best of cc.com [TR] Back of Beyond Buttress 2nd Ascent- Original Route 8/19/2005

[artesonraju]

The route was great, and would have been even more enjoyable if we could have felt our fingers and toes through the crux pitches; it was in the mid-30's during the climb. I had to hang mid-way through the second pitch due to the screaming barfies as the circulation in my fingers was restored.

 

The 2nd and 3rd pitches were incredibly sustained at 10b with very few rests, as reported. For a lot of the way, it is a thin hands crack, and probably relatively easier for people with small hands.

 

With the ever increasing TILT, however, it is now an "Endurance" roof, rather than a slab!

 

The road is gated at the river crossing, about 6 km before the climb, at least on Saturday. The mountain bike in was steep and rocky, with a lot of walking on the way in, and terrifying downhill in the deepening twilight on the way out.

 

Go get it!

Edited September 19, 2005 by artesonraju

[layton]

next time i belay someone and take their photo at the same time, i will make sure to get out my level and artifical horizon scope to ensure a perfectly non-tilted camera.

 

oh, exciting trip reports from both wayne, lane, kat, and myself for this peak this year. looks like we all need to take some creative writting classes or something. post some pics lane.

[fern]

Climbed this yesterday. No gate on the road but it's heavily crossditched and blocked by a bit of rockfall a few kms past the bridge, just before it starts looping around into the objective valley. At KM15 the main branch drops down across a bridge, instead of going that way stay on the skid trail straight ahead and follow it as it angles up into the forest, where it hits the drainage coming from the objective basin just start bashing up through open forest for about 20min to reach the talus basin. The whole approach from the blockage rockfall to the base of the route took us 3hrs at a pokey pace and a diversion up the wrong spur. It's pretty diet. A couple of shovels and crowbars and a few hours of work would make this road drivable to the end again (4WD), the ditches are not big, but they are sandy and uncompacted.

 

It's a fun route, very doable.

[jordop]

Ya! How many pitches on the Endurance Slab? Waiting for someone to do it in three

[fern]

we did it in 3. One 35-40m to just above that little roof near the base, one short one through the two crack traverses, and one more 35m to the grassy ledge at the top of the slab. Then 2 1/2 more before we unroped and scrambled. It was shorter than I expected, but then boys always lie about length.

[jordop]

Are you going to be punny about the hardness too?

[Mer]

It was plenty of fun. 5.5 pitches isn't quite 9, but that's ok, really.

 

Here's a shot of Fern sprinting up pitch 3.

And one of the buttress.

[Alpinfox]

It was shorter than I expected, but then boys always lie about length.

 

 

Fern

[DirtyHarry]

Hee Hee. Looks like stellar rock on that bed back and beyond buttress.

[layton]

Jordop, Kat and I did it in 3 last year.

Fern, after the slab, did you do a pitch past a dead snag, then a pitch up a 10b corner, then one more pitch up a 5.7/8 wall with a 10c option to the right?

 

We did it in 9 because we didn't unrope and did the lower bit in more pitces.

[fern]

we climbed pretty much straight up the crest and didn't find your 10b, but looking down I think I saw the "obvious" OW and we were well climbers right of that. We just climbed up the crest with a ~50m pitch, ~60m pitch and ~25m pitch to a big ledge. I don't know what you would grade them.

 

I thought it was a good route. Mostly straightforward with only a couple tricky short cruxes low down, though demanding of good crack technique. I just think some of the previous TRs exaggerated the lengths of pitches and distances of crux sections and such.

 

The rock was probably the best alpine granite I have ever climbed and I thought the route was similar in character and quality to McTech Arete in the Bugs.

[layton]

i looked at the topo and photos of the route again. Having done it twice now, I'm pretty sure 7 5th class pitches and 2 4th is right on as far as good belay ledges goes. I think you went well right of the line I've been going, and that side of the mtn is easier.

 

Once off the slab headwall, try sticking to the ridgecrest the frames the left side of the slab headwall instead of the ridge that the headwall narrows into in the center. I think we went that way on the "brambles buttress sky" climb and it wasn't as much fun. Wayne and Lane went the way we did and reported the same grade/legnth, etc. Past that little roof lowdown, i still think it's solid mid 5.10 up the slab, no one move harder than the next.

 

Either way, how did you like the endurance crack on the slab???

[G-spotter]

[fern]

here's my re-drawing of jordop's topo showing where we went in relation. We belayed at the circles. Pitch lengths are estimated based on where was the middle marker of a 70m rope.

 

Maybe we can claim an FA of a significant variation . Maybe the slab shrank since last year.

 

do you want to know if I got pumped on the ENDURANCE CRACK? keep in mind that I am very very very very good. . It's a beautiful clean crack and it was a joy to climb, but my ankles were pleased when it ended.

 

It's a good route and an awesome area. I hope it sees more traffic. Lets spray more to keep this topic at the top of the forum so more people read about it

[Mer]

It seems to me we followed a fine, aesthetic and direct line from the top of the slab to the summit, but we're chicks, we could have been off route. It's so hard for us to read a map. We could claim the first all-estrogen ascent, but we also farted a bunch and talked about transmissions, such behavior might make it invalid.

[Mr_Phil]

"Flexing Flakes."

 

Now *that* should be the name of Layton's next route.

[DirtyHarry]

It seems to me we followed a fine, aesthetic and direct line from the top of the slab to the summit, but we're chicks, we could have been off route. It's so hard for us to read a map. We could claim the first all-estrogen ascent, but we also farted a bunch and talked about transmissions, such behavior might make it invalid.

 

Ha Ha you guys obviously didn't do the climb 'cause its common knowledge chicks don't fart and couldn't possibly know anything about transmissions. Liar Liar.

[John Frieh]

It seems to me we followed a fine, aesthetic and direct line from the top of the slab to the summit, but we're chicks, we could have been off route. It's so hard for us to read a map. We could claim the first all-estrogen ascent, but we also farted a bunch and talked about transmissions, such behavior might make it invalid.

 

Ha Ha you guys obviously didn't do the climb 'cause its common knowledge chicks don't fart and couldn't possibly know anything about transmissions. Liar Liar.

 

[layton]

How did this become a gender issue? Just seeing if you liked it, and which way you went!? Nobody said anything about the fact you two have vaginas and two x chromosomes, cept you gals. Sounds to me like someone has a bit of penis envy (Especially Dru!).

I think there would be less Gender Discrimination if girls who climb would shut up about the fact that they are girls who climb. As for the route, maybe if it was some "testpiece", there would be a reason to care about route grade/legnth squabbling, but a 5.5-9 pitch route at 10b doesn't really warrent an ego contest. The reason I'm so psyched on this route is because it totally kicks ass for a good day of alpine rock climbing on awesome granite and killer exposure. Not that I take any personal offense, I know all of y'all enough to realize when you're just giving me shit. It just bugs me that you girls (and Dru) are Canadian, and are women and should be giving an American male a bit more r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

[Cobra_Commander]

this one's got legs

[Mr_Phil]

See? Flexing flake.

[fern]

I said 3 times already I think it's a good route. I didn't mention gender or grades. I hope more people are excited to climb it rather than intimidated by hyperbolic descriptions of long pitches and pumpy endurance climbing.

[ams]

Aaaaugh! It's another one of those threads that's going to turn into a climb/gender/date/relationship discussion!

 

Hold on, let me fix myself a drink with one of those little umbrellas and set up a lawn chair to watch the show.

 

 

 

[layton]

I said 3 times already I think it's a good route. I didn't mention gender or grades. I hope more people are excited to climb it rather than intimidated by hyperbolic descriptions of long pitches and pumpy endurance climbing.

 

 

Fern is now badass, yo!

[Cobra_Commander]

what do you mean "now" you pig!