Flatlander1 Posted September 8, 2004 Share Posted September 8, 2004 Climb: Serratus-North Face Date of Climb: 8/19/2004 Trip Report: I'm hooked!!! This was my first (but not last) trip to the west after catching the mountaineering bug on a winter ascent of Mount Washington (New Hampshire) this January. I enjoyed five fantastic days on an apline skills course held in the Tantalus Range. There was only one other student so we had a 2:1 ratio with our instructor and personal photographer John F. We flew in by chopper to the Red Tit col (sorry, more money than time). Set up camp and practiced self-arrests, building anchors, gear placement, belaying, crevasse rescue, snow and ice climbing, etc. On the third day we summitted Serratus via the North Face. We crossed numerous crevasses (John wouldn't let us take any easy routes) and led all but the steepest of sections. I couldn't believe how loose the rock was. We spent a 1/2 hour at the top before descending the southwest spur. What a shooting gallery!!! John could not believe how much the couloir had melted-out and how much loose rock there was. Down-climbed over 1/2 the route before we reached any snow/ice. Round trip took us 12 hours (newbies) but we were there to learn. We passed at an ascent of Dionne the following day as the weather was turning and we wanted to practice more on the glacier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted September 8, 2004 Share Posted September 8, 2004 Good job! I'm looking forward to spending some time up in BC next year, after they get some more snow up there (hopefully). I moved to Portland a couple of years ago, and this has been my first true alpine season. I'm in love with the Northwest as well, but I wish that I could've gotten closer to the Washington Cascades...guess I can't complain since my work paid for me to move out here from Michigan, though...haha. Watcha gonna climb next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatlander1 Posted September 8, 2004 Author Share Posted September 8, 2004 Still coming down from the trip. I can see how someone like me could bite off more than they could chew the next time out. I'm still hyped about the trip and immediately started to plan the next one. My wife wants to attempt a winter ascent of Mount Washington (NH) in January and we may go to the Joffre Range in June to work on our skills. I'd also like to go with a couple of my buddies (far more experienced) to do Skyladder on Andromeda or a nice route on Athabasca. Too bad about the having to move from Michigan through. Was there anything to climb there besides the huge sand dunes on the lake? Since this was your first alpine season where did you climb and what were the routes like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Cool! Joffre group looks nice. Moving from Michigan was a blessing. Much rather be moving from there than to there My first true alpine season went kinda like this: March- Couldn't find a partner, so I soloed Leuthold Couloir on Hood. April- Gave the Furher Finger a shot, but was stormed off at about 12,500. Finally met a partner! After going up and looking at it three times, finally got the Sandy Headwall on Hood done. Beautiful climb. Met more partners May- Did North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck Peak; fun! June- Did Ice Cliff Glacier on Mt. Stuart. Probably the hardest (mentally) route I've done. Took a nasty spill on the approach (ouch!). Sunset Ridge on Rainier; summitted June 20th, on my Birthday. Best present I could've asked for. July- Did Jefferson Park Glacier. This one was the most surpising to me. I thought we were settling when we couldn't do Coleman Headwall due to weather; I was wrong. Beautiful climb, indeed, and harder than I expected. Then, family came to town, nonstop, as well as friends; two climbing partners moved away (or went overseas), one broke an ankle, another got a steady girlfriend....and it was it until the end of August, when a pal of mine and I did the North Ridge of Stuart. The poor guy; I keep pestering him, but he keeps agreeing to go out and climb with me! Thanks to him; I'd be going crazy if I were to run out of partners again Next, weather providing, we're going to try to give the NE ridge of Triumph a shot. After that, hopefully the North Face of Hood will come into shape. What's next? Who knows. Thanks for asking, though. Kinda gave me an opportunity to sort things out. It seems like I didn't climb too much, but it, in retrospect, just hasn't been lately. Sure, I missed out on climbs that I wanted to do, but they'll be there next year. Baker, I'm comin' for ya, baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Oh, to answer your question, by the way, all, except the NR of Stuart, have been snow/ice routes. I should also mention that, even though this was my first alpine season, I wasn't wholly inexperienced; I'd summitted Rainier a few years before via the DC route, with a friend, after taking an ice climbing/crevasse rescue class with Mountain Madness. Then fast forward to November '03, when I finally met a pal, Dan, who took me up and we did the standard Colchuck Glacier route to the summit of Colchuck Peak. That was it- I was hooked. The following February of '04, my pal Andy invited me to hang with him in SLC, where I lead my first WI pitches; one was 3+, and another, solid 4. Followed him up some other stuff, as well; this set me up to be very comfortable on steep alpine stuff. After leading WI, a 50 degree snow slope doesn't seem scary at all! Okay, that's it for now, sorry for the long posts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Next, weather providing, we're going to try to give the NE ridge of Triumph a shot. Sounds like you're having fun. Instead of Triumph, you might have a look at the N Ridge on Forbidden, seeing as how you haven't been in there. It's a better climb, as stunning a position, and not much difference in time commitment. This time of year, I'd take the ridge the whole way rather than the snow/ice start Nelson recommends, but I'm sure others might choose differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvs Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 yes ridge the whole way is fun, makes it feel reeelly long which is good! But Triumph has that awesome ridge bivy with the southern Pickets - might inspire you for next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fern Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 hello friends, this is all interesting and whatever. but completely random when considering that this is the British Columbia Forum and the topic is a mountain in the Tantalus Range. Please stop talking about Washington state mountains in this forum and start new threads in the appropriate area forums instead. It will make it easier for future users to search the site for information. If anyone has anything else to say about the North Face of Serratus Mountain then Rock On! thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriznitch Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 I just saw the pictures in the gallery. This sunrise picture is sicko!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 Oh, sorry, fern. No disrespect to Flatlander, either. Didn't mean to drift offfffff............ Speaking of the North Face of Serratus, though, it looks like a pretty nice, moderate snow/ice route. I think I might give it a shot in early summer. Hey, Flatlander, what was the approach like? And, what (providing there's any snow and ice...yikes)do you figure the angle to be to the summit? I'd like to take my girlfriend on another snow/ice route, and I'd like to get her across the border. Off White, I'd thought of that, but my pal Dan is really stoked on Triumph. Although, Forbidden looks great; I'd love to do that one, too. The cool thing about Triumph is, I haven't seen a handful of TRs about it lately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatlander1 Posted September 14, 2004 Author Share Posted September 14, 2004 For my first alpine climb I thought it was a nice, moderate snow/ice route although Alpine Select (p. 160) describes it as steep. I don't have a great deal of experience in alpine climbing so bear that in mind when you read my description and the terms I use. I'm also sure that being with a pro guide during the ascent greatly reduced the "neck" factor at the steepest portion of the climb (last 100m) which I know would have felt different were I on the sharp end. He also took over the descent but for a very good reason. The approach from the Red Tit col was an easy walk around the northwest spur through moderately crevassed slopes. On lead our instructor had us evaluate and cross many snow bridges along the way which I suspected he was trying to get us to fall into just for the experience. From there we ascended the north face along the right side until the bergschrund. We weren't allowed to walk around it so we climbed through (my partner falling in 1/2 way through) and veered left up a steeper gully (60-70 degrees) to the east ridge. We didn't ascend directly to the summit so we could gain more experience climbing the poor quality rock along the ridge. I would never have thought something so large was so broken-up. Everything I touched was extremely loose and I was afraid of sending huge blocks down on my belayer. We descended the southwest spur (standard route) downclimbing what I thought was at least 100m to a couloir that led to the Ionia-Serratus col. Our guide took over from there as much of the snow/ice was gone in the descent gulley and it was quite a shooting gallery. We scrambled down most of the steep sections wearing crampons, rapped over numerous vertical drops and were lowered or rapped down what little snow/ice remained. Our guide told me it was one of the worst descents he had ever done and was going to post on the pro guide website that it should no longer be used due to its condition. Once on the col we traversed through numerous dry crevasses back to the Red Tit hut. Alpine select rated the climb AD but our guide rated it AD+ given the route's condition. All in all I had a great time during the ascent but would have been extremely nervous during the descent had our guide not been there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatlander1 Posted September 15, 2004 Author Share Posted September 15, 2004 vw4ever and anyone else: I forgot to mention that there were a couple of manky rap anchors in the descent gully. One was a cord and piece of webbing that looked fairly new from a distance (about 25' off climber's right) but they were attached to a large block that looked as if it would tip over fairly easily. The second was lower down on climber's left. It looked pretty good, fairly new webbing and cord, however, I heard tearing sounds from the webbing behind the block it was attached to when I tested it. There were no rap rings so we cut both the anchors and left two bomber nuts and a biner in its place. They are about four feet up on the wall. I also placed a few more photos in my gallery of the ascent (mid north face) and the descent gully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 You've done a good job with the info sharing! Thank you for that. I'm sure others will benefit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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