[TR] Mt. Jefferson- West Rib Attempt 4/25/2004

[gapertimmy]

Climb: Mt. Jefferson-West Rib Attempt

 

Date of Climb: 4/25/2004

 

Trip Report:

Never before had so much raw glisse talent been assembled for a summit attempt of the might Mt. Jefferson.... the SICK-CRÜE included representatives from all families of alpine sliding, and at that, some of the most wicked dope riders this side of the deschutes.... none other than jlag sportin split board wood, shredmaximus keepin it rizzeal for the pinner crowd, and the one who brings hope to all AT gapers of the world... yours truly, gaper-t.

 

The task was simple, the goal was high, the gang was set to lay down the North American Speed Ascent Record of Mt. Jefferson of trifectaalpineslidertechniques without the use of horsecock nor gu. We knew it would be tough to beat the prior record, but we set out to get the deed done, fuck the naysayers, the speed record would be ours!!!!

 

Early on, our progress and goal was threatened. Some forgotten gear, and lack of snow on the approach caused worry in the minds of the SICK-CRÜE.

 

jlag plab on the pamelia lake trail approach

 

But almost all hopes of the speed record were shattered when we encountered massive avvy debris in the Mill Creek gully... our original traveling route now lied under 10's of feet of nasty manky debris. Needless to say this through us for a bit of a loop.

toe of slide reached within 1/4 mile of PCT in milk creek gully

 

The CRÜE trudged on... instead ascending the Oregon classic 'dirt gully' complete with sick 5.7 dirt moves (root balls are aid), onto a delightful finger of snow purrrrrrrrrfect for skinnin

 

skinnin above dirt gully

 

Throughout the day, we had been watching the progress of a pair of climbers high on the west rib. It was apparent the duo was moving slowly up the route probably due to the schloppp conditions of the snow. We setup camp at the top of treeline and watched the two descend from above.

 

One of the climbers kicked off a pretty big wet slab about halfway up the ridge, and then the duo hunkered down high up on the rib for the night.

sunset on jefferson, little speck below low horizontal rock band is climbers

 

sunset

 

The bivvy gave us a great sunset and a spectacular view of the stars. The CRÜE settled in for some sleep, and visions of bivvy kits and speed records danced in our heads... and blocked out the sounds of our alarms at 3am.

 

The hopes of the speed record dwindled in the early morning light... soft snow... late start... and smelly asses, we began skinning up to the rib. We made contact with the un-injured climber, he informed us that SAR was on the way, and a rescue would be taking place on our planned climbing route we skinned up a sub ridge, found some rocks and chilled and thought things through:

shaddow of jeff

 

We decided to bail on the idea of summiting, and instead did a quick ski back down to camp for some coffee, and to think things through. Back at camp the SAR fellas stormed in just after 7. We gave em the scoop as we knew it, and kind of got involved in the extraction plans... of how to get the injured from our bivy out to the PCT.... enter steep tree death sloggage (I'm starting to get really good at these)

mmmm steep trees

 

but as we were doing our part, the chopper came in and took care of the evac

choppah!

 

and us fellaz concentrated on dirt rapelling.

 

No speed record this time.

 

But honestly this was a great trip still, some great lessons learned or re-learned in cases. Great company, and I'd go do it all over again (ideally with colder overnight temps). West aspect of jefferson is sick shizzy, sweet terrain for turns, i'll be back, but just not after a big ass spring dump with manky ass avy debris all over the place and hellicopters buzzing over head.

 

Thanks shred and jlag for a good trip!

 

Approach Notes:

barely any snow on trail, huge debris in milk creek gully make approach more difficult.

[gapertimmy]

more info on the climbers and the accident is here:

http://www.bend.com/news/ar_view^3Far_id^3D15108.htm

[cracked]

SWEET plabitude! But no Gu-filled HC! WTF?

 

That sunset shot is excellent.

[cluck]

Sounds like it was an all-around sufferfest on Jeffy this weekend. I was up there with 2 friends climbing (or rather attempting to) the Soutwest Ridge. We wallowed through knee deep slush (none of us are smart enough to buy skis/skins) up to about 6500 feet where we hacked out a campsite.

 

Sunday morning we were climbing by 04:00 but the snow hadn't frozen much and we were still postholing through crust the whole way up. The going was slow and exhausting so we gave up and turned around before the Red Saddle and retreated with our pathetic tails between our legs. On the way down, we passed a pair of climbers in basketball shorts (not the guys that got hurt) that were heading up and wished them good luck. I wonder how far they ended up getting...

 

Anyways, sounds like the conditions were sucky all around. Glad everybody ended up getting off the mountain eventually.

[rbw1966]

When I did Jeff a few years ago over memorial day weekend we had pretty nice snow conditions, except for having to dig through a cornice to achieve the summit pinnacle. The crux was dodging bullets on the descent. Car to car in a tad under 24 hours if memory serves correctly.

 

Hats off to the rescuers.

[jlag]

Well put Timmy, that was truly an epic adventure. I was so shocked by the size/magnitude of that avy debris I was thrown for a loop. But I would admit that I'll be there again, maybe not this season due to that debris in Milk Creek but I need to climb that thing again. Glad the old dudes made it out alright. The whole reason we we're going to Jeff was to avoid the whole helicopter/crazy scene(Mt Hood)and to ski/ride some great lines. The skiing was either crusty or sloppy. Now that I think about it the 5.7 dirt move was my favorite part. Shred it was great mixing it up with you, hope to do some more trips with you in the future. Timmy you

[bdog]

Yet another good tr and adventure tale Tim! Haven't been on Jeff in years, sounds like it may be worth lookin' at again. J. Park glacier yielded sweet turns from shrund on down last i was up there. Stil on for Tumalo? Let me know.

[tobytortorelli]

Timmy, is travel along Milk Cr. from the PCT a good approach when not avy covered? Is it open, or brushy, or ???. Also, am wondering if a hike east on the PCT (from above Pamelia) puts you up high enough to treeline for cross-country travel to Jeffersons SW slopes???

[gapertimmy]

jlag ascended to south MC gully in June last year and said it made for a quick trip up to the west ridge, but i think if you were resourceful you could travel along the side of the debris and pick your way up as well.

 

this being my first venture to jefferson, i really don't know much about getting to the south/soutwest routes, but i believe in oregon high they have you go along a climbers trail from the south end of the pamelia lake area. that ridge looks suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper long, and hot.

 

maybe cluck could give some more beta on the sw approach route and conditions since he went that way.

[cluck]

tobyt

 

We followed PCT south about a mile or two from the junction of Pamelia Lake approach trail until it came to a gully at the base of the SW ridge.

 

Since everything was still snow covered, we didn't even try to find a climbers trail from the lake and figured cruising a melted out PCT would be faster... and for early season, I'm sure it was.

 

From there we simply went straight up the SW ridge, thrutching our way through knee, thigh and waist deep snow (some as steep as 50-60) to get to the ridge proper. Have to assume that when the snow has retreated, a climbers trail up the the ridge would make this much faster going.

 

We found a great spot for camping at about 6,400-6,500', but have no idea if tent/bivy spots are available when the snow is gone.

 

With good firm snow, the SW ridge would actually be a pretty nice climb. Wading in tree wells and rock moats wasn't so great. Once it has melted, I figure it would be a long, hot and boring scree slog.... but again, like Timmy, this was my 1st experience on Jeff.

[tobytortorelli]

Thanks alot for the info. you guys. I am thinking of a ski up there in the next few weeks....cheers, toby.

[Gadow]

I was up last Sunday, helping to retrieve gear from the two "old guys" that got rescued in the above TR. we went in along the Milk Creek avy debris, and it wasn't too bad. It's melting quickly, and provided decent footing. Once into the area at the base of the West Ridge route, my partners went up to retrieve cached gear from last weekend, and I ran up the SW ridge a ways. Fairly steep snow, but not a bad way to gain the ridge for an ascent to the top from there. It's sure beautiful up there! I did see three skiers drop in from the summit, and the lines to the N. of Milk Creek looked nice. No further evidence of slides since the fiasco of the prior week.

Edited May 4, 2004 by Gadow