[TR] The Tooth!- South Face 4/2/2004

[chucK]

Climb: The Tooth!-South Face

 

Date of Climb: 4/2/2004

 

Trip Report:

Went up and bagged the Tooth on Friday putting my virgin BC ski skills to the test.

 

Skinned up next to the "DO NOT ENTER" path. Stayed in the trees for a long time to see what the skins could/couldn't do, and to try to follow the rules. Also didn't want to get creamed by a downhill skier.

 

Snow conditions were soft, but mostly pretty easy. The usual gulley to access the South Face looked too difficult for me (steep snow on slopey rock right under a big cornice) so I skied up over the gap that heads toward Alpental and skied down and around, then postholed up to near Pineapple Pass.

 

South Face is all dry except for the 3rd class part. About 50 feet of unavoidable snow.

 

Descended the South Face and met a couple of boarders who were about to climb. They took the lifts up. Supposedly they didn't have to pay. They explained their plan to the ticket seller and they let 'em slide for one ride. Pretty cool. They didn't like the looks of the cornice in the usual access gulley so they followed my trail.

 

Found some cliffy way to get back to the notch without losing as much altitude but still had to do a climb up through mush to get to the notch. By that time around 4 or so, there were about 8 or more people milling around at that notch. I guess the Great Scott Bowl must be a popular last run.

 

Nice skiing back down, especially in the shadow of The Tooth

 

Gear Notes:

BC skis

ice axe

approach shoes (for South Face)

Zappa tape to make it through the traffic during pledge week on NPR

 

Approach Notes:

Usual approach gulley currently blocked.

[Toast]

The usual gulley to access the South Face looked too difficult for me (steep snow on slopey rock right under a big cornice)

 

Approach Notes:

Usual approach gulley currently blocked.

 

I went up today. There's a path slightly to the left of the cornice obstruction. It's a little dicey with a patch of ice to gingerly step around but fun

[TrogdortheBurninator]

We were there on saturday. I thought that kicking steps up the steep ice by the cornice was the one of the most fun parts of the route. When we got there, there was a boot path from snowboarders to just below the cornice. I had to borrow a second axe from a partner for the first move from the ledge because the snow was too soft to support full body weight on my feet. The ice definitely justified toting the axe along.

[PeanutButter]

I would like to go up to The Tooth sometime next week. Whats the easiest, safe, overall best way to get to Pineapple Pass? I was thinking it might be easyest to hike up the Alpental ski slope then try to somehow traverse over to it, but I am not very familiar with the area. Can it be easily reached from Alpental this time of year? Thanks for any info.