Crazy_Jeff Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I had a hankering to do something stupid. I hadn't been on a crazy climb with successful results in several months, so something had to give, right? The only difficulty sitting in my apartment was to decide what route was worthy. I don't know why the north face was calling to me, but a photo on Sky's site from a trip to the Price was probably part of the reason. Like usual when I suggest a non-standard route, Sky was willing to join in on the fun. We made a really late start Monday evening from the White Salmon lodge and made an early start at punishing ourselves for such a silly idea by picking one of the worst possible ways down into the valley. There's supposed to be a road that makes the schwack shorter and easier to take, but we must have been on the wrong one. We got a short night's sleep. The north face looked dismal from our camp, but since the alternative was a nasty schwack back to the car, we knew we had to get a closer look. We got our reward for persistence from the base of the face when we saw that it actually didn't look so bad after all. There were plenty of cracks on the lower part. If anyone tries this in late season like this, go to the east side of the lower field to minimize the crevasse negotiations. Above the lower part there was some impressive waterfall ice (~300ft?) that would have been sweet, but we went for a couloir to the climbers right which provided its own entertainment value. The upper part of the face presented little problem, aside from the parts that were solid ice. We topped out mid afternoon since I had entered slug mode somewhere during the middle of the climb. There was a bootpack that we followed around, hoping that we could get down the white salmon glacier or fischer chimneys. Sadly, the upper curtis had a crevasse which ran the entire width of the glacier, so both of those options were cut off. We had to make our way up hell's highway to get out, it seemed. It only had one short section of overhang (~15ft?) that had to be climbed up, otherwise there were no obstacles. The sulphide was an easy descent. We tried calling Ben Manfredi for a ride around the mountain, he sent us his friend Justin since he had to work the following day. Sky ran ahead to catch him while I lagged along, throwing up frequently due to dehydration (all of our water froze), exhaustion, and over-exertion. Sky made good time out, while I didn't. I thought it would be more entertaining to schwack out, to complete the cycle. I went down shannon ridge in a drainage after losing the trail, catching the trail again literally one or two minutes from the trailhead (I didn't even see the register). Extra thanks to Justin for saving us from hitchhiking all day today. And to everyone who didn't decide to answer my call for climbing partners: you missed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman_Clyde Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 Very cool. So did you guys have to set up running belays on the face, or could you just solo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 Very nice. I'm envious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 N_C: Whuz happenin? We probably COULD have just soloed, but watching Jeff scares me sometimes, so we used running belays on several sections. I set up one real belay where there was an icy step into the couloir we used to get to the upper glacier. I'll post some pictures this evening, the frozen waterfall was way cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 Sweet, much fresh snow, any slide activity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Jeff Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Tiny pockets of windloaded freshiez. Most (~75%?) of the climb was over good solid snow that held tools/crampons really well, the rest was over solid ice... the lovely stuff that doesn't take tools too well. No avy debris or slides on the route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Cool frozen waterfall between upper and lower north face: Our quicker option: I'd show more pictures but my dog rules, so forget it: Who wants to go send the waterfall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 All right, my dog still rules, but here's one to show some of the crevasse action on the lower glacier: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 That dog rules. Post another pic. Conditions looked pretty different from the last time I was up there. Right on dudes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 For those with bandwidth that dog chasing his balls Nice photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Nice photos. You've got us all drooling over them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Fuck! I KNEW I should have gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew_Jones Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Awesome pics!! I'll be ascending/descending via the sulphide route next month with tele gear for as much as possible. How was the summit pyramid? Any need for running belays? And do you think tools will be necessary? Thanks, Drew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 (edited) Sky and Jeff didn't climb the pyramid last time I checked. Check out www.cascadeclassics.org for a few good winter suphide summit ski reports. Edit: my bad, not thinking, Ray's right once again. Edited January 17, 2004 by cracked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 I've been up there in the middle of the winter twice. The first time, we found steep snow to within 100 - 150 feet of the summit ridge, just SW of the summit, and we climbed both up and down with no real difficulty; two tools came in handy for the final bit but probably would not have been necessary. The second time, it was sunny and stuff was falling down all over the place so we strapped on our skis and left. On that occasion, the snow didn't pile so high and it would have been at least a couple of pitches of rime-ice coated rocks to reach the summit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 http://www.cascadeclassics.org is the proper link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 I was up there in May a couple of years ago...the pretty big snow year I think. The entire summit pyramid was awesome neve which took tools great. That was the perfect icing on an awesome ski tour (20" of new the day before then 3 days of sun... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savaiusini Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Drew, I've got TRs from a couple of my Shuksan climbs that may be of interest to you on my website. 1. Sulphide-June 2002 2. North Face-April 1999 Both were ski descents and done at different times of the year than you're talking about, but done under times of high snowpack. The pyramid was rimed-up real good and provided good footing...no need whatsover for running belay. Although you'll probably have a rope and a couple pickets anyway for the glacier, you probably won't need them for the summit pyramid. Have a great trip and be sure to post some pics!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Excellent photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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