jshamster Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 Frosty_the_tradman & I headed to WA Pass on Monday to climb Liberty Crack, but the rain & cold destroyed all motivation. After a few minutes of standing around wondering how to salvage the next couple of days we grabbed a brew and a bit of , and headed for Leavenworth. By the time we got to Pateros the rain (and smoke) had cleared & our spirits were definately rising. Arriving in the Icicle about 3:30pm we quickly racked up & headed up the Bale/Kramer on Careno Crag. Damn fine face climbing with a crack thrown in for good measure. Pocketmeister finish is excellent. Now, what to do with Tuesdsay? The weather is okay, but is it good enough for an all day alpine adventure, or do we stay at the crags? Ah, fuck it, Dragontail is calling & we cannot ignore it. Next day, awake at 4am, hiking at 5:15am. So far the weather is cooperating more than we hoped for . The trail flies by, and before we know it we're at Colchuck Lake. At the lake we ditch one pack and a few unessentials, and head up the hill to the base of Backbone Ridge. Officially on route at 8:15am, we quickly solo up to the base of the 5.9 offwidth. Now generally offwidths and the word fun are not used in the same sentence, but that is one FUN 6" crack. Great stemming on the right hand wall make this a very straightforward pitch. We did end up taking the mighty six inch cam just for this pitch. Never thought that bad boy would see the alpine! After the wide crack a few 5.7-5.8 steps lead up to easy ground. At this point we are pretty much just leading until the rope runs out, and then simuling the 4th & 5th to the base of the Fin. Our plan was to do the Fin direct which looks pretty simple on the topo, but we managed to get off route. We went to the crest of the Fin instead of contouring up the righthand face, and eventually reached an impasse. Frosty did a great job of climbing up & down looking for a way up, but everything was total manky lichen. At this point it is time to get up to get down, so we rappeled into the gully to the left of the Fin and quickly scrambled up to the summit. It is now 5pm and we can't see a damn thing. Pretty much the whole second half of the route we were inside of clouds with snow flurries coming down regularly. The entire summit area is very low visibility, and we have to find our way off of this mountain. We have directions according to Kearney for those who don't carry axe or crampons, but we can't find the raps that he describes. We do happen to find the Snow Creen galcier so we know we're close, but how to get down? We finally agree on a large snow filled couloir leading down to flat glacier, and start rappeling. The first rap was a slung block at the top of the couloir. We stayed on the edge of the snow and the second rap was a single red tricam in a slot. That rap took us into the first 'schrund moat which we walked through to get to the other side of the couloir. Third rap is off of frozen slung block down into the next 'schrund, out the other side and 40 feet down the glacier. After a bit of snow downclimbing with nut tool in hand, Frosty turned around, sat down and did the icy glissade to the bottom. I soon followed, and minutes later we reached the top of Asgard Pass. It is now getting dark quickly. Luckily the trail from the pass to the lake is easy to follow by Tika. We reached Colchuck Lake at 9:20pm. Finally! The bean & cheese burritos and fat joint at the lake have us somewhat revived for the walk back to the car. 2 1/2 delirious hours later we arrived back at the car just in time to wish frosty_the_tradman a happy birthday! Highlights: Full moon & Mars rising at the same time Six inch crack Snowing on route in early September Great route with a great partner All in all a highly enjoyable day of avoiding the westside rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_W Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 Good job. Although, Larry the Tool probably monitors this site and you'll be getting a ticket in the mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryland_moore Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 Yeah, I thought thew Colchuck Lake TH was closed, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 Booty alert! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 You must be stoked. Sounds like a great trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scot'teryx Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 ryland_moore said: Yeah, I thought thew Colchuck Lake TH was closed, no? It is closed, they must have done the rat creek approach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_W Posted September 12, 2003 Share Posted September 12, 2003 scot'teryx said: ryland_moore said: Yeah, I thought thew Colchuck Lake TH was closed, no? It is closed, they must have done the rat creek approach? No, the TR says, "the trail flies by"; there isn't any "flying" up the Rat Creek Drainage from what I've seen. Probably just walked the road past the barriers; I think it adds a mile or two to the walk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshamster Posted September 12, 2003 Author Share Posted September 12, 2003 I can neither confirm nor deny any of the above statements. I did forget to mention that on the third rappel down glacier couloir our rope became stuck. As it was getting dark at this point, we cut the rope a proceeded down. Lost about a third of a good 9.8mm, but this summer was its last season anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Nice TR Jshamster. hell of a climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scourge Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Happy birthday! Just another climb in the neighborhood children, especially when that same route has been climbed by many a hardman already. Maybe Mr. Robinson still lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.