jja Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Climb: Midnight Run on Chair Peak-North Face Date of Climb: 2/12/2004 Trip Report: Being the cube person that I am, it sucks having to work through week long high pressure systems that end on friday. A headlamp climb seemed in order. Luckily the gun-totin gaper was thinking the same thing. We met at the alpental parking lot at 5pm. There were two guys coming down from the neb route that we talked to a bit, then we started hiking at about 5:20. Did the approach w/o snowshoes with only the occasional post hole. It was a clear, cloudless night. The wind picked up considerably as soon as we crested the hill into the basin below chair. Geared up and headed over to the nf. Made a worthless belay at a spot that will soon become a moat, as the man of many avatars headed for the open book, I promised to jump into the moat if he fell. After about 50m greg set up a good rock belay about half way up the dihedral/open book thing. When I got there I used my halogen head lamp to try and scope out the route. The different snow cover (little to no ice) from last year and headlamp shadows had us scratching our head for a minute as to which way would be best. I traversed a little bit left then headed up on some runnels. Most of the face is alternating bands of old wet slide paths, and wind swept powder features. Some of the snow was really funky, but most of it was secure. It seems that whenever it got steep good neve or ice would show up. Ended up simulclimbing the rest of the face. Headlamp battery died and used my last sling about 50ft from the top. Up top at 10:30 Coolest moment: Just before topping out coming over the crest between the nf and neb and seeing the ice fog spilling over the snow lake divide, the star filled sky, and the glow of the lights from alpental. Since it was blowing like crazy we decided to forego the walk over to the true summit Mark Twight style and just begin the descent. Back at the car at 12:40. Shit eatin grin on my face all day at work today !! Gear Notes: Placed one picket horizontally, probably useless. Placed one screw in actual ice. Clipped a fixed pin, used nuts for first belay. Slung trees for everything else. Approach Notes: Good trail, a little bit of post holing here and there, but no biggie. Quote
Bug Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Would you have gone faster without Greg? Nice TR. Quote
Stephen_Ramsey Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 JJA, Nice TR. How did you descend? The gully on the climber's left side of the east face? Or the southwest scramble route on the back side of the mountain? Cheers, Steve Quote
jja Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 Would you have gone faster without Greg? Nice TR. NO !! he smoked me on the approach, he said it was some new energy drink he was on. Quote
jja Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 JJA, Nice TR. How did you descend? The gully on the climber's left side of the east face? Or the southwest scramble route on the back side of the mountain? Cheers, Steve Steve, we did the standard descent down the gully that ends up in front of the east face. The second rap anchor (the one on the giant pin) is a bit of a reach, but ok. Quote
Bug Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Shit. I was hoping he was slowing down so I could keep up with him next time. Quote
JoshK Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Ha! That sounds really cool. Crisp, clear nights are awesome! Quote
To_The_Top Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Now thats going out and getting it! Quote
Greg_W Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Shit. I was hoping he was slowing down so I could keep up with him next time. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the makers of Rockstar Energy drink and M&M/Mars, the maker of the Snickers Bar. They fueled me to the top. It was fun, but some of the snow was a little nervewracking. Beats sitting in front of the tube on a Thursday night, that's for sure. Greg_W (risen like a phoenix from the ashes of Hroark) Quote
Marko Posted February 15, 2004 Posted February 15, 2004 You're doing the rest of us lackies (speaking only of my over-worked self) proud! Prosit! Quote
bcollins Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 Curious how you summited at 10:30 and witnessed a star-filled sky and the glow of lights from Alpental??? Unless you topped out THAT NIGHT!!! Quote
Greg_W Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 Curious how you summited at 10:30 and witnessed a star-filled sky and the glow of lights from Alpental??? Unless you topped out THAT NIGHT!!! Uh, read the title of this thread. We left the parking lot AFTER WORK and summited at 10:30 PM. It was a beautiful starfilled night, for sure. Quote
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