fleblebleb Posted August 17, 2002 Posted August 17, 2002 I got photos of the NE Face of Fury, taken last Saturday/Sunday. I heard a couple of folks might be interested - send me email if that's you... Quote
David_Parker Posted August 22, 2002 Posted August 22, 2002 Yeah cool, since I just climbed it! (N. Butt)I'd love to have the most recent photo that shows it in the conditions it was. Mine is from the year before. Call me if you still have my phone #. Quote
fleblebleb Posted August 22, 2002 Author Posted August 22, 2002 Sweet! Hehehe, make you a deal, you get photos, I get story Quote
Juan Posted September 3, 2002 Posted September 3, 2002 Just up on Fury and Luna. The NE Face (left of the N. Butt.) looks to have at least two large sections of alpine ice, and it could be interesting glacier travel to get to it. It looks like it would go, but it also looks quite serious. The SE Glacier route is really fun if you are looking for an easier route to the top. Nelson's description is right on the money, though the times are conservative. Took us 4.5 hours to the top of Fury from the Luna/Fury col; he says 5-8. Five parties have signed the register this year, including us. Go get it! Â John Sharp Quote
whiplash Posted September 3, 2002 Posted September 3, 2002 Picketer, we went in there in mid aug. Used some of your beta on the approach, worked good staying on the north side of access creek for the bushwack. We took the middle couloir to the ridge, some step snow near the top, but not to bad. On the way out we hit the couloir in the morning and it was still icy, so we ended up being able to wallow in the moats all the way down the snowfields. It was muddy but easier that downclimbing the icy couloir. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 3, 2002 Posted September 3, 2002 That sounds like some downright fun shit. Quote
David_Parker Posted September 3, 2002 Posted September 3, 2002 We used left gully which is a narrow dried up streambed for part of the way. Very small patch of snow at top, no worries. I thought it was pretty technical coming back down though. This was August 18-22, '02. Quote
JuanTwoPunch Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 Picketeer: Â If I understand your question correctly, you are wondering which gully we took to the ridge notch from the Access Creek Basin camp. We used the middle one of three, I believe. The right one was much steeper looking and had hard snow with shrunds. The middle one is all talus and dirt, with a small snow patch that you climb around. The left one looked lower angle but is farther from the objective basin on the other side. There is a small trail from the notch where we topped out to the entry to the big basin that ultimately takes you to the Luna/Fury col. Does this answer your question? It took us 9 hrs. from the dock to the Access Creek Basin camp (saved time with Dave Parker's beta and trail marker), and 3.5 to from the basin camp to the Luna/Fury col camp. Then a total of 8 hrs. from the col back to the dock on Sunday going out in one push, in pea soup fog and rain down to Access Creek camp (O.K. weather beyond that point). The unexpected storm Sat. night was no fun, but by then we had climbed Luna and Fury so it was just a matter of getting wet and getting no sleep. Â Cheers, Â John Quote
JuanTwoPunch Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 No, totally planned this time. We spent two nights at the coolest bivi site I can remember (the Luna/Fury col). It was the STORM that was unplanned, and I gather it caught more parties than ours with their pants down. But at least it had the decency to wait until we were back from climbing Fury and had eaten dinner, drank the rest of our whiskey, had cigarettes, bud, and tea. Then the shit started! Oh well. Â Juan Quote
Picketeer Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 Juan, congrats on your climb! Â What were the conditions of the exit couloirs leading out of Access Creek cirque? Which one did you take? Quote
Crackhead Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 ahhh... the three essentials; whiskey, bud, and cigs. They'll always make you feel better during a cascade monsoon(or even a cascade bushwhack). Â Quote
Picketeer Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 Thanks Juan and Whiplash! The middle couloir is the one we took as well. I also recall it being a bit steep and icy at the top. Â Sounds like you got hit by the same storm that lashed us on our way into the Buckindy Crags on Saturday night, weekend before last. First time I can recall seeing a lightning flash immediately followed by smoke (actually three separate columns of smoke). Totally brillant branching bolts struck in the Downey creek basin near the Bachelor creek confluence (seen from our bivi on the ridge heading from Green Mt. to Buckindyville, killer views of Dome)-decent old overgrown trail along the ridge (like Beckey sez, once about 1/2 mile out from Green Mt) Hopefully the storm that followed tamped it out. Never saw the basin the next morning, cuz we were in the soup from then on. (So much for our visions of Lord of the Rings summits-at least, 'til next time). And yeah, the vicious black flies were out and biting! Quote
Smoker Posted September 4, 2002 Posted September 4, 2002 Nice Juan, Â You make it sound, Â so FUN! Quote
goatboy Posted September 13, 2002 Posted September 13, 2002 I have images of the NE Face of Fury from our climb last week. We climbed from Luna Lake to a camp high on the SE Glacier route in 13 hours camp to camp, through the Fury Icefall and rock bands onto the ice shield, joining the snow arete of the upper N Buttress near the summit ridge. Â Outstanding route, great snow/ice conditions and a very narrow window of weather in otherwise crappy weather. Encountered whiteout on the glacier the next morning, made for an "interesting " descent. Â PM me for more info if anyone is interested. I would post images here but don't know how to do so without having a URL for them -- I just have them on my hard drive. Â Steve Quote
David_Parker Posted September 15, 2002 Posted September 15, 2002 quote: Originally posted by goatboy: I have images of the NE Face of Fury from our climb last week. We climbed from Luna Lake to a camp high on the SE Glacier route in 13 hours camp to camp, through the Fury Icefall and rock bands onto the ice shield, joining the snow arete of the upper N Buttress near the summit ridge. Â Outstanding route, great snow/ice conditions and a very narrow window of weather in otherwise crappy weather. Encountered whiteout on the glacier the next morning, made for an "interesting " descent. Â PM me for more info if anyone is interested. I would post images here but don't know how to do so without having a URL for them -- I just have them on my hard drive. Â Steve Steve, try Shutterfly.com for posting photos. It's a FREE service and pretty easy. See my post on "GO GET GOODE" for an example. Quote
goatboy Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 Okay, here's my attempt at posting some images of the NE Face of Fury:  Fury photos  Please note, I'm using this shutterfly link in order to share my images with other climbers, not to encourage anyone to buy any prints or anything else from shutterfly.  The route was among the best I've ever done -- it was the entire package deal: Bushwhacking, cramponing across steep wet heather, icefall, steep snow and ice, bad weather, good weather, incredible views of the Pickets North and South, glacier travel, whiteout, lightning, high bivies and heavy loads, and a glorious summit day.  We took a week to do it. I was worked when we were done, and was glad to have had a week to do it all in.  Day 1 -- take boat from Ross Lake Dam to Big Beaver and camp at 39 mile camp Day 2 -- Schwack up Access Creek and camp Day 3 -- Over two passes and drop down to Luna Lake (via Luna/Fury Col) Day 4 -- Climb Fury Glacier icefall, traverse onto NE Face and finish via North Buttress snow arete and short rock section; descend to 8000 feet and make camp on SE Glacier Day 5 -- Descend SE Glacier in whiteout, camp on ridge above Access Creek Day 6 -- Drop into Access creek and schwack down to 39 mile Day 7 -- Boat picks us up at noon, steak and a beer  This did involve a carry over from Luna Lake to the SE Glacier, so we tried to go as light as possible -- took a 30 meter rope, 6 screws (used em in the icefall), 2 pickets each, about 6 stoppers and a larger tri cam, 6 slings -- it was a perfect rack for the conditions we found.  I can't recommend the route highly enough. Sorry it took me awhile to get these pictures up.  Steve  [ 09-18-2002, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: goatboy ] Quote
RopeGunHooker Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 nice photos and fun looking trip. I need to get up there next year. Quote
Alex Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 really nice, makes me want to go back again! Quote
Retrosaurus Posted September 19, 2002 Posted September 19, 2002 Great climb, Steve and brilliant photos. If I go another season without doing that route it will be because I died. I was going to do it two years ago but broke my ankle on Mt Stuart instead and am just now feeling up to the rigors of a trip like that. Again, great job; and thanks! Quote
JuanTwoPunch Posted September 24, 2002 Posted September 24, 2002 Goatboy: Â Way to go. Were you the sixth or seventh party to climb the mountain this year? I think we were the fifth. But we did the easy route. Super cool peak, no matter how you get to the top. My friend from Boulder was duly impressed with the whole area. Â Cheers, Â John Sharp Quote
goatboy Posted September 24, 2002 Posted September 24, 2002 Thanks, y'all! It was a great trip, and the photos don't start to do it justice. Â Juan gives himself a hard time saying that he did "the easy route" -- seems like there's no such thing as an easy route in the Pickets! Good work Juan! We descended the SE Glacier in a whiteout and I would not call it an "easy route" by any means. Â Alan Kearney's new book says that more people have expressed a desire to climb Fury than any other wall in the range. All I can say is, I'm glad I've done it because I'm not inclined to rush back for round two too soon! Â Hope some of you cascadeclimber folks get a chance to have a go at it next year, cuz it's good! Quote
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