became solid higher up. The next portion of the climb was deep bucket steps on 50 degree snow. The step in the middle of the route was eroding, so we took a less spicy variation to the left, being as how we weren't roped up. Ice is very brittle here, and chunks were coming off with each swing. We topped out at the notch, then immediately headed down again, this time bypassing the rappel and just down-climbing the gully this time. I headed back down towards Snow Lake to retrieve the glove I dropped before starting up the N Face. I got my glove back and made my way back to the TH, returning right at 10:45 for a 6.5 hour round trip. We brought 3 screws, 1 60m rope, and 2 pickets, but only used the rope for a rappel from the notch. I bootied an ice screw and an unused KB piton (laying on the snow slope on the NE Buttress). An excellent day off work! Beautiful sunrise from the N Face. Daniel starting up the North Face. More sunrise. Low on the route. Sunrise again. Beautiful! A look ahead to the upper portion of the route. Daniel climbing on the N Face. Halfway up the N Face. Daniel just below the summit. Views from the summit. Looking down from low on the NE Buttress. Looking up from below the step. View from the NE Buttress. Looking down on Daniel. Daniel topping out on the step. Nearing the top of the NE Buttress.

Nice work, gents!

I was up there last Tuesday. We climbed the Fuhrer Thumb and made it to 12,000' before waist deep wallowing forced us to turn around. I have never seen it that deep on the upper mountain. I'd bet with all this sunshine it's going to be fairly good in the AM with any melt-freeze (we sat at 12,000' in T-Shirts on 2/9).

You've got my vote for entertaining TR of the year!

Dark Peak was one of my Top 5 favorite summits on the Top 100 list. I didn't feel cheated one bit. I suspect Josh will have a similar experience.

I think Dark Peak is a good climb for you, Josh. Check out a TR I wrote about it here.

We climbed Rainbow Falls L&R yesterday. Rainbow Right above the chains is getting thin and tops out on bare slab. We drove up the Entiat this morning and checked out McCrea Falls which was melting out fast and very hollow. Large chunks of ice were scattered about the base and we decided to bail. We thought about checking out Banks Lake but the temps were pretty warm so we drove home. Drury Falls looked fat on the way home.

Nice foresight to do this route now. Too bad about the skis, but it sounds like Tim had fun in his teleboots regardless! Any closeups of Baker?

You could easily get by with a mountaineer's axe.

Just picked one of these up at PMS. Great work, Steph. A great idea to help save a great NW climbing area.

Avi danger was pretty much nil. We did hear seracs coming off the Nisqually Ice Cliff, but that happens regardless of avi danger.

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Nisqually-Gibraltar Chute Date: 12/26/2009 Trip Report: Franklin and I summitted this morning via the chute. Conditions were pretty good, especially through the chute itself. We didn't use the pro we brought. The upper mountain was in good shape too, half and half firm and ankle deep postholing. It was windy on the summit, with temps around 5. We descended the Ingraham Direct which is not an advisable descent route right now. It's thinly covered and broken. We hugged the right side near the bottom (right along the rock). We then walked down Cadaver Gap. We probably should have descended the ledges. Sunrise from above Gibraltar Rock. Franklin on the ascent. Morning Alpenglow. Franklin at about 13,500'. Views. Franklin on the upper mountain. The view across the summit crater. Franklin on Columbia Crest. Liberty Cap and Puget Sound from the summit. Franklin descending the upper portion of the Ingraham Glacier. Looking down the Ingraham Glacier. Cathedral Peaks and Little Tahoma. Franklin happy to be done with the Ingraham Glacier. Looking back up the Ingraham Glacier. Franklin, all smiles after his first summit of Mt. Rainier.

Trip: Big Four - Upper North Face Date: 12/5/2009 Trip Report: Justus_S drove up to the Mountain Loop Highway before work this past week, and took some photos of the N Face of Big Four. It looked like it could be in climbing shape given the great snow conditions and clear weather, but we weren't sure about the portion down low, so we were intent to check it out ourselves. Justus, therunningdog, and I left Seattle at 1:30AM this morning and drove to the parking area for Big Four Ice Caves. We walked out and looked at the North Face, basking in the bright moonlight. Although the upper portion of the face looked great, the lower face where polished slabs guard the way was absent of snow. We decided to check out a route up Dry Gulch that crosses over into the bowl below the upper half of the N Face. This would enable us to bypass the tricky lower portion of the face in the dark. We arrived at milepost 27 off the Mtn Loop at about 3:15AM. After 30 minutes of packing up our gear and remarking how cold it was, we were off. We headed downhill to cross the River, 'schwacking through brush in the dark. Once at the river, we could not find a suitable crossing right away, and so we headed up stream to find one. About a half mile later, we stumbled upon a suitable log (albeit iced over). Carefully, we made our way across without incident. From the river crossing, we headed up the hill in slide alder and devils clubs (still dark), aiming for the waterfall. Once at the waterfall, it was very tough to see the route, especially since the moon was crossing over the top of the peak and out of view. We poked around for about an hour or so, trying different variations through iced-over cliff bands, but eventually gave up and waited for sunrise. When the sun came up enough for us to see clearly, we spied a gully to climber's right that heads up into the basin below the Dry Gulch route. We climbed this gully about 600' to a leftward trending diagonal ramp. This ramp was great, because it offered us practically the only route up into the basin. Once in the basin, we traversed climber's left, then straight up into an avalanche cone coming off the E Face. From there, we cut right up another steep, diagonal snow ramp that enabled us to gain the bowl below the upper N Face of Big Four. We had not heard of anyone going this way before, but Justus spied it in hi-res photos and we figured it would go. The ramp leads into some very steep terrain (65 degrees) with very large drops below. The snow was perfect though, and so we felt fairly comfortable through here. Perfect styrofoam! At the end of the ramp, we cut straight uphill and gained a large saddle below Pt 4720+. From here, we could see the remainder of the route. 1500' of steep, beautiful ice leading right up to the true summit. We didn't belay any of the final pitches, but rather did running belays with me leading (tied into the middle of the rope) and Tim and Justus following (tied into the ends, staggered). I placed a total of 8 screws on the entire 1500', and slung about 4 trees. Other than that, all the sticks were bomber, so we felt pretty good about things. We topped out at 1PM, just as we had guessed from the get-go. We made our way over to the true summit, ate some food, re-hydrated, took some photos, then headed down to find the Dry Gulch route and descend. The descent was steep in places, and we had to down-climb one vertical WI pitch (15'), and several 80 degree WI pitches. We didn't make any rappels. Again, the placements were all very solid, so it was very confidence inspiring. We finally made it back to the car at 5:15, 13.5 hours after we left. What a great day in the mountains, one I will remember for a long time to come. Thanks to Justus and Tim for being such great partners. Big Four's East Face at sunrise. Tim happy to be out on such a beautiful day. Justus starting up the access ramp. Justus halfway up the ramp. Pt 4760+ The upper North Face of Big Four in stellar conditions. More of the upper North Face of Big Four. Justus and I heading up to the first pitch. Justus and I starting up the first pitch. Views from mid-pitch. Me on the first pitch. Zoomed out. Icicles on the North Face of Big Four. Looking up to the remainder of the route. Justus and Tim somewhere on the North Face. More ice! Tim, all smiles. Mountain Loop peaks in the distance. Nearing the summit of Big Four. Shadow of Big Four from just below the summit. Vesper, Sperry, and beyond from the summit of Big Four. More summit views. Tim and Justus traversing the summit ridge. Me on the summit of Big Four. Weather moving in? Me downclimbing from the false summit. Justus and Tim downclimbing to the notch. More downclimbing. The last of the downclimbing. Parting shot from the descent.

Sinister?

Nice work, Steph. I especially like your night photos from camp. You've had a good year.

Wow, GREAT photos, tvash. Excellent in fact.

Nice work getting it done! I'm glad nobody got injured by the falling serac. Looking forward to the photos.

Beautiful! Nice work.

Nice, Jimbo and Wayne. Just another wild adventure on a classic peak.

Yes, it's worth climbing for the views and position alone. If you're comfortable on steep, loose class 4 (contrary to what I said previously, it IS protectable, but probably more dangerous than to just solo it like we did due to rockfall hazard), then you won't have much of a problem. It's not technically difficult by any stretch of the imagination, but the climbing felt dangerous to me, and I consider myself fairly experienced on chossy piles. We went directly up the center of the W Face, bypassing the 5.6 route over to climber's left. If I had to do it all over again, I would have done the 5.6 pitch instead. Reports are that it is reasonably solid. You might have better luck on one of the ridges (NW?). The SE Face actually looks solid, but it's steep and there aren't a whole lot of obvious lines (to me). YMMV.

I got some rehab place. They sounded confused and asked me if you were a patient. Will they give you a furlough? Are you sure that's your #?

It usually isn't, but I've been doing more of it lately.

Matt, if you don't find a partner I'd be interested..

You know, you're actually OK Offwhite. Nice TR.

If you plan on placing any pro (like deadman anchors), it is helpful to have an adze. It can also be helpful to have a hammer to pound things in (like a piton or a picket placed vertically in hard snow). For this reason, it's best to go with a hammer and adze on moderate alpine routes. I usually bring a mountaineering axe if I have a long glacier slog to get to the route. If there isn't a long snow approach (or glacier travel), and I'm climbing steep (50+ degree) snow/ice straight from the start, then I bring two tools.