first ascent [TR] The Mythical Bellingham Big Wall- 7/21/2005

[dberdinka]

Climb: The Mythical Bellingham Big Wall

 

Date of Climb: 7/21/2005

 

Trip Report:

For many climbers in Bellingham the Twin Sisters Range is the place were we first cut our teeth in the mountains, climbing the west ridge of the North Twin or more often than not failing on an attempt of the South Twin Sister. The rest of the range is somewhat of an enigma.

 

During the month of July I made several forays into the east side of the range. While the west side of these mountains is a wasteland of clearcuts and decomposing logging roads, on the east side we discovered soothing old growth forest, wild rivers, impressive glaciers, lots of solitude and some great multipitch climbing on the unique and enjoyable olivine these peaks are composed of.

 

 

Last February my wife and I decided to check out the Elbow Lake Trail. After we navigated the washed-out crossing of the Nooksack River the trail immediately began a gentle climb through impressive stands of huge trees in the drainage of Green Creek. Occasional openings in the forest afforded glimpses of steep walls near the creeks headwaters.

 

 

Green Creek Arete II 5.6

 

On July 1st Allen Carbert and I returned to see if these walls measured up to the grandure of my memories. After a half hour on the trail we plunged straight into the forest and began traversing further into the Green Creek drainage. While the underbrush was thick and wet we made good time and after an hour of thrashing we broke out along the bank of the creek. This is a wild spot with great views of the Green Glacier to the west and Mount Baker and Lincoln Peak to the east. After crossing the creek we headed up the enormous talus slopes that define the upper regions of this drainage.

 

 

 

One east facing wall stood out, steep, clean and bordered by an impressive gendarmed arete. Four hours after leaving the car we stood near its base. Intimidated and running short on time we decided the arete would be a perfect choice for the day. Like many routes in the Sisters the climbing was much easier than it looked. We scrambled up delightful 3rd and 4th class rock before slipping into rock shoes for a clean exposed slab on the crest of the arete. The horizontal section turned out to be exciting 3rd class scrambling right along the massive drop of the east face. We roped up for a 100' pitch of 5.6 cracks on more clean, solid rock before a final bit of scrambling led to...nowhere. The arete simply ended on a minor high point of the long ridgeline seperating the drainages of the Green and Sisters Glaciers. We built a small cairn and ate lunch while enjoying the unique views of the Sisters Glacier which looked to be no more than a 45 minute walk away.

 

 

 

We had choosen to carry over and decided to descend by heading east along the ridgeline. After cresting a highpoint marked 5179' on maps we headed down through open meadows then more thick forest. At 3600' in elevation we hung a hard right, dropping back into the drainage of Green Creek. A steep descent led to an even steeper gorge where we once again crossed the creek before climbing back up to the trail. Eight and half hours after leaving we were back at the car, satisfied with a great day in the local hills.

 

The Mythic Wall III 5.10

 

On July 21st Michael Layton and I climbed the wall. The huckleberries in the forest were now in prime season and we stopped every five minutes to gorge ourselves. Somehow we still managed to reach the face in a little over three hours. As we roped up an enormous black spider crawled across the start of our route. What in the hell is this thing?

 

 

 

The climbing was excellent. Almost every pitch was steep, solid and sustained with adequate protection. Stemming up corners, linking face cracks, pulling over roofs on jugs, we had a great time. What loose rock there was we would pitch off into space watching it freefall for hundreds of feet before exploding into shrapnel. Michael led the crux pitch, a series of discontinuous cracks up the center of a steep, clean face. On the next pitch, intimidating roofs were passed on great holds. As Mike followed he easily pulled off the only belay-slayer on the climb, a 5' tall flake that exploded over the previous belay ledge. Four and half hours after starting we topped out in the still blazing sun. We had climbed the route in 6 pitches ( 5.8, 5.9+, 5.4, 5.10-, 5.9, 5.7) and decided to call it The Mythic Wall as it felt like we had just done that mythical alpine rock climb we've always wanted to find in the mountains near Bellingham.

 

 

 

 

We downclimbed the Green Creek Arete (easy 4th class from topout) reaching our packs in about an hour. On the way out we cooled off in the creek before thrashing back out to the trail, the truck and, to celebrate, the North Fork Beer Shrine. Either of these routes are well worth doing, particularly if you live in the Bellingham area. While the approach certainly takes some effort it sure is nice having multi-pitch alpine rock climbs so close to home.

 

 

Mythic Wall Route Description

 

At the top of the scree gully below the wall the route begins on the left side of the large wet chimney (year round water?).

 

P1 (5.8, 55m) Start directly below the only tree on the lower face. Pass a horizontal fault at 40', pull through steep black rock then follow ramps and corners to the tree.

P2 (5.9+, 45m) Hard moves off the belay, then climb up and right until you can traverse right into discontinuous corners. Follow these to a large ledge splitting the face.

P3 (5.4, 25m) Walk left then traverse up and left on a loose-looking but solid rock. Belay near another tree below face cracks on the smooth wall.

P4 (5.10-, 40m) Link face cracks up and right (crux). When they end at a L-facing corner pull out right around the corner onto an easy face.

P5 (5.9, 40m) Climb a nice L-facing corner, then pull a roof. Hand traverse left below the next roof into a fun dihedral. Below more roofs move out left to a belay.

P6 (5.7, 20m) Steep flakes lead to the ridgeline.

 

Gear: rack to 3.5", including a full set of TCUs or Aliens, micronuts and a double set of cams from 2" to 3.5".

 

The wall can be seen in shadows on page 41 of Red Fred. It's above the "ek" in "Green Creek".

 

 

 

Approach

 

From Mosquito Lake Road follow the Middle Fork Nooksack River Road about 11 miles to the signed Elbow Lake trailhead (elevation 2200'). Ford the river on log jams and reminants of the old bridge then pick up the trail again 100' downstream. Follow the trail about a mile to a sharp switchback at 2700'. Leave the trail here dropping down into gentle forest and a crossing Hildebrand creek. Continue traversing up valley through thick huckleberrys and occasional dense firs trees. The best travel seems to be around 2750' in elevation. Once you reach Green Creek the wall and the long talus slopes to reach it should be obvious. 3-4 hrs.

 

Descent

 

Down climb the arete or hike east along the ridgeline passing a high point then descending into forest. At 3600' turn right and head straight down to Green Creek. We forded the creek around 2300' then climbed back up through devils club reaching the trail around 2500'.

[Dirtyleaf]

SWEET. Awesome pics. thanks for the info

[EWolfe]

Excellent TR, Darin. Sounds like a fun excursion.

[tradchica]

Hey, nice job Darrin! Looks truely amazing. Can't wait to explore out there with Sol (we knew you were up to something). It is nice to see something a little closer to home. Mmmmm.

[lancegranite]

Very nice, the best kind of TR, one that inspires!

[JoshK]

Very cool! Looks like an awesome area to explore. Great pictures too. One question...how the heck do you tell the difference between 5.9+ and 5.10- ???

[dbb]

very nice guys!

[forrest_m]

joshk wrote

One question...how the heck do you tell the difference between 5.9+ and 5.10- ???

 

5.9+ = burly climbing (usually wide cracks), but you're afraid someone else wouldn't have as much trouble as you did, so you don't call it 5.10

 

5.10- = delicate moves or technical technique without actually being desperate

 

 

btw, nice climbing mike and darin, that looks very cool. i love that olivine. a geologist friend of mine told me that it is the oldest exposed rock formation in n. america ~2 billion years!

[Dru]

bt i love that olivine. a geologist friend of mine told me that it is the oldest exposed rock formation in n. america ~2 billion years!

 

 

i love olivine too but your friend is smoking crack. i doubt the twin sisters range is 2 billion years old, and anyways the oldest exposed rocks in n. america come from near great slave lake and are ~3.5 gigayears old.

[Dru]

oh yeah BTW cool TR darin!

[forrest_m]

dru wrote

i love olivine too but your friend is smoking crack. i doubt the twin sisters range is 2 billion years old, and anyways the oldest exposed rocks in n. america come from near great slave lake and are ~3.5 gigayears old.

 

sad, another dearly held misconception bites the dust. according to WA DNR Geology Website

The spectacular Twin Sisters mountains are made up of dunite. This ultramafic mass, measuring 4 miles wide and 11 miles long, of probable Jurassic age, contains the largest olivine reserves in the United States.

 

that would make them, what 150-200 million years old?

 

sorry for the thread hijack.

[Sol]

Nice job you guy's. Looks stellar. Who would have ever thought.

alright bellinghamsters, the race is on for the coveted second ascent.

[layton]

The whole climb was like a waking dream. I've been climbing in the sisters and living off and on in Bellingham for years and have always dreamed of a multipitch climb on olivine...and one only 30 miles from the 'Ham. I think it's truly fortunate that we were the ones to finally finally find the mythical bellingham "big wall".

This climb is a MUST DO! Thanks for a great 1st climb toghether darin!!!!

The area where the climb is located is totally unlike any place i've EVER been. Emerge from the jungle into the alpine arena of something like the Sierra! A total desolate dry redrock playground split by a clear blue stream originating from a high alpine glacier. Totally prisine wilderness and beautiful peaks. Oh My God! What a totally happy happy place and good time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

p.s. don't fret the approach. Blueberries every time the approach makes you feel sad. Did I mention that this climb is one of the most surreal experiences you'll ever have in the mountains? A Bellingham "Big Wall"??? I never would'a guessed in a million years. How fun fun fun amazing awesome happy goodtimes climb can you get? I'll spend my whole life trying to top this happy adventure. Thank you Darin for being my awesome partner!!! This experience will most definately stand out.

[jordop]

Oh wait you're serious. See you spend your whole life being sarcastic about beautiful things and then when you finally find one nobody can take you seriously. Were there kittens eating ice cream up there?

[Dru]

Teddy bears dancing naked in a rainbow with unicorns and Hello Kitty

[j_b]

wow! the unthinkable (this kind of climbing close to bham) happened and it looks great!

[Bill_Simpkins]

I've been doodling around in that range for the last 5 years. I've always looked over at that area and thought of how rugged and virgin it looked. I would daydream of hopping along that range. I would have never imagined that someone would schwack over there and check it out when they could be up in Squamish or on Stuart instead. I appluad you both greatly for doing this. Hopefully, this will remind a few of us that doing the unconventional can have great rewards.

Bravo!

[layton]

actually, the words "we could be in Skaha right now" came out of one of our mouths at the base.

[DirtyHarry]

Did this route on Saturday. The 5.10- pitch was real nice. Really tied the route together. A bit of a 'schwack to get there, but a good days outing.

 

Mike - found one of your buts at the tree belay. Pick up your garbage, man!

[rat]

that was mine from earlier this summer, bro brah. i was so frightened by the "5.9+/5.10- cascade hardman" rating, that i took a pack of smokes. nothing like an unfiltered to get ya shakin'.

 

it is a nice route. everyone do yourselves a favor and do the last pitch to the top of the ridge. it's a good pitch and provides nice views into the the other basin. we did a 100' tree/block rappel back to the downclimbing terrain.

[DirtyHarry]

The final pitch up the arete looked very cool. We didn't get to do it, it was too late in the day.

[dberdinka]

Amazing!...

 

It gets repeated....

 

By guys who live hundred of miles away (and 5 minutes from the Icicle)

 

Aren't you two a long ways from home? What inspired you to schwack up there?

[Blake]

I think there's potential for more quality climbs up there too. E. Face of Skookum peak anyone?

 

Rolf or Pete, can you describe how the river crossing went? The bridge sections had washed out last October.

[Rad]

Hey Blake,

 

Maybe I'll see you in Stehekin in the next week...

 

Darin and I climbed a line up the E face of Skookum almost a year ago. There were two nice pitches down low and two up high. In between was choss hiking and scambling:

 

look after Stovepipe in the TR

 

There may be more sustained lines on the face right of where we went. If Darin posts a closer photo of the face I'd trace our line. I don't have the pics.

 

Rad

[DirtyHarry]

Amazing!...

 

It gets repeated....

 

By guys who live hundred of miles away (and 5 minutes from the Icicle)

 

Aren't you two a long ways from home? What inspired you to schwack up there?

 

Just to clarify. Rolf and I did your route on different occasions, with different partners. So I guess your route has been repeated at least twice.

 

We went up there b/c my partner is living in B-ham for the summer and we thought it would be a unique climb, moderate, and close to town.