Worst Approach, Worst Descent

[Off_White]

worst descent: any one that leaves a dead member of your party behind.

[Dru]

Where is this Mount Sleese? The only ones who seem to climb it are dyslexics.

[Stefan]

You can say that this was probably the worst descent for these two guys over the past couple of days.

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplo...e&dpfrom=th

[catbirdseat]

Ptarmigan Ridge in Winter is pretty hard core.

[ScottP]

Here's a twist to this thread....

How about the worst approach that takes 120 minutes or less?

 

-anotherwards what approach in the cascades inflicts the most suffering but has a total duration of under 2 hours from the car?

 

I remeber getting off route approaching mt. Index in winter when I was a teenager and suffering pretty bad in fresh snow and slide alder.

 

Midsummer approach to the Tower Route on Big 4. I felt like I was caught in a big maw that was gumming me to death. Temps in the upper 80's, humidity in the upper 80's, hideous amounts of foliage. We bumped into a house-sized boulder that we climbed on top of to get our bearings and looked out over a sea of nastiness. By the time we got to the start of the route (?), we were so spent we turned around and schwacked our way back to the Ice Caves and trail.

 

Nasty descents tend to fade from my memory, but the old school descent off of GG Buttress earned a permanant spot in long term storage. We dropped into the gully, waiting for the "few" raps to cease. Too many raps later, we bailed out of the gully and began a contour around toward the base. At one point we entered a weird space of bleached gray cedar limbs from a downed old growth. It was like picking through the rib cage of a giant. At one point I impaled my shin on an unseen branch and to this day have a hole in the front of my shin I can stick half the tip of my index finger into. If I flex my foot just right, a big lump of tissue pushes out through the gap. We continued contouring around to the south, alternating between slide alder holding us 6 feet off the ground and apalear de diablo. I have no memory of how long it took, but by the time we hit the creek we had crossed that morning I was soaking wet and covered head to foot with flora detritus.

[Off_White]

Count yourself lucky Scott, it doesn't get any better once you start up the Tower route.

[ScottP]

A major factor in the decision to bail was what we saw looking up that gully.

[Jens]

Scott, I did the exact same thing coming off GG Butt once.

__

One of my worst invovled a blind drop down the south flanks of j-berg.

It involved all of the following in about 9 hours -almost dying by pulling off a monster rock, arresting on steep moss, cutting the rope with an ice axe for a rap, wet 5.8 down soloing with mountain boots, arresting on snow, jumping a moat, a grizzly bear encounter, a bushwack, a haulucination, and a hitchike back to cascade pass. (this is after being avied with a metric ton of shit in the Cj couloir on the way up).

 

although the drives back to home sweet home are also sketchy

___

How about the worst approach (or most suffering) in a 1 hour or less approach? Nothing sucks worse than getting molested by bushes looking for a new sport crag a few minutes from the car.

[EWolfe]

How about the worst approach (or most suffering) in a 1 hour or less approach? Nothing sucks worse than getting molested by bushes looking for a new sport crag a few minutes from the car.

 

There was this one time on the Deschutes in Oregon involving poison oak....

[Skeezix]

One of my worst invovled a blind drop down the south flanks of j-berg.

It involved all of the following in about 9 hours -almost dying by pulling off a monster rock, arresting on steep moss, cutting the rope with an ice axe for a rap, wet 5.8 down soloing with mountain boots, arresting on snow, jumping a moat, a grizzly bear encounter, a bushwack, a haulucination, and a hitchike back to cascade pass.

Grizzly bear?

[olyclimber]

Jens, is this one of those mythic grizzly sightings in the North Cascades! Do tell.

[selkirk]

not a climbing trip but worst approach was to Goat Lake, down outside of Sun Valley. Started at 8:00 in the morning, and involved, being part of 2 parades, a flat tire, 2 utter gumbys one of whom exhausted herself and started throwing up, the second got half dollar sized blisters, falling into the creek etc etc etc... Teaching said herd of gumbys that hiking at night isn't that bad when you remember extra batteries for your headlamp. Then finally stumbling into camp at 12:00, being scared shitless then chased by a herd of pack goats, who wanted to gore our dogs.

Damn weekend didn't end until I had lost my wallet, driven all night to retrieve said wallet, so i could sit on plane on the runway while the electrical system shorted out.

and no, I wasn't and halucinating.

[Jens]

Jens, is this one of those mythic grizzly sightings in the North Cascades! Do tell.

Yes this was a long time ago.

Yes it was a grizzly. I've hunted black bear with my dad and I know the difference. My dad has shot em'. I heard a rumor of a confirmed grizzly (by biologist?) sighting in the Dome Peak region -pretty close. Was that rumor on this website?