dberdinka

Trip: Vesper Peak - True Grit II 5.8 - another new route Date: 9/25/2015 Trip Report: After intermittent work over the last two seasons I finished up another new route on the North Face of Vesper Peak. Once again extensive cleaning revealed a sustained moderate line in an outstanding position. The highlight of the climb is a long finger crack up the middle of the headwall followed by positive face climbing to a great belay perch. Some of the climbing is only so-so but overall I was pretty happy with the end result. Belays are all bolted and protection is about 50/50 bolts and gear. Bring a rack to a #2 Camalot including small-to-large stoppers and some extra finger to off-finger cams. Seasons starting to get a bit long in the tooth up there but it should be doable for a bit longer if you don't mind the chill and give it a day or two to dry out after rain. Pitch Description P1 Easy climbing on clean granite. Step left to a bolted belay below an obvious narrow chimney. 5.4 ~200' P2 Up a groove to the squeeze chimney then a difficult move onto a short bolted slab. The chimney can be avoided by moving right into a short corner (watch for loose blocks at it's top) 5.8 100' P3 A nice pitch. Slab, then a shallow corner, pull over a small overhang and follow jigsaw rock to a tiny belay ledge. 5.7 100' P4 Climb the long sustained splitter with a crux step across where the crack disappears briefly. Fun juggy climbing leads to a belay at the crest of the headwall. 5.8 120' P5 A short scruffy pitch of easy face and slab climbing leads to the top of the face. 5.6 (not 5.8 like in the image below!) 80' Click for Larger Image Looking down the headwall at the intermittent finger cracks Climbers on Pitch 4 of the Ragged Edge Gear Notes: Bring a rack to a #2 Camalot including small-to-large stoppers and some extra finger to off-finger cams. Approach Notes: See Ragged Edge TR

That must have been a bummer of a descent/walk out.

It was done with a lot of grueling effort. Enjoy.

Nice trip. Summers winding down isn't it? Traversing Razorback and Comet Peaks is another really nice and significantly longer route in the same vicinity. I remember maybe 4 pitches of 5th class to 5.8, some 4th class and a rappel or two. Great, deserted area. There's also a two pitch 5.12? up there that looks totally amazing. Overhanging hand cracks to OW. Always wondering about the climbing history of that thing.

Nice to see. Presumably you got your rope eaten by a crack on the descent? If you clip the pull strand through a leaver biner on that bolt it's a non-issue...though maybe I need to go hammer some chunks of wood into that crack....

Maybe this is old news but Google Earth has done some sort of magic in Yosemite and Zion National Parks with an incredibly detailed and accurate rendering of the landscape and cliff faces from every possible angle. Features seem accurate down to a meter or less. Overhangs are accurately depicted. Wild stuff to waste the afternoon on....How? How did they possibly do that? Even the waterfall spray is a 3-D rendering Temple of Sinwava in Zion with perfect detail on The Pulpit Even the trees are accurate in height

Is there anyone else put off by the idea that the supposed front runners are either the brother and son of or the wife of a former president? I know this is all a bit polyannaish on my part but could we at least try and pretend there's some sort of meritocracy in politics and not just dynastic power and connections? While I'm basically a diehard liberal if it comes down to a Bush/Clinton vote I may just abstain. *Political meritocracy being something like a politicians policy views and character being what attracts votes rather than inside political connections and big money. Like I said Polyanna.

Uhhh....wow...

tennis shoe alpinism this summer. Though something a little stiffer soled may be appreciated if you're going down crossover pass. Last good water just before the notch crossing into the "pocket glacier" basin. On the descent first running water appears just beyond crossover pass/"wooded stump". I would bring a second car and do the south side descent if at all possible. Nose plugs so you don't have to imbibe the stench of human shit all over the route may be useful as well.

Nice trip, great photos! Looks like you put a more direct start on The Nose route. Definitely a sort of quasi-classic. And you saw how many other people on the trip? Seems like the G-M-M traverse would have a queue on it all summer long if it were anywhere else.

FWIW the approach from the Canadian side is both much shorter and highly scenic. An enjoyable moderate day of work. Regardless nice trip to a beautiful area.

If I knew how to give a trip report stars I'd give it *****.

North Face is already sadly melted out. Final stretch is already discontinuous and lord knows if it will even exist in August. (North Face of North Twin is also snow free, not all that long ago it was a permamant snowfield). Not a great year to climb the classic snow/ice routes of the range.

You sure do rack up the hall passes. Great pics as usual.

While I assume your last quote is in jest I always thought that the south-ish buttress or possibly the NW Peak were primed for an easily accessible, alpine sport route. In my experience the pro on that peak is pretty bad! (and the rock is highly variable).

Whoa! A full on epic! Way to hang it out there, sounds awesome. I think the worst anchor I ever rapped off of was in that gulley, sounds like leaving gear was the right choice.

Springbok was an amazing climb but the roads and approaches were going to hell 15 years ago. Good job onsighting the approach now, please, give us the details!

Climbed this route today for the first time in awhile. Invested a couple hours scrubbing the bits that had gotten mossy again during the last six years. P1 is still a bit dirty (and easy) but P2-P8 are as clean as they've ever been. Might be a good summer to get it done if it's been on the list. Approach trail is still discernible and in good shape. IMO a great route, though I may be a bit biased. To avoid getting your rope stuck when rapping P6 put a leaver biner on the second bolt and have the last person clip the pull strand into it.

Anyone know if these guys are still in business? Sent them some shoes on a word of mouth recommendation (from someone who hadn't climbed in awhile) and nothing 4+ weeks later. Phone number doesn't work. Whoops.

Nice trip and pretty stunning collection of booty. Somewhere in your TR you wrote " This was a really good pitch for untraveled alpine rock.", which would appear to be quite a bit of an understatement.

Glad to see you're putting your drill to good use.

I was looking for the same thing. The 8-10 week wait for a Cilogear pack pretty much negated that as an option for this summer. All the more reason to keep using the packs I have. (I thought the Patagonia Ascensuon looked pretty great if you never plan to haul)

That's really unfortunate. WH has always seemed as corporate as any modern business where shareholder value trumps any sort of social responsibility/connection. Hard to believe there's any remaining commercial value in that land considering how blasted it is. A couple years ago they were clearcutting trees that had to be no more than 10 years old and maybe 3-4" in diameter. Always thought that could make a great conservation purchase marketing as a sea to mtn ecosystem with the new Lake Whatcom Park and Chuckanuts. Like Max says the east side of the rage is much nicer anyways if you want to do something in the Twins. Once you got the approach figured out Cinderella and Little Sister would make good day objectives (NE slabs of Twin Sister are amazing cl 3). South Twin via the Green Creek Arete is a classic Cascade wilderness experience though this will be more than a day trip for most.

You could do it pretty easily. May need to leave some stoppers near the top for anchors or a sizeable piece of cordage. Fixed descent below Pitch 7. You said you wanted an aid climb, TRL is still half free climbing 5.9 and under.

I can't read this whole thing so I'm just going to rant. Teachers now have a half-day every week to plan and a full Friday off every month as well. Their contracted for a 180 days a year and the salary max's out at ~70k for a Master+CE. Add in job security and excellent benefits. Class size in my kids school apparently averages 21, though one of my daughters has 26 in her class. The optics of these half days and such are that teachers just don't get a lot of sympathy from the community or at least not as much as they seem to expect. You constantly hear how teachers work long days on their "own" time, they don't seem to realize that many professionals work way more than 40 hours a week as well. Most private sector folks work ~245 days a year. If a teacher did that their salary would roughly be $100k. 70k *(245/180). Not bad, not bad at all and certainly above the average salary of a masters in the private sector. Throw in the fact you get 10 f%$kin weeks off every summer and it's a lot of bitchin about nothing.