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[TR] Great-horned Owl, Enchanments- zipperhead 8/7/2004


Szyjakowski

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Climb: Great-horned Owl, Enchanments-zipperhead

 

Date of Climb: 8/7/2004

 

Trip Report:

1672owl1_1_-med.JPG

this gem is on temple ridge to the east of the black pyramid.

Cappellini and I climbed a short 2pitch route on the left hand side of center. we summited both ears and for a short time we were both on each ear laughing the evening away.

the view suckS and the rock is high quality mt stuart batholith dirty choss. i will most definitely go back this year.

Pitch 1- 210' lots of loose blocks and a few trees to contend with. gear to 5-6"

Pitch 2- approx 100' short killer hand crack (similar to nface of the mole) with many ledge foot holds, also a few fingerlocks and lieback moves. gear to 2.5"

 

All in all a pretty nice peak but the approach in heinous and the descent is very dangerous!

 

Gear Notes:

Alpine rack to #5 camalot.

60m rope

no raps- walk off.

 

 

Approach Notes:

~8mile from snow creek trailhead. Peak top elevation ~6500' (just a guess)

Lots of bush wackin!

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i have to make a couple corrections with regards to approach, route and descent....although no raps were used (hence the danger), it was clear from the speed with wich ben descended that short rappells are in order....also the approach is far from heinous (unless of course you are a fatass), just hike up to nada lake than up to temple canyon (all trail), ascend a couple hundred feet up steep heather to base of tower..this climb is best as an afternoon tick after the hike in to temple canyon, for a presumably more significant objective the following day....the route is classic enchantments, 5.9+, and although north facing, it is far from choss...i will forever refer to the route as "The Pellet" in reference to the way that owl coughed up ben on our way down....

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Hey thanks Greg...i really don't care either way... just needed to reflect on the entire ordeal and let my body rest before i felt it was necessary to post about my mistake that almost cost my life on this planet....

 

Around 8pm on 8/7/04 Dan and I had just hiked off the south side of the owl... we decided to descend to our camp in temple canyon via the western gully. This is almost visible in the picture of the owl to the right of the pyramid-shaped spire right of the owl. (no this isn't the black pyramid mentioned in the beckey guide) At the top of the gully Dan and briefly debated rapping. I said it looked reasonable and do-able...before I finished Dan was already heading down. The gully is slightly steep at the begining; sort-of a chimney down climb for what i remember as ~10-15ft. Dan easily reached the bottom of the sketch section and continued down to the base of the gully where he hid around a corner to stay clear of falling projectiles (as the gully did have some loose rocks) rolleyes.gif After I trundled a bit of the loose rocks from the starting notch/ledge i began the short downclimb.

I was in the process of stepping down with my left foot when my right hand-hold broke. The next thing I knew, I was falling backwards. I did attempt to "grab" the rock but just scraped it with my fingertips. I fell approx. 12 feet straight on my moon.gif and then flipped over, bounced down the gully, glancing off a rock with my head, flipped again and landed on my back atop a heather-loaded slope. This was about 35 feet from where I first fell. I guess I was slidding backwards headfirst towards more "tree-lined cliffs" (visible in the photo) when Dan was able to grab a tree and snag my legs as I slid by him. He said the force was so great that he felt like his arm would dislocate. fortunately for both of us, it didn't. Dan saved my life and I am very grateful to him. It took us about two hours to scramble (lower me occasionally over small cliffs) our way back to the bivy area in temple canyon. Dan retrieved our gear and we took the necessary goods to exit the mts. We descended temple canyon to nada lake in approx 50minutes (this went much faster than I would have ever guessed but the watch said it was almost 11pm). Here we took another break and minimized the gear we were to take again...leaving most stuff hidden. We finally made it to Dan's car at 3am. We arrived at the Central WA Hospital at approx 420am hahaha.gif and I finally got to my parents house back in Leavenworth at 730am. Like I said, I was very very lucky as I only inflicted upon myself a very slight concussion and received 19 staples and 20 stiches in my head. No broken bones; just bruises and scrapes. My moon.gif still hurts. I got my stiches removed from my forehead last saturday and I am getting my staples out tonight!! If we would have had helmets on this trip, I probably would have taken it off already.......besides i am polish (built-in helmet) doctor said i have no brain-damage! grin.giftongue.gifcantfocus.gif

Life is great...despite our world being fuked in the ass by the shrub and his comrades. And if any of you spelling Nazi's care, i spelled words incorrectly before my accident too.

1672zipperheadben-med.jpg 19staples i think are visible.

1672drjamnenstein-med.jpg Anyone want a bigdrink.gif ??!!?

 

 

 

BTW- we already got all our gear so there is no booty to be had....

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