SW Rib of SEWS, Aug. 10, 2003 Birthday TR

[catbirdseat]

SW Rib of South Early Winters Spire, Washington Pass, Aug. 10, 2003

 

This was Dryad’s first alpine rock climb done on her birthday. She had done quite a bit of sport climbing at places such as Exit 38 and Vantage and some top rope climbing at Leavenworth, but nothing really “alpine” unless you count Givler’s Crack or Castle Rock. It was my first alpine 5.8 trad route. Champagne at 5.7 had been the hardest I had done previously. I’d been practicing 5.8’s at Icicle Canyon and I felt I was ready for it.

 

As a warm-up we first climbed South Arete route. I lead the first 5.5 pitch to the belay at a dead tree, after which she got her chance to do her first ever trad lead on the second pitch. This pitch started out as 50 ft of fourth class gully, which she protected with a couple of pieces. She then arrived at the chockstone chimney, which has a couple of 5.5 moves. Being a face climber she naturally gravitated to the obvious holds on the left side. That’s the best way to go, but is not protectable. She was going to lead the chimney unprotected when I told her to find the cam placement under the chockstone (since the object here was to learn to place gear). She found the crack, plugged in a Camalot and off she went. No sweat!

 

The rest of the climb was fourth class and didn’t pose too many challenges except downclimbing. Dryad had come to expect that descents would be all rappels. Not so! I told her she’d eventually get used to downclimbing. She might never like it, but at least it wouldn’t be so scary. On the way down we saw a couple of climbers downclimb the chimney. One of them had an Apollo Ono style “soul patch”. We thought was pretty impressive (the downclimbing, not the soul patch).

 

Since it was early yet, 12:30 pm, we decided to go climb something more challenging. We considered the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell, but it required a hike and I’d already done it. Besides it was too easy. We had a photocopy of the topo for the SW Rib (CAG, Red Book), but I was not entirely confident that I could do it. For one thing, I was short on the large cams that would be needed to protect some of the pitches. Fortunately, two other climbers I had met that day, Jeff and Russ had been interested in that very climb. We talked them into going with us. Jeff, the more experienced leader, would lead the first rope team and Russ would follow. Russ would clean all the gear except for the large cams, which he’d leave in place for me to clip. I led the second team with Dryad following (who later complained about the bulkiness of #4 Camalots). In order not to delay the first team any more than necessary, I made sure I was leading right on Russ’s tail, so they could get the gear and go.

 

We decided to go the whole hog and climb from the larch with the split top, rather than do the 4th class traverse from the gully. That first pitch is the one with the only 5.8 climbing, a few hard moves up a slightly overhanging hand crack. For some reason, Jeff went up the harder face to the left and placed a big cam, which Russ dutifully left for me. The only problem was I couldn’t make the first couple of face moves so opted for the crack. Some hand jamming and stemming with my feet got me up the crack, but the rope chose that very moment to jam in a crevice somewhere along its length. I was “fatboyed”. I couldn’t go up or down. After yarding on the rope, I was able to get six inches of slack, enough to flip it over a rock bulge, which lifted the rope just enough to free it from the crack, and finish the pitch.

 

I caught up to Jeff and Russ at a spacious, tree-shaded belay ledge and began belaying Dryad. After a time, the rope stopped coming in, then it went tight. We knew she was at the 5.8 problem, which, with her shorter stature would be even more difficult than it was for us. After a while, I heard, “slack”, which I gave, then the rope started coming in again and soon Dryad was at the belay. Using her usual resourcefulness, she had prussiked the few feet it took to surmount the bulge rather than wasting all her energy on moves she couldn’t make. I assured her that was the only 5.8 on the climb.

 

Once Dryad had given Jeff all the big cams, he was off again on the 5.7 crack that we called the “scalloped crack”. The first move is off the top of a tree. It blocks a needed foot placement, so it can’t be helped. The crack is a little awkward because it flares quite a bit and the edge is not really sharp enough for a good handhold, so I reached in to jam it. The only problem is that the reach bent me over so my feet weren’t getting as good a purchase as I would have liked. I’d sure love to give that crack another go to try some other approaches.

 

The twin “bearhug” cracks were a blast. Contrary to what Beckey says, the gear goes in the left crack, not the right. The left is about 5 inches, whereas the right is about 6-7 inches. The #4 Camalot was just about tipped out in the left crack and was the only piece we had until the horn was reached at the top. Jeff jammed his left foot in the left crack and smeared his right between, whereas I chose to go with the “classic” bear hug style. Dryad’s feet are so small she couldn’t foot jam either crack, so she just smeared her way up using face moves.

 

The rest of the pitches got a little easier after the second with quite a bit of 5.6 slab climbing, with a few unprotected moves. It was fun, fun, fun. Jeff led a couple of variations that I passed on, including a couple of 5.9 hand cracks. Jeff found an interesting crack leading out of the gully to the summit, which at 5.8 or 5.8 is a nice alternative to the 5.2 standard finish.

 

We all thought the variety of climbing offered by the SW Rib made for a very interesting trip. It was nice knowing the descent route on the S. Arete. Dryad was a lot more confident going down the second time around. The SW Rib deserves the term classic and is a good route for new leaders who are just getting to where they can lead 5.8.

[Greg_W]

I would disagree that it is a 'classic', but it IS a fun route.

[catbirdseat]

Maybe it isn't a classic. It certainly isn't crowded. We saw one other party early in the day.

[dryad]

On the summit of SEWS the second time, I had an ORGASMIC POWERBAR EXPERIENCE. It made me think of the "orgasmic beer experience" thread a while back. Maybe I was just really hungry or delirious from climbing all day, but biting into the dense chocolatey proteinaceous goodness of a chocolate brownie flavor ProteinPlus PowerBar was the most supremely satisfying sensation imaginable at that moment. And the last few mouthfuls of water I had left in my bottle to wash it down with were the sweetest ambrosia on earth. Strange the simple pleasures in life.

 

Other observations from this climb:

 

- The yellow alien is a mighty useful creature. I think it was used on every pitch, or just about.

 

- Those big shady belay ledges with big convenient anchor trees were really nice.

 

- Damn, WA Pass sure is pretty!

[marek]

Brian!

The way my legs and feet feel now after Logan, i wish

i was there with you on WA pass.At least i could do the first rt. Anyway, good report and you did not waste the

weekend.

marek

ps: what,s up with this "classic " or not ?

who cares ?!!!!!

marek

[ncascademtns]

Hey, what happened to the West Ridge of Stuart?

[wayne]

Did you see the goat hair on the 3rd belay ledge. Made me feel gapish.

[catbirdseat]

I saw that goat hair. How the f**k did a goat get up on that ledge? Could the hair have blown there from the gully? Those goats are awesome climbers .

 

Someone had a samoyed dog unchained at the base of the South Arete while they climbed. It was a cute and friendly dog, but it chased the goat. Of course it never got near to catching it. Still, it seems like a pretty irresponsible thing to do on the part of the owners (to leave the dog unattended like that).

[Dru]

the owners will take the dog home and feed it but how does the goat make up the calories it loses when chased by the dog? are there that many in climber urine?

 

lets have another brawl thread about stupid climbers leaving unattended dogs in the lib bell gully etc

[ryland_moore]

While descending the gully b/w Liberty Bell and Concord, we came across a goat. He looked thirsty so I took a leak on a nearby rock and the goat came right over. He was very thirsty!

[Dru]

i bet if you had whipped it out but not peed on the rock the goat would have come right up to ya and

[bobbyperu]

in my quest to reply to all things wa pass and probly subsequntly annoy all the fuckers sittin around computers on this lovely day before i head out to get some i wanted to say that this route is classic,and has some very cool variations which offer everything from 10+ fingers and hands at the top of the flake crack- head to the right under a steep section and head up the obvious crack to regain the route on the slab above, also the boving dubble roofs at the top of the 3rd are very cool 10b watch for rope drag, then some more crack climbing that put you out above the bear hug pitch... and the rowdiest of all the dolfin chimney, which heads out from the same spot, travers up and left under the boving roofs, and head up one of the most exilerating 10 chims you could imagine- bring solid technique for pro, and get psyched for the pull-out move exiting the chim this puts you up near the top and its cruzer to the summit from there. -bp

[Dustin_B]

Any one else ever take the wrong gully up to the base of the Beckey route? We did Sunday, it sucked, and it started thundering so we ran home. When we got out of the wrong gully the clouds cleared and we saw 3 or 4 groups heading up ahead of us to the Beckey route. We lost motivation and went for lunch. we're wankers.

 

By the way, we passed the group with the dog going up there and I thought to myself, what are they going to do with it? The owner said it could lead up to WI2 or some such with no tools and up to 10b, so it would be leading most of the pitches. So I'm surprised to hear they left it at the base.

Edited August 12, 2003 by Dustin_B

[erik]

Dustin_B said:

Any one else ever take the wrong gully up to the base of the Beckey route? We did Sunday, it sucked, and it started thundering so we ran home. When we got out of the wrong gully the clouds cleared and we saw 3 or 4 groups heading up ahead of us to the Beckey route. We lost motivation and went for lunch. we're wankers.

 

there is like 20 other routes in the area!!!!! and the becky route is thw worst one at the pass....should have regrouped and went out and climbed something pimp!

 

 

[Dustin_B]

erik said:

Dustin_B said:

Any one else ever take the wrong gully up to the base of the Beckey route? We did Sunday, it sucked, and it started thundering so we ran home. When we got out of the wrong gully the clouds cleared and we saw 3 or 4 groups heading up ahead of us to the Beckey route. We lost motivation and went for lunch. we're wankers.

 

there is like 20 other routes in the area!!!!! and the becky route is thw worst one at the pass....should have regrouped and went out and climbed something pimp!

 

 

Yes, we should have, as every single group we passed on the way down reminded us. We were kind of spanked from our 13 trip up the North Ridge of Cutthroat the previous day where we didn't summit. I think that had something to do with our lack of motivation. That and I suck.

[chucK]

Dustin_B said:

We were kind of spanked from our 13 trip up the North Ridge of Cutthroat the previous day where we didn't summit.

 

Did you go the choss gulley way?

[catbirdseat]

Dustin, I had so much fun on that route, I'd be willing to do it again. When do you want to go? BTW, got any big cams?

[Dustin_B]

chucK said:

Dustin_B said:

We were kind of spanked from our 13 trip up the North Ridge of Cutthroat the previous day where we didn't summit.

 

Did you go the choss gulley way?

 

Uhm, yeah. No good route descriptions for this one. We didn't see the normal "ambiguous gully" until we were rapping down. It is more of a face than a gully. So we went from the notch/choss gully which sucks ass. I didn't lead it. It took my partner 4 tries of climbing up 5 feet, sketching, then climbing down before he finally just said screw it and went for it. ~35 foot runout off the deck with no pro on crappy rock. Yuck. I owe him a beer. Won't go that way again.

[Dustin_B]

catbirdseat said:

Dustin, I had so much fun on that route, I'd be willing to do it again. When do you want to go? BTW, got any big cams?

 

Well, I know I'm not ready to swap leads on a 5.8, I still wank pretty hard on a 5.6. So that route will have to wait until I grow some balls. The largest cam I have is #3.

[Dustin_B]

ncascademtns said:

Hey, what happened to the West Ridge of Stuart?

 

That was an old post of CBS's that I pulled up from back in June. Check the date.

[catbirdseat]

Dustin, there is only one pitch with 5.8. The rest is 5.7 or less. The West Ridge Stuart climb never happened because of weather.

[catbirdseat]

Click here for a topo of the route.

[Gary_Yngve]

We had a #5 friend with us for the Bearhug, and it was tipped out as well. However a #4 friend will fit just fine at the bottom of it. The best solution is to leave the big piece at home (we had it with us from another climb) and just suck it up and climb through it -- it's not that hard, and doing it as a bearhug may not be the easiest way.

[catbirdseat]

Gary, you have a knack for stating the obvious. Look, I did it as a bearhug only because I'm not a very good climber at this point, okay?

[Gary_Yngve]

catbirdseat said:

Gary, you have a knack for stating the obvious. Look, I did it as a bearhug only because I'm not a very good climber at this point, okay?

 

Sorry, didn't mean to criticize you or imply you're not a good climber... what I meant was more like, "The bearhug cracks look intimidating, but it's not as bad as it seems." And I was agreeing with you that a #4 Camelot is insufficient to protect higher up... so instead of bringing an even larger boat anchor, just go without pro higher up.