5 Worst Routes in PNW

[Dru]

How come DFA hasn't chimed in with selected Smith abominations like Snack Crack. Tweeky 5.13 guano jamming?

[slothrop]

Re: Sickle

 

I'd rather do that finger crack to the right and then continue up the groove, rope drag notwithstanding. I like that groove, it's cool. Blockbuster is also cool, but two moves long.

[scott_harpell]

is blockbuster that 10c after the AO?

[slothrop]

Naw, Blockbuster is the very short 5.9 offwidth just above Sickle.

[ScottP]

Speaking of the Blockbuster, how about The Mystery Route at Index? Has to be one of the stupidest routes out there.

I also have to give a double to the last pitches of Remorse on SCW.

[eric8]

 

Sahale is way overrated as a climb, but it does have fine views.

 

Sickle Crack at Index. Too short and the traversing bit is annoying.

 

Dude first sahale is a blast for what it is. And second your just pissed because you took a falll on a 5.7. For a classic pitch like chuck said go up the fist crack then up the sickle around the corner and up pisces never harder then 5.8 and a rope full of fun crack climbing

[mattp]

I also have to give a double to the last pitches of Remorse on SCW.

 

Let's hear the trip report.

[skyclimb]

-South-east ridge of North Sister...loose, with a lot of objective hazards

-Wy-east on Hood...It isn't that interesting, or sustained, but the summit traverse is cool.

-D.C. on Rainier- beautiful mountain, but too many people, not enough adventure on this route.

-Remorse start to Outerspace...From now on, I will get to those upper pitches as quickly as possible

-BBQ the pope-traversy, and makes me realize how shitty my smith climbing technique really is

Its tough to name bad routes, it seems like I have learned something from every route I have done, these routes just didn't inspire

[telemarker]

[-Remorse start to Outerspace...From now on, I will get to those upper pitches as quickly as possible

 

For the quickest, funnest and most direct route to the upper pitches do the RPM start.

[leejams]

1-any climb with more driving than climbing.

 

2-Whitehorse snow gulch rte, Hit it at the perfect timing and could be a great climb. Any other time it sucks (2 failed attempts).

 

3- Heart of gold in 11worth. A great rte but we ended up taking the sucker left hand path at the top of the 2nd pitch and missed the heart of gold pitch that is hidden to the right. Then rapped the rte instead of walking down and around.

 

4-Adams S rte, to many people.

 

5-S ridge of Ingalls, Nice outing but tech part to short.

[telemarker]

3- Heart of gold in 11worth. A great rte but we ended up taking the sucker left hand path at the top of the 2nd pitch and missed the heart of gold pitch that is hidden to the right. Then rapped the rte instead of walking down and around.

 

God, I forgot about this one. I wouldn't say it's a great route, it's something like a couple moves of 5.10, then the rest boring as hell. What's worse, it's the first thing you notice looking up that way from the road. Like a huge, white scar.

[johndavidjr]

Don't know nothin' bout cragging in PNW but most of you guys are just being silly about the routes mostly mentioned. If you can get out and do 'em they're all pretty cool. What are the worst routes anyplace? Mountaineering mostly s**ks in a certain kinda way.

 

____

[chirp]

Your percieved "worst" route is your BEST opportunity to improve skills OR appreciation of a specific weakness you blame on the aforementioned route due to whatever you feel "challenged" or "affronted" by. Every route is valid and has a right to be climbed. YOU just might not be the right climber for that route. Dont H8!, just move on and let others formulate their own opinion.

 

The grass is always greener...

 

- dedicated to choss everywhere

[ScottP]

I also have to give a double to the last pitches of Remorse on SCW.

 

Let's hear the trip report.

I climbed it in the late 80's/early 90's as part of an attempt to do as many SCW routes in a day as possible. On our second lap up Outer Space in early afternoon, we came across a large crowd at the top of the pillar. Rob suggests we try Remorse, so we traverse right over increasingly lichened and vegetated rock for most of a rope length. At a suitable stance we scan the rock above, finding a single bolt about 15-20 feet out. I start up, raining lichens back down onto Rob, clip the rusty 1/4 inch spinner and scan some more. No obvious way to go, a couple more moves up tenuous, lichen covered holds and I balk. Rob wants none of it, so I downclimb and we scan some more, eventually deciding to traverse off to the Ramp. Maybe I wasn't even on Remorse when I clipped the bolt, but I know that it was the most obvious way to the top from where we were. Cleaned and sanely bolted, it might not be too bad.

I have to agree with previous posts that part of the problem was me and my in ability to suck it up and continue. But then, it is the nature of the route that dictates those feelings.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

How come DFA hasn't chimed in with selected Smith abominations like Snack Crack. Tweeky 5.13 guano jamming?

 

 

DFA's smart enough to avoid tweaky 5.13 guano jamming in the first place. The Doc's been suckered into plenty of craptastic face routes, though.

[Rad]

W ridge Mt Thompson. Mediocre rock with only 2 interesting moves on the whole climb, and the interesting part is whether the plates you're pinching will pull off the choss pile of a route. It is a lovely setting, however.

 

The rock reminded me of Chair Peak, which is another classic summit with great views guarded by choss.

 

I agree with Dberdinka: it's all about expectations. I was on the N face route of Vesper, which is a moderate route with quality moves, quality rock, and an amazing alpine ambience, and a party of two we talked with en route said if we liked that route we should go do Thompson.

Expectations were high and were not met.

[Chad_A]

I was fortunate enough to do it from Boston Basin, and from there it's a pretty nice climb IMHO.

 

Agreed. I planned it as a first-climb for my girlfriend; I ended up enjoying it quite a bit, and so did she. The approach across the avalanche debris on the basin trail gave her hell, though.

[Dru]

bump, any updates?

 

Cayoosh Wall is pretty bad. So's Arthur Seat. If you go seeking out bad rock, though, I guess you can't complain.

[ivan]

any route on mt. washington

 

mt torment by any route sucks stupid

 

granny's asscrack, in prime conditions...

[Drederek]

How could anyone nicknamed choss dog not like mt washington? Have to add Right Wing on the Squaw to the list although a gas powered weedwacker and flamethrower would do wonders for it.

[Cairns]

How could anyone nicknamed choss dog not like mt washington? Have to add Right Wing on the Squaw to the list although a gas powered weedwacker and flamethrower would do wonders for it.

 

Right Wing is as striking a line as Pipeline, don't know why it isn't climbed more. Well, yes I do.

 

Some climbs I've done had the ambience of long-abandoned junkyards, thinking of the Monte Cristo area in particular, but I love junkyard ambience. As in the Christian aphorism alluded to in Man in the High Castle: stones rejected by the builder, literally! and The Builder! There's just something about junk.

 

I got off trail a few days ago and crashed through the brush and found several rusting car bodies to climb over giving temporary relief from the brush. Car hulks are cool wherever they are, even along the sidestreets of Danbury CT or NYC, but fresh ones are unnerving.

 

The PNW climbs I like least are the THREE? side-by-side nonentities just off the highway up in Cheakamus. Whenever for partner reasons I find myself on those climbs a dark cloud of depression settles in my soul, it takes a superhuman effort to pay attention to what I'm doing, and a groundfall would be ludicrous but strangely welcome. Bring on the loose rock! It is far better than banality.

[Alex]

I can't think of 5 completely terrible routes, but the ones I've considered least likely for repeats include..

 

N Ridge Adams. XXX-rated kitty litter. Luckily I was going down, not up. Still, it sucked.

 

Sentinel, near Dome, the std route up the S W side. Just junk rock, and then junk scree higher up. Luckily its short enough to just be annoying, not redliculously dangerous.

 

Crooked Thumb in the pickets, N ridge...gripping choss, no way to climb or really bail off safely without potentially taking half the mountain down with you.

 

Sahale from Sahale Arm. My *GOD* what a long hike for 1 hour of climbing! Quien Sabe glacier is comparativley much much more interesting!

 

Reading through some of the other posts, I def don't agree with some of the choices of others: Princely Ambitions? I mean, ok, the second pitch sucks, but the first pitch is really nice. Saber? Come on, that thing has "5.4 testpiece" written all over it, a great outing for a newb. Other mountain routes: Johannesburg IS root pulling, but its still a long, challenging, intimidating endevour! Condorphamine Addiction much maligned but the views are really nice from the top. Infinite Clipup does not live up to its name for sure, but is a nice long outing for a fast party....

[JoshK]

1. Mt Adams, North Ridge. Without snow this thing is just hideous volcanic bullshit. Unlike Glacier Peak, the views aren't even that interesting.

 

2. Ripsaw Ridge, between Buckner and Sahale. This isn't a climb but me and a partner stupidly descended this thing. It is the loosest scariest pile of shit. We rapped off a bollard and then some other sketchiness. Freaky.

 

3. Glacier Peak, Sitkum Glacier w/o skis. God, the boredom. The trail up to boulder basin is steep and sucks and the climb is boring as hell. At least the views are great.

 

4. Mount Stuart, Cascadian Coulior - I did this when I first started "climbing." I thoguht Stuart was a big cool mountain and it would be fun. Instead I baked my ass off in the hot sun while slogging up 4000 feet of nasty shit.

 

5. NR of Baker. I gotta agree this was pretty damn boring. For supposedly having "ice climbing" we didn't even find anything worth protecting really. I also forgot my sun glasses and near went snow blind. The saving grace was we had carried skis up and didn't have to slog the C/D down.

[JoshK]

Crooked Thumb in the pickets, N ridge...gripping choss, no way to climb or really bail off safely without potentially taking half the mountain down with you.

 

Hey, imagine doing about 50 of those in a row

 

-josh

[goatboy]

There are routes that we KNOW are bad in advance, which for some reason we choose to climb anyway -- and there are routes we expect to be good, which we are disappointed in.

 

I have climbed a few routes which had been represented as "classic" or popular, and been disappointed in the rock quality, lack of real climbing, or general inconsistent nature of the routes:

 

1) S Buttress Cutthroat -- loose and kinda dumb. "Frankly flawed," Nelson advises. I should have listened.

 

2) Cascadian Couloir on Stuart ( without any snow ) -- tedious, never-ending slog of despair

 

3) S Ridge, Torment -- Very loose and generally unpleasant climbing, either traversing or sidehilling much of the time, few sections that consitute "quality" climbing on solid rock

 

4) Not a climbing route per se, but I really disliked the Sibley Ridge Approach to Eldorado -- very long, circuitous and unnecessary given how direct and straightforward the Eldorado Creek Approach is. The views, admittedly, are great -- but its not the best way to get to Eldorado, in my opinion.

 

5) NW Face, Libert Bell (Kraus/Rupley Route) -- some pretty mediocre or dangerously loose pitches there ("oatmeal flakes," Burdo calls them) that lead to one really great 5.8/5.9 dihedral at the end.

 

Additional Comments:

 

Sahale from either the Arm or the Quien Sabe is a very good climb for what it is, with spectacular views and very high, great campsites...

 

As mentioned above, Torment itself sucks, but the T-F Traverse is outstanding...

 

I liked Princely Ambitions . . . .

 

I also liked the Remorse Start to Outer Space . . . . though I have no real interest in continuing up Remorse as a route, for reasons stated previously by others.