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[TR] Whatcom Peak - “Castle in the Sky” FA of the South Buttress of Whatcom 5.10b TD 08/06/2022


Sam Boyce

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Trip: Whatcom Peak - “Castle in the Sky” FA of the South Buttress of Whatcom 5.10b TD

Trip Date: 08/06/2022

Trip Report:

Yeeehaw! What a weather window it’s been! From Aug 5-7th Lani and I climbed the first ascent of the south buttress of Whatcom. This route came as a suggestion from Wayne. Thanks! It was excellent climbing on great rock in the most perfect of settings. I would say it’s one of the finer alpine routes I’ve had the pleasure of climbing in the cascades! We would highly recommend the route! There is certainly some choss and some runout but it is the pickets. I have to start work today so a hasty trip report will have to do. Here’s a link to the report I wrote up. Sorry for the forced click through, I’m rolling out the door and don’t have time to format photos for CC. Thanks for the stoke y’all! Go get it while the gettins still there! 
 

https://www.theclimbingguides.com/post/castle-in-the-sky-first-ascent-of-the-south-buttress-of-whatcom-peak-iv-5-10b-td

Gear Notes:
Single rack .1-3 doubles .2-1 full set of nuts. Optional #2 and 3 KB’s. Single 60M rope

Approach Notes:
We took easy peak to the imperfect impasse.
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Yes! Yet another great adventure wow. I’m almost completely out of ideas now! I am saving one idea though for myself and Mike Layton though. 
The “Golden Age of Cascades Climbing “ is still going on! Congratulations again you guys.

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5 hours ago, rat said:

Nice job. Does your line take the buttress on the left in Matt's photo with your "mega gully" separating it from the slightly shorter but steeper buttress on the right? Thanks.

Here are some high res photos that We got on Joe’s camera. I drew in our route line and put dots at all of the belays. 

2A697F19-D0FD-422A-8BD1-9AE57F1A70E8.jpeg

A0897B39-07F0-4716-9B72-561DB5337075.jpeg

BCD8367C-F773-4D9D-B5C8-EB0963B91F0F.jpeg

8C413FAA-C1D3-48B4-BD3B-DC98AFDBE646.jpeg

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30 minutes ago, John_Roper said:

Sam, please draw your line on Matt Lemke's photo.

Hopefully this helps. The lower part and traverse pitch are compressed at that angle so it’s probably not exact, but this should show the upper part well. We climbed that giant cleft at the top of the wall for 2 long pitches and were surprised not to find loose rock. It ended up being a lowish angle (low fifth) water polished slot canyon. 

ECE0222D-CC70-4C3D-B9C7-C94075CF85D3.jpeg

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