specialed Posted February 22, 2005 Posted February 22, 2005 Rolf Larson and I climbed a line on the north face of Mt. Buckner on Sunday the 20th. Friday, after bivying at the trailhead, we skinned up the road and started up the trail to Boston Basin. Coincidentally a group of 3 skiers were off to ski the north colior on Buckner that same morning. Thrashed through the brush and above tree level by early afternoon up to within about 800 feet of the Sahale Boston col that day. Skiers continued on to make the traverse to Boston Glacier. Next day some weather moved in and vis was shitty at the col. We began the traverse. Good neve, exposure, heavy packs. Traverse, Down the Boston Glacier in light north face pow and across to the north face of Buckner that day. Scoped lines. Line we originally intended to climb looked too filled in with snow. Another line caught our eye that started with an ice flow then went into some snow and ice runnels. There was a direct start to this line that just looked too much like powder snow on rock. After another cold night in the Bibler, Rolf roused early with his usual sunny disposition and made a brew while I kept my head stuck in my sleeping bag. We trudged up to the ice fall. After some fucking around I finally started up the ice - a fun pitch with a decent steep section. From there we continued up steep snow and fun aesthetic mixed climbing. Here's a bad photo but gives an impression of the climbing. The neve was superb. Everything that looked like powder snow from the glacier was thick thunker neve. We realized we should have taken a steeper line or the direct start. About half way up the face we were able to look down at the direct start and it looked rad - with a classic ice and neve filled chimney with decent rock pro. What little girls we were for taking the conservative approach. More fun climbing led to the of the ridge and a classic ridge traverse with exposure and amazing views of the North Cascades in winter led to the summit. We paused in the sun and descended the north coliour back to the Bibler. It was only 1:30 by the time we got back to camp, so we made a brew and I told Rolf I was over spooning with him in the Bibler let's go home. We packed our shit and bolted. The skiers who had skiied the north coliour the day before had been farming the north facing slope from the Boston Sahale traverse notch down the glacier that day and had kicked a bitchin skin highway back up. Thanks skiers!! Got down to truck by 8:00 after a long exhausting day and had a beer. Named the route "Copa Cabana" after a friend who spent his President's Day weekend kiteboarding and drinking margaritas in Mexico with bikini babes instead of the Rolf Larson lovefest of freezing ass and killing ice. Shot of the route from bro's arial photo page: The Copa Direct remains. If this high pressure holds someone should go crush!!! 1 Quote
olyclimber Posted February 22, 2005 Posted February 22, 2005 Nice specialed! That second picture is awesome! Quote
Alpinfox Posted February 22, 2005 Posted February 22, 2005 Way to go Pete! Great stuff. K I L L I C E ! ! ! Quote
dberdinka Posted February 22, 2005 Posted February 22, 2005 Straight out of Chamonix! Looks sweet! Quote
Chad_A Posted February 22, 2005 Posted February 22, 2005 That freakin' rocks. Man, that's a good looking heap of rock and snow Quote
layton Posted February 23, 2005 Posted February 23, 2005 nice Pete n' Rolf. y'all make quite the team. so, how did that narrow slot just to the left of the big buttress of your route look? Quote
Steddy Posted February 23, 2005 Posted February 23, 2005 that 'bad' photo is great - looks like shit and then you see a little rope. yup, it's on! oh - and a report on the friend's weekend would be in order. Quote
specialed Posted February 23, 2005 Author Posted February 23, 2005 so, how did that narrow slot just to the left of the big buttress of your route look? That was the route we were originally planning on climbing. It wasn't good. Would have been a wallow - all filled in with snow and a only couple of steep ice steps. Maybe in early season it would be good. Here's a pic attached. I'm tellin' ya, the direct line (we should have climbed) would be the bomb though. Quote
ken4ord Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 Nice one you guys. So did you guys ski off the top of Buckner, if so how was that? Quote
Marko Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 Very friggin' cool. I was wondering what got done this weekend. Looks like you guys got in a damn nice route! Good work. Quote
goatboy Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 Here's a pic attached. So, did you forget to attach the pic? Thanks. Quote
specialed Posted February 25, 2005 Author Posted February 25, 2005 Here's a pic attached. So, did you forget to attach the pic? Thanks. Ooops. Quote
dberdinka Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 so, how did that narrow slot just to the left of the big buttress of your route look? That was the route we were originally planning on climbing. It wasn't good.... Here's a pic attached. Yeah, looks like shit Quote
JoshK Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 Anybody know who the mystery skiers were? Is the first ski of the north face coulior since Sky and I went down it last spring?? -josh Quote
specialed Posted February 25, 2005 Author Posted February 25, 2005 They were dudes from Bellingham. Didn't catch their names, but super nice guys (especially since they left us a nice skin track on the way out). They thought their descent of the north coliour was the third. Quote
rat Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 a little clarification: we descended the north face, not the north face couloir. the skiers also descended the north face. however, it appeared that conditions were not to their liking and it looked like they downclimbed about 1/2 to 2/3 of the face before skiing. Quote
skykilo Posted February 25, 2005 Posted February 25, 2005 That's too bad the skiers didn't get the goods on the North Face. Way to get out there and do some adventurous climbing guys, looks pretty sweet! It's also nice to see people trying some thrilling skiing. I know I'll head to the north side of Buckner again someday, those are great descents with super scenery. Quote
tanstaafl Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 16 years later, Rolf is still using those same skis, skins, and helmet. Quote
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