TR: Kangaroo Temple...sorta

[plexus]

Took advantage of the sunny weekend to nab the NW route up Kangaroo Temple. After arriving at the hairpin turn, was greeted with frigid conditions. Slipped on a verglassed rock and landed on my butt while zipping up my pants...that should have been taken as an omen.

 

The hike up the drainage to Kangaroo Pass was gorgeous!! The larches turned gold with rays of sunlight flitering through them made the hike in seem magical. It felt strange having an autumn day in Washington feel like they did when I was a kid in the Midwest; sunny, clear and crisp.

 

On our way up to Kangaroo Pass, the thermometer on my pack never reached 40 degrees, putting doubt that we would be climbing. Call me fairweather but leading five pitches with numb fingers didn't seem enticing. When we passed a large slab completely sheeted over with ice it became even more obvious that the rack and rope weren't going to be needed. Snow flurries remained in pockets on the talus, frost covered most things and the comfort difference between being in the sun and in the shade was gigantic.

 

To put my mind at rest, we stopped and I bouldered around in the basin, for reasons both for fun and also to see how quickly my fingers would go numb. There are some nice problems up there, the friction was incredible and the fingers lost feeling in about 10 minutes. Case settled.

 

So my fiancee left our packs by the trail below the pass and we continued up, to get a better look. Met a hiker coming down from the pass, claiming that it was cold and real windy at the pass. She aborted plans to head up Wallaby.

 

The wind got stiff up to the pass, blowing probably at around 25 mph gusts. Got to the pass and was rewarded with the view. There is something about passes that please me, it's like walking through a window and seeing a different, beautiful vista from the one you had heading up on the approach.

 

We saw the Temple and Little Finger (which we planned on nabbing since we would be up there.) The route was completely covered in shade and didn't look like it would get sun for another two hours or three (and even then, the ridge going from Copper Point to Liberty Bell could be blocking it off).

 

Unsatisfied, we started traversing over and then heading up, I wanted a better perspective point. So up we went, over blocks and slabs. Instad of using a dirt gulley with an obvious tread on it, my fiancee and I picked the most sporting route we could find, mixing small class 5 and class 4 sections in.

 

The scenery and coarse granite reminded me of Tuolumne Meadows, albeit the granite up ther was much more weathered and grittier and sandier.

 

The way kept leading to platforms and up we went more, now forgetting the reason we started up and just enjoying the scramble. The best parts included a 35 foot slab with no holds, a blank wall with a lie-back crack, and a dihederal section with an unattatched block leading to an airy traverse.

 

Finally there was no more to go up and found ourselves almost even with the summit of The Temple. Hungry and cold, as the wind blew with renewed strength the higher we climbed, we headed down.

 

It wasn't until that night flippin through the Goespel of Beckey, Volume 3 that I discovered we headed up Wallaby.

 

Back down towards the packs, my fiancee headed over to take some shots of the iced-over slabs. I looked down and saw two rocks moving. What those aren't rocks!! Those are !!! Half running and sliding down I scared off the little snaffles before they burrowed a hole in the packs for our PBJ and !!

 

After eating, we headed up a little to the walls just under and west of Wallaby. There are many nice cracks criss-crossing the two main walls, although the faces inbetween are blank. The wall was in the sun so the rock warmed up a bit and I found I could climb without numb digits. I led a couple of lines, including one that was desperate hand jamming for 15 feet in a sloping crack, easily 5.9+.

 

All in all a day worth it, even though the Temple was left sanctified, not being touched by the infidels. The hike alone with the larches is worth a trip. And adding a nice scramble, some bouldering and a couple of lead climbs in

 

BTW, saw a marten on the hike in, the airplane wreckage on the way out, and a bear on Hwy 20 at MP 149 on the drive in.

 

Hope everybody else enjoyed the nice weather. And stefan, hope you heal quickly!!

[Smoker]

Nice Tr (Solar?) Plexus.

 

I need to get back that way.

[mvs]

Nice Plexus! I echo your sentiments about the cold. Chris K. and I went on Sunday with hopes of climbing the Direct East Buttress on South Early Winter. It wasn't as cold as Saturday, but the little ice cliffs along the highway and hard shivering spells at the hairpin humbled us quickly.

 

We settled on the Southwest Rib of the Spire, hoping to find more sun and less hard climbing. I made the mistake of trying to wear socks in my already-too-tight rock shoes, and had to massage my big toes at every belay to pay for it. (Later, while snacking, I realized I was eating my toe!! )

 

We came down the Arete. Lured by warmth and lack of wind in the sunny basin, we unwisely went up to the Cave Route on Concord Tower. "Here we go again", I thought, as wind screamed through the notch and I blew on my fingers from occasional stances. We followed the upper part of the "Marginal Mystery" route, going straight up from the cave entrance rather than through the cave. This was a fun, exposed 5.6 chimney and hand crack. Finally in the sun again, we got about 7 minutes of pleasure before the wind got to us. Beckey Route climbers had sun the whole way, but I stubbornly couldn't bear repeating a route! Still, I envied the pair wondering how to retrieve their stuck rope.

 

I guess I'll leave the Pass to the insideous ice cystals now.