Questions concerning Dumbell & Greenwood

[klenke]

Okay, so I'm trying to climb Dumbell and Greenwood Mountains yesterday (read: only dumbells attempt Dumbell solo) and instead get spanked by Dumbell for my efforts. Actually, I can hear Beckey laughing in my head as his "Southwest Route" description for Dumbell is wholly wrong. It's not class 3 scrambling to round the Northwest Rib but something nightmarishly worse.

 

My questions are these:

1. Has anybody climbed Dumbell Mountain from the Phelps Creek side and by what route?

2. Has anyone climbed to the true (north) summit of Greenwood? From the Northwest Rib of Dumbell it was quite obvious the north summit of Greenwood is higher than the south (normal) summit. The two summits are connected by what looked like a wicked knife-edge. I'm wondering what a traverse of that knife-edge would entail.

 

Thanks -- Paul

[MountainMan]

Klenke,

I climbed Greenwood and Dumbbell last year from Phelps Creek. We set up camp just below the South Face of Dumbbell in the major Southwest facing gulley. The way we went is the wrong way, but it got us up there. We ascended the basin to the notch just Southeast of the summit block (approx. elevation 7900'). From here there is a goat trail that leads NNE down and around to the main summit of Greenwood. Remember this.

 

We climbed Dumbbell first and decided to take the series of off-camber ledges that traverses the South Face. From the notch, descend about 20 meters towards the South face and find the obvious ledge system. Follow your gut-instinct to the summit ... there's really only one way to get up there once you find this ledge system. We didn't have any rope with us, and we were on class 4-class 5, ugly, off-camber, loose, ledges and even some slab climbing near the summit. The ledge system would be really nice if you had a rope, but we didn't. I almost didn't climb it due to the danger of falling from those off-camber ledges off a 200-300 meter drop. My pops says there's another route from the other side, but I didn't see it.

 

As for Greenwood, all you do is descend from the notch (see above) and get onto some goat ledges. The ledge is about 2-3' wide and slightly off-camber (seems to be a trend in those parts). Follow the ledges around above the cliffs and it will eventually bring you to the back (Northeast) side of Dumbbell onto a snowfield between Greenwood and Dumbbell (above a small glacial lake). From there, take the obvious gradual slope to the summit of Greenwood. There is no knife edge ridge on the route that we took (that I can remember) -- and we hit the true summit (look for our 2001 ascent in the summit register -- probably the only one). It's a beautiful area up there! If you have any specific questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail.

 

[ 08-08-2002, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: MountainMan ]

[Dale]

Klenke, Mountain Man:

There is an easier way on Dumbell (yes, Beckey is way wrong, and the picture is completely misleading). From the little basin south of the peak, on the west side of the south ridge: Scramble up the loose stuff. Find and enter a narrow gulley that ascends diagonally up, from right to left, to the low point in the ridge top. Scramble east, up the ridge, mostly on its north side, to the top. No rope needed or wanted. The narrow gulley has loose rocks, so care is needed.

 

The 'goat trail' to Greenwood is slick. You just scramble up to the high 'pass' on the south ridge of Dumbell, kiss the steep summit block, and the trail is right there. Just contour around, carefully.

 

I would not want to do either route if the ground was very wet or had fresh snow.

Dale

[mattp]

Dale - Would that be in the green volume of the Cascade Alpine Guide? Fred is working on a revision of that volume right now and would probably appreciate your input. Wait a couple of weeks so he can clear his e-mail when he gets back from that trip to the Rockies and send him your comments at that address given in the link on the front page of cc.com.

[klenke]

mattp: I plan very much to tell Beckey all about his error. That error he has for the Northwest Rib of Dumbell is the most glaring one in CAG that I have come across. My Lord it's a drop-off around that corner. Class 3 scrambling? Ha!

 

I have already emailed Beckey with a few other comments/revisions for his N. Cascades book. And I have a few more I've been procrastinating on sending him.

[klenke]

Dale: which is higher, the north or south summit of Greenwood? The two appear to be separated by a knife-edge ridge. The south summit would be easy to get to, the north summit I don't know.

[Dale]

Klenke: I had to go find the map. I do not remember any issue, or difficulty, getting to the summit of Greenwood. I do not actually remember if we were at the north or south summit , but it was a clear day and it was obvious, and there was a summit register (including an entry from a guy who thought he was on Fernow). Actually, it was probably the south summit. Not to worry.

 

Now that I look at CAG II, p. 167, I see that, on Dumbell, at least the summit and the notch (start of the 'goat trail' traverse to Greenwood) are labeled correctly.

[klenke]

The $25k question has been answered:

The North Summit of Greenwood is higher (by about 10 ft). It is quite obvious to the discerning eye and a water bottle test (actually a more accurate water cup test in my case) proved this out.

 

The South Summit, the one with the 1937 register, is the one everyone goes to (including all those cheater Top100 peakbaggers), but it is not the highest point on Greenwood Mountain.

 

Stefan and I did not go over to the N. Summit (a miscommunication on our parts), but the good news is that I located a class 2/3 easy way over to it. If you downclimb the South Ridge from the South Summit about 200 yards you can get onto the upper part of the eastern cirque glacier, cross it due north, and then scramble to the N. Summit. Non-technical all the way.