jordop Posted December 22, 2004 Posted December 22, 2004 PaulB and I thought it might be a good time to go in and try a Sumallo climb. In particular, we wanted to try a winter ascent of Stegosaur Ridge, but the bridge to that side of the valley is gone; it looks quite troublesome to get to the north face of Payne North as the road is overgrown/gone as well on that side. Conditions were not inspiring, about 10" of new, powdery snow over rocks in the meadows below Zero Gully. Some wicked ice bits here and there would be climbable in a week of similar weather. Some pics: Rideout: Payne: Zero Gully: Redlining the Fun Meter Area: Edwards' Gully: Quote
layton Posted December 22, 2004 Posted December 22, 2004 fun place. wish i could visit it again soon Quote
Don_Serl Posted December 22, 2004 Posted December 22, 2004 jordan, Â nice to see the photos. certainly lots to do in there during the winter/spring. Â fyi, while Guy (and a friend?) may well have climbed the gully to the notch between Rideout and Sumallo (an ascent i had not heard about, not that i'm doubting it - he was in there a lot, often solo), he definitely climbed the next gully left, branching rightwards up high to finish to the summit of Sumallo. his (rather uncertain) tale to me was that this was with Cam Campbell, in '93 or '94. which reminds me to check with Cam... Â on your bivouac.com report, u say that it's a fast ski in there. i presume the snow was low enough to allow u to drive to the forks. or even beyond? Â once it snows in tho, the old ski area is closed, and u need to ski about 9km from the back end of the cabin village to the N face of Silvertip (Redlining), and 11km to the basin below Rideout/Zero gully/Payne. unfortunately, not very quick... Â (of course, u cld take a snowmobile...) Â cheers, Quote
jordop Posted December 22, 2004 Author Posted December 22, 2004 jordan, nice to see the photos. certainly lots to do in there during the winter/spring.  fyi, while Guy (and a friend?) may well have climbed the gully to the notch between Rideout and Sumallo (an ascent i had not heard about, not that i'm doubting it - he was in there a lot, often solo), he definitely climbed the next gully left, branching rightwards up high to finish to the summit of Sumallo. his (rather uncertain) tale to me was that this was with Cam Campbell, in '93 or '94. which reminds me to check with Cam...  on your bivouac.com report, u say that it's a fast ski in there. i presume the snow was low enough to allow u to drive to the forks. or even beyond?  once it snows in tho, the old ski area is closed, and u need to ski about 9km from the back end of the cabin village to the N face of Silvertip (Redlining), and 11km to the basin below Rideout/Zero gully/Payne. unfortunately, not very quick...  (of course, u cld take a snowmobile...)  cheers, 1. I got the info on the Edwards line off this old thread where you mention "not previously reported, guy edwards and a friend climbed the gully between sumallo and rideout in winter '93 or '94"  2. I don't know what you mean "the next gully left"? Any gully left of the Rideout/Sumallo gully would take you to summit of Rideout NOT Sumallo but there DOES look to be a mean ice route in the works RIGHT of the Rideout/Sumallo gully -- this is visible as half formed daggers in the photo above. Maybe this is it. prob WI4 at least??  3. The ski in took us abt 2.5 hrs. yeah, i guess this is not "easy" in midwinter when it would be 11km, not 6 km, but still doable, no? Quote
jordop Posted December 22, 2004 Author Posted December 22, 2004 Hmm, the next gully left featured an incredible ice pillar (far left in photo -- the gully in centre dead ends), but was guarded down low by a cliff band (not visible in photo). Maybe this is it? Probably passable later in the year . . . Looks feasible to then traverse over into the Rideout/Sumallo gully and thence to Sumallo, not very "direct" though Quote
Dru Posted December 22, 2004 Posted December 22, 2004 guy definitely climbed a bunch of stuff in there and some of it solo. He also went in there with Matt from Britain cause I remember Matt sitting in the VOC clubroom describing how he was learning how to ski as they skiied in. This would have been 94 or 95? Quote
PaulB Posted December 22, 2004 Posted December 22, 2004 i presume the snow was low enough to allow u to drive to the forks. or even beyond? once it snows in tho, the old ski area is closed, and u need to ski about 9km from the back end of the cabin village to the N face of Silvertip (Redlining), and 11km to the basin below Rideout/Zero gully/Payne. unfortunately, not very quick... We were able to drive about 9km from the highway, leaving a 5km ski into the basin. Could probably have gone a bit farther if we had put chains on. The road bed was in good shape up to the switchback across the Sumallo, but beyond that it deteriorates and is getting overgrown. Quote
Don_Serl Posted December 23, 2004 Posted December 23, 2004 1. I got the info on the Edwards line off this old thread where you mention "not previously reported, guy edwards and a friend climbed the gully between sumallo and rideout in winter '93 or '94"  I think I am suffering from compounded memories. I'm pretty convinced now there were two ascents (maybe more...).  a. the Rideout/Sumallo gully (which you've labelled "Edwards gully" in one of your photos).  i've checked with Cam Campbell. he wasn't on either trip, but he passed the inquiry along to his brother Ian. Ian tells me that he, Guy, and "one other person" climbed the gully between Rideout and Sumallo in '93 or '94 but didn't make it to either summit because of bad weather.  b. Sumallo NE face.  Guy also told me he had climbed a gully, then angled up the upper NE face to the summit of Sumallo. my recollection is that this was solo.  2. I don't know what you mean "the next gully left"? Any gully left of the Rideout/Sumallo gully would take you to summit of Rideout NOT Sumallo  i presumed these ascents started in different gullies, but looking more closely at your photos jordan, it looks obvious that BOTH finishes are accessed from the same start, which begins beneath the centre of the face. this is "minus 1", or - more fittingly - Edwards Gully.  i thought the next gully right (maybe we shld call this minus 2?) ran to the notch, and the centre-start gully (minus one, aka Edwards) went to the summit. but it is as you say: minus 2 seems discontinuous.  and minus 3 runs up into the NW bowl on Rideout...  meanwhile, there are bits and pieces of ice all over the place, not really in features you'd call full-on "gullies". the obvious runnel is not the only thing in there...  Fred's at work revising Vol 3 of the CAG - i hope he can sort all this out...  cheers, Quote
Dru Posted December 23, 2004 Posted December 23, 2004 I believe the "Other Person" may be Matt from the UK. I would have to find the 1994 VOCJ to tell you Matt's last name though. Quote
jordop Posted December 23, 2004 Author Posted December 23, 2004 Thanks for the legwork Don. It looked like the Edwards/Spagnut start to the N couloir was the "plum" in terms of a natural and somewhat serious line. Can't wait to go back when things are a bit fatter and fuller Quote
jmace Posted December 23, 2004 Posted December 23, 2004 Thanks for the effort jordop, thats awesome  J Quote
Dru Posted December 23, 2004 Posted December 23, 2004 Just load it into the Gallery http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab  instead of via attachments. Quote
jordop Posted December 24, 2004 Author Posted December 24, 2004 Jesus, I'm makin a mess here; just spilled my beer . . . Â Okay, here is the latest labelling of Sumallo lines based on my photos and Don's memory. Note that Beckey's numbering of the gullies, possibly based on de Jong's descriptions, labels the North Couloir as Minus Five. However, under the "new" labelling, it makes sense that the North Couloir is MINUS SIX !!!!!! And minus Four is the Edwards/Spagnut variation to the north couloir. Quote
jordop Posted December 24, 2004 Author Posted December 24, 2004 #3 A look at Minus One climbed by Guy Edwards, Ian Campbell, and friend. The ground Edwards might have covered on his solo line is marked with question marks. Quote
Stemalot Posted December 25, 2004 Posted December 25, 2004 nice work...now you gonna post this on bivouac? Quote
glassgowkiss Posted January 26, 2005 Posted January 26, 2005 any route topos or at least ratings? Quote
jordop Posted January 27, 2005 Author Posted January 27, 2005 (edited) Quote any route topos or at least ratings? That's a good idea, DDDDOOOONNNNN? Edited June 18, 2021 by jordop Quote
Don_Serl Posted January 29, 2005 Posted January 29, 2005  from e-mail communications with mike, it sounds like they climbed the finish of Point Five. it's not totally clear where they started. it's deceiving trying to figure out what's what in this portion of the face - stuff looks like it links from one perspective, then doesn't from another... (Point 4 looks like it continues into Point 5 from some views...)  wherever/whatever, there was a fragile 80º WI3+ pitch in there somewhere, then a couple mixed pitches (not too hard), then easier climbing.  they tried Point 4, but "the lack of ice and the compact nature of the rock proved too much for guy on the first lead."  too much for guy... now THAT gives one pause...  cheers, Quote
Don_Serl Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007  from e-mail communications with mike, it sounds like they climbed the finish of Point Five. it's not totally clear where they started. it's deceiving trying to figure out what's what in this portion of the face - stuff looks like it links from one perspective, then doesn't from another... (Point 4 looks like it continues into Point 5 from some views...)  wherever/whatever, there was a fragile 80º WI3+ pitch in there somewhere, then a couple mixed pitches (not too hard), then easier climbing.  they tried Point 4, but "the lack of ice and the compact nature of the rock proved too much for guy on the first lead."  too much for guy... now THAT gives one pause...  cheers,  re-reading the above, I realize I meant MINUS 5 and MINUS 4, not "point". apologies if this created confusion... thinking too much about Scotland, i guess. (there is a "Minus Point 5" in jordop's definitive nomenclature, way over just left of "Zero".)  cheers, Quote
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