White Chuck Mountain rock climbing

[Zeno]

Having down the scramble up White Chuck mountain to the "false summit", I noticed that before you reach the scree and climb over the rock pile, there is a great big rock wall that leads to the true summit/highest point. So my question is: Has anyone here ever done technical climbing on this mountain in the summer time? If so, did you reach the true summit?

 

 

 

[JasonG]

check out this page for info on existing routes:  https://www.summitpost.org/white-chuck-mountain/routes/p-154985

I guess I am wondering what you are talking about being the false summit.  The prominent one north of the big notch?

[JasonG]

This is the normal route that I've scrambled a few times in all seasons:  https://www.summitpost.org/northwest-route/167578

[kroc]

I climbed the SW face of Whitechuck in 2003. We followed the two paragraph description in green Beckey. It was pretty accurate, 800 ft. six pitches, last one was kinda loose. I remember the rock was steep, solid and positive. Vertical 5.6 on big holds seemed right. The rock was solid featured greenschist I think. We found very little protection, occasional crappy small pieces. I remember running out chunks of 50+ mostly, maybe one pitch I only got one piece in ??  We would climb out half the rope and start looking for an anchor, fuzzy memories but usually two junky pieces or one decent piece and a good stance. 

The lack of pro was just manageable for us because of the solid featured rock. The nerve racking thing for me was that all around were these big swaths of horrible rock shattered in blocks large and small. I was afraid because I was run out 60 ft. over a horizonal small nut and wondering if I was climbing into a trap of looseness and downclimbing to a anchor I might not be too psyched to rap off of.

The rock never failed and was featured enough that you could stay on you feet. I probably was wearing decent rock shoes and was always able to climb in control. Was around a 5.9 trad leader at least 33% of the time those days.  Because of the heady nature and difficulty placing gear we took a long time to get up six pitches. Not that we had to put on headlamps or anything, but I definatly remember thinking the time per pitch was way off our normal. I wonder if pitons would have been helpful. 

I would not repeat this route and wouldn't specifically recommend it. But I am happy to have done it and enjoyed much of the climbing. It had a free solo feel to it, only it was a team effort. 

Seventeen years? Trust any beta from me at your own risk.   

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by kroc

[Zeno]

8 hours ago, kroc said:

I climbed the SW face of Whitechuck in 2003. We followed the two paragraph description in green Beckey. It was pretty accurate, 800 ft. six pitches, last one was kinda loose. I remember the rock was steep, solid and positive. Vertical 5.6 on big holds seemed right. The rock was solid featured greenschist I think. We found very little protection, occasional crappy small pieces. I remember running out chunks of 50+ mostly, maybe one pitch I only got one piece in ??  We would climb out half the rope and start looking for an anchor, fuzzy memories but usually two junky pieces or one decent piece and a good stance. 

The lack of pro was just manageable for us because of the solid featured rock. The nerve racking thing for me was that all around were these big swaths of horrible rock shattered in blocks large and small. I was afraid because I was run out 60 ft. over a horizonal small nut and wondering if I was climbing into a trap of looseness and downclimbing to a anchor I might not be too psyched to rap off of.

The rock never failed and was featured enough that you could stay on you feet. I probably was wearing decent rock shoes and was always able to climb in control. Was around a 5.9 trad leader at least 33% of the time those days.  Because of the heady nature and difficulty placing gear we took a long time to get up six pitches. Not that we had to put on headlamps or anything, but I definatly remember thinking the time per pitch was way off our normal. I wonder if pitons would have been helpful. 

I would not repeat this route and wouldn't specifically recommend it. But I am happy to have done it and enjoyed much of the climbing. It had a free solo feel to it, only it was a team effort. 

Seventeen years? Trust any beta from me at your own risk.   

 

Thanks. That is the one I'm describing. When I visited 2 years ago, I walked about a mile along a ridge from the parking lot and came to a giant rock tower. I then passed around it to the boulder field to the NE scramble route leading to the false summit.

[kroc]

Did you take any pictures? I don't think I took my camera that day. We climbed Vesper Peak N face the next day and it was a lot more chill. 

[Zackw7]

Theres a couple routes in the Beckey bible (green). I climbed the sw dihedreal last fall. It was pretty enjoyable, but much like kroc said be prepared for large swaths of unprotected 5.easy climbing. The rock was kinda slippery greenshist with really big holds. I found mostly solid rock with maybe 2 pitches of less than solid rock near the top. Wear a helmet and be safe, its an alpine climb.

Make sure to have the decent beta down. Once you get to the summit, you need to hike north to the notch then climb up a 3rd class step. Neither my partner nor myself had been on the summit before and the climb back up to the false summit eluded us for some time.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Zackw7
Wrong Beckey book

[curtveld]

Other side of the mountain, but the NE Ridge is a good adventure!  Rock is generally great, pro is good where you need it and minimal for much of the rest. It's an obvious feature, so the sparse description in green Fred is adequate.