Mt. Thompson, West Ridge

[IMAM]

I'm heading out to Mt. Thompson this weedend. Has anyone climbed the West Ridge recently? Is there any snow on the approach? Is there a water source near the base of the climb or should I pack in all my water? How long does it take? Any info on this would be great. Thanks.

[tread_tramp]

I have no current conditions to report as it has been years since I last climbed Thompson. But as to a water source, you do pass between a couple lakes a short ways before you leave the crest trail to cross the boulder strewn bowl just below the start of the climb. I believe the lakes are called Ridge Lake and Gravel Lake. The first time I did the west ridge route we did it car to car in a day. But the other time we spent a night by one of these lakes.

[klenke]

Take two liters with; refill as necessary. From Snoqualmie Pass, the trail goes right past tiny Ridge Lake to get to the mountain. This lake most likely has a bustly outlet. This lake is about 20 minutes before Bumblebee Pass and 1 hour before the base of the rock climb. Alaska Lake is a ways down the hill from the trail (PCT), so getting water there would be out of the way. The basin south of Thomson's summit (note the correct spelling I'm using here) may or may not be free of snow. I climbed Thomson in mid-June of last year. There was still snow in the basin AND it was a low snow year.

[JoshK]

Klenke, treadtramp; can you give your opinions on the thomson west ridge route? I was thinking of taking a novice climber up there because it looked like an interesting, but fairly short alpine climb wiht a scenic approach.

[chucK]

I have previously bagged on the Thomson West Ridge climb, but for what I think is your situation (more experienced climber leading all pitches) it might be very good.

 

The climb is scenic, easy, short, good exposure, and mostly straight up and down where the climbing is non-trivial, and has a walk off descent.

 

A few notes:

 

The "walkoff" descent is mighty exposed in a few places. The first place can be accomplished with a very short rap or lower, but later on this would be cumbersome. Hopefully, your novice climber is an experienced scrambler.

 

I don't know your climbing ability, I'd warn that this climb could go slow and/or be quite stressful if the leader is uncomfortable with 15 foot runouts on 5.6 ground.

 

I don't mind talus, but many people do. There's a lot of less-than-solid steep talus to negotiate involved in this undertaking.

 

It's a long hike relative to the length of the climb. I think DanielPatrickSmith called it a "dirty version of the Tooth". I would agree somewhat. The Tooth is way better in terms of technical climbing, but the West Ridge of Thomson has way better views.

[klenke]

My opinion on the West Ridge of Thomson: a 5 out of 10. Not a long climb. Needed more pitches of the same kind of stuff to make it more worthwhile. That is, if the pitches are going to be no harder than 5.4, then I'd like more of them to make the long trek over to the mountain worth it.

 

If your novice friend can follow (if only following) on 5.4 with a couple 5.6 spots, then it shouldn't be a problem. However, if your friend is short (i.e., maybe 5'4" or something), he/she may have trouble with some of it. As I recall, the trickiest part of the whole climb is the step off at the beginning of the first pitch in the notch. It's an awkward side-hill balance thing past a bulging rock (the wider your hips or the shorter you are, the harder to manage).

 

The second pitch has loose stuff. There's a half-hoist move that I remember being the crux (5.4). The third pitch for us began with a 10-foot high step with small holds. The fourth pitch traversed across the top of easy slabs to another headwall (5.6 perhaps). The fifth pitch is class 3/4 to the summit up a small gully.

 

There is one rappel (class 4 terrain) to get off the SE side. From there it's class 3 and class 2 downclimbing to get back to the basin. Be prepared for lots of scree/talus.

 

If you send me a PM, I can send you a photo of the mountain showing approximately where the pitches are.

 

=Paul

 

[ 08-09-2002, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: klenke ]

[chucK]

After the big slabs you can contrive the final headwall into a more "sustained" 5.5 pitch by staying generally right. If you're ready to be done, the easiest way is to trend left.

[snafflehound]

You'll find plenty of water in the basin below the climb. Take a few extra small pieces and leave any QDs at home in favor of singles. Your friend will most likely prefer a short rappel on those descent moves. 6 or 700 Mounte students have been up that route so I think your friend will have no trouble. Just remember, it's Snoqualmie Pass rock, don't yard up on it. The camping is beautiful at the lakes but if the climb is your only goal, an early start and comfortable footwear will make it a fine one day trip. You'll want your axe but don't need rock shoes. Have Fun!

[JoshK]

Cool guys, thanks for the info. This actually sounds like a nearly perfect climb for what I'm doing. As you guessed, I'll be leading it all, and the climb sounds easy enough for a novice to be able to follow it well enough. The long approach and views sound great as the other climber wants an interesting hike along with the chance to try an alpine climb.

 

Paul, I'll PM you for that pic.

 

-josh

[PDXClimber]

I would probably give W. Ridge Thomson a 4 out of 10. My wife and I camped near the lake near the end of the approach hike (PCT). Nice, scenic camp, but it made for a long hike back w/ gear load.

 

Most of the route was fairly moderate, but I think we made a routefinding mistake by going left at the slab and found some dirty, poorly protected, more difficult climbing. Don't make the same mistake.

 

Unless you are very set on trying to escape the crowds, I think that both Tooth and Ingalls are better 1-day intro routes to alpine climing in PNW. Good luck whatever you choose...

[PDXClimber]

My wife liked it more - she gave it a 6 out of 10.