Jump to content

Last Ascents in the Cascades


dberdinka

Recommended Posts

So with the north face of Joffre spontaneously collapsing, Supertopo shutting down and CC.com slowly withering on the vine  my mood shifts to considering the impermanence of everything.   What other peaks and routes have seen their last ascent in our lifetimes?    Gene Pires and I once made the possibly second and possibly last ascent of the IV 5.10+ east-north buttress of Castle Peak in the Pasayten wilderness.   A year or two ago someone posted pics where at least the first 5 pitches of the route had collapsed.

Off the top of my head

Anything on St Helens 1980

East face of main Gunsight.  A III 5.9 established in the early 1990s that had disappeared without a trace (except for a fixed stopper just below the summit) by the time interest in the area renewed.

East-north buttress of Castle Peak.  A good but flaky route on clean granite that fell off during the winter of 2016/2017.

Trigger Finger in Peshastin Pinnacles.   Someone on this site had a good story about recreating a clown-car on the summit shortly, as in day of or before,  it collapsed.

An impressive looking pillar on the east side of Mt Rexford just over the Canadian Border, with an unrepeated V on it, had a major rockfall event that erased the route.

What else peeps?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I climbed the iconic face of the Old Man on Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire about a year before it finally fell off the mountain.

In terms of famous routes, the NW Face of Half Dome is probably near the top of the list.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, JayB said:

Did the a lower part of the Girth Pilar on Stuart fall off ~10-12 years ago? Think the route still goes but the lower pitches changed?

The giant piece of rock had already fallen off high, and climber's left when I attempted it on June 21, 1998.  I don't think it really changed the route????  It certainly still goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many of the FA routes in the Northern Pickets, which followed glaciers from Luna Cirque that have retreated and broken up enough since the 1940s to make them completely different and possibly unclimbable.  The same probably goes for some of the less-common routes on the NE face of Johannesburg.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, seano- said:

Many of the FA routes in the Northern Pickets, which followed glaciers from Luna Cirque that have retreated and broken up enough since the 1940s to make them completely different and possibly unclimbable.  The same probably goes for some of the less-common routes on the NE face of Johannesburg.

I always wondered about those routes when I looked at them in the Beckey guide. Anyone know if there are any recorded ascents other than the FA's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know when classic Price Glacier was last climbed, but considering the shape it's in, it would be probably pretty suicidal at the moment. Last 10 years classic NF of Shuksan is basically falling apart, with large secions of rock being exposed by mid summer. So not a landslide, but glacial retreat due to climate change. 

Not Cascades, but Bugaboo/Snowpatch is usually too dangerous to be on by July. It suffered numerous large slides, with the biggest probably about 12 years ago. 

It would be interesting to study what caused this incredible demise of Joffre, and my understanding is that there were only a few slides of that magnitude in last several thousands of years.

Another rockfall nobody mentioned yet is the Chief-top of Zodiac, taking out a section of Northern Lights area. Probably second largest rockfall, after Joffre. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/17/2019 at 2:29 PM, dberdinka said:

An impressive looking pillar on the east side of Mt Rexford just over the Canadian Border, with an unrepeated V on it, had a major rockfall event that erased the route.

 

 

 

Naw, it still goes. Not unrepeated per se either, it got freed, just not to the top.

It's kinda like Robie Reid NE face, what was 10a before is 10+ R after

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/20/2019 at 12:48 PM, glassgowkiss said:

 my understanding is that there were only a few slides of that magnitude in last several thousands of years.

Another rockfall nobody mentioned yet is the Chief-top of Zodiac, taking out a section of Northern Lights area. Probably second largest rockfall, after Joffre. 

:lmao:

Bob in the mirror with his 4" measuring tape "PROBABLY SECOND BIGGEST DICK AFTER RON JEREMY"

69_full.thumb.jpeg.6bae4c895d153de503c9d5eba427b240.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, G-spotter said:

:lmao:

Bob in the mirror with his 4" measuring tape "PROBABLY SECOND BIGGEST DICK AFTER RON JEREMY"

69_full.thumb.jpeg.6bae4c895d153de503c9d5eba427b240.jpeg

I though it's climbing site, and we were talking rockfall on climbing routes. I think you mistakenly logged into cascadelimbers, but intended on some form of hiking site?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...