JeffreyW Posted June 16, 2018 Posted June 16, 2018 (edited) Trip: Denali - Cassin Ridge (Alaska Grade V, 5.8, AI4, 8,000ft), Alpine Style*Trip Date: 06/09/2018 Video: Between June 2 and June 11, Priti and I climbed the Cassin Ridge on the South Face of Denali approaching via the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (the “Valley of Death”), spending 6 days on route (including 1 rest/weather day at 17,700ft), summiting on June 9, and descending the West Buttress route. The whole trip was 10 days 7 hours door-to-door from Seattle. The Cassin Ridge is the second most popular route on Denali, with an average of 9 successful climbers each year, compared to an average of 584 successful climbers each year on the West Buttress route over the past decade. We carried everything up and over, climbing Ground-Up, with 38lbs packs each at the start, no sleds, and moving camp as we climbed, without caches. It was a Smash ’n’ Grab, meaning we decided to go at the last minute when we saw a good weather window. We watched Denali weather every day since early May until there was about a week of good weather. It took 24 hours from being at work on a Friday afternoon deciding to pull the trigger to being at Kahiltna Base Camp (including packing, Ranger orientation, flights, etc). We climbed Rainier 3 times the month and a half before our trip (Gib Ledges, Kautz, and Liberty Ridge), sleeping in the summit crater the weekend before. Still, we took Diamox while on Denali and had 2 weeks of food/fuel in case we felt altitude on route. Luckily, we had no altitude issues, and were only bounded by our own fitness, weather, and desire to move only when the sun was on us. Overall, weather was windless, clear, and sunny during the days with a few flurries at night. It was an “old-school” style of climbing, slow and heavy, while most folks nowadays opt to acclimatize on the West Buttress and climb the Cassin Ridge starting from 14,000ft camp on the West Buttress, then climb light-and-fast via the Seattle ’72 ramp or the West Rib (Chicken Gully) in a few days — this was our plan for our attempt last year with Ilia Slobodov, but didn’t get the weather window. Overall, a very successful trip, and we’re so excited to have pulled it off, after 3 years of dreaming of this route. *Alpine Style: The route was completed Alpine Style with the following exceptions: -Snowshoes were cached at Camp 1 in case the lower Kahiltna Glacier was sketchy on the way back. Didn’t really ever need snowshoes. The NE Fork was boot-able. There weren’t tracks going up the NE Fork, but it was wanded to the base of the West Rib. -We clipped into the existing fixed lines on the West Buttress descent above 14k, but this was unnecessary since it was basically a staircase. We didn’t clip into the existing pickets on the Autobahn above 17k. Google Street View: Apparently, nobody had done a 360 Photo Sphere Google Street View of the summit of Denali, so we obliged https://www.google.com/maps/@63.0690675,-151.0060278,3a,75y,78.91h,50.18t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipOR4OLfMm5iBn15nn4OdiMbVTWa7lwk40pPUlnH!2e10!3e12!7i8704!8i4352 Itinerary: -June 2: Arrived at Kahiltna Base Camp at 3:00PM and moved to “Safe Camp” in the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (“Valley of Death”). We cached snowshoes at Camp 1 and took a right turn up the NE Fork. This “Safe Camp” is the widest part of the NE fork, where you are least threatened by avalanches and serac-fall sweeping the entire valley floor. -June 3: Hiked from "Safe Camp" halfway down the Valley of Death and climbed the Japanese Couloir and camped on Cassin Ledge with a sweeping view of Kahiltna Peaks and the entire NE Fork. -June 4: Climbed the 5.8 crux, Cowboy Arete, and Hanging Glacier, camping at the Hanging Glacier Bergschrund at the Base of the First Rock Band -June 5: Woke up to Colin Haley strolling by our bivy site on his 8hr7min speed ascent of the Cassin Ridge (he approached via the East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier). This was a total surprise and very inspiring see him up there! We climbed the First Rock Band that day and bivied between the First and Second Rock Band just next to the rib. -June 6: Climbed the Second Rock Band and found the crux to be the sustained "Hidden Rock Couloir" at the entrance, which is sustained mixed 70-80deg for about 50m. At the end of the Second Rock Band, a Chilean Team of 2, plus Colin Haley, plus our team of 2 all took the wrong (harder) exit. From the overhanging triangle, we all traversed right about 40ft then went straight up, finding difficulties to M4-M5. We should have traversed right another 40ft or so to find the 5.6 slab pitches and the 5.6 dihedral as described in Super Topo. This ended the technical difficulties of the route. That night, we bivied at Mark Westman’s “excellent bivy site” at 17,700ft. This turned out to be very hard to find and we spent several hours looking around for it. It is way further up and right on the col than expected. -June 7: Lots of snow! So we decided to sleep all day, acclimatize and waiting out the weather. -June 8: So much snow accumulated on the upper mountain the previous day that it took us over 12 hours to ascend the final 2,500ft to Kahiltna Horn. We were knee to waist deep almost the entire day. Mark Westman told us later that he was watching us all day through the high-powered scope from Kahiltna Base Camp and he could see the long trench we left in our wake. Presumably, many day-tourists at Base Camp watched us in our embarrassing slog to the top. This was by far the hardest day of the trip! When we reached Kahiltna Horn at 10:30PM, we had no energy to go to the summit, so we slept on the “Football Field” at 20,000ft. The night was beautiful, calm, and cold! -June 9: Went back up to tag the summit, then descended 12,500ft to Camp 1. -June 10: Got to Kahiltna Base Camp from Camp 1 at 10:00AM but it was overcast all day so TAT could not come and pick us up. -June 11: TAT finally picked us up around noon, after we endured the most miserable and wettest night of the entire trip! Left to Right: Sultana (Mount Foraker), Begguyya (Mount Hunter), Denali Denali, the High One Heading into the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (the "Valley of Death"), the West Rib visible up the center of the peak The West Rib in the Center, The Cassin Ridge roughly up the right skyline Closer up view of the Cassin Ridge. The Japanese Couloir is the gash on the right. The Cowboy Arete (Knifedge Ridge) is above, followed by the First and Second Rock Bands Looking back at the West Rib and the Chicken Couloir Looking up the Japanese Couloir and the bergschrund at the base of the Cassin Ridge Looking back at the NE Fork Looking up at the crux of the Japanese Couloir (AI4) The Cassin Ledge. Razor thin, great views fo the whole NE Fork, Kahiltna Peaks, and Sultana! The 5.8 Crux just off the Cassin Ledge The Cowboy Arete The Base of the Hanging Glacier, the Cowboy Arete behind A short overhanging step to get over the bergshrund Colin Haley approaches! The crux of the First Rock Band, just above the M-rocks Somewhere near the top of the First Rock Band The South Face! Looking up at the "Hidden Rock Couloir", the beginning of the Second Rock Band, and the crux of the route, in my opinion Just below the V-shaped overhang in the Second Rock Band Slog to the top Denali Summit Ridge Summit Marker The Football Field on the West Buttress Route and our bivouac Heading down the Autobahn, 17k camp below on the West Buttress The Cowboy Arete Base Camp with Moonflower Buttress behind (North Buttress of Begguyya, Mount Hunter) Gear Notes: -6 screws (1x21cm, 2x17cm, 3x13cm) -40m rope -Small Rack of nuts -5 cams (.3-1) -2 pickets (didn’t use on route; just for glacier travel) -5 single alpine draws, 2 double alpine draws (no cordalette) -2 ice tools each (Nomics for him, X-Dream for her) -Monopoint crampons -Boots: Olympus Mons for him, G2SM+overboots for her -MSR AdvancePro2 Tent -Feathered Friends Spoonbill Sleeping Bag -2x Thermarest NeoAir Xtherm + 1x shorty closed cell foam pad (for emergency) -MSR Reactor + hanging kit + 3 medium cans of isoproApproach Notes: Approached via the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier Edited June 20, 2018 by JeffreyW Add pics. 1 1 8 Quote
JasonG Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Wow! Such a great TR and adventure, well done! 2 Quote
Priti Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 (edited) And here a GPS tracks! Cassin_Ridge.gpx And a couple extras: IMG_9713.mov IMG_9702.mov IMG_9659.mov Edited June 17, 2018 by Priti picture order 4 Quote
ScaredSilly Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Nice job on a weather window and slogging it out. BTW the two old guys with me on Sunset Ridge, we did the Cassin in 2000. Our group was called "Old and in the Way." We took 5 days on the route but had stellar weather the whole time. 2 Quote
bargainhunter Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Outstanding! Thank you for sharing this. Very nice style and preparation. You made it seem like a casual weekend outing in the Cascades. I'd love to do this route in a similar style. Very well done! Quote
nonbasketless Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 What an awesome report, congrats & props! I love that you waited out the weather at home and opted out of the beaten path :->. Quote
Bigtree Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 What a great way to start my day reading a TR like this. Thanks for posting this. Looks like a fantastic trip. Quote
Stefan Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 fascinating to see Colin Haley pass you by unexpectedly!!! 1 Quote
Whatcomboy Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 Most excellent! Great pic's..Thanks for posting and thanks CascadeClimber's for this awesome site of climbing TR's. Quote
LukeShy Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 Awesome work you two! Excellent write up and I love you got a photosphere on the summit!!! (I got the West Buttress route photosphered, just had to go back for the summit!) 1 Quote
BootsandPants Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 Heck yes! Thanks for an awesome TR and the pics! Quote
Rad Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 Sweet! Impressive on many fronts. Thanks for posting the TR. Quote
aikidjoe Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 Really cool. As an average guy with a full time career with a hope of some day doing the cassin I really like the style you did it in. I hope you don’t mind if I ask a couple questions: Did you split your packs into a lighter lead pack / heavier follower pack for the Crux pitches? I see you did some pre acclimitizing on rainier before going, but what have you the confidence you could acclimatize on Route? How did you convince your boss you could take off for a week at a moments notice? (That’s a flippant but also kind of serious question....) really cool! Quote
JasonG Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 4 minutes ago, aikidjoe said: How did you convince your boss you could take off for a week at a moments notice? The boss that pays you or the other one? Quote
JasonG Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 2 minutes ago, aikidjoe said: The one that pays you.., That's the least of my worries! Quote
Priti Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) But who is the boss, really? ... Nope our packs were the same weight, both when leading and following. On the upper 2K foot wallow, one 1.5L water bottle move back and forth between leader and follower. Last year we summited Denali, so we knew we dealt with 20K feet OK. We got the idea from the Smileys who had a similar schedule and felt the altitude but managed.http://smileysproject.blogspot.com/2015/06/denalis-cassin-ridge-classic-climb-45_25.html We asked our paying bosses, very nicely. Edited June 20, 2018 by Priti 1 Quote
JeffreyW Posted June 20, 2018 Author Posted June 20, 2018 Route Overlays. West Rib in red for reference. Cassin Ridge in yellow. Quote
JasonG Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 2 hours ago, Priti said: But who is the boss, really? An age old question....but I know it's not me! Quote
JeffreyW Posted June 20, 2018 Author Posted June 20, 2018 Actually, by any empirical measure, it was Angela! https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2oht8a Also, I added a new video to the top of the trip report. It's a bit long, but hope it's entertaining and informative. Don't forget to turn the music up! Quote
goldscott Posted June 20, 2018 Posted June 20, 2018 Awesome trip report, Jeff! I was on the Kahiltna about the same time, trying (unsuccessfully) to solo Foraker. Your route overlay of the West Rib and Cassin is informative but slightly wrong. That is "Kahiltna Notch" not Pass (Pass is between West Buttress and Mt Capps). And the top of the West Rib goes left of that rocky rib instead of to the right like you have it (going right leads you up to that huuuuuge cornice). I did the upper rib last year, aiming for Cassin next year. Well done! 1 1 Quote
Linnaeus Posted June 21, 2018 Posted June 21, 2018 Awesome awesome awesome TR! Thanks for sharing. Quote
ilias Posted June 22, 2018 Posted June 22, 2018 This report and video really played at my emotions. I thought I was done after last year but now I kind of want to go back. Aaaah!!! Wanna go do it again? 1 Quote
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