fern Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 I am curious to know more about this route beyond what is in the red CAG. Quote
JoshK Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 Nelson has it written up in selected climbs II. He called it the cauthorn/wilson route. Looks neat, tho from the pics I've seen of it, it's never looked like WI5 to me. More like easy 4, but pics can be very decieving, so i'd love to hear from anybody that's done the route. I'm very interested in it. I know jens and loren went up to the base of it last year but turned around do to death cornices and wet ice and the like. Quote
Billygoat Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 I'm heading up there tomorrow baring any worse changes to the weather. We'll see how far I get. I'll bring my digital camera and post some shots. Quote
Lambone Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 Actuly Jens and Loren got beat to the route by another party and bailed due to climber induced icefall. Its all in Lorens trip report. Looks fun, get an early start! Quote
erik Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 LAYTON AND NECRO GOT IT DONE B4 JENS AND LOREN. Quote
Colin Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 Tim and I retreated from this route today. We climbed up the entrance to the couloir, to the start of the ice pitch, and then bailed. The ice pitch looked very thin and rotten, and the entire east face was getting baked in the sun, with stuff falling all over the place. If you do go give it a shot, I'd reccomend getting a much earlier start than we did (get to the base before the sun has hit the route). In the next couple weeks I'd imagine that the route will either ice up nicely as a result of more thaw-freeze, or it will melt away completely. Quote
Billygoat Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 Snow level is supposed to drop to 2000' Fri and Sat. Colin, how was the snow conditions and the parking? Which way did you go up? Quote
Colin Posted April 15, 2003 Posted April 15, 2003 We parked at the Blue Lake Trailhead, but didn't come out that way after realizing it was a lot of extra work. Park at the plowed area 0.5 miles W of the Blue Lake Trailhead, and go straight up to the South Buttress from there. Skis or snowshoes were mandatory today, and I'd imagine will still be for a little while. Quote
Paco Posted April 17, 2003 Posted April 17, 2003 Just bringing this one back to the top. Billygoat, did you head up there yesterday? Quote
Necronomicon Posted April 17, 2003 Posted April 17, 2003 We were at the base of the ice pitch when the sun came up, cramponed from the car. The last pitch to the ridge was a serious wallow in the sun, almost impossible to make upward progress with my 190lbs. We weren't sending any ice down at that point, so my guess is that the ice fall experienced by the party below us was spontaneous. We fixed a pin and biner on the descent, in the open on the right as you descend, above a steep step of ice, the last rappel. You'll rap from the tree on the left and downclimb a bit to get to it. You're out of the gully at that point, and will end up downclimbing after the rap. Even that was a serious wallow. Quote
layton Posted April 17, 2003 Posted April 17, 2003 There's a TR from the perspective of my turd somewhere on this site about this route. If fat, it would be ez WI4 probably. It was pretty slim pickens on our way up and a seriously soft snow climb (read: no downward force on snow, only side pressure bear hugs and no gear after the ice.) Bury your pack maybe for pro, or better yet bring a couple shovels. Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted April 17, 2003 Posted April 17, 2003 (edited) Necronomicon said: We were at the base of the ice pitch when the sun came up, cramponed from the car. The last pitch to the ridge was a serious wallow in the sun, almost impossible to make upward progress with my 190lbs. We weren't sending any ice down at that point, so my guess is that the ice fall experienced by the party below us was spontaneous. We fixed a pin and biner on the descent, in the open on the right as you descend, above a steep step of ice, the last rappel. You'll rap from the tree on the left and downclimb a bit to get to it. You're out of the gully at that point, and will end up downclimbing after the rap. Even that was a serious wallow. was this recently (yesterday or today)? or when erik was talking aboot? Edited April 17, 2003 by COL._Von_Spanker Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted April 17, 2003 Posted April 17, 2003 michael_layton said: Last Year's TR Gotcha.. Just curious about very current conditions... Quote
layton Posted April 18, 2003 Posted April 18, 2003 No avy danger here, but the hottub whore party danger is exteme. I've already got two dead ones stuffed under the mattress! Quote
CascadeClimber Posted April 19, 2003 Posted April 19, 2003 Just to clear things up... We didn't get an early enough start and the little rivulet of ice was slush by the time we got there. We retreated because of poor ice and threatening snow conditions. Necro and Layton were ahead of us on the route. I'm not aware of anything they knocked down on us, but even if they had, that would have been our issue, not theirs. I'll be back... Quote
Billygoat Posted April 20, 2003 Posted April 20, 2003 Paco said: Just bringing this one back to the top. Billygoat, did you head up there yesterday? Yes, we were up there Wed, Thurs, Fri but backcountry touring. Excellent conditions were found high in NE facing bowls above Lake Ann and another more top secret place! Much fun was had by all! I did not get any photos of the East face of Cutthroat but hopefully got a few other good ones on bluebird Friday which I will post tomorrow. We ran into a couple guys in the Blue Lake parking lot Wednesday who did the South Couloir on South Early Winters. They said it was a ten hour slogfest round trip (to the car and back) up waist deep slush, no front pointing available. We can verify, however, that conditions got alot cooler by Friday. Quote
JoshK Posted April 20, 2003 Posted April 20, 2003 Paco and I summited cutthroat via the e. fast coulior route early saturday. Conditions were thin, but good. I'll post some pics when I get them off my camera. The weather ended up working out perfectly with a clear and fairly cold night followed by most cloudy conditions saturday. If the sun had broken through things would have become an even bigger wallow-fest very quickly. Quote
Ade Posted April 20, 2003 Posted April 20, 2003 Nice! It's supposed to be very warm today but getting colder this week but with crappier, but probably not too crappy, weather. If anyone is interested in getting on this mid-week, or something similar (I have a few other similar things I want to do), then PM me. Ade Quote
Colin Posted April 20, 2003 Posted April 20, 2003 Mark and I climbed the route this morning, and although the ice is thin it is definitely still in fine shape. Thanks very much to JoshK and Paco - Your tracks made things go nice and quick. I would reccomend getting a real early start, since that side of Cutthroat gets sun so early (we left the car at 3:30 am). Don't take any ice screws, and a single 60 m rope works easily for the descent. Skis are reccomended for the approach, as the ski back down to the car was just as fun as the climb itself. Quote
JoshK Posted April 20, 2003 Posted April 20, 2003 Glad to hear we left some ice for ya. We left at the same time, worked perfect. I was so pissed I didn't bring my skis up. That shoulder is a kick ass ski. Quote
ivan Posted April 21, 2003 Posted April 21, 2003 all the cool people climbed in the north cascades this weekend....the even cooler people remembered the true meaning of sunday's holiday...kudos to all Quote
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