CTAC

That Bob Sampson and me on Coleman Headwall on our 13.5 hour car-to-car climb.

Trip: Shuksan - 1960 Route Date: 1/25/2009 Trip Report: This Sunday, January 25, Roger Lewis, Steve Murphy, and myself, Stanislav Zinkov, climbed 1960 route on Shuksan. We couldn't find a whole lot of info on the route so we rated it Grade III, Class 5.4, AI3. The approach was easy via White Salmon Creek. We witnessed a huge avalanche on Hanging Glacier. The higher we went the less consolidated the snow got. Eventually we got to the base of the route, three hours after leaving the parking lot. There we climbed three pitches of ice and rock. The ice was so thin I set only one screw total. Meanwhile, I used a lot of cams, stoppers, and tri-cams. We then un-roped and climbed 200 ft of steep snow afterwards. By that time we ended up on top of Hanging Glacier. From there we navigated around a couple of crevasses and were right below the summit pyramid. Winds picked up and there was a lot of spin drift; we decided to call it a day. The descend on White Salmon Glacier seem to never end. Eventually we had to endure the stairmaster up to the bottom of Chair 8. Overall it took us 16 hours. Gear Notes: Mostly rock gear: two camps, a set of small stoppers, and a set of tri-cams. Approach Notes: Bring snowshoes or skies. Right below the Hanging Glacier a lot of avalanche debris covered by a thin layer of snow and you will risk twisting a leg while punching throw between chunks of ice.

G-spotter, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with MacDonald/Mather line. By "Direct" I was referring to climbing from the bottom of the nose up as oppose to taking the ramp option on the left. I climbed the lower section between exposed seracs and the nose. Its official: I got frost nips on two toes and eight fingers.

Trip: Baker - Coleman Headwall Direct Date: 12/5/2008 Trip Report: I left the trailhead to solo Coleman Headwall on Baker at 1:30 am on Friday night. On top of hogs back, I refilled my two water bottles. Above the snow field most of the crevasses are still open. To get to the bottom on the Nose at one point, I ice climbed into a crevasse, walked 300 yards through the bottom of it (I called it the “Corridor of Doom” since each side was about 60 ft high), and climbed myself out from the other side. I took a quick break at the bottom of the nose, took a photo of the route, and began to climb at 7:15 am. When I got to the first ice band I climbed very steep ice until I was about 8 feet from the top and had a slight overhang. After trying a couple of times to climb over it I decided not to tempt the fate. The one ice screw I brought came in handy when I made Abalakov (a Russian invention often referred by Yankees as a V-thread). I brought my minimalist harness along with 30m 8mm rope, just in case. To save the weight I left the ACT at home and repelled on the munter hitch. When I repelled down I realized the rope wasn’t touching the bottom—so I untied and climbed down. I tried another route but ice was bad. Finally, on the third time I found a way though. Conditions varied from bulletproof ice to knee deep powder. When I was 2/3 of the way up the weather come it. First the clouds, then the rain, and then the wind. I had to refer to the picture I took twice to see where I needed to climb since visibility was less than 15 feet. When I topped out, after 4.5 hours on the route, the winds picked up. I reckon the gusts were around 70 m/h. I kept getting knocked down and bruising myself on ice formations. I figured I’d take a break when I come down the Roman Wall. Problem was I couldn’t see where the Nose was. I couldn’t wear glasses because they would ice up on the inside and my eyes felt they were lacerated by the ice particles in the wind. Finally, I found what looked like Roman nose. I began to descent, steering to the right to avoid coming down Easton Glacier. I found myself under rock formations I had never been under before. Fearing I was off course I climbed back up. In hind side, I now know I went too far to the right and ended up on the moustache, right below the Roman Nose. Convinced I was on the wrong path I burned the daylight looking for the exit point. Due to the rain, even though everything I wore was Gore-Tex, I got water in my boots and all the gloves. I began to dig a snow cave using my ice axe. Three feet down I hit ice and realized it was the end of my cave. I remembered topping out on North Ridge two years earlier with Forest and walking along big crevasses near the top. By the time I found the spot, I had been on the summit for over four hours. I repelled into a diagonal crevasse, chiseled a ledge for my back-pack and began to get ready for the night. I was out of the wind but it was incredibly cold. I drained water from my boots, squeezed out some from down mittens. Everything, from the top of my hood, to the bottom of my feet was covered my 1/8 inch thick ice shell. I felt like an American super hero breaking out of the shell to gain my superpowers. I didn’t have a tent, a bivysack, a stove, a sleeping bag, of a thermalrest. I wrapped an astronaut blanket over my feet, laid my shell over my legs, and sat there wearing my parka, in this crevasse without sleep, shivering for 13 hours awaiting the sun light. On Saturday morning I had 400 ml of water and one peanut butter bar left. That is it. The storm continued but I felt I had no choice because I wasn’t prepared to spend another night up there. I ate half of the bar, packed, and climbed out of the crevasse. The descend was long and tedious. I relied on my compass exclusively. I was forced to open my compass using my ice tool since it was frozen shut. At one point visibility was reduced to two feet. That is how far away from a cliff I was when I stopped. I had to back track a couple of times but eventually I saw Hog’s back. I refilled my water bottle and went for the home stretch. I was at the car in one hour. I don’t think this climb qualifies as a “car-to-car” since it was 38 hours long. Overall, the route is in great shape. However, be prepared for hours of front pointing. Gear Notes: I wish I had a GPS unit. I brought 1 screw, 1 picket. Approach Notes: Very little snow on top of Hog's Back. Crevasses are still open. Repelling or downclimbing into a crevasse at the bottom of the Nose is necessary to get to the bottom of the route.