Smoker Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Anyone been up it yet this winter? Thanks Smoker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Several friends and I attempted Big Four in the middle of December via the Dry Creek route. Big Four is by far a spectacular mountain that offers a great climbing experience. The Becky guide gives a good description for the Dry Creek route. We parked at the Mount Dickerman trailhead and crossed the road and entered the forest directly across from the parking lot. There is a sporadically flagged trail leading to the log crossing over a small creek. We crossed the river and headed SW till we hit Dry Creek. Hiked up Dry creek and started climbing through the rock band by mainly pulling through steep trees which placed us at the far right side of the upper basin. Make a leftward traverse across the large avalanche basin till you get to the base of a long snow gully. Be careful at the base of the snow gully, there seemed to be a small glacier with several open crevasses. Ascend up the snow gully till you top out then traverse to the summit. There is some steep snow in the gully. We encountered sections of 45 to 50 degree snow. If you attempt this mountain, please pay attention to avy danger. Half way up the gully we were diagonally traversing up a 45-degree slope when the whole thing shifted that made me have to change my shorts once I got back to the car. Needless to say we head down quickly. When we attempted Big Four the avy conditions were very low and we still had problems. Since then, two friends went back and attempted it again and got higher but couldn't find a way around avy prone slopes in the upper gully. They also mentioned something about a huge nasty cornice at the top of the gully. Have fun and be careful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Smoke, scott and I went and looked at NF 2 weekends ago, with the intent of coming back to it still this winter, it looked very good at the time and we were both kicking ourselves for only having half a day off, but GREs and stuff is more important... There is very little snow on the face. Not sure what the recent precip has done this past week. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 Smoker - are you interested in the N. Face of Big Four? I would live to take a crack at it. From what I know if it, I would probably propose to spend a night in the trees, about a quarter of the way up the face, and then go for the climb and descent. This should allow for a reasonable two-day weekend. -- matt perkins quote: Originally posted by Smoker: Anyone been up it yet this winter? Thanks Smoker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
none_dup1 Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 Are you talking about the North Rib route, or one of the routes to either side of it? John Sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoker Posted March 3, 2001 Author Share Posted March 3, 2001 I have not done Big 4 yet but I imagine that it would take a biv and the N. rib(s) looks to provide the least avy hazard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumby Posted March 3, 2001 Share Posted March 3, 2001 has anyone besides the first ascent party ever done the spindrift couloir or looked at it up close to confirm the difficulty's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLL Posted March 5, 2001 Share Posted March 5, 2001 I've been to the base several times this winter and have yet to see Spindrift or anything else on the North Face in condition. I would advise anyone trying Spindrift to expect very steep climbing and very few good anchors. There is no place to bivi on this route. Has anyone else been looking at the drainage on the East side of the North Face just right of the "Towers Ridge?" It has some amazing detached pillars but the bottom section very seldom seems to be in and safe at the same time. Good Luck Doug 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.