[TR] Water Ice on Cooper Spur Buttress- Training Day(Kenny's Climb) WI4 11/15/2004

[marcus]

Climb: Water Ice on Cooper Spur Buttress-Training Day(Kenny's Climb) WI4

 

Date of Climb: 11/15/2004

 

Trip Report:

On Nov 15 in full conditions Chris Mackay and I ascended the unclimbed flow 50m left of Hal Burton's line, ca.8,300' on the rockband below Cooper Spur. A photo of the line can be seen on Hal's TR from 11/4: Cooper Spur Ice. The climbing was full-value WI4 and highly recommended.

 

P1: Tiptoe across a snow fin bridging the moat, up a broad cone to vertical ice. Here one could fire in a quick belay(recommended, as we ran outta rope on a 65m trying to 'single-pitch' it) or continue up great stemming and delicate swings to a thinnish topout. No rock gear here, so bring those 13cms.

 

P2: AI2 gulley past short steps until you find a rock belay in the rock above(About 50m for us).

 

We ascended a couple hundred feet to the Cooper Spur crest and descended the ridge from there.

 

With lotsa spindrift, null visibility and high winds(gusting 40mph) we had a stellar adventure, calling the route 'Training Day,' WI4 80m and climbed it in honor of Kenny from AK, who lost his life in an unfortunate accident on the Sandy Headwall last week.

 

Gear Notes:

Screws and pins(few KB-angles).

 

Approach Notes:

As of 11/15 the road to Cloudcap is very open with minimal snowpack. No floatation was required on the approach(1.5hrs).

[chelle]

Nice TR. Here's a link to the other TR with the photo.

Edited November 16, 2004 by chelle

[iain]

I highly doubt it is unclimbed, but so be it.

[Billy]

I'm pretty sure that all those routes were done many moons ago by the resident hardmen of the day.

[Winter]

renaming a route previously done after a guy you didn't know that suffered an accident on a completely different side of the mountain?

 

nice day out though.

[DPS]

Hi Marcus.

 

Nick and I were just talking about you. Good to hear you are still around.

 

Dan

[marcus]

By all means, I hope this flow has been climbed previously. If someone has information about the ascent history in this area, I'd love to learn more about it. The name I attatched to it, "Training Day" reflects the very fact that in generations past such a minor flow on a larger peak would not even be considered a 'real' climb, but rather just a day out, working on your chops. By posting it with a name rather than 'Random Flow on Left #2' my intent was to develop a reference point for further climbing and reports. There has been dependable water ice up on the Spur for weeks - posting current, usable info is a way to encourage others to check it out.

 

 

As for naming a route in memorium: I'm unaware of any precedent regarding necessary proximities...I believe 'Johann's Route' was in South America, yet the man died on a route in Asia.

Kenny had been in Portland a few short weeks and during that time I talked with him just a few times. He struck me as an open and friendly guy who was a pleasure to be around. I saw the impact his loss left on his friends and sought a small gesture for them...

[dberdinka]

Don't let the peanut gallery get you down....

[marcus]

Has anyone else been up the spur to climb or recon these routes...?

[cicleclimb]

I was up there last weekend and both of the regular flows were in but thin in sections. The one on the right looked good except about 2/3 of of way up when it looked thin and spicy. We lapped out the one on the left. Didn't go to the top, but the ice was very solid for how it looked. I wonder if the road is still open now that there has been some new snow.

[Stanley]

Marcus,

 

Don't do the spray wankers on this site the honor of posting any info... you just get shit for it.

 

Nice work, see you in AK this spring?