[TR] Mt. Berge- East Ridge 10/2/2004

[telemarker]

Climb: Mt. Berge-East Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 10/2/2004

 

Trip Report:

The idea for this trip came about the same way a lot of interesting trips are planned: sitting in my bathroom reading the Beckey Guide. Beckey makes mention of a Grade III climb on the E. Ridge put up by Gordon Briody and Ken Eisenberg back in 1985. Beckey states it's a "recommended route." A phone call to Briody confirms Kyle Flick's and my suspicions when he says it's one of the best routes he's ever put up. Gordon says it's granite, and solid. We're sold, but he warns of a long, brushy approach and is slightly amused we're trying to climb it in a day. He and Ken bivied on the summit, and hiked out around Buck Creek Pass, which is a helluva long way.

 

Paul Kelly, Kyle and I meet in Cashmere, and are at Trinity hiking by 5am. We hike Buck Creek Trail 4 miles, to roughly 4,100 feet to a clearing where we can spot the E. Ridge of Berge. Briody recommended hiking past Berge and contouring around a timbered ridge, which we did and find the going easy with a few brushy sections. We reach the cirque below High Pass by 9am, and traverse around steep heather slopes to the toe of the E. Ridge at roughly 5,500 feet. I notice the E. Ridge is quite massive, and a sinking feeling tells me we're not climbing this in a day.

 

Noticing the lower 1/3rd of the ridge is choss and low angle, we traverse around the toe on a cairned ramp (Buck Mtn. scramblers trial), and enter the basin on the S. side of the E. Ridge. 800 feet later, we're on the ridge roped up by 12 noon, and are quite pleased at the solid granite and great pro. It is no stretch to say this ridge compares to the N. Ridge of Stuart in rock quality, but it's so much longer. The route finding was simple, as we stayed on the ridge crest as much as possible. The climbing was never harder than 5.8 to 5.9, and the exposure in places was wild. Views of the north wall of Buck Mountain were inspiring, as well as that of the Entiat Range, Mt. Baker, Bonanza Peak, and so many others.

 

With daylight running out, we skipped the last pitch of the ridge crest and scrambled around to the west side of the summit, hoping to rap down to the trail back to High Pass. The west side gullies were way too loose, so rapping it was out of the question. Kyle notices there's a loose, exposed 4th class ledge system leading to the south side of Berge, where my map shows is low angled, but it was dark by that time, so we settled in for the night after tagging the summit. The freezing level that night was something like 12,000 feet, so it was pleasant enough. We bivied with a front-door view of Glacier Peak, and first light, we were traversing on those ledges one pitch to the south side pumice slopes down to the W. Basin of Buck Mtn. We basically traced our approach for the long hike out.

 

East Ridge of Mt. Berge

 

Frontal View

 

High Pass Area

 

Kyle Flick low on E. Ridge

 

E. Ridge Rock

 

Paul Kelly with North Wall Buck Mountain in background.

 

Small chimney part way up.

 

West Basin of Buck Mtn.

 

Paul and Entiat Range in Background

 

Glacier Peak in fading light

 

Pumice slope descent

 

Clark Mountain Range

 

Gear Notes:

Medium rack up to 3.5 inch cam.

 

Approach Notes:

The approach is rugged and long, with considerable slide alder in the High Pass cirque. Staying high in the cirque seemed to make sense. One can descend west towards High Pass, which may be quicker, we just didn't have the time to look for it.

[klenke]

Hmmm, now you're all ready for the North Wall of Buck.

The West Basin of Buck was one of the prettiest places I remember going (have to do it in late-season to enjoy the colors more).

I like the picture of the guy (of Kyle, I'm thinking, if the mustache is still the giveaway) straddling the notch. Why do you call it a chimney? Looks like a notch to me.

 

[klenke]

By the way, this TR belongs in the North Cascades Forum.

[Pandora]

Wow! Never heard of this peak. Looks really cool; super nice photos!

[Blake]

IS this peak 7948 NW of buck Mtn?

[telemarker]

Right, a notch, not a chimney. A few other points I want to add: The E. Ridge isn't longer than N. Ridge of Stuart, but very comparable in length; 16 total pitches, with about 11 belayed (for us, anyway); even though we were three, we had reversos which made simul-following more efficient; the approach is 7 miles approximately from Trinity, 5 hours of which is bushwacking to reach the buttress from Buck Creek Trail.

[layton]

totally awesome!

I wrote off that area, guess I was wrong.

that ridge on buck is highly unreccomened according to fred

Edited October 8, 2004 by michael_layton

[chucK]

Great job Telemarker! That looks really nice.

 

You mentioned how it was never harder than 5.8/9. How often was it 5.8/9; that is, how sustained was it at that grade? What was the average grade?

[telemarker]

I would say the average grade was 5.6 to 5.7. By staying right on the crest, there are only a few sections of 5.8/5.9, but never sustained, and easily bypassed on the north side. Easily doable in a day if you camp in the basin at the base of the ridge. The rock was so sound and clean when we were expecting loose choss, so we were quite surprised.

 

By the way, what the hell happened to the pictures in the TR?

[leejams]

That's what I would like to know. I would have liked to see them. Good job nice area.