[TR] Dragontail- North Face 4/6/2004

[JUSTO]

Climb: Dragontail-North Face

 

Date of Climb: 4/6/2004

 

Trip Report:

Just wanted to give this route a thumbs up and tell folks they should put this on their to do list. Partner and I both agreed it was the best alpine route we've done in the Cascades. Cruxes were grade 3 ice, thin (mostly) and narrow in places with mixed moves thrown in as well. Lower half of the route consisted of this type of climbing interspersed with snowfields. Thanks to the folks last weekend for kicking steps for us. Enjoy!

 

Some photos are in the gallery.

 

Gear Notes:

Small rock rack with with screws.

[JoshK]

That's cool, looks much better than triple couliors. I like the tiltovision on the last pic to increase the steepness of the angle in the picture.

[lunger]

sounds cool.

can anyone please edify me re: these Dragontail questions:

 

1) how far up can you drive the road, or better, how many miles of road must be walked/skied?

 

2) are the rock routes still largely encrusted with snow and ice (e.g., dragonfly on n/ne, boving route on nw)? in another thread it sounded like one month ago that serpentine still involved some ice...

 

we've only got Sunday to work with...thanks in advance for any info.

[Dane]

Justo how did you finish the climb after leaving the bowl at the base of the Fin?

[JoshK]

sounds cool.

can anyone please edify me re: these Dragontail questions:

 

1) how far up can you drive the road, or better, how many miles of road must be walked/skied?

 

2) are the rock routes still largely encrusted with snow and ice (e.g., dragonfly on n/ne, boving route on nw)? in another thread it sounded like one month ago that serpentine still involved some ice...

 

we've only got Sunday to work with...thanks in advance for any info.

 

The last rumor I heard is you can drive to within a mile and a half of the road end. I wouldn't let this stop you. Even with the full 8 miles (4 each way) tacked on, you are only talking an extra 2 hours total.

[TednCda]

Which of the North face routes did you do, Gerber-Sink or Stanley-Wickwire? Beckey makes the Stanley-Wickwire sound like the North Face variation Nelson speaks about in first edition of selected climbs. Gerber Sink sounds like a really good route.

[Dane]

I've done the Gerber-Sink at least a dozen times in summer. Very fun climb. Lot of ways to finish it. Just wondered what these guys did. I'm thinking the ramp across the base of the Fin would be pretty fun.

[Trav]

Went up to try this route on Saturday. The lowest pitches starting at the boot pack had melted out quite a bit and where thin and looked difficult to protect. We where getting a late start so we bailed.