Chiwawa via Lyman Glacier

[climberchris01]

Anyone been up there lately because I've see reports of fun moderate ice this time of year, and no one has posted about the area lately, so let me know what you think!

[climberchris01]

Will there be belayed climbing involved? and how bad are the bugs this time of year?

[erik]

once the 1st freeze hits all but the hardy bugs can still hang. not bothersome. but i am sure there will be flies!

 

 

[chris_w]

I did it about this time about 2 years ago. We did it in one long day, 19 hours. The bugs were not that bad for us, but annoying but that can change year to year. We did 3 belayed pitches of ice. Mostly seracs and wandering. We went straight up the ice fall to get as much as possible.

 

here are some Pics from it

[klenke]

Nice pics. So now you know: the pic you think might be a view of Bonanza is actually of Dome Peak (with Sinister Peak the point immediately to its right).

[ski_photomatt]

I went in there to climb this route with my girlfriend maybe three weeks ago via Spider Gap. We were moving slow (she wasn't feeling well), got a late start and didn't climb all the way to the summit, but instead to a high ridge for a view. We avoided the ice fall by scambling easily on the slabs to the climber's right, then gained the upper portion of the glacier above it. No real crevasse problems to speak of. The final portion of the glacier looked somewhat steep, and from what I remember the climbing would be above a crevasse or to, but didn't have any ice showing. It looked to be running belayable. We didn't climb this portion, my view of it was foreshortened and it was hard to judge the true angle, so necessary caveats apply. Spider meadows is a very pretty spot. Flys were annoying in the valley three weeks ago.

[kklimber]

The upper glacier to the summit ridge is 35-40 degrees. The slope is above a large crevasse and exposed. The meadows are nice, but if you continue up to below the gap, there are some outstanding bivy sites on the "overlook".

[mike_holman]

Lyman Gl. from Spider Gap up&back is way too boring. We made a nice round tripper in mid-July by ascending the ridge north of Red Mtn from the base of the Spider Gl. dropped into Chiwawa Basin and approached Chiwawa from the SE side. You can exit the snow and work cl.3 ledges & gullies to the Fortress-Chiwawa saddle and scramble up or you can take the obvious snow/rock ramp directly to the east ridge below the summit and scramble the ridge from there. We returned via Lyman Gl. via Spider Gap. There was lots of bare ice at the base of the upper Lyman, so I think I might do this in reverse now, but it probably makes no difference. Anyway, it makes for a nice round-trip, some easy route-finding challanges, and no ground to retrace. And, it helps give the Mean Little Dog some real bite!

[climberchris01]

how many sites are up there at the "overlook" if we climb all the way up there and they are full, is there bivying higher up that would be suitable, or below the route?

[Beck]

Chiwawa from the SE is easier and much shorter, it's more fun early season than late, the more snow the better from that approach...

 

 

going in from the S, there is good camping at a low meadow, then 600vert higher at a camp with KILLER bouldering problems( Ohmigosh, it's over the top!)

 

and then just a couple vert short of the Fortress/Chiwawa saddle, with good water, if you ascend direct to saddle from High camp, you run right across them...

 

 

Hmm, maybe I go there tommorrow and come back tuesday... anyone want to go?

[climberchris01]

Went up to the Phelps creek TH on saturday morning, left car about 11:30, hiked the 5.5 miles to Spider Meadow, which is beautiful. Then trudged up the headwall to the upper "overlook" campsites. It was pretty crowded, I guess three day weekends don't deter anyone anymore, even the elevation didn't keep anyone out. Amazing alpenglow on 7 finger jack and Mt. Maude. Got up at 5 am. and climbed to spider gap, start climbing the steep stuff at 8 after repeated attempts to get over the moat from the lower glacier. The bedrock is very smooth in places and the rocks on top of it very loose. Start climbing the right snow finger at 50-55 degrees as small rocks come down towards my belay. As soon as i get to the top of the first belay a huge rock the size of a gigantic duffle bag came hurling down, bouncing every 80 feet right over where I was belaying ! We made one more pitch of the steeper stuff, then it eased over to crevasse hopping and serac climbing. We ended up reaching a dead end with 40 foot wide crevasses that were VERY deep, and sketchy snow, blocking our way up the middle of the ice fall. After it was all said and done, we could have taken the easy route and squeezed past the crevasses on the FAR right side and made the climb, but it was an AMAZING area, with views to Bonanza and upper lyman lake and numerous other peaks. Saw no wildlife unfortunately. Also on the descent we witnessed another Huge rockfall, coming down right where we tried the first time to gain the upper glacier knocking down a rock the size of a VW beetle, hurling over the burgshrund, right in the middle of the glacier: time to move quick! Amazing climb through the moderate icefall, unfortunately no summit, but I'll be back in a heart beat to see that view from the summit.

[Juan]

Hey Chris:

 

Is it worth going up to Chiwawa this coming weekend, in your opinion? Or will I just get blocked on this route by cracks. It was a no-brainer last year in July, but this is a different year to say the least. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

 

John Sharp