[TR] Guye Peak- Improbable Traverse 9/24/2004

[Toast]

Climb: Guye Peak-Improbable Traverse

 

Date of Climb: 9/24/2004

 

Trip Report:

Klenke and I climbed Guye Peak on Friday. It was fun route and a glorious day for it. Guye itself is good looking peak from the highway, but it has neither 2000' of prominence nor much bushwhacking involved, so I was doubtful that this'd peak Klenke's interest. Noentheless, Paul took the bait, and we set off from the road about 9:00. The talus approach wasn't bad till we hit scree at the very top. I can't say we set any land speed records, but we made good time scrambling up to Lunch Ledge after a short detour up the wrong chute and a traverse further to the left.

 

Approach Hint: veer slightly leftward at the very tip of the talus field. Beckey's CAG doesn't mention anything about burrowing into any bushes, but Klenke disappeared into the first bush to cross our path and miraculously popped out just above the traverse to get to the Lunch Ledge. That boy's like a pig after truffles when it comes to brush and the quickest path to an objective.

 

I took off from Lunch Ledge with a bad inkling to take the wrong variation. We could have pulled it off, but I didn't have any big pro, and one slip would have led to burnt Toast. After an eternity, I backed off and edged my way out the thin ledge better known as the Improbable Traverse. Sure enough there was a knife blade stuck in a thin crack just where you need it. Cracks are few and far between, so options for pro's kinda sketch. A little further out there was a more dubious looking pin just out of reach. A slight shift of foot got me to where I needed to be, and it was a piece of cake after that. There wasn't much to set a belay anchor with, but I slung two nubs of rock horn, hung my ass out and belayed Klenke across. Traverses are twice the fun as the follower is subject to the same pendulum exposure as the leader.

 

Klenke wasn't satisfied with his lead up the ramps and the easy prospect of the next pitch, so he opted for a face climb variation beside the class 3 route. It had one little bush sticking out of the rock, so I figure that's what drew him that way. It turned out to be a fun little pitch at 5.7ish. We kiwi coiled up for the short trot to the next pitch which seemed to have nice footsteps and handholds chiseled out the whole way up. The final pitch convinced me that Guye Peak deserves better than the total disregard most seem to have for it. All in all, I'd say it's good stuff with exposure, good views and options for variations all over the place.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Light alpine rack with lots of double slings to minimize drag. One #4 cam would have come in handy for the wrong variation mentioned above (we didn't go that way, though.)

 

Approach Notes:

Veer left at the top of the talus field. Bring a copy of the photo image in the Brown Beckey guide. That come in real handy.

 

There's no snow (at least right now) and a clear trail down from the north peak summit to Cave Ridge and down.... pretty hard to get lost.

[MCash]

Klenke must be feeling ill, that peak is not on COHP.org or the 100 prominent list.

 

Nice job on your climb.

[klenke]

Actually, boys, I do have other climbing lists.

 

Guye Peak has such a short approach it's a no-brainer when you're looking for something quick and dirty. If you're comfortable doing a mid-fifth traverse lead, then the Improbable Traverse is for you. The 5.7 rating is only for one move. It seemed much more enthralling than Das Toof.

 

Here are some pics:

Annotated view of the approach taken from the first belay. You basically get to the top of the talus basin where it transitions to a talus gully. The talus eventually turns to solid but loose rock, which eventually tips up to Class 4. You pretty much have to free-climb this because there's no pro. Once atop that, you head left on either a lower or upper ramp. Both ramps are Class 3. The lower ramp eventually ends at some trees where you have to do a Class 4 transition to the upper ramp. The upper ramp is then taken to its top where it also ends at trees. A few chimpanzee moves gets one to the first belay from one of these trees.

Here's Tony at the first belay area wondering whether or not we'd make use of the two cow bells he brought:

This is the short Class 4 traverse pitch (about 70 ft long) to get to Lunch Ledge, which is out of sight around a corner:

Tony beginning the Improbable Traverse pitch. At this time we figured we were at Lunch Ledge (three-ring rap station here) but we couldn't tell where the improbable part was. The variations left and right of the overhang at the top of the picture looked like a good choice from afar but they were harder than Tony liked so he backed off:

Tony about a quarter of the way across the Improbable Traverse pitch. In actuality he hasn't quite got to the improbable part that defines the pitch. Where he is at in this picture is no harder than 5.4:

Tony out at the 5.7 crux move. It's only one move--an awkward balance step up. Fortunately there are two knife blade pitons here to make things a little safer. The crux is at about halfway across the pitch:

Tony nearing the end of the Improbable Traverse. Just to his right is a short 5.5 downclimb leading to another ledge that terminates at the high-angle ramp. The short downclimb is more dangerous for the follower because he has to clean the pro, leaving nothing behind and above him if he should fall:

A 50m rope may not complete this pitch all the way from Lunch Ledge to the high-angle ramp. Our 60m rope had about 20 feet left.

 

The high-angle ramp is Class 3.

 

I will provide more pictures next week for the parts of the climb above the ramp.

[klenke]

An annotated view of the Improbable Traverse Route as we did it (others may have done it differently):

Green = Class 3

Pink = Class 4

Blue = Class 5

Orange = belays

LL = Lunch Ledge

IT = Improbable Traverse

HAR = High angle ramp

V = 5.7 variation (for those looking for even more fun)

The last pitch is Class 4/5.

Red flag = summit.

For short pitch to Lunch Ledge I changed my mind as to the difficulty of it. Having done it again with Sergio on Monday, I think it was low 5th Class, not 4th Class. Exposure is definitely there either way. Also, I'm now going to say the HAR is Class 4 in places. It is Class 3/4 all together. First third is nice slab; second third is rubbly; last third is duffy thus slick for rock shoes.

[Alex]

that has to be the most complete blow-by-blow account of a route I've ever read online! I feel now like I don't even have to go climb it!

[robertm]

I have done this one a couple of times. I have always just went straight up to LL in your diagram. There is a good 5.7ish Dihedral that pops you right onto the traverse.

[slothrop]

Holy beta overload, klenke! I did the dihedral that robertm mentions, too. It's a nice wide-hands-ish crack on decent rock.

[klenke]

The beta overloader has put up a verbose Improbable Traverse Route page on summitpost. Click this here string of words.

[ashw_justin]

Forgive my butchering, but here's the variation we did (in red). Impatient youngin's we are. My question is, are the yellow lines routes, and if they are, what are they and are they described in Beckey?

 

[slothrop]

The question mark on the right, up the dihedral, is described in Beckey, I think. Rumor is that it's kinda chossy.

[klenke]

Your red line to LL is the same as Robert's and Ralph's. Beckey says 5.5 but you know Beckey. Robert said 5.7ish.

 

Your red line from LL to HAR is the first variation listed by Beckey. From Beckey: "From the belay at the traverse [not Lunch Ledge but 50 ft to right], climb a chimney and crack system for one pitch; the lower portion overhangs slightly (5.8)." Or, this might be the route done by Thayer and Williams in 1974: "From the Lunch Ledge, climb up and right 65 ft [this gets one to ledge below larger overhang], then from a belay ledge continue up and right of a large roof into a broken, dirty chimney; climb this to the large ramp. Two leads; class 5.6 (hard to protect at times)."

 

Middle yellow line may be the one done by Risse and Dent in 1979: "A two-pitch variation off Lunch Ledge...The first of two pitches is an overhanging hand crack (5.8), then a chimney-gully (loose) meets the traverse route [presumably Beckey means the high-angle ramp]."

 

Far left yellow line I have no information on.

[ashw_justin]

Hmmm sounds about right. Still, I failed to recognize any obvious overhanging hand crack. We saw a crack off the the left, maybe that was it?

[Ade]

The question mark on the right, up the dihedral, is described in Beckey, I think. Rumor is that it's kinda chossy.

 

I can verify it's chossiness. Quite entertaining, just make sure that there are no parties below you as there's plenty to pull off. A 60m rope just barely gets you to the ledge and a rather poor belay.

[Minus]

Oh yes Ade, I remember it well......