[TR] East McMillan Spire - North Buttress 09/24/2025

[psathyrella]

Trip: East McMillan Spire - North Buttress

Trip Date: 09/24/2025

Trip Report:

As Blake seems to speculate in the back of Cascades Rock, this is a legitimately high quality route. While the rock is of course worse than Index or Supercave, it is better than the E ridge of Inspiration or Stoddard Buttress on Terror (and much better than Megalodon). It's also less vegetated than the E face of Triumph or Sloan SW face. There was only one pitch we wouldn't recommend (up high in the schist band), but it can and should be avoided. The steep middle section is characterized by thin parallel cracks, highly textured ripples, and shady climbing with a shocking lack of lichen. When you emerge onto the slightly more West facing schist band for the last few hundred meters, lichen becomes tiresome as the angle eases and rock deteriorates. There are absolutely a couple of serious runouts, but they occur on clean, solid rock.

From camp on a small heather patch a few minutes below Little Mac, we approached via a ledge just below Little Mac that accesses the NW trending ridge toward Elephant Butte. We made four rappels beginning at at an old station I had found during a recon trip in October 2020. This seems likely to be the rappel used by the 1986 party, maybe also the 1976 party, and I think @rat has also mentioned climbing the buttress, so perhaps used it as well. The 2008 party (AAJ, NWMJ) approached via Stetattle ridge. After four 45-55m rappels, we walked and scrambled easily to the base of the buttress. We simulclimbed 200-300m on the lower buttress, then belayed eight ~45-50m pitches (5.8 to 5.10-), then simulclimbed (interrupted by one belayed pitch, which we would recommend avoiding) to the summit.

For the central, steep section we wanted to climb near but right of the buttress crest, which except for pitch 2 (a horizontal leftward traverse) yielded a logical path almost directly upward. Looking upwards from low on the buttress, two corners right of the crest (separated by a chossy roof) seem to provide the obvious options into the steeper middle section. We aimed for the left corner (which we presumed was the 2008 route), and thought the right corner was probably the 1986 route. We encountered many pieces of fixed gear throughout the route (mostly knifeblades, with a few nuts, a hex, and a rigid stem friend). Since the 2008 party rappelled the face (!!!), presumably close to their line of ascent, we think we followed large portions of their route (Come Over to the Dark Side). That said, I haven't really managed to match the route lines in either the NWMJ or AAJ to our experience (at least at the resolution I can manage to download).

From the summit, we downclimbed SW to the col with West McMillan, then continued downclimbing S in the gully for a few minutes. When the gully's left wall flattened, we slung a boulder and made four 45-55m rappels to reach low angle slopes and walked back to camp, arriving about 15 hours after leaving that morning.

West McMillan, Inspiration, The Pyramid, Degenhardt, and Terror from high on the route:

From left to right: E McMillan, W McMillan, Inspiration, The Pyramid, and Degenhardt. The route goes just right of the sun/shade line on the leftmost peak. The approach rappels start down a relatively solid corner just right of the low point on the left). Photo by Steph Abegg:

First rappel into McMillan Creek cirque:

Racking up before the first simul block:

Marlin starting up the first simul block:

Marlin at the top of pitch 1:

Looking back partway across the pitch 2 traverse. There was a fixed two-pin anchor at the end of this traverse that may be that in the 2008 NWMJ "Erik starts the crux" photo:

Looking down partway up pitch 3. This section had some blocks and flakes that looked ominous from below, but sounded and felt solid on closer inspection:

The upper part of pitch 3. This was probably the most runout section of the route:

Looking down the start of pitch 4:

Marlin at the top of pitch 4:

Marlin starting up pitch 5:

Marlin starting up pitch 6:

And navigating the roof on pitch 6:

Starting pitch 7:

And pitch 8, which should have been the last belayed pitch:

Simuling in the schist band:

Marlin leading the very-not-recommended lichen covered, loose pitch in the schist band. Go right before here, toward the E Mac col, to keep it scrambly. There was a fixed pin near his feet here, so we weren't the first to get suckered into it:

 

Belaying on the summit. The buttress crest in this section is stacked, lichenous blocks that seem to overhang the impressively steep East face. You want nothing to do with the crest here:

Setting up the first rappel out of the E Mac-W Mac gully:

Impressive ambience the next morning, looking toward Azure lake from camp:

 

Hiking out, looking toward Triumph:

And a friend from the start of the schist band. It was still solidly placed and easily removed after, probably, 17 years (although could use some lube):

Gear Notes:
Modern gear made a huge difference on this route, especially microcams (compare the 2008 party's rack in the NWMJ pictures), microtrax simuling, and fix-and-following. We took a 50m lead and 65m tag line (we didn't haul), ~5 kbs/lost arrows, at least triples to fingers with offset aluminum and brass nuts, doubles to #1, single #2 and #3, and four microtraxions. Our smallest cams (purple C3 and green/#0 Z4) were used in several critical placements.

Approach Notes:
Goodell Creek to Terror Basin, then up slabs toward Little Mac.

Edited September 28 by psathyrella

[JasonG]

Hope you don't mind @psathyrella....moved this to the North Cascades. 

Really great report, thanks for repeating such an incredible line and posting here about it!

[mthorman]

I don't think I could ask for a better 1st trip into the Picket Range!  One thing to add is that this late in the season we didn't have to cross any snow/ice on the approach, the traverse to the base of the route or on route. Here are a few more photos.

 

Starting up pitch 1.  The main corner system that we followed is up and left of the obvious large roof directly above this corner.

 

 

Starting up pitch 3.  The large detached looking block at top right was more secure than it looks.

 

 

Starting up pitch 4 towards the roof.  Avoid this by traversing right across the face at the roof.

 

 

Coming up to the belay at the top of pitch 6.

 

 

Our descent route down the south side.  From the col between east and west Mac we followed the gully south along the dotted line then made 4 raps approximately where the 4 dots are to reach the lower angle terrain.

 

 

Morning sunrise from the bivy.

 

[dberdinka]

That looks absolutely incredible and you certainly make it sound pretty casual(?)!  Thanks for the inspiration.

[Rad]

Very impressive, particularly with days so short this time of year. 

Thanks for the detailed beta. Might have to put this on the list. 

@dberdinka 'casual' and 'Pickets' have never been found in the same sentence, but if you're rope gunning this sign me up!

 

 

[Nick Sweeney]

Awesome stuff. Marlin, I'm shocked you'd never been to the Pickets before!

[Michael Telstad]

You've been pining over this one for years! Psyched you finally made it happen. 

[wayne]

I’ve always been curious about this line, thanks for sharing and daring!!

[psathyrella]

Thanks for the kind words. And yeah, it was way more casual than I expected. I figured there was a decent chance we'd climb through the night. But, nothing went wrong (mostly, we didn't blank out and have to pendulum). Also, while I expected decent rock compared to the Pickets reputation, the rock was vastly better than I'd dared hope. Like, legitimately good. I could list a lot of local granite routes with similar or worse rock. I mean, this is obviously an extremely serious route and environment with some loose, wet, and vegetated rock, and a slight deviation from our path could yield a very different experience. Bailing would be spectacularly unpleasant and expensive. But it's also a much more pleasant and, yeah, casual route than I would have ever expected.

And right, re: snow on the approach: the 76/86/08 parties encountered substantial difficulties with glaciers/ice blocks. I also know someone that recently tried to traverse under the McMillan cirque North faces from Stettatle Ridge in late spring, and was turned around by some weird messed up crevasse situation with what seems to be a seasonal glacier (following roughly the Volken ski approach). But, I think they were lower than you'd be to approach the buttress, so maybe it's not a big problem these days. These glacial remnants seem to always be gone by Sept, and we just had one short section under some mildly threatening blocks where we felt the need to scoot (similar to approaching Triumph NE ridge).

Here's some more detail:

Approach: from the Terror basin bivy, walk/scramble up slabs diagonally toward base of Little Mac. There are bivy sites with year-round water around 6400-6700ft below/S of Little Mac. Find a narrow ledge below Little Mac to access the NE trending ridge toward Elephant Butte. Scramble NE along this ridge for 10-20 minutes, finding a slung boulder about 50m before the first low point/col.

    Make four 45-55m rappels starting from the boulder, at first in the corner. After the second rappel, walk 20m skiers right on a ledge to find another slung boulder. The fourth rappel finishes over a rotten, red overhang.

    From the base of the rappels, walk/scramble to the base of the buttress, continuing around to the right/W side, and scramble up and back left toward the crest. In late season (Sept) there will likely be no need to cross snow (although plentiful flowing water), with one area below broken up ice blocks where you’ll want to scoot with some urgency. Early season, though, there may be a seasonal glacier with substantial crevassing that could hinder access (a la Slesse).

Route: When the buttress steepens to fifth class, simul climb for 200-300m until a ledge where it steepens further and the pitched climbing begins. Looking up, you will see the buttress crest on your left, then to its right a right-facing corner (2008 route, we think, we climbed this), a rotten looking roof, and further right another weakness/corner (1986 route, I think). Belayed pitches range from perhaps 5.8 to 5.10-, and it’s hard to give per-pitch grades, but p3 is the mental and physical crux. 

p1 (50m): Begin in the corner directly below the rotten roof (to the right of the upper, left-hand R-facing corner that you're aiming for). When the cracks become wet and filled with moss, traverse a couple of meters right to a cleaner corner, and belay just below the rotten roof. Note: this is what we did, but it may be better to take the next corner left, which aims you straight toward the left end of the chossy looking roof, and thus avoid the traversing pitching.

p2 (20-30m): Traverse horizontally left, out from under the chossy roof, passing below another crackless roof/overlap, aiming for the solid/clean rock near the crest. Belay near two rusty pins.

p3 (45m): From the old pin anchor, go up and left into the solid corner with clean cracks, passing an ominous looking fridge-sized block that, once you reach it, sounds solid enough to (gingerly) climb on. Continue up placing gear behind surprisingly solid flakes to pass a small roof, emerging on a slab that provides entry to the large R-facing corner at which you've been aiming. Climb the slab up and into the corner on solid rock, but at times little gear, until you can step right onto a pedestal belay.

p4 (50m): Climb up from the pedestal toward the left side of the mossy, chossy-looking roof; but traverse right just under the roof on solid, clean face holds, using the roof only at its solid right edge. Emerge onto a large grassy ledge, climb up solid blocks/boulders into a steep, splitter thin hand/finger crack leading to another, larger but sloping grassy ledge. Continue up the grass/heather slightly rightwards to belay at the base of a corner.

p5 (45m): Go up and right on the face R of the corner.  There are numerous options but they all deposit you on a small sloping ledge where the face converges below the main corner.

p6 (50m): Climb up cracks and grooves on the right wall of the corner, aiming for the right side of an overlap below a larger roof. After placing gear in the roof, step left above the overlap and continue up to belay in a small sloping alcove.

p7 (50m): Climb rightwards out of the alcove, passing a small roof on its right to emerge onto a rightward-sloping ledge. Walking right will lead to bivy sites; but if not bivying, continue straight up into a steeper, shallow corner with several cruxes (one just off the ledge), belay when you find a good stance.

p8 (50m): Climb straight up in a slightly easier corner/groove, stopping to belay when the angle eases.

  You are now in the schist band: rock quality deteriorates.

  Simul climb for 50-60m, straight up a broad depression, exiting on steeper, splitter cracks slightly rightwards leading to lower angle slopes facing more westward.

  We continued simuling, aiming for a steeper ramp 30-50m right of the crest, which had a fixed pin, but was the only bad/scary/chossy pitch of the route.

  Not recommended.

  Instead, after exiting the steep cracks, stay low and traverse harder right toward the E Mac-W Mac col, until you reach a broad depression leading straight up (3rd class) to the summit.

 

Descent: Downclimb SW toward the E Mac-W Mac col (2nd-3rd, one 4th move at bottom). Continue downclimbing the dirty gully S for 50-100m, looking for where the left wall of the gully becomes less steep/flat (i.e. creates a small shoulder), where you will find a slung boulder. Make four 45-55m rappels roughly straight down off slung horns/boulders to reach lower-angle slopes.

 

And a route line on a gorgeous picture by @JasonG (happy to pass along higher resolution, just ask):

And finally views of the upper and lower buttress, and the rappel corner, from a little past the rappel point: