Jefferson

[CraigA]

When climbing the Jefferson Park Glacier in early season i.e. April-June, what is the preferred descent route? Is it safe to descend the route or is it better/safer to descend Whitewater Glacier? I know Oregon High says to descend the Whitewater Glacier, but it also says Whitewater Glacier puts you at Red Saddle and thats on the other side of the summit pinnacle; am I missing something??

 

Anyway, I'm hoping to hear from those of you who have done it and how you went about it.

 

Thanks,

 

Craig

[kurthicks]

when i did it in June this year ( our TR ), we rapped off the gendarme that is between the Mohler Tooth and the summit. then we rapped off another block further down the East face and downclimbed/plunge stepped/glissaded back to the Whitewater and it was only like an hour back to Jeff Park from there. be careful of what you sling because there's lots of loose stuff and also be careful on the downclimbing because it's pretty steep at the top. also watch out for that ever present spontaneous rockfall. it's way faster than traversing the whole mountain...

[ckouba]

Craig-

 

My opinion for what it's worth:

 

Whitewater = enormous slog

 

You're not missing anything. The way OrHi describes takes you on a tour around the south, east and north flanks.

 

I have friends who have done that descent and regretted it with much knee misery for the following weeks. It also makes a long day and is uninteresting to me. Knowing how long it was going to take to get down that way actually cost one friend's party going to the summit. They traversed right past it and came down via Whitewater. They went all that way and missed it!

 

The traverse is unappealing (or it was when I was there with Wazzumtn'r) and I wanted to get back in a more interesting manner anyway. Our line was certainly more interesting enough: I wasn't sure how much to trust the horns we slung. They looked good enough, but I still unclipped my personal from the sling when Kurt rapped first.

 

We rapped off the gendarme closest to the summit pinnacle, where there was a horn already exposed and slung. This was a fine place to go over the edge but there were some cliffs down a bit below us. We angled north as the slope allowed and it was easily done but steep, again with cliffs below us for part of it.

 

This all assumes you're going to the summit. The glacier headwall is descendable in all sorts of conditions. Sometimes the knife edged ridge is not traverseable. I have had to turn around from the saddle 2x, downclimbing from really steep ice to moderate snow. In your timeframe the ridge may be covered with rime and unstable. Right now it looks dry as a bone. Your experience may vary.

 

My best advice is to think about how other routes would work to go down and take a guess as to how the snow will be at the time of day you will be descending. Make your best estimate and choose your descent.

 

Whenever you try to give it a shot, it's a great route. I stuck at it 10 times, getting a little further each time, until I finally topped it. Each time seemed to justify my obsession with finishing that route. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

 

Chris

[iain]

I have descended the route w/o problems. Lets you climb that cool rock ridge again, which for me is the highlight of that route. Really depends on the cond of the berg. on Jeff Park and the amount of ice still on Mohler Tooth. If there is a lot of rime up there and it starts melting late in the day, you will be bombarded with rocks. If it is dry above, there will be less rockfall, but it is always a threat up there.