Chair Peak, Saturday January 13

[DPS]

No, the North Face is not in. A dozen climbers marched up to the face, only to turn around and march back home. Had these climbers come with an open mind, they would have seen that the NE Buttress was in rare form. The lack of snowfall that made for poor conditions on the N. Face actually made for better conditions on the Buttress. Most years snow buries the route but now the pitches are live water ice and exposed rock making for fantastic conditions!

The rock on the NE Buttress is much better than that on the N Face. We found excellent rock anchors with pins and cams. Belays were generally sound.

Nick lead the fist pitch in the intial, 'S' shaped gully on excellent ice for a full 60 meters. The next pitch follwed the broad ridge crest on snow for 75 meters to the base of a gendarme.

Seeing as how it wasn't a 'real' pitch, Nick kindly allowed me to lead the third one. I traversed across the top of the East face, heading toward the obvious vertical waterfall step. The crux of the climb was crossing a minor rock rib with actual mixed climbing; picks cammed in a crack and crampons scratching on rock. Pulling over the vertical waterfall on excellent ice with spin drift avalaches pouring over my head was quite literally the best. At 60 meters I established a belay and Nick joined me.

The mixed monkey business could probably be avoided by leaving the ridge crest lower and linking snow and ice to the water fall.

We unroped for the last 100 or so meters to the top then down climbed to the rappel. The usual rappel anchors currently sit out of reach 15' above the col. A marginal 2 piton anchor had been established lower down. While we were pulling on the frozen slings to equalize them, the 'good' pin popped out. We spent some time restablishing and properly equalizing a reasonable anchor. Our car to car time was about seven and a half hours.

A friend has called this the best route he has done in the mountains. If it had been longer I might have agreed. While this route is more technical, it is also far more interesting, more protectable and safer than the North Face. Come and get it!

A fun, less commiting alternative would be to climb the descent gully. Light snowpack has made for good climbing with an 85 degree water ice step. Fixed pins and slung horns make for easy protection and the coolest belay cave ever graces the route. I may take off work early and solo it this week.

Our rack:

1 60 meter rope

4 assorted KBs/Bugaboos

2 angles size #1 and #2

4 Camalots size .5-2

6 ice screws, shorty was usefull

Nearly every piece was used at least once.

Dan

[This message has been edited by danielpatricksmith (edited 01-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by danielpatricksmith (edited 01-16-2001).]

[pms]

Sounds like a great climb! Think it'll be crowded this weekend?

[Colin]

I climbed the NE Buttress on Sunday. As Dan said, the N face was not in, but the Buttress was very nice. I agree that it was a great route. On Sunday we were the only people up there, except for one party who climbed the descent. Dan, thankyou for the two-piton rap anchor. Did you leave that Omega locking biner on the first anchor?

[DPS]

Colin,

Nice work! Who did you do the route with? The pitons and the 'biner we already there, we just rearranged them. Did you find the slung icicle in the belay cave on the descent? If we left other gear behind, we certainly did not mean to.

I'm not sure if the route will be crowded. We talked with several parties who came to do the North Face, but did not feel up to climbing the NE Buttress, including a party with a successful ascent of Denali under their belt. Go figure.

Dan

[robertm]

The omega was mine... someone left a brand new Petzl locker which was better so I swapped it

R-

[Colin]

Yes, I found the purple sling around the icicle in the back of the cave. We used some slings by the floor of the cave though. It is really funny that we are finding out who left what gear on Chair's descent gully! How odd, yet amusing.

[dan_e]

I think this route is better than the N. Face in the right conditions. After leading the N. Face last year, I realized my solo of the NE Buttress was much more interesting. I was lucky to have picked one of the coldest days of the year. The climb consisted of some good ice right from the ridge, to perfect steep, styrofoam snow, and then a nice steep ice step about 2/3's of the way up the face. The exposure here was amazing. I toped out with temps near 10 below! Hard to believe, but true. I had views of the cascades and the volcanoes. I was in complete awe. If you ever get a chance to climb it in these conditions, you will not be disappointed. Climb on, Dan E.

[dbb]

Here is a picture of the bottom of the NE buttress from mid-winter last year. We opted to go left, instead of the usual gully route (because some one was on it). We were stopped about 5 feet below the snow of the E face by mushy snow on steep rock. Anyone else tried to go this way before? We had ice (how ever bad it was) up to our bail point.

photo by Phil Fortier

[This message has been edited by dbb (edited 01-16-2001).]

[Colin]

dbb,

When I was there on Sunday, we had no ideo whether to go in the gully on the right or in the runnel on the left. We opted for the gully on the right because it looked lower angled, but the left option looked like it had much more ice. If there is any time to find the way you went doable, it is probably now.

[joe_catellani]

I've climbed the left variation start to Chair's NE butt, a couple times over the years. the ice was much fatter in March (w/ Brian sullivan) and thinner in dec (w/ silas wild) (different years) not much pro. I've heard of others climbing this (even soloing) when ice is thick....it happens, but not looking like it this year. both times we connected to the snowfield, pins for pro)