first ascent [TR] Revelation Peak, Middle Fork Snoqualmie - Epiphany FA 8/28/2016

[Rad]

First Ascent of Epiphany (10 pitches, 5.8) and Revelation Peak, Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie.

<<< WARNING: Despite the moderate grade, this is a serious route. Expect to find loose rock, challenging route finding, runout slab climbing, unfriendly shrubbery, and questionable protection. If those don't deter you read on and be sure to bring gloves for the approach and descent. Your hands will thank you. Also, when descending off the peak don't go too far North. Backtrack toward the top of the climbing and rap steep SE-facing slabs. I'd suggest thrashing down the forest just right (East) of the major gully that heads NE. You'll inevitable be doing some rappelling through shrubbery and forest, but it's not dangerous. We think you're more likely to encounter loose rock or possible dead ends in the gully. You'll eventually intersect a NNW-SSE gully that provides easy rock hopping back to the trail. Maybe you can find a better direct finish or a better route off the peak. Be safe. Have a grand adventure! >>>

On Sunday, 8/28/2016, Kurt Hicks and I (Rad Roberts) climbed a new route (Epiphany) on what we believe is an unclimbed peak (now dubbed Revelation) West of the Pulpit. This is about 2 miles south of Garfield Peak, a few miles north of Mailbox Peak, and a mile north of the Pratt River.

 

Our line was ground-up, on-sight, bolt-less, and all-free, involving 10 pitches of climbing up to 5.8 and several hundred feet of simul-climbing and roped scrambling over 1300 vertical feet. Grade III. Old growth forest, a pristine alpine cirque, a large cliff, and an unclimbed summit make for a great setting.

 

Climbers comfortable with off-trail navigation, sub-alpine scrambling, and runout climbing up to 5.7 would enjoy this route. Most pitches are 5.fun with just a few crux moves. A few well-placed bolts would make this a more user-friendly outing and allow one to stick to the cleanest rock rather than wander around looking for gear placements. This peak was added to the Alpine Wilderness in 2014, so bolting would need to be done by hand.

 

.........

 

When I was eight, my friends and I explored the forests of suburban New Jersey, climbed trees and rocks, caught critters in creeks, and generally roamed free until it started to get dark and we had to head home for dinner. The excitement of finding new climbing trees, fishing holes, or hidden corners of the forest was incredibly energizing. I've gotten bigger and older since those days, but my passion for wilderness exploration still burns bright.

 

Technology has changed the game. Poking around the internet one night this summer, I found a cliff near the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River that basic research suggested was large, clean, granitic, and unclimbed. On a sultry summer evening, I headed out to get a closer look. My initial approach involved a heinous section of prickly devils club and a tangle of rotting trees. This is par for the course in sub-alpineering, and I was prepared with gloves and long pants. I made it over to a tongue of old growth trees, swam through some alder, and reached a giant talus field in a sublime cirque below an immense granite cliff.

 

The rock was so hot you could have cooked eggs on it. I sat under a tree, soaking in the silence, and spotted the obvious place to start: a hand crack in a giant, clean dihedral. I could only see the first 60 meters or so, but satellite images suggested this would lead to a clean slab below a maze of towers and ramps that guarded the summit. It looked like a worthy adventure.

 

On my way back down to the trail, I found a much better approach line, with only 100 feet of bush whacking. I marked the line on my GPS, left a few cairns, and hiked back to the trailhead in the dark. Before driving home, I dipped in the cool Middle Fork river. I was so excited about going back I couldn't sleep, my mind going over and over how we might climb this sleeping giant.

 

The next day, I pitched the adventure to Kurt with a few choice images and the lure of a grand adventure on a big unclimbed wall. Like any good sand bagger, I downplayed the potential for scary runouts, dense and prickly vegetation, and hazards on the unknown descent. Kurt has enough experience to know when he's being hoodwinked, but he still agreed to join me. We've climbed and explored together in research for his I90 corridor guide, which will hopefully be out next year, but this would be our first new route together.

 

Climbing with Kurt is like hitting the EASY button. He is an AMGA-certified guide with many years of experience guiding clients in the Cascades. He quickly dances up all kinds of mountain terrain, keeps ropes neat and tangle-free, and rigs rappels and anchors in seconds. Plus, he has great hair.

 

We left the Middle Fork trailhead at a very civilized 6:15 AM just two days after my recon mission. 45 minutes later, we left the trail on a faint path, dived into the undergrowth at the appointed spot, and were ascending among old growth trees just a few minutes later. We managed to avoid the slide alder, crossed cleanly to the upper talus, and soon found ourselves at the base of the route. Easy.

 

I started up the first pitch dihedral a little after 8 AM. The rock was polished and clean with a few moves of damp 5.8 hand jamming at the crux. I stopped around 30 meters because our larger gear, which I'd already placed, would be needed for the next section. Kurt fired off some nice clean 5.8 moves early in the second pitch and cruised up easier ground on clean rock with sparse protection, a theme that would repeat for much of the line. I climbed up to a slightly steeper section and cruised off right, lured by splitter hand cracks that promised some protection. It turned out these "cracks" were under, behind, or alongside blocks or flakes that seemed poised to pitch off the wall if a cam or climber's hand pulled hard on them. So I slung some shrubbery, went back onto the main slab, and continued to a crack with a few good cam placements.

 

Kurt lead a lovely low angle slab for a pitch and I led another nice pitch with great rock, aiming for a small tree on the left of the giant granite bowl. This slab climbing was mostly 5.fun but required attention due to the sparse protection. Right near the end of the rope I found two of the best cracks of the day for the anchor.

 

After two more slab pitches we were at the base of several steep rock ribs separated by deep, dark clefts. We followed clean rock for two more pitches up and right toward a treed ramp I'd spotted on satellite images.

 

At the right end of the ramp, we swam through dense, short trees a hundred feet right to a break in the cliff. It looked possible to climb a steep step to the next tier. But when I climbed up to try, I found the one inch tree I planned to sling for protection had roots behind a block that moved immediately, and there were no cracks nearby. No good. I backed down and moved right toward another steep section of cliff. To get there, I had to step out onto a giant detached block on a sloping ledge with a crack behind it. I was careful not to dislodge the beast with my foot or place gear behind it. But the rock band above it was harder than it had appeared from below. It would involve a strenuous vertical lie-back on a rounded licheny edge with a one inch tree in pine needles for protection. There was no obvious protection above, and the moves would not easily be reversed if it turned out to be a dead end, so I backed off again, unwilling to risk a dangerous fall. So we moved another 50 feet right where the vegetation ended in a drop off below a wide vertical arete. There, we found a 30 foot feature with fun, airy 5.8ish moves with a nearby tree for protection and stemming. It was a nice rock rib in a great position. Kurt then scrambled right and climbed an exposed ramp to easier ground. We simul-climbed and scrambled about 200 vertical feet to the crest, moved right to bypass an imposing tower, and continued up toward the top.

 

The final section was a narrow rock rib split by a lovely crack in a truly outstanding setting. And then we were on the summit.

 

There were no cairns or other evidence of prior human passage. Any route other than ours to the summit would involve technical terrain and significant bushwhacking. These factors, combined with the absence of signs of prior human passage encountered on our ascent or descent, make us think this peak had not been previously climbed. For curious peak baggers, the topo shows the summit just under 3900 feet. The saddle with the Pulpit Peak to the East is at 3540, for a prominence of about 350 feet. We may never know whether we were the first or not, and perhaps it doesn't matter, but that perception enriched our experience.

 

We soaked in the late afternoon light for a few minutes before rappelling down steep, clean granite on the Northeast side of the peak, aiming for a gully on the North side of the peak I had seen on my recon mission. Three double rope rappels and a single rope rappel put us down in the target gully. We followed it until it seemed prudent to move into the forested rib to the right. It turned out this was a bad idea. The brush was fairly dense, the woods were pretty steep, and we had to cross several stands of dense Devil's Club over our heads. At this point, I should mention that the gloves I'd loaned Kurt had large holes that exposed his bare fingertips. He ended up spending the next few days pulling tiny spines from his swollen digits. Sorry, Kurt. My gloves were quite new, but the spines still found unprotected flesh to prick. Sub-alpineering at its finest.

 

Down, down, down we went. Eventually it got dark enough that we had to turn on our lights. We did three short raps off trees over drops too steep to safely downclimb. Finally, we arrived in the creek bed I'd ascended two nights earlier. This boulder-strewn drainage was easy to descend, and we soon made it to the trail and hiked back to the trailhead. The night was capped with a cold beer and a cool dip in the Middle Fork around 10 PM.

 

In a world that seems to tug us in a dozen digital directions at once, it is a great luxury to find focus leading rock pitches and have long uninterrupted conversations on the trail.

 

We felt grateful to have shared an amazing first ascent to a virgin summit less than an hour from Seattle. The climbing was quite moderate, the rock quality was good to excellent, and the position and summit were outstanding.

 

Climbers aspiring to repeat this line should understand that there is a fair amount of loose rock to avoid in places, protection is sparse and sometimes tricky to place, and the descent is non-trivial. We have ideas for a better descent and may return to hand-drill a few bolts that would allow climbers to stay on the cleanest rock and mitigate runouts. Message me for suggestions and for help finding the painless approach line.

 

Epiphany and Revelation are part of the 2014 expansion of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, so please tread lightly.

 

Anyone who has climbed Infinite Bliss on Garfield, which is about a mile or so to the North, knows the rock changes from clean granite down low to shattered rock up high. That never happened on Epiphany/Revelation. The climbing may look rather scrappy in photos, and I won't suggest it's perfect, but we were continually surprised at how solid the rock was and how much fun the climbing was.

 

I loved the days of my youth in the forests of central New Jersey, but my body, spirit, and aspirations outgrew those woods. I am very, very grateful to have a host of majestic wilderness adventures hiding in the mountains of our backyard.

 

Revelation Peak from the MF road. Note the lower 3 pitches are obscured by foreground trees.

 

Approach via Pratt River Trail. 2.2. miles.

 

Ascend x-country to the start.

 

Our descent back to the trail. It might be better to rappel back down the Southwest Face.

 

MF forest on my Friday recon

 

The lower cirque in the afternoon sun. MF SnoQ in the background.

 

The cliff.

 

When you enter the forest you're aiming for a giant fallen cedar log. Follow this to a second and then up into open forest.

 

Passing a large cedar in open forest.

 

This approach is about as friendly as sub-alpine x-country travel gets.

 

Pitch 1

 

Pitch 1

 

Pitch 1

 

Pitch 2

 

Pitch 2

 

Looking back down pitch 3.

 

Starting up pitch 4.

 

Looking back on the start of pitch 5.

 

Later in pitch 5.

 

Looking back from the top of pitch 5.

 

Better two lobes than none?

 

Looking up pitch 6

 

Pitch 7 (8 for us as we went to the left to look at those deep clefts)

 

Finish pitch 7 at a tree belay reminiscent of the one at the base of the Split Pillar on the Grand Wall at Squamish.

 

Looking down the large slab from the middle of pitch 7.

 

Pitches 7 and 8 from a vantage to the left of the line. The tree upper center is the belay.

 

The traverse pitch 8.

 

End of the traverse pitch 8.

 

The top of pitch 9, the arete by the tree, with some wild towers in the background.

 

Steep scrambling above pitch 10.

 

Scrambling above pitch 10.

 

We bypassed this tower by heading down and right on the NE side of it, traversing, and then ascending again.

 

The final rock rib to the summit.

 

 

 

So how do we get off this thing?

 

The second double rappel.

 

Third double rappel.

 

It's not sub-alpineering unless you are rappelling through dense shrubbery in dark.

Actually, we now believe this can be avoided.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Rad
Add info for aspiring repeaters

[Rad]

I think there are a number of you who would enjoy this outing. I'd be glad to answer questions or send more detailed beta to anyone thinking about heading out there.

 

More details:

P1 30 meters 5.8. Hand crack in a giant dihedral.

P2 50 meters 5.8. Dihedral to a ledge to a steep ramp with twin cracks.

P3 50 meters 5.7. I climbed up to the top of the cleft, traversed right to some bushes, and then went left and up to a crack for a belay. I think it would be better to climb straight up the overlap, staying in the most solid rock, to gain the main slab if you can find protection.

P4 50 meters 5.6. Move up and left on the lower part of the slab.

P5 55 meters 5.7. Nice, clean slab. End at good cracks near a bush/tree on the left side of the slab above a short dihedral.

P6 50 meters. 5.5 Follow slabs and a few cracks to a belay near top of the slab section.

P7 60 meters. 5.7 Head straight up past a lone tree to a large tree at the left end of a right-trending ramp.

P8 30 meters 5.7. Cross slab ramp to bushes and small trees.

Traverse up and right through shrubbery to a small ridge at a dropoff.

P9. 20 meters. 5.8 climb a wide arete next to a tree that provides protection.

P10. 20 meters. 5.7. Scramble across to a tree and climb a leftward ramp to easier ground.

A few hundred feet of simul-climbing to the crest on 3rd/4th class terrain.

Skirt the gendarme on its East and simul-climb several hundred feet to the summit, with some moves of 5.6-5.8.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Rad

[Stefan]

now this is really cool. good on you two. rappelling in the dark, no matter how long...OI!

[JasonG]

Phew. It's still excruciating to paste into TRs. Short snippets with no apostrophes or other odd characters will work. Everything else I tried failed. The formatting tool and other tricks didn't help. I'll have to forget this experience before posting another TR. Good night!

.

 

I think if you are going to paste into a TR, you may as well email Porter the TR and have him do it directly, then add photos.

 

But thanks for persevering! Excellent effort in subalpinism, looks like there is a lot of rock up there for future parties to explore.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Thanks Rad! Great to see this sort of stuff still so close to home. Reminds me i need to get out more in my own backyard!

 

Thanks for suffering through (the TR posting, not the climb), hehe.

[kukuzka1]

looks like it might be a good winter climb did you try pushing it strait up one of those rock ribs?

[Rad]

looks like it might be a good winter climb did you try pushing it strait up one of those rock ribs?

 

Might be. The challenge is that it's pretty low elevation. The line starts at 2600 feet and tops out at 3900. It would take a sustained cold snap to bring it into winter conditions.

 

We looked at those ribs and thought about climbing one of them, but the lack of continuous cracks gave us pause. Hopefully we'll get back to check one out at some point. Or maybe someone bolder than I am will get there first. It would be awesome to have a direct line that heads up a rib to the top of that tower we bypassed. You can see in photos that it's right above that part of the wall. That would be a stunning finish!

[lunger]

Cool-looking climb and adventure, and some nice shots of it!

 

That shallow, two-lobe cam placement looks like a classic application for a tri-cam. #tricamfanboy #ImWithTricams

 

Was also intrigued by the ribs and other rock off to the left...compact rock could make that steep stuff spicy though.

 

Thanks for the report; re: access to adventure around here, agree, we are very fortunate.

[Frankazoid]

Nice work Rad & Kurt. Looks like a satisfying adventure.

 

So, is the summit that you reached part of long horseshoe shaped ridge that has many high and low points, connecting to the pulpit at some point?

 

Once upon a time I visited the pulpit, and traveled on this curving knife edge ridge in either direction along the horseshoe, looking down on the shear walls below... Looks like similar terrain.

[Rad]

Nice work Rad & Kurt. Looks like a satisfying adventure.

 

So, is the summit that you reached part of long horseshoe shaped ridge that has many high and low points, connecting to the pulpit at some point?

 

Once upon a time I visited the pulpit, and traveled on this curving knife edge ridge in either direction along the horseshoe, looking down on the shear walls below... Looks like similar terrain.

 

Hey Frank, good to hear from you. The curving ridge you mention runs further North and ends at the top of another peak with almost no prominence over the ridge you mention. Kurt and I attempted a line on that cliff but bailed off of it last weekend after several hundred feel of climbing, including some 5.8-9+ terrain with mediocre gear. To get to Revelation from Pulpit, you would have to drop down steep forest to an obvious saddle and ascend technical cliffs to get to the summit. It would not be a casual scramble for anyone I know. There is no knife edge ridge between these features. Sounds like you had a cool adventure just North of where we were. Hope you and I can get out together sometime! Send a pm.

 

[Rad]

Cool-looking climb and adventure, and some nice shots of it!

 

That shallow, two-lobe cam placement looks like a classic application for a tri-cam. #tricamfanboy #ImWithTricams

 

Was also intrigued by the ribs and other rock off to the left...compact rock could make that steep stuff spicy though.

 

Thanks for the report; re: access to adventure around here, agree, we are very fortunate.

 

Thanks.

 

Yes, a tricam would have been perfect. I love those things and used them in the Gunks all the time. Pink was money! But they've fallen off the rack and gone to the bottom of the gear bucket in the basement. I guess I need to dust them off. Even so, I'm not sure I own any large enough to cover this placement.

 

[mountainsloth]

Cool! I've looked at this cliff now for ten years and wondered. Guess I should have gone for a closer look! Nice one Rad!

[mvanderbilt]

I have dozens of photos of that peak taken from the road and often wondered if anyone would ever tackle that wall. Fantastic photos, thanks for posting so many.

 

Some editions of Carl Dreisbach's out of print Middle Fork guide do have a description of climbing this 3880' peak he called Ravensbeak. No names are official, of course, and yours at least adds onto the Preacher theme. His description was for your descent route. He writes ...

 

Ravensbeak (3880')

From the end of a short road [now the Pratt River Bar road/trail], boat across the river to a rocky gully. Follow animal trails up the left side of the first side stream. At 3300' traverse right to the main gully, go to a notch, then climb class 2 to the top, an obvious cliff-sided hill viewed from the road. After mid-May, some brush develops at about 3000'

 

Carl was known for scrambling crazy steep routes and had a penchant for gully routes. I've explored part way up what I understand to be his route but it was in the winter and I turned around at steep snow. I'll be back some day, but I doubt I'll consider it class 2.

 

Monty VanderBilt

(puzzlr@nwhikers.net)

Edited October 19, 2016 by mvanderbilt

[Rad]

I have dozens of photos of that peak taken from the road and often wondered if anyone would ever tackle that wall. Fantastic photos, thanks for posting so many.

 

Some editions of Carl Dreisbach's out of print Middle Fork guide do have a description of climbing this 3880' peak he called Ravensbeak. No names are official, of course, and yours at least adds onto the Preacher theme. His description was for your descent route. He writes ...

 

Ravensbeak (3880')

From the end of a short road [now the Pratt River Bar road/trail], boat across the river to a rocky gully. Follow animal trails up the left side of the first side stream. At 3300' traverse right to the main gully, go to a notch, then climb class 2 to the top, an obvious cliff-sided hill viewed from the road. After mid-May, some brush develops at about 3000'

 

Carl was known for scrambling crazy steep routes and had a penchant for gully routes. I've explored part way up what I understand to be his route but it was in the winter and I turned around at steep snow. I'll be back some day, but I doubt I'll consider it class 2.

 

Monty VanderBilt

(puzzlr@nwhikers.net)

 

Thanks for the information and history. We crossed over the part of the peak where this line would come up and we didn't see anything that looked like 2nd class to the summit, but that wasn't our focus. Maybe we should have stayed in the gully for our descent instead of moving into the forest.

[Lowell_Skoog]

After climbing this route a few days ago based on the Snoqualmie Rock book, I thought to look here for info. We should have done that before heading out for the climb.

We found the climb to be much as described in the book, with long runouts and sparse protection. The rock on the slabby section has few cracks, and those you encounter are sometimes associated with fractured rock and don't inspire confidence.

The guidebook suggests carrying doubles to 3" but I don't think we ever found enough placements to use up even a single set of cams during a pitch. (Ok, maybe in the initial cleft. My memory of it is vague.)

The thing that confused us most was the book's description of the descent. It begins: "Make four double-rope rappels to the south, starting from a large tree in a gully and continuing down clean granite slabs. Descend the gully below the face, making rappels as necessary."

Having looked at Rad's pictures here, it seems that the first ascent party began their rappels to the SOUTHEAST, not the south. If you descend to the south, you can scramble down a forested gully to the saddle south of the summit. (We started rappelling from a tree shortly above the saddle, but I think you could probably scramble down to it.)

Because we went south (as suggested by the guidebook), not southeast, we never encountered the "clean granite slabs" described in the book (and shown in Rad's photos here). We found relatively low-angle terrain with lots of brush and trees. Based on Rad's photos, it looks like the clean granite slabs are steeper and more exposed than what we descended.

After four or five full-length rappels down a highly vegetated gully, we switched to single rappels as the light began to fade. In darkness, I lost count of the number of rappels we made, but the total must have been over a dozen, and the gully was steep enough that I would not have wanted to down-climb. Initially our anchors were all trees and bushes, but lower we found a few old anchors made of cord. We didn't leave the gully until we were quite low.

So, if you go for this route, take note of the descent.  If you get benighted like we did, it takes a long time and, if you stay in the gully, a lot of rappels.

[Rad]

Thanks for the additional info @Lowell_Skoog

I've talked to two other parties that had epic experiences getting off the mountain. I'm glad you and they all came out OK.

[needtoclimb]

Has anyone done any more work to this route?  It looks like a great route, except for the lack of real descent.  No descent will keep most people away from this route, and it will quickly grow into obscurity.   I wanted to climb it this weekend with my wife, however, the potential of being benighted on the rappel leaves a lot to be desired.

What do you think of the below lines for a possible rappel?   

Blue will take you straight down from the summit and looks like half of the stations could be tree belays, with just a few bolted stations lower down on the blank wall.  Would this take you all the way down without any bolted stations?

Purple is a cutoff to get back to the route.  That would require that the lower route has bolted belay/rappel stations.

Yellow would require tree rappels down the ridge (or downclimbing) then bolted stations.   It would drop you right back to the base of the climb.

Having not been there, looking for some insight before heading up to explore the area and search/build a better descent.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by needtoclimb

[Rad]

That wall is taller and steeper than you might expect. I would def not recommend descending this side of the feature.  I still think the best descent will be the way we went, S/SE to the gully, or just next to it, that leads North. It seems much safer, has way fewer raps, and would be far less exposed than the lines you suggest in the pic above. 

This climb falls in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. We didn't place any bolts and do not have plans to add any.  Power drills are not allowed in any case. If you want bolts, go climb Infinite Bliss or Training Day or Mile High Club. If you want a more committing mountain adventure and are willing to embrace some risk, uncertainty, and discomfort give this route a shot. Rapping in the dark may just be part of the package unless you're super fast. You could bring a light kit and sleep on top. Be safe and have fun!

 

 

[AquaFresh]

Hi folks,

Climbed this route about a month ago, and it turned into an epic. Rad is right-- this is a serious (but fun) climb not reflected by the moderate grade. Our climb took about two hours longer than expected, but it's the descent that was really hairy, and took us an extra ten (yes, ten!) hours because of the number of rappels and difficulty retrieving our ropes. It's easy to descend the wrong way, and end up with a nightmare series of potentially dangerous rappels in a very wet gully (what we ended up doing). We topped out in darkness, and started rapelling down a brushy SE-facing gully what we thought was the gully described in Kurt's guidebook. In retrospect, I think we didn't go south far enough. It also looked like a number of other folks had made the same mistake, as we saw a number of left over rap anchors on everything from rocks to large downed logs across the gully.

Our descent route required about 22 rappels, many of them double length. The rope drag was heinous because of the brush and, and even required us to ascend some of our rappels to retrieve the rope. The gully we went down also turns into a series of waterfalls near the bottom. If you're going to climb this, make sure you study the route, especially the retreat beforehand (sorry if this is obvious...). We left the parking lot at 8:00 AM, and got back at around 2:00PM the next day. Not ideal.

 

Picture below is my partner ascending the stuck rope on our second to last rap. This was after nearly 11 hours of descent. Notice it's light out (again) in the picture. 

Edit: Just saw @Lowell_Skoog's post. I think we rapped the same gulley he did. BTW, we also left a fair bit of gear during this descent, including a #3 or 4 cam.

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by AquaFresh
additional details

[kukuzka1]

 "We left the parking lot at 8:00 AM, and got back at around 2:00PM the next day."

WOW! espic

[Alisse]

Damn, sounds like a memorable one....

[kukuzka1]

On 8/29/2020 at 7:48 PM, AquaFresh said:

Our descent route required about 22 rappels, many of them double length.

Really? you can descend el cap with that many

[AquaFresh]

On 9/2/2020 at 6:39 PM, kukuzka1 said:

Really? you can descend el cap with that many

My recollection is somewhat fuzzy (we were smoked), but yes  about that many. To clarify, probably only five or six of the raps used up all of the ropes. We frequently found ourselves stopping short because we couldn't see if we would have enough to get to another viable rap station. I also recall that we had to continue our rappels a bit lower than Kurt's descent because of waterfalls and  treacherous slippery conditions.

[jspitzer]

Hi all,

Climbed this route on June 28th, 2023 as a training in preparation for an AMGA alpine exam with two guides.  First off,  nice work Rad and Kurt for putting together this route and sharing it with us.   The beta above in this post is very helpful but just doing the route a few notes to add for the next person to tackle Revelation Peak

Climbing difficulty, while the route is not difficult in terms of 5th class climbing it does require individuals to have a strong mountain sense for navigation both in the pitch climbing and descent.  I would not recommend this route for the 5.8 climber as some of the pitches had limited gear.  I would recommend this only for the individual looking for an obscure adventure with nobody around in an absolutely stunning scenery! 

We left the parking lot just after 7am and return at 8:15pm.   It took us around 2hrs to the base of the route (note the description above is very helpful).  The first 3 pitches went relatively quickly and pretty straightforward climbing.  Once in the light grey bowl, best to stay on the climbers left side of the feature as this had the most solid rock and best places for building anchors.  Pitches 4-7 are general easy to follow aiming for the ramp with the pine tree.   Once completing the traverse pitch the route changes nature.  Be prepared for some thick bushwacking above the traverse pitch to get to the start of pitch 9.   We stayed roped up as we were mock guiding and this section took us around 1.5hrs with breaking it into mini pitches on the 4th/low 5th class treed terrain.     

Once at the base of pitch 9th pitch (ridge) we did a combination of mini pitching to get to the base of the tower.  To get around the tower, we followed the beta above staying on the climbers right side descending 30ft of 3rd class and then traversing on 4th class terrain.   After the tower we ended in treed gully with a very large dead snag leaning up against the final pitch.  We did a micro pitch up over the dead snag and then 1 more final pitch to the summit, hitting the really good crack.  It's worth noting this pitch is on the SE side of Revelation Peak and as climbing up the pitch, the descent will be to your climbers right.  From the base of the 9th pitch it took us 2hrs to the summit.  

On the summit at 4:15. There is a summit registry but no pencil :(.  Last summit in the registry was in 2020!!!

For the descent we rappelled SE and replaced all the anchors with new cord.  The first rappel we downclimbed (SE) 30ft of 3rd class to a large single pine.   Then 2 more double rope rappels and a single rope rappel.  All rappels are on solid large pine trees with either a carabiner or rap ring.

Now the fun begins!  First put your glasses and leather gloves on!!!   We descended down the gully until it steepened, then did a traverse hard climbers left and slowly descended through Devils Club, Slide Alder, and eventually aiming for a swath of Old Growth.  We worked the old growth down finding micro terrain to work and eventually ended up in the wash below not having to rappel. It would be challenging to navigate this  in the dark.   From the summit to the wash it took us 3:15.  Now in the wash, enjoy the hike down and back to the Pratt river trail eventually to the car.  

Thanks again Rad and Kurt for putting together this adventurous line!  It's worth doing if you want a classic Cascadian adventure but wouldn't necessarily do it again.

 

Happy Climbing!