[TR] Mt. Washington- North Ridge (bivy on the summ

[gregfuller]

Climb: Mt. Washington-North Ridge (bivy on the summit)

 

Date of Climb: 9/4/2005

 

Trip Report:

Searching through the CC archives, I found only 4 trip reports for Mt. Washington. For most folks, climbing the standard North Ridge route is likely not exciting enough to produce a trip report, but considering we spiced it up with a planned bivy on the summit, I'm thought I'd write one up anyway.

 

My experience with Mt. Washington parallels what many people experience when trying to climb Mt. Rainier – every attempt over the last several years has been thwarted by the crappiest of weather on climb day, and this year was no exception, until now. After climbing Mt. Jefferson a few weeks back, Mt. Washington was my last big Oregon peak from which to experience a view, so I was excited when my good friend Dan suggested we climb it over Labor Day weekend. He had climbed it two weeks prior and discovered 3 bivy sites on the summit. It took zero effort on his part to convince me that we should camp at the top; my interest in mountaineering has always been more about camping high on the mountain than just simply getting to the summit. I've always figured if you make the effort to get up something, you should stay for a while.

 

I picked Dan up around 11am, and we headed to the store to get some food for our summit dinner and breakfast. While in line at the deli, I remarked how I had forgotten to visit the liquor store the day before, and now that it was Sunday of a holiday weekend, we were probably out of luck. Dan had also forgotten. I announced that this would be our first recreational substance-free trip then, and Dan's jaw just dropped! "Not even wine? How about barleywine?" "You brought wine?" "Yeah, I'm going to pack it up in a Nalgene." "Hmm," I said, "I better go get another bottle for us then!"

 

During the drive down I-5, we both realized that we didn't bring a corkscrew. Argh! We checked at the gas station where we refueled, and they didn't have one to sell. Nearing Mill City, we stopped in at the “Bait and Liquor Store” (classic small town combo!), hoping to find a wine opener, but no luck. But we'll keep this store in mind for future trips though, as they are open on Sundays and were more than happy to sell us liquor. We decided to stick with the wine though, which we both agreed later was a wise decision. Just a few miles down the road, Giovanni's Mountain Pizza lent us the required wine opening device, and we promised we'd stop by for some dinner on the way back. A thanks definitely goes out to these guys, as we couldn't figure out how we were going to Macgyver our way into these bottles. If anyone has experience improvising a corkscrew with standard climbing and camping equipment, please comment.

 

We finally arrived at the trailhead, geared up, and starting hiking around 3:30pm. Certainly not an alpine start, and by no means even a respectable start time for any sort of day-hike, this could only be called one thing: the "Happy Hour Start." All too common on my trips, but it generally means you have the mountain all to yourself.

 

Now I've gotta make some comments about Dan. This guy is in fantastic shape, and I knew this from previous adventures. I had the privilege of joining him on his annual LNGB snow camping/climbing trip this last February, in which you Leave No Gear Behind and use it all in order to justify everything you own. That was the heaviest pack I have ever carried, and Dan made his even heavier pack look feather-light. So keeping up with him on this trip, with 750ml of wine, 5 liters of water, climbing and camping gear, etc., was probably going to be a bit of a challenge. Shortly after turning off the PCT onto the climber's trail, he mentioned that he completely forgot to take the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywines out of his pack, as he intended to leave them in the car. Good lord. But it didn't seem to slow him down. Dan – the man – the animal: Danimal.

 

I followed Danimal up the ridge, passing two folks who were descending, to just beyond the notch/saddle where we set up the first and only belay station. At the pace Dan set, I was practically spent. Luckily we were only a few hundred feet from the top by now. I was surprised that Dan decided to lead that pitch with his pack on, as 40-50lbs on the back while climbing rock is kind of a bitch. But he is Danimal after all. As soon as he arrived at the top of the pitch, the sun set, so unfortunately I don't have the kinds of pictures I like to get when planning to be high up on a mountain (didn't want to take my brake hand off the rope obviously). But I will say the mountain's shadow was spectacular, as were the colors on the horizon. I'm going to have to go back and repeat this trip someday, getting more of a "Brunch Start" so I can get more pictures.

 

I started up the pitch and my hands were freezing at this point, and grasping cold rock did not help a bit. I had to stop mid-pitch and rewarm my hands before continuing. Being able to see my hands on the rock holds but not being able to feel anything made me a little distrustful of my grip. Is this what ice climbers have to deal with? And with that heavy pack, wow. But I finally got past the "crux" (which with no pack, or only a light pack, it's probably cake), and we scrambled up to the top in the dusk, arriving minutes before needing to pull out headlamps. All in all, exactly 5 hours to the top.

 

It wasn't windy at the summit, thankfully, but it was certainly cold. We immediately dug out our bivy sacks, barely squeezing both into one bivy site while we cooked up delicious spicy black bean and cheese quesadillas, finished both bottles of wine, signed the summit register, and then had the barleywines for dessert. The stars that night were incredible. I moved to the "upper bunk" (slightly higher bivy site) before going to sleep, as we weren't going to both be able to comfortably fit into one site.

 

By the way, the summit register is FULL, so if anyone is planning on heading up anytime soon, a new notebook is in order. Where do these things go when they are replaced? Are the Mazamas still archiving them, or another mountaineering organization perhaps (Obsidians?). I know some people think these are trash and should be thrown off the mountain, but this nearly full notebook provided some interesting reading while we were passing time up there.

 

The next morning brought the usual camp antics: breakfast, tea, and in Dan's case, a little summit blue-bagging. In as much as I'm sure you don't want to hear about high-altitude defecations, I've read enough posts here on CC that would indicate that just about anything goes now-a-days. Anyway, I suggested a trick that I learned from a friend, which is to use those wide-mouthed produce bags and just aim right into the bag, no hassle, no mess. Dan opted for the Mt. Adams style-system, where you put a "target" on the ground and aim for that, collecting it afterwards. And even though we probably didn't need the route description to get down, I was a little shocked when Dan used it for the target! Dan's most quotable moment on this trip: "You know, I don't think you are supposed to shit on one of your 10 E's." At least it wasn't the map. He went on to say he oriented the route description facing outward in the large ziplock bag so that if we really needed it, we could still read it through the clear plastic. Nice!

 

From the summit, I had my first-ever view of Belknap Crater, which I thought was absolutely awesome. The amount of lava that thing produced is enormous. Has anyone here ever climbed up to the top? Seems like another interesting place to spend the night....

 

Two climbers arrived at the summit just as we were about to head down, so we chatted for a while. Reading old CC posts and doing a little guess work, Dan later determined it was probably OldManRock and his son (hi guys!). We headed down a few minutes before they did. Down-climbing with the heavy packs really sucked, but then again, I think it might be because Danimal chose a much harder route than necessary. It's all easy to him. The two climbers caught up to us in no time, saying, "I think you took the hard way down." Yes, yes we did. We finally got to a rap station, rapped down the middle pitch, by which time the 2 climbers had down-climbed and set up another rap station below, which they graciously shared with us. Note to self (and anybody else that's listening): a chest harness would improve greatly the safety and general pleasantness of rappelling when you are wearing a heavy pack. I've never thought of rappelling as "work," but again, the heavy pack changes everything. I constantly felt like I was going to tip over backwards.

 

Dan's first attempt of the mountain was the West Face last year. He didn't know it at the time, but apparently a big chunk fell off a while back and it's really no longer climbable (safely). Lots of people have been hurt trying. Still, he wanted to take another look at it, so we traversed over to that side before descending to the scree. What a bunch of loose crappy rock! I wish I had an ice axe as security (anyone ever arrest a fall on dirt with one? Seems like it would work better than fingernails.)

 

So, yeah, getting down to the scree was sketchy -- I'm surprised this is the recommended route down. I tend to think just going back down the ridge the way you come up would be just as fast, safer, and probably more environmentally sound. After descending to the boulder field below, we hiked cross-country (where I was stung by a wasp) until we finally ran into the climber's trail. The hike back to the car seemed long, but we had a cooler of beers waiting for us that kept up our pace. The network of trails through that area are unsigned and can be kind of confusing, but soon enough we were quaffing fine ales.

 

BEWARE the Big Lake Campground Nazi driving around in a little ATV/cart! I drove the car down to the last camp spot by the lake so we could quickly take a dip and remove the layer of dust we'd accumulated over the previous two days. I hadn't even turned off the car before he yelled at us, "You can't park there!" It was late afternoon on Labor day, not a soul around, the campground was completely empty, and he was barking at us to pay the $18 to camp that night. Dan told him "We are only going to be here for a minute." The dude started his stopwatch, I couldn't believe it. He returned promptly and asked, "So do you want to camp with us tonight." I explained, "No, we just climbed a mountain, we wanted to get the dust off, and then we were heading home." He again reiterated that we had to pay if we were going to park there, but drove off and didn't come back before we were heading out for good.

 

We had a nice meal at Giovanni's Mountain Pizza and drove home.

 

Here are some pictures from the trip. Not as exciting as I would have hoped for, but an earlier start next time should yield better photographing opportunities.

 

Danimal points the way.

 

 

The North Ridge of Mt. Washington.

 

 

Looking north from the summit. 3 Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson in the background.

 

 

Looking south from the summit. Hazy day. George Lake, Belknap Crater, 3 Sisters, and Broken Top.

 

 

Dan traversing to take a look at the West Face. Look at the size of that pack! Patjens Lakes in the background.

 

 

The new West Face of Mt. Washington. Not recommended.

See also: Thoughts on Mt. Washington, West Face rock quality

 

Gear Notes:

50m 10.5mm rope

2 slings (20 footer for the first belay station)

#10 and #8 stopper

helmets

 

Should have had: trekking poles or ice axe (dirt axe?) for descent.

[JohnGo]

Greg and Danimal,

 

Nice TR and photos.

A note on the vino:

Try a stick and a hammer (rock, shoe, whatever.) Smack the cork down into the bottle and drink up!

 

Cheers,

Johngo

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[sweatinoutliquor]

Nice work guys! I had also been thinking about trying to get a summit bivy together for that mountain. Kinda chossy, and was a little worried about soloing with a backpack. Thanks for showing that it's doable, but forgive me if I don't go till it get's warmer!

[MountaingirlBC]

Great tr... thx for sharing. LOL @ "Danimal" and shitting on one of the 10 E's.

 

I've wondered about the ice axe on loose crap thing too. I guess I would worry about it bouncing off a rock and then someone loses and eye.

[cluck]

Now that's what I call climbing in "good style!" I'll have to work the happy hour start into some of my future climb plans.

 

Every time I climb that mountain I fantasize about how cool it would be to bivy in those sites on top. Sounds like it's every bit as enjoyable as I've imagined it.

[MatthewS]

Nice TR! Did you happen to find my crampon up there on the ridge somewhere?

[DonnV]

Nice TR and pics. Good read.

 

I'm a big fan of summit bivies, too, but Dan's is carrying what has to be the largest "bivy" pack I've ever seen in my life.

[Couloir]

Man! That was an awesome TR! You tell a great story. Thanks for a fun read.

 

Yeah, as JohnGo said, I have drank more bottles of wine simply by shoving the cork INTO the bottle. You're first "sip" has to be a good one because the cork wants to stay near the top of the bottle. Before you know it though, half the bottle is gone! Cheers! Great climb!

[Chriznitch]

cool...I miss that place. Thanks for sharing.

So how far back does that register date? 2003?

[mattp]

Yup, I miss that place too. Not the scree fields you have to descend to get from the standard route to a vantage point below the west ridge, though - that is some of the worst garbage I have ever seen. In places, talus and dirt overlie eroded soft-rock "slabs" of crap ... I once took a ride on a twelve foot lava sled of death there.

 

There is a really beautiful basin below the NE side of the peak. Belnap Crater is cool and has some neat lava tubes very near the top. The lava fields nearby are a great place to torture yourself with a cross country excursion...

[OldManRock]

Sorry it was not me and my son you met - I was working on my labyrinth in the back yard that day - About opening a bottle of wine with out the use of any tool - A few years ago Tom Bauman, Dennis Root, and my self were camping at the Hortense Lake road junction prior to climbing the East Buttress route on Washington - A fantastic bottle of wine - No opener - So Tom said lets try my brother Bob's trick - And he peeled off the foil, and then started to hit the bottom of the bottle against a tree - We both thought he was

off the deep end, but soon the cork just started to pop out and soon was far enough to pull out - It does mix the sediment though.............

[mtnmedic]

Geez, I need to get out there !

[fheimerd]

I was wondering if anyone had any info on access to climbs on the east side. I am thinking the Southeast Spur route. The summit register had lots of nice things to say about that route.

[neswstar]

Greg fantastic TR Well written and very entertaining. I doubt our trip this weekend with the girls will be half as exciting. However, I will remember to bring both the wine and the opener. Should I say "Hi" to your Nazi?

[Mountain_Shots]

Belknap Crater is easily acessed from McKenzie Pass just East of the obseratory where the P.C.T. crosses the highway. Head North a few minutes through the woods before breaking out into the lava flow. The trail goes through the middle of the flow the rest of the way. Little Belknap Crater will be to the right, a short diversion with a few lava tubes to check out. Then follow the trail until it leaves the flow, and start looking for your way up Belknap.

 

I spent the afternoon on Belknap last summer watching the George Lake fire work it's way toward me. This was the last day McKenzie Highway was open due to the fire, August 13, 2006. At first all I saw was smoke because the fire was blocked by one of Washington's East ridges. But soon the fire crested the ridge. Flames jumped two to three times the height of the trees. The wind came up so strong it knocked over my tripod mounted camera. The scene was awesome. The smoke plume billowed up and came right over the top of me. It covered everything overhead. To capture the full height of this atom bomb like plume, I had to stitch together three of the images taken with my 17 mm lens. The fire burned to the lava flow.

 

I can't guarantee a trip this amazing everytime, but a hike to Belknap Crater does make for a satistying afternoon leg stretcher.

 

 

Lake George Fire and Mt. Washington as viewed from Belknap Crater.

 

 

Again, view from Belknap Crater.

 

 

Here's where the plume rose up and covered everything overhead.

 

 

Spike Camp for the George Lake fire was located at the Washington Ponds, a nice place to camp on the S.W. side of the mountain.

 

 

 

[letsroll]

Those are some great shots!!!!