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Trip: Mt. Washington - Southeast Ridge (III, 5.7) Date: 7/3/2015 Trip Report: My friend and I successfully climbed the SE Ridge of Mt. Washington on 7/3 in 13 hours car to car. The beta from previous trip reports helped us greatly, and since there hasn’t been one in awhile, here goes. Approach: We left the car at the washout at 5:30, and quickly found the TH about ¼ mile up the road. The steep but pleasant trail through old growth was easy to follow, fading out at the base of gendarmes around 4200 ft. There are various faint paths here, one of which suckered us into the wrong gully (immediately above), wasting 20 minutes. Instead, find a way to traverse right when the trail ends, minimizing your elevation gain until you traverse into a larger prominent gully. A very obvious path here led up the gully, around the base of steeper rock, over a small pass and into the beautiful alpine meadow below the shield wall. From here, we scrambled the bushy ramp up and left directly under the wall until it ended. We easily spotted the first bolt about 30 ft up. Route: There were so few placements and so much loose rock, neither of us really felt comfortable simul-climbing more than what was needed to stretch the rope to a belay here and there. It pitched out like this: pitch one: low-mid 5th class, two good bolts (one visible from ground), spaced 40 ft apart led to a bomber two bolt belay slightly left of line and in a shallow alcove. 30m pitch two: went straight up from belay, aimed for crest or slightly right. 4th class - 5.0, lots of loose rock, better rock quality if you take a slightly harder line (the whole route is like this). met the crest and belayed off a horn at nearly 60m. pitch three: same as last pitch, ended on crest and horn belay at 60m. pitch 4: same as last pitch. pitch 5: first crux. traversed up and right across the face, passed 5.7 moves through a shallow corner / crack. Belayed off a flake equalized with bomber nut at 60m. pitch 6: 4th class - 5.0, straight up from belay to the crest and the base of “Parapet” at 60m. pitch 7: low 5th class moves through a short chimney and the top of the shield wall, dragged the rope across an unexposed 2nd class section to the first rappel station at 60m, a horn slung with 10+ pieces of webbing (a few still good). rapped into notch, scrambled to ledge with tree. pitch 8: followed exposed 2nd class ledge below and left of crest, eventually following the path of least resistance back towards the crest, belayed at large boulder and weak tree at 60m. pitch 9: climbed to crest and around exposed arete. followed crest and stretched the rope to a ledge just below and left of the high point, where we found the next “rappel station”, basically an old hex connected by chewed cord to a locking carabiner. There was 5 lbs (weighed at home) of weathered, cut, and chewed webbing and cord which was connected in various ways to the tangle but doing nothing. We spent some time cutting away the junk, adding another hex to a nearby crack with 20ft of webbing, and equalizing both pieces to a girth hitched, mossy chockstone thing. The placements are so far from where the master point wants to be, each leg takes a lot of webbing, which critters eat. At the risk of being flamed... what’s there now will last a little while, but a couple of bolts and rings on the nearby wall (seemed solid) would really reduce the sketch factor here and eliminate the recurring trash pile. pitch 10: second crux. After the rappel, from a group of trees near the notch, went up a ramp right to the crest, then down the other side for 10 ft before traversing below a steep slab with few features. Fun and exposed 5.7+ moves over a thin flake led up to the crest and a belay at 60m. Looking at pictures in other TR’s, and reading those descriptions of this section, I believe an easier path would’ve climbed up and left from the group of trees and then back right to the crest instead of directly regaining the notch and dropping to the other (right) side. pitch 11: moved belay over flat ground to base of next steep section then climbed low 5th terrain up weakness to just below crest, then traversed left of crest on path of least resistance to another high point and belay at 60m. pitch 12: moved belay down easy ramps and ledges to next notch. 30m. pitch 13: climbed straight up and left on easy 5th class rock to a large ledge at 60m pitch 14: scrambled to summit ridge, dropped rope and packs, and followed the route 1 trail 100m to true summit. We summited at 4pm, 10.5 hours from the car and 9 hours on route. After pics and a quick bite to eat, we descended route 1 without incident, arriving back at the car around 6:30pm. Despite the moderate climbing, this route had our attention due to the extremely long runouts (100 ft at times) and large amount of loose rock. Bailing off the upper ridge was possible in a few spots but the shield wall felt committing once we were above the first pitch. The typical pitch had 3-4 placements in 60m but the hardest moves usually had pro nearby. We were able to find solid rock, often on slightly steeper terrain, but the rope inevitably set stuff loose on occasion. Don’t let any of that deter you; this is an aesthetic, worthwhile route with a short approach and easy walk off that you will almost certainly have to yourselves. If you’ve climbed in the Olympics, you know what to expect. Gear notes: -extra water (mountain is bone dry) -diverse rack; we brought .4 - #2 camalots, a set of nuts, a few smaller hexes / tri cams and used it all throughout the day, could’ve used a big hex or #3 camalot -fewer slings than you’d think -leaver gear and cord or webbing to improve rap stations -dry cotton clothes, wet wipes, and cold beer at the TH

Greetings, Has anyone gotten a good luck at Buckner's north face the last week or so? I was wondering what the condition of the NF couloir was. The guide book lists the season to Oct, but I'm skeptical that it will go that late without serious schrund issues. Does anyone have any experience on this route in September conditions? Also, does anyone have suggestions on rock pro that could be useful on the route? Thanks in advance for the info!