Dragontail - Backbone Ridge

[Grant789]

Not much new to say that hasn't been said about this classic route so made two versions.

Short version:

We ended up doing the left-side variation on the fin, per Blake Herrington's guide. It was a fun long day and a #6 and 70 m were great.

Long version:

I was intimidated by this route given the large number of reported epics and accidents, but it has been on my list of bigger Washington classic alpine climbs to attempt for a while. But after getting out of shape finishing up grad school while working full time for the past two years, it sat on the shelf. Well after graduating and having a summer returning to alpine shape repeating some familiar classics in the wind river range and washington, I was finally feeling fit and confident once again to give the route a go. Kurt and I briefly joked I'd climb the offwidth if he climbed the final fin/slab pitch.

Kurt and I packed more layers, food, and water than we normally would just in case of an epic. But we were feeling good, and set off with our heavy packs at 5:00 am from the trailhead, jaunting past large early morning through hiker groups hoping to peep early season larches. We filtered some water at Colchuck Lake and made it to the base of the climb by 8:00 am. Luckily and sadly the snow and glacier have receded to the point where we could walk straight to the start of the initial scramble.

Looking at the tree'd scramble and the OW above:

 

Jolly at the start:

 

Scrambling far left and then then up and right, Kurt set off from the base of pitch 1 at 9:00. The first 4 pitches were pretty straightforward using the beta from mountain project and blake herrington. Leading the offwidth pitch was easier, more secure, and more fun than I anticipated. It helped that I hauled my bag and having the #6 made it stress free. The 4th pitch was also super fun! A short 0.3 finger crack into a wide crack, then a thin step over to wild slabby layback.

OW:

From there the rock quality and navigation got worse. We looked for a downclimb described in Blake's book and a large ledge in mountain project, but everything looked like it would go. So Kurt ventured off trying to find a way to go and ultimately went up and left until finding the obvious saddle. I think for this section, its easy enough terrain that anything goes and just moving up and left on whatever looks fun and solid is the move.

We moved across the saddle and up the large ramp/chimney to just below the twin cracks on the left side of the fin. I couldn't distinguish what cracks were the twin cracks as all the cracks on the left looked shallow and dirty, so ended up going to the high point on the ledge and climbing some 5.6/5.7 crack/face on poor rock to the next ledge, then moving back down and left. Looking down the top-out of what I guessed was the twin cracks was full of lose rock that would have been hard not to tumble, but maybe I am off?

Kurt then led the right-facing corner to a ledge then a thin and tricky crack/corner back to the face of the fin, which was awesome and had a hero jug! At this point we had been in the shade most of the day getting blasted by wind. I was up next, but was smoked from carrying a heavy bag on this climb, so through less than honorable intentions I attempted to convince Kurt to stick to our original agreement and lead the final fin pitch. He was reluctant at first, but I finally wore him down with a bonus fruit leather offering. 

I followed and it reminded me of the no hands traverse pitch of thin air at Cathedral Ledge, but doubled! However, when I got to the belay, Kurt was less stoked on it from the less than stellar rock we were promised and not having the 4 to protect the final section of no hands traverse (he used it in the anchor).

Kurt questing into the fin:

 

Classic fin shot:

 

Kurt on top of the fin:

We finished by traversing over and then stupidly heading up on the south side of the ridge via the triple couloirs bowling alley. It took 40 minutes to move 60 m of 5.0 because the rock quality was so atrociously bad. Every other step and every other hold would pop off or crumble... we should have stayed on the north side climbing the ridge proper.

We made it to the summit at 6 pm and after a quick selfie, we did 4 rappels off the back side to make our way down Asgard in the dark. This was the second time I descended Aasgard in the dark this season and I am still surprised by how much longer and worse it feels hiking Colchuck/Aasgard out in the dark than up in the dark! We made it to the car by 11 pm for a solid 18 hour day, so were feeling stoked to have been quicker than 20 hours! Though the last 30 minutes out I was starting to feel a bit loopy either from the exhaustion or caffeine pills, which was new...

Overall

I thought this was a fun route with some less than classic rock quality. It's a long day for sure, but less challenging than I anticipated (or maybe I'm getting better?). It's less travelled so it was harder to read the route and its lose, so slower going. I think the key for routefinding is to avoid overthinking in the middle-section and just keep moving up and left. It felt somewhat similar to the lower half of the direct north ridge of Stuart in nature, but with less solid rock (a few key pitches, but otherwise make your own way).

 

Gear

A 70 m and a #6 was clutch! We would have ran out of rope on the last fin pitch with a 60 m.

I also tried out a new to me mountain hardwear scrambler 35L for the first time. It's a bit stiffer than I usually like to climb with, but performed great! The double handles on top were awesome for hauling. The normal sized brain was great and could be easily folded into the main pouch. The many strap on points was helpful for the approach and being able to clip the 6 to. Slightly less mobile, but much more effective than my old ascensionist 35.

Edited 1 hour ago by Grant789