[TR] Spider & Formidable- SE Gulley & S Face 8/15/

[Snafflehunter]

Climb: Spider & Formidable-SE Gulley & S Face

 

Date of Climb: 8/15/2005

 

Trip Report:

Klenke and I climbed Spider and Formidable this weekend in a 2-day, choss-filled extravaganza.

 

We left the Cascade Pass TH at 9AM Saturday morning and arrived at Cascade Pass at 10:15 where we were greeted by a very lovely young Ranger, named Miss McKay, who promptly asked us if we were staying the night ("Your tent or mine" came to mind, but I digress). After explaining that we were in fact staying overnight, but not in the Park, we engaged in friendly chit-chat regarding our planned itinerary. Miss McKay explained to us that a recent "experienced" group of climbers who attempted to do the Ptarmigan Traverse reported to her that the route was "impassable". We asked her just what it was that was impassable, but she couldn't elaborate. Klenke casually explained to our Ranger friend that impassable to some is passable to others, but she seemed convinced. Just a small tidbit for all you aspring Ptarmigan Traversers out there (having only seen part of the route, the LeConte Glacier looks interesting, but not impassabe - from afar - for what it's worth).

 

The route via Cache Col is in great shape right now, with very minimal crevasse avoidance required on both the Cache and Middle Cascade Glaciers. There is some alpine ice on both glaciers which makes for easy ascension and which prevented our crampons from balling up in the hot weather. Worth mentioning were the numerous veritable ice creeks which carved out deep channels in the glaciers, collecting in crevasses and forming "pools". Instead of roping up, one might consider a life preserver here, as you would certainly be swimming in the event of a fall into one of these crevasses.

 

After 6.5 hours of hiking, we arrived at Spider-Formidable Col where we camped on rocks at the West notch (~7350') where we were greeted with unbelievable views of Yang-Yang Lakes, LeConte, Sentinel, and the rest of the Ptarmigan Traverse (among others). We briefly set up camp and set out to climb our first objective, Spider Mountain. Traversing over towards the SE gullies of Spider, we encountered very steep and hardpack dirt. If you've ever seen the railroad grade on Baker in late Summer, this is very similar. Dry, concrete-hard dirt mixed in equal proportions with sharp, tiny rocks. A fall here would surely yield a flurry of cusswords and a fanny full of pebbles (at the very least).

 

There are really two gullies to choose from on Spider's SE side .. neither of which are enticing. After a short discussion, Klenke and I agreed that the Western-most gully was worth a shot. Our chosen gully consisted of about 900' more feet of nasty loose pebbles over crusty slabs with the occasional step of coarse, very steep mud thrown in for good measure. We climbed our gully to approximately 250' below the summit where we traversed right and then up before we topped out on the ridge just E of the summit (between the false E summit and the true W summit). From here, it's a traverse of about 200 yards of class 3 choss to gain the true summit to the West. On the summit we were rewarded with unbelievable views to Forbidden, Sahale, Boston, Ripsaw Ridge and Buckner to the North and the Peaks of the Ptarmigan Traverse to the South. The summit register was quite old, dating back to the late-60s and included many recognizable names including that of Ed Viesteurs. There have also been an army of Skoogs up there over the years. An interesting read.

 

The descent off Spider was much easier than the ascent, mainly because we found the rib Beckey refers to in his route description. The rib consists of loose class 3 choss with very short class 4 steps. Traversing back towards the Spider-Formidable Col was just as ugly the second time around, and was capped by a loose, steep 300' scramble up to the bivy site which turned out to be a real pain in the ass. Unfortunately for us, we would have another encounter with this gully on Sunday following our climb of Formidable.

 

Back at camp we enjoyed 24oz cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and cold soup (long story). We were visited by a hungry looking Billy Goat who mingled around camp for 20 minutes or so waiting for us to take a whiz, but neither of us had the urge so he finally moved on. That night, the meteor shower was in full force, and the bright half-moon vividly illuminated the surrounding peaks. Even though I was tired, it was hard to get to sleep with so much going on. Truly one of the best bivys I've ever experienced in the mountains.

 

The next morning we slept in and awoke at 6:20 to cloudless skies. We [again] descended the col and traversed West to a prominent saddle (~7000') above some very nice bivy sites. On the way we saw a very brazen bear who was climbing very icy 25 degree glacial slopes above the Flat Creek basin. Amazing what bears can do, I have never seen them "ice climb" before. Anyhoo, after calling for the bear to stop and chasing after him so we could get a good photo, he finally decided he had enough of us and took off towards Yang-Yang Lakes, never to be seen again (I did manage to snap a photo of him on the glacier, but he was a ways away). We dropped down another dirty gully on the NW side of the saddle and crossed one basin, a prominent rib, and half of another basin before we began to ascend a class 3-4 gully on the South Face. Rock here was relatively solid. After the gully Y'd, we stayed left which kept us climbing nearly straight up. Near the summit we veered a bit right (not much), and ended up almost exactly under the true summit. Views from the summit rivaled that of Spider, but were intensified by an extraordinary, unobstructed view of Dome Peak. Reading through the summit register, it was clear that many more parties attain its summit than neighboring Spider Mountain. Fay Pullen left a new notebook type register up there recently and only 4 parties have signed it, but there are still many loose-leaf entries in the cannister. These loose-leaf entries date back to the early 90s (if I remember correctly).

 

Our hike out was rather uneventful save for an intriguing conversation with a rather ecclectic group attempting the Ptarmigan Traverse and an encounter with a boulder-trundling mountain goat below Cascade Pass who nearly gave us a heart attack. Back at the car at 7:30PM, 34.5 hours after leaving the TH. Dinner at the Buffalo Run capped off an absolutely perfect trip (except for the fact that Klenke failed to order the Cascade Mountain "Oysters" as he vociferously intended).

 

Gear Notes:

Used : camera, sunscreen, dustmask

 

Shoulda had : stove

 

Approach Notes:

Approach is in fine condition. Go get 'er.

 

 

Klenke Admiring the view from our bivy site

 

 

Sinister to LeConte from the summit of Spider Mountain

 

 

Klenke chasing down the bear for a photo op

 

 

The view into Flat Creek Valley from near the 7000' notch

 

Looking East to Spider Mountain from the summit of Formidable

[klenke]

"Klenke admiring the view from our bivy site."

Actually, I think I was looking up the ridge for the optimum place to take a shit.

 

You took some nice pictures. Mine are due tomorrow from the store. The picture of me chasing down the bear is pretty good considering the bear was not in the mood to pose for us.

 

I didn't order the buffalo balls cuz you said you wasn't gonna try one and they waz $8 for the appetizer plate. They would have been much better than cold dehydrated food and I should have therefore forced you to try one.

[Snafflehunter]

Point taken on the buffalo nuts.

[dmarch]

Nice

Thanks for the update for PT conditions.

[JayB]

Wow - nice photos.

[Billygoat]

Sounds like a good time. Thanks for the superb TR

 

 

BTW: I wasn't waiting for you guys to piss, I just wanted to see if you were going to offer me one of those tasty looking PBRs. When you didn't I had Fred the Goat trundle those rocks on ya on your trip back

[zoroastr]

An entertaining read and fine pics--thanks!